In this entry of the popular series, the Hardys visit a ranch in Arizona.
Judge Hardy gets a letter from an old friend, Dora Northcote, who owns a ranch in Arizona along with her husband Bill. She is having a problem with water rights to her land that may lead to her and her husband having to sell out to a neighboring landowner who has designs on the property. The complicating factor is that years ago, in his single days, the Judge and Dora got lost after a picnic and caused a minor scandal. The judge says this one secret is one he wants to continue to keep from Mrs. Hardy.
In a separate subplot, Andy Hardy has recently gotten a letter in high school basketball, and it's given him a swelled head, making him think for some reason that his opinion, time, and general athletic prowess are above that of everyone else. Judge Hardy decides that going to the ranch would be a fine vacation for the family, plus it would give him a chance to look into the water rights problem firsthand, so off they go.
This entry gives the characters the opportunity to have many humorous "fish out of water" moments. MGM contract child actress Virginia Weidler plays Jake, the daughter of the Northcote ranch's foreman, who has some humorous moments outsmarting and outdoing Andy Hardy who goes around dressed in a ridiculous western outfit complete with chaps. I wonder if he even knows what the chaps are for? Weidler was always a cut above most child actors of the time, being genuinely engaging and not participating in so much of the cornball sicky sweet stuff that child actors did during the early production code era.
Also note that in the opening scene Judge Hardy is sentencing a well-groomed young man - obviously not a hooligan - for acting precisely like a hooligan. That unapologetic young man is played by Tom Neal in his screen debut. Unfortunately, Neal's screen career was cut short for actually acting like a hooligan.
If you like the Andy Hardy series and like the characters you will like this entry.
