User Reviews

This is a pleasant Hoppy outing. Hoppy had to lead a trail drive by the dreaded Black Buttes, the scene of last year's mishap with rustlers, who roosted there. With a lot of lucky coincidences, Hoppy formulated his logical plan to trap the rustlers. Film helped by good scenery and action.

These are the highlights ***spoilers***:

The film stated with all the good guys pleasantly bantering at the Bar 20 ranch: Hoppy, Windy (Gabby Hayes), Lucky Nelson (Russell Hayden), ranch owner Buck Peters, Bucks niece Laura (Lucky's girlfriend) and Buck's young (about 12 years old) nephew Archibald "Artie." I liked the way Windy and Lucky razzed each other, but were supportive on important things. Laura noticed that Windy was drinking from a jug, a no-no against ranch rules if it was liquor, so she asked Lucky to examine it. He drank some and spited it out saying it was medicine. But he lied/acted to protect Windy.

As noted by another reviewer, it was amusing that when the "scientist" brother of Nora tried to impress Hoppy with a skull that was supposed to be the "missing link" between ancient and modern man, Hoppy proved that it was the skull of an outlaw killed by the Bar 20 boys. Hoppy strongly suspected the brother at that time so he amusingly said such a skull should be a warning to outlaws.

Hoppy had evidence that the gang leader was the brother of Nora, Hoppy's girlfriend. But he would not arrest him in her presence, as Hoppy tried (and succeeded) to keep her from ever learning of her brother's criminal life .

What Hoppy showed Nora was not too convincing to my eyes — PROOF that the Bar 20 brand was converted to triangle BB.

Neat the way Hoppy pretended to be shot to get a kiss on the lips from Nora, among other reasons for the pretense.

Throughout the movie Buck's nephew Artie was yearning to join the cattle drive, and he resented being called Archibald, which he considered a childish name. I liked the way he did join the trail drive and heroically rode for help at the end and was embraced by his always-loving sister who said, "We'll never call you Archibald again, Artie." I thought it unusual that the second-in-command bad guy, who was truly an outlaw, refused to shoot Hoppy in the back, as Hoppy was riding away, because he respected Cassidy too much not to shoot him in the front.

As it turned out, Hoppy, Windy and Lucky did not need help from the Bar 20 boys at the end. The three of them (especially in their little rock fort) seemed enough — they had already killed about half of the 7 or 8 rustlers by the time Buck showed up with the Bar 20 boys.

Personnel of the Bar 20 ranch were startled when a man showed up, riding in a buckboard, claiming he was a paleontologist, among other things, searching for the missing link between modern man and primitive man. Later, he claimed to have discovered that missing man right in this area. But Hoppy objected that it looked like the skull of a rustler shot a few years ago. To back up his diagnosis, he dumped out a bullet. Was the paleontologist embarrassed! It turned out he was the brother of Nora Blake(Nora Lane), who ran the neighboring spread, and had something going with Hoppy. The Professor(Harry Worth) actually had come to take a leading part in rustling some of the Bar 20 cattle which would soon be driven to a distant fort........This is not my favorite Hoppy film. As another reviewer wrote, it feels like it was slapped together in a hurry.........The Professor's trick to hopefully make a successful rustling outing was to climb up the top of Black Butte canyon, implant some dynamite sticks between the rocks, and light the fuses when the herd was coming through the canyon. Hopefully, the rock slide would panic them, resulting in a stampede. The rustlers, lead by Blackie(Jack Rutherford), would then pick off those cattle that ran away from the herd. Later, they would alter the Bar 20 brand to look like Nora's brand, which was a triangle followed by BB(for Black Butte). This didn't seem possible to me, as the 2 brands were quite different. In any case, why would they want to do this, unless they were working with her? ........Then, near the end, after shooting Blackie for failing to shoot Hoppy in the back, when he had a chance, The Professor caries a box of dynamite up the side of the canyon. What was he thinking? Anyway, the moribund Blackie gained a little energy, reached for his nearby gun, and fired a shot toward The Professor, half way up the slope. Low and behold, his bullet hit the box of dynamite. Bye, Bye, Professor!! Blackie then slumped back down, as if he were about dead........Billy King plays Artie, the half grown son of Buck Peters(Bill Dumar), manager of the Bar 20, who badly wants to go on the trail drive. But Hoppy and his sister,Laurie (Loise Wilde) nix that idea. However, as the drive begins, Buck relents and gives him a horse, on the condition he stay in the chuck wagon, with Windy. Well, that rock slide partly fell on the chuck wagon, knocking Artie out. He was carried to a nearby rock shelter and looked after. Eventually, he came to, and eventually jumped on his horse, and rode for the Bar 20, to tell them what happened. Buck led the staff as a posse to combat the rustlers. But, before they got there, Hoppy, Lucky, and Windy had dug into that rock 'fortress' and killed several rustlers who foolishly rode right toward them.......At the ending, Hoppy, Lucky, and Windy are moseying along toward the setting sun, as if they are going somewhere else. They are at their home base, so perhaps they are going in search of another problem to solve? ..........As in many of Hoppy's films, the action took place in or near the famous unique Alabama Hills, at the foot of the High Sierras........See it at YouTube.

Copyright 20 August 1937 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. Presented by Adolph Zukor. New York opening at the Central (on a double bill with Dynamite Delaney): 21 January 1938. U.S. release: 30 September 1937. Australian release: 3 February 1938. 5,806 feet. 64 minutes.

NOTES: Selander's first film for Harry Sherman.

COMMENT: The credits for this film contain two atrocious mis-spellings. The screenplay is credited to a gent styled Norman Houster (who is, of course, Norman Houston) and the film is said to be based on a Clarence E. Mulford story entitled "Black Butter"! The correct title is, of course, Black Buttes.

The same sloppiness, alas, is evident in the movie itself. It looks like it was rushed through in a mad hurry, with little care or preparation. Despite the publicity's department's rhapsodies on the support players, I found them stolidly uninteresting.

Action was sadly wanting too. Just about all the film has to offer both fan and connoisseur is Russell Harlan's fine location cinematography.