weezeralfalfa Review of Borderland

Borderland (1937)

Hoppy masquerades as anti-Hoppy, to help outfox 'The Fox'

[6/10 · 16 January 2019]

This episode of Hopalong Cassidy will make Hoppy fans shudder in disbelief. Hoppy takes on a negative personality, not so different from that of the original Hopalong Cassidy, as described in various books written by Clarence Mulford. Here, Hoppy is nasty even to his long time friends, such as Johnny Nelson(James Ellison) and Windy Haliday(George Hayes), and even to sweet 6y.o. Molly(Charlene Wyatt), to whom he announces "I don't like kids". Only Major Stafford, of the Texas Rangers, and Colonel Gonzales, of the Mexican police, understand why Hoppy has changed so overnight. Of course, Hoppy was initially very reluctant to take on this role, but the Major was persistent that this seemed their best hope for capturing the notorious border bandit labelled 'The Fox' , and his gang. The Fox(Morris Ankrum), in turn, is masquerading as a moron who hangs around town, and is generally known as Loco. Presumably, he does so in hopes of picking up information on potential robbery jobs. When Hoppy first arrives in this border town of El Rio, Loco is shooting up the town, with little Molly on his back, to her mother's(Grace) fright. But, usually Loco just hangs out. .......Loco got wind of the timing of a gold shipment from a gold mine, via burros and Mexicans. He instructs his second in command : Tom Parker, to lead a raid on the burro train. Unfortunately, the Mexicans put up a stiffer defense than expected, and Parker only gets 4 of the 10 burros before retreating, with the loss of several men. When The Fox learns about their only partial victory, he is very disappointed, and shoots Parker dead, appointing Dandy Morgan to take his place........Eventually, The Fox and Morgan become interested in this dishonored gunslinger(Hoppy), and talk about some collaborations. Hoppy demands to be the head of a trail drive of stolen cattle to an appropriate buyer he claims to know. But this never comes about, due to other events...........Windy and Molly emerge from her mother's boarding house, and Molly again talks about her disappointment that Hoppy doesn't seem to like her. Windy suspects Hoppy is up to something in his new persona, but doesn't know what. He tells Molly that Hoppy is just pretending to be nasty, and will get over it eventually. Loco happens to overhear this, and concludes that Hoppy is putting on an act to worm his way into his gang. Loco lures Windy and Molly out of town, to his hideout, saying that Hoppy wants to meet them there. But when they arrive, The Fox emerges from Loco. Meanwhile, Hoppy is actually in town, learns about this journey, and takes off after them. There is a confrontation between Hoppy and The Fox outside his hideout. They strike a bargain. Hoppy will give up his guns, in exchange for the freedom of Windy and Molly, who are told to walk back to town. Inside the hideout, The Fox is about to shoot Hoppy, when Hoppy knocks his gun away and sticks up The Fox. But during this exchange, Hoppy is wounded in the leg, and is about to pass out from loss of blood. Fortunately, Johnny, whom Hoppy had earlier saved from a gunshot wound, arrives and takes over the guarding duty from Hoppy. Meanwhile, The Fox's gang, who were headed toward the hideout, are surprised by a platoon of Mexican police, whom Hoppy had instructed to take this trail,(I'm not sure whether this region is in US or Mexican territory). The two groups start a gun battle. We never learn the outcome, but are supposed to assume that the Mexicans won. The ending is too quickly truncated. Hoppy doesn't get a chance to show the authorities their capture of The Fox, and doesn't get a chance to greet Windy nor Molly in his normal way.........I will say that completely changing Hoppy's personality to make him an effective undercover agent doesn't sound very convincing, as The Fox was never completely satisfied that he wasn't bluffing. The periodic appearance of Molly serves to soften the otherwise serious business..........At 82 min., this was the longest running Hoppy film. It was also James Ellison's last film as Hoppy's young sidekick.