A Lei do Faroeste

This was the 64th of 66 Hoppy movies, and it was one of the worst, unfortunately. The few things to like in the movie are: (1) the neat title to the movie, "Borrowed Trouble;" I always liked that; (2) the wordless scenes at the start of the movie — the cowboys driving the cattle through the plains to the railhead; good mountain scenery; (3) Anne O'Neal's performance as the crusty, feisty old schoolmarm was at turns charming and tolerable; and (4) a surprising twist ending when the "mystery" was solved.

Those are all minor good points and are weighted down by the many many minutes of bad aspects: tedious repetitive scenes; lack of action; and California's stupid humor that would try the patience of a child. The plot was no great shakes, relied on coincidences (gifts from heaven). The main story line lacked much interest — the noise from a saloon disrupting the teaching of children in the near-by school house.

This entry in the Hoppy series is pretty much a matter of taste. There's not much hard- riding or fast-shooting; however, the Lone Pine locations do provide some good big rock scenery. Also, the plot's a little different. Saloon owner Mawson is feuding with both rival saloon owner Davis and with schoolmarm Abott who can't teach with a saloon next door. When Abott mysteriously disappears, Hoppy and the boys investigate.

The entry may be a little short of action, but the dialog and interplay between characters is better than usual. Anne O'Neal is excellent as the spinsterish schoolmarm with several good throwaway lines— (On their first meeting), Hoppy, "My name is Hopalong Cassidy". Schoolmarm, "That's not my fault. Maybe you should change it !".

The ending is also something of a departure and surprise. Then too, I suspect the series was aiming for both a change of pace and a story more directly involving kids (here, it's the amusing school kids). Lucky (Rand Brooks) has his usual mock romance, this time with a dimpled saloon girl (Chapman). Nonetheless, I think the series lost a lot when Russell Hayden withdrew from the cast as Lucky. He was so good at being moonstruck in these romantic situations.

Anyway, this rather offbeat 60-minutes in the Hoppy series is short on action but long in other departments, and remains largely a matter of taste.

Miss Abbott (Anne ONeal) is a schoolteacher who is having a running battle with saloon owner Steve Mawson (John Parrish) over the proximity of his saloon to the schoolhouse. Hoppy goes to see the teacher after he catches her breaking the windows in Mawson's saloon by heaving apples through them. Abbott is the stereotypical curmudgeonly, yet curiously likable old spinsterish teacher. Sometimes the supporting actors get all the best lines. After Hoppy introduces himself as Hopalong Cassidy, she tells him "I can't do anything about that, why don't you change it." He informs her that Hopalong is a nickname and that his real name is Bill, so of course she calls him "William" throughout the movie. She also gets in another zinger later when – after she has hit a bad guy – Lucky tells her "You sure knocked him out," she says, "That's nothing, he was unconscious fifteen years ago when he was a student of mine". After the apple-throwing incident, the teacher is kidnapped. Both California and Hoppy briefly look after the school children. Hoppy's scenes with the children are delightful and a highlight of the film. The ending of the film had a nice little twist to it. I agree there's not a lot of action in this film but it is an engaging, funny and quite charming film. As one reviewer said – it's all a matter of taste.

After selling off some Bar 20 cattle Hoppy, Lucky, and California run into some Borrowed Trouble when the rivalry between two saloon owners takes an interesting twist. Borrowed Trouble is stolen from our cowboy heroes by the performance of Anne O'Neal as one feisty schoolteacher who has it in for one of the saloon owners.

Seems as though his place during the daylight hours is quite the fascination for her pupils especially those just starting those pangs of puberty. She emphasizes to Hoppy that John Parrish's place is too much for her to deal with and she's going to close it one way or another. All while telling Hoppy that she's no kind of blue nosed reformer though she sure looks like she belongs in Carry Nation's army.

Can't go any farther because this story does take an interesting twist. Let's say that some forensic evidence tells the tale to Hopalong Cassidy who O'Neal insists upon calling William.

Some nice scenes with Hoppy and the school kids show why he was such an idol among America's youth and Andy Clyde teaching a bunch of kids all smarter than him is a hoot.

One of the better of the later Hopalong Cassidy films. All owing to Anne O'Neal.

Finishing a trail drive, Hoppy and the boys head to town and immediately get caught up in the conflict between school teacher Miss Abott and next door saloon owner Mawson. When Miss Abott disappears, Hoppy gets a clue to her location and rescues her from Mawson's cabin. It looks like Mawson is the man he wants, but Hoppy finds an item that indicates otherwise.

Anne O Neal is amusing as a school Mark who throws apples at the saloon, which was meant to be a store but the owner reneged on his promise and built a saloon. She's quite feisty in the role and calls Hoppy William. There's some chortling one liners, an unusual slant in regard to this being saloon keeper vs a school teacher. Not a striking episode, the plot is thin, but it has interesting bits.