After catching a handful of Hoppy films over the last couple of weeks I'm beginning to rely on his stories to introduce elements I haven't seen before in a Western. For example in this one, Cassidy takes part in a rigged card game against a character calling himself the Baron (Morris Ankrum), and discards an Ace while holding three others in a hand he's dealt. Figuring the Baron is setting him up to lose against a straight flush, Hoppy winds up with the nine and ten of spades that the Baron would have been dealt if Hoppy stayed fast. It was a clever ruse to put one over on the outlaw, and fortunately, I didn't need to have it explained a couple of times like Cassidy's sidekick Speedy (Britt Wood) did.
From there, Hoppy's winnings are stolen by the Baron's henchmen, and wouldn't you know it, the bills show up later when the Baron shows up to put a down payment on some race horses he's buying, but Hoppy marked the bills so he has him dead to rights. In fact he told Speedy - "You know, I have a hunch that money's comin' right back to us". You might think Cassidy wrote the script here.
The business with Colonel Rufe White (Wright Kramer) was a puzzler though. He bilked his niece Sue Willard (Jan Clayton) out of her mother's inheritance, but was one of Hoppy's pals who was on hand to make sure he wasn't swindled by the Baron. He takes a heart attack midway through as a convenient way for Sue to get her ranch back, but it didn't seem to me she even knew about it. Very strange.
Say, keep an eye out for a sign above the bar in the Silver Dollar Saloon - 'No Liquors Served to Minors or Indians'! Better yet, keep an eye on that tricked out hay wagon the Baron had fixed up to make off with the race horses! You have to give these guys credit for creativity!
Well this time Hoppy's pal Lucky (Russell Hayden) gets the girl even though he had to pout his way through the story to do so. Hoppy's such an understanding guy he just knows things will work out in the end. Also on hand were The King's Men as singing cowhands, but this time out they didn't earn their pay - they didn't sing!
From there, Hoppy's winnings are stolen by the Baron's henchmen, and wouldn't you know it, the bills show up later when the Baron shows up to put a down payment on some race horses he's buying, but Hoppy marked the bills so he has him dead to rights. In fact he told Speedy - "You know, I have a hunch that money's comin' right back to us". You might think Cassidy wrote the script here.
The business with Colonel Rufe White (Wright Kramer) was a puzzler though. He bilked his niece Sue Willard (Jan Clayton) out of her mother's inheritance, but was one of Hoppy's pals who was on hand to make sure he wasn't swindled by the Baron. He takes a heart attack midway through as a convenient way for Sue to get her ranch back, but it didn't seem to me she even knew about it. Very strange.
Say, keep an eye out for a sign above the bar in the Silver Dollar Saloon - 'No Liquors Served to Minors or Indians'! Better yet, keep an eye on that tricked out hay wagon the Baron had fixed up to make off with the race horses! You have to give these guys credit for creativity!
Well this time Hoppy's pal Lucky (Russell Hayden) gets the girl even though he had to pout his way through the story to do so. Hoppy's such an understanding guy he just knows things will work out in the end. Also on hand were The King's Men as singing cowhands, but this time out they didn't earn their pay - they didn't sing!