Texas Trail

We love this film as we do all of the Hopalong series of films and TV series. We especially liked this one as it was filmed at Blue Canyon, AZ and Sedona of all places. This was a real change up from the Alabama Hills and Lone Pine in CA where many of the Hoppy films were filmed. You will never see films made like this again. The large number of mustangs and often large herds of cattle making their appearance. Hoppy never disappoints and it is always great to see a happy ending. We watch this title often and it is no wonder Hoppy was a hero of the day and still is in our hearts along with his wonderful horse Topper. However, the Hoppy horse who starred in this film was King Nappy who was later injured and Topper took his place permanently.

During the Spanish-American War, Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders need more horses and Hopalong Cassidy and his Bar-20 are requisitioned to deliver them. Just recently saw William Boyd play Hopalong Cassidy in Texas Trail after many years and still amazed as how authentic and effortlessly his acting is. Of course he had the best help with Gabby Hayes and Russell Hayden. The lines were delivered with great timing as when Windy responded to comments on his poor bugle playing with, "I was tooting a bugle when the only uniform you were wearing was held up with a safety pin". Beautiful Judith Allen wonderfully played the love interest of Lucky Jenkins and Billy King was great as Hoppy's little friend. And who better than Alexander Cross to play Black Jack Carson who gives Hoppy's folk all they can handle. Texas Trail is a must see for all Hoppy fans and anyone who loves a great western classic.

There is an army campaign in the offing, and Hopalong Cassidy and the boys of the Bar 20 are anxious to serve. They're not wanted for fighting. The army needs 500 mustangs, and Hoppy is the man to round them up. However, others are not as patriotic, and that many horses at $20 a head across the border is mighty tempting.

At 58 minutes, this is definitely a B Western, but producer Harry Sherman was a man who knew how to make a superior one. Sound man Karl Zint makes the horses in an echoing box canyon sound spooky, and cameraman Russell Harlan distinguishes the visuals with some striking vitsas of Arizona's Blue Canyon and the Painted Desert.

Harlan was born in 1903. By 1927, he was doing photography for William Wellman on WINGS. He had achieved the rank of cinematographer in 1937, and would eventually do that job on 44 of the Hoppies. In 1945, he started to move up the ranks, when Wellman used him as DP on A WALK IN THE SUN. Although he would be a favorite for A Westerns -- RED RIVER, THE BIG SKY and RIO BRAVO -- he became well-known for a wide variety of projects and would rack up nominations for six Best Cinematography Oscars. He retired in 1970 and died four years later.

As with most Hopalong Cassidy films this one has good action and amazingly authentic feel for period setting and beautifully filmed locations, especially for Saturday morning features. This one moves more toward the kiddie audience with a youngster named Boots coming to Hoppy's rescue. Much to my surprise and delight Hoppy movies are starting to show up on TV again after a prolonged absence.

In the first 8 minutes or so in this movie, you are introduced to a guy named 'Black Jack Carson'. Knowing the Hopalong Cassidy films, the odds are roughly 47502013249 to 1 that he would be a villain...such is the subtly you get in many of his films. Now understand...I really like the Hoppy films...but the writers didn't exactly try to hide who the baddies and good guys were! In fact in many the SAME actors played bad guys again and again and again....so keeping the audience in suspense about this just wasn't anything the films tried to do.

This installment of the Hopalong Cassidy franchise is one of the few where you can identify when the film was set. Most of the time, it's more vague when all this happens, but this one is set at the beginning of the Spanish-American War (1898). While Hoppy and his pals are all good, loyal Americans, they cannot fight in the war yet because the military needs them to use their cowboy skills to round up mustangs for the US Cavalry. But Black Jack Carson, inexplicably, is trying to prevent this...and he is planning on taking all the horses for himself and kill Hoppy and the men of the Bar 20. The gang's only hope, it turns out, rests on a kid...and, fortunately, for once he's NOT an annoying one!

The plot is mostly familiar stuff, though including the war and Cavalry is unique...and gives this film a bit more to enjoy. My only real complaint I talk about above....the baddie is just too obvious to make this a great B-western. Worth seeing.