User Reviews

I've always thought Victor Jory was effective playing both hero and villain roles. In this one he gets to do both, as head of the local vigilante committee and as town boss of an outlaw bunch robbing the shipments of local silver mines. One thing you have to be wary of with these oaters of the era, is that the term 'vigilante' was used to describe informal groups of law abiding citizens against bands of outlaws. Today we think of vigilantes as being the bad guys, but it wasn't always so.

Hopalong Cassidy's (William Boyd) sidekick Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden) was always on the lookout for a pretty gal, and he was here too, but the kicker has Helen Forbes' (Frances Gifford) Aunt Jen (Ethel Wales) casting her eye in California Carlson's (Andy Clyde) direction. That sets up a few humorous situations for California, who parlays his double takes to good effect.

There was an interesting scene in the film I hadn't seen before in a B Western. A couple of bad guys driving separate buckboards get into a tiff when they run into each other, and start a fight in the middle of the street. It turns out to be a diversion so the rest of Henry Logan's (Jory) gang can rob a silver shipment. Hoppy and Lucky foil the robbery as Lucky retrieves the silver, throwing a mini-panic into some of the bad guys.

I have to agree with prior reviewers for the movie who state the plot's a little hard to follow, and some of the muffled dialog doesn't help any. It was also a bit distracting to see the normally cast Tom Tyler as Logan's main henchman Yager instead of a good guy. But like Victor Jory, guys like Tyler and Kermit Maynard (not in this film) could go both ways. As could Morris Ankrum, who in this story was the father of Helen Forbes, and was the one who called on Hoppy to investigate the silver thefts in the first place.

The finale involves your standard shoot 'em up showdown between Logan's bunch and Hoppy's team, accentuated by that highly improbable machine gun ratcheting sound of a handful of bullets Hoppy threw in the outlaw's campfire. With Logan's men put away, it doesn't take long for the good guys to head off into the sunset, led by California high tailin' it before he could be talked into a marital showdown of his own.

Enjoyable Hoppy movie, not the best, but OK enough.

Some nitpicking comments: I found it excruciating to see that woman pursuing California Carlson. Gabby Hayes is usually great. The other old sidekicks become wearing much of the time.

I didn't count, but Hoppy must have shot dead over a dozen bad guys. Kind of bloody. The attempt to hang Lucky was also on the violent side. In one poorly staged scene, three bad guys have their guns pointed at Hoppy, but he draws and shoots them all!

**Spoilers.*** Most important, I found the story line about switching the silver and the routes very confusing and improbable. It was never explained, to my satisfaction anyway. When they loaded the wagon, Lucky says "That's enough of the real silver." No explanation given, no mention of fake silver. Then when it looks like the bad guys made off with the silver after a switch, it turns out Carlson by stupid bungling, only loaded fake silver! Then towards the end, Hoppy somehow manages to deliver notes to the bad guys (to make it look like betrayal) signed —would you believe it?— "one of the boys".

I love the Hopalong Cassidy B-westerns. They tend to have little singing, great action and very good acting...placing them to an almost A-movie level. But one problem I do have with the 60+ Cassidy films I've seen is that they are often very predictable. So, if you see Glenn Strange or Victor Jory in the movie, you KNOW that they are evil...so there's little in the way of suspense. However, "Border Vigilantes" turns this upside down. Sure, Victor Jory once again plays a villain...but Morris Ankrum nearly always played a baddie but is on the side of good in this one. But even more surprising is seeing Britt Wood playing a villain!!! This is because for several installments, Wood played Hoppy's sidekick, Speedy! I really appreciate this...as it made this installment less formulaic than usual.

The plot to "Border Vigilantes" is odd. In this case, the vigilantes are the GOOD guys...a citizen's militia out to curtail lawlessness. But usually we think of vigilanteeism as a bad thing...and here it's considered a moral choice! But the vigilante organization isn't making much progress against the lawbreakers and the leader of the vigilante group (Ankrum) has decided to call in Hopalong Cassidy for help. But the leader of the gang decides to deal with Hoppy proactively...by shooting him as he nears town. He also has one of his toadies shoot the leader of the vigilantes...though he's only injured. What is this baddie going to do next? He'll play a case of 'divide and conquer'....with mixed results.

Because of the odd casting, I liked this one very much. Plus the action was quite nice. Overall, one of the better Cassidy pictures...well worth your time.

This enjoyable film was vintage William 'Hopalong Cassidy' Boyd. This film was produced at the height of Boyd's energies and vigor. He shows us many action packed stunts, great cowhand characterizations, and some memorable fast draw gun handling. The supporting cast is full of memorable character actors of the war years. Andy Clyde as sidekick 'Californian Carlson' will be recognized from his many early comedy shorts acting with the likes of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. This Hopalong Cassidy has an edginess that comes directly from the author of the Hopalong Cassidy book series. This edginess adds greatly to the plot suspense and drama of this film that latter 'Hopy' films tend to lose. Which is a shame. This film is a gem and very watchable for giving us a slice of movie production during the war years. And enjoying Boyd during the time of his powerful screen presence that started a cowboy memorabilia craze.