User Reviews

"Pride of the West" is another of those misleading "B" Western titles. I don't know who or what is the pride of the west in this story. What's more The Bar 20 or Hoppy's boss Buck Peters are never mentioned. Lucky and Windy are living in an unnamed town with Windy having a shack of his own. I thought they all worked and lived on the Bar 20. Hoppy eventually appears at a cattle drive miles away from his partners. Go figure.

Anyway, on to the plot. Lucky (Russell Hayden) and Windy (George Hayes) were driving the stagecoach carrying $30K requested by banker Caldwell (Kenneth Harlem) when they are held up by Saunders (Glenn Strange) and his men with Lucky getting wounded. Caldwell and realtor Nixon (James Craig) are in league trying to gain control of the six ranches over which Nixon holds the mortgages (which are coming due). The $30K was supposed to be loaned by Caldwell's bank to pay off the mortgages.

Back in town Sheriff Tom Martin (Earle Hodgins) is facing criticism over his handling of the holdup from Caldwell and Nixon. Martin's daughter Mary (Charlotte Field and son Dick (Billy King - who packs a real six shooter at the age of 11 or 12) go to find Hoppy (William Boyd) who is on a cattle drive miles away. Mary and Dick stumble onto Saunders hideout where he has stashed the holdup loot for Nixon and Caldwell.He drives them off but they inform Hoppy. Hoppy and Rick return to the cabin and Rick tricks Saunders into comoing out side while Hoppy sneaks in and marks the bags carrying the loot.

Hoppy arranges for the sheriff and posse to leave town and await his signal. Meanwhile, thinking the coast ois clear, Nixon has Saunders and his men bring the loot to town. At Hoppy's urging, Windy and Lucky stage a holdup of Nixon's office, making off with the money. Windy and Lucky are hold up ion Windy's cabin and word gets back to Nixon and Caldwell and they round up their gang and ride off to attack Windy and Lucky. Hoppy in the meantime, has been delayed by Nixon at a lunch bar and tied up. After being released by Dick, he rides to alert the posse and ride to Windy and Lucky's rescue and...................................................................

There seemed to be a smaller than usual budget for this entry in the series. The usual end of story gunfight is there but the change in the storyline from previous films in the series is a little baffling.

One of the weaker entries in the series.

This Hopalong Cassiday film is ultimately about the stagecoach robbery of $30,000, in gold coins, destined for the town bank, owned by Caldwell, and earmarked to lend to some financially strapped ranchers, so they don't lose their ranches. Caldwell and his business partner, land agent Nixon, hope this money doesn't reach the ranchers, whose mortgages they hold...........Unfortunately, there are a number of key features of the screenplay that make no sense to me. During the stage holdup, Hoppy's pals Windy and Lucky, were the driver and shotgun, respectively. Lucky happened to get shot in the right arm and wears a sling all though the film. Besides these 2, supposedly, the only ones knowing about the gold shipment were Caldwell and the sheriff. Caldwell immediately calls for a detective to check on the sheriff's possible involvement. He gets nowhere, as this is a false lead. In fact, ultimately, it's discovered that Caldwell and Nixon were the powers behind the heist. At the end of the film, when the money has been recovered, and the outlaws put in jail, the disposition of the money isn't considered. Since Caldwell ordered the money, I supposed the money should go to him, since he owns the bank! Of course, ultimately, it's hoped that it will go to the financially stressed ranchers..........Before this, there is a strange incident: Hoppy, Lucky, and Windy conspire to steal the money, which Caldwell and Nixon are just then putting in the bank safe, it having been just transferred from a shack out of town to the pair. Windy and Lucky barge in on the pair through the bank back door, and stick them up. Hoppy stays outside, under the open window. Windy carries the 6 money sacks to the window, one by one, and Hoppy sets them on the ground. At the conclusion, Windy and Lucky run for their horses, running right by the sacks. After firing warning shots at Caldwell and Nixon, to keep them in the building for a while, Hoppy runs back to the restaurant where he had been sipping coffee, ignoring the money sacks. Eventually, Caldwell and Nixon emerge and run right by the money sacks, intent on catching Lucky and Windy, who are off to Windy's cabin. out of town. Soon, Caldwell and Nixon's gang are assembled to chase after Windy and Lucky, as if they have the money. Just what happens to the money between this time and the ending, when it appears in the sheriff's office, is unclear! ........Before this incident, Hoppy sneaks up on the shack where the money is being hidden until it's deemed safe to transfer it to the bank. There are 2 guards who are distracted by the teenager Dick who is watering his horse at the nearby stream. While they are outside checking on Dick, Hoppy slips in the window and marks the bags, then slips out, and rides away without them knowing he was there. This marking of the bags is never used in the film, thus this seems a fruitless exercise. Why didn't Hoppy instead stick up the guards, make them transfer the money sacks to his saddlebags, then escort them to the sheriff? There, they could have told who was behind the robbery. Of course, then, the film would have been considerably shortened!.........At the end of the film, Hoppy goes sauntering off, presumably back to his cattle tending, while Lucky and Windy wave goodbye, presumably returning to their stagecoach jobs.

CAST: William Boyd, George Hayes, Russell Hayden, Charlotte Field, Earle Hodgins, Billy King, Kenneth Harlan, Glenn Strange, James Craig, Bruce Mitchell, Willie Fung, George Morrell. 55 minutes. (An excellent Platinum Disc DVD).

COMMENT: For this one, Paramount has come right out and told us: "Based on characters created by Clarence E. Mulford." This is the formula used on all subsequent entries, unless otherwise noted.

Probably the shortest of all the Hoppies, this one runs only 55 minutes. Typically, all the action is saved for the last reel. Nate Watt, who directed six earlier entries, wrote the screenplay, while Lesley Selander held the megaphone here, assisted by Derwin Abrahams and Theodore Joos.

The production is certainly polished, but excruciatingly dull. Even Russell Harlan's photography fails to generate much excitement, even though a title card bravely informs us: "Filmed at Lone Pine, California, in the majestic shadow of Mt. Whitney."

This has to be one of the worst and most unusual Hoppy movies. It has little of the features that make the Hoppy films a great Western series, like William Boyd's warm, commanding personality and the idiosyncrasies of the other characters. Instead we had to suffer through one long, tedious, convoluted, unbelievable "caper" — Hoppy's plan to incriminate and identify the bosses of the stage robbers.

Spoilers. The stage is robbed, and only a few people knew that it was carrying $30,000 in gold coins. One person who knew is the sheriff, a friend of Hoppy, and the sheriff comes under suspicion. That begins the first of the unbelievable coincidences. The sheriff's children ride to get Hoppy's help, and on the way happened to come across a usually deserted shack that some men are staying at. They mention this to Hoppy, who presciently decides to investigate the shack, and he immediately overhears the men discussing the stage robbery and their taking $800 from the money bags for their immediate needs. Instead of arresting the men, taking possession of the money and forcing the men to identify their bosses, Hoppy leaves everything as is in the hopes of smoking out the bosses. In doing so, the kids and Hoppy's sidekicks get endangered. Finally, when everyone and the money is brought together at the jail-house, Hoppy explains that two of the men still happen to have the $800 on them (lucky Hoppy). (Incidentally, I could never understand what was the use of Hoppy marking the money bags at the shack.)