Like most of the Hopalong Cassidy westerns, "The Showdown" is posted on YouTube AND it's fully restored to its original length and the print is pristine. This is important because many of the other B-western stars had their films cut down to television time slot length...but with the Cassidy films, William Boyd kept original copies...so these are NOT trimmed and look much like they did when they were first shown in theaters.
When the story begins, Speedy (Britt Wood) is preparing a speech when he meets Baron Bender on the train. The Baron is in town to talk to the Colonel about buying some of his horses...but the Baron is a fraud. He's no baron and he plans on stealing the Colonel's prize racing horses! Now everyone SHOULD have known this as Morris Ankrum plays this character...and he ALWAYS played bad buy in the many Hopalong Cassidy films in which he appeared. In fact, it would have been very funny had Hoppy said something to this effect! Instead, the normally cautious Cassidy spots that the Baron is a fraud when he marks some money....and finds it later in the Baron's possession after Hoppy is robbed! And, surprisingly, the Baron isn't the only one who is committing fraud...which leads to a second and unrelated plot.
This is an interesting film because Hoppy was such a 'perfect' cowboy. He never drank alcohol, nor smoked, nor seriously chased women and he never gambled...or almost never gambled. In this one, he plays Poker with the Baron. It is important to the plot....just a bit unexpected since Cassidy was usually so squeaky clean.
So is it any good? Yes. I am not as fond at seeing Britt Wood playing the third sidekick as Gabby Hayes ('Windy') or Andy Clyde ('California')...his Speedy just wasn't quite an interesting character by comparison...which is probably why he appeared in far fewer films than the other two. But I could look past this since the rest of the movie was quite good...though Lucky's actions late in the film are pretty nonsensical.
By the way, among the supporting actors in the film are Kermit Maynard and Eddie Dean...both who both were minor B-movie stars themselves when they weren't playing various characters in other stars' films. Dean plays the Sheriff and Maynard plays Johnson...one of the Baron's henchmen. Finally, Jan Clayton played Lucky's love interest...and in real life she and Russell Hayden were actually married at the time.
When the story begins, Speedy (Britt Wood) is preparing a speech when he meets Baron Bender on the train. The Baron is in town to talk to the Colonel about buying some of his horses...but the Baron is a fraud. He's no baron and he plans on stealing the Colonel's prize racing horses! Now everyone SHOULD have known this as Morris Ankrum plays this character...and he ALWAYS played bad buy in the many Hopalong Cassidy films in which he appeared. In fact, it would have been very funny had Hoppy said something to this effect! Instead, the normally cautious Cassidy spots that the Baron is a fraud when he marks some money....and finds it later in the Baron's possession after Hoppy is robbed! And, surprisingly, the Baron isn't the only one who is committing fraud...which leads to a second and unrelated plot.
This is an interesting film because Hoppy was such a 'perfect' cowboy. He never drank alcohol, nor smoked, nor seriously chased women and he never gambled...or almost never gambled. In this one, he plays Poker with the Baron. It is important to the plot....just a bit unexpected since Cassidy was usually so squeaky clean.
So is it any good? Yes. I am not as fond at seeing Britt Wood playing the third sidekick as Gabby Hayes ('Windy') or Andy Clyde ('California')...his Speedy just wasn't quite an interesting character by comparison...which is probably why he appeared in far fewer films than the other two. But I could look past this since the rest of the movie was quite good...though Lucky's actions late in the film are pretty nonsensical.
By the way, among the supporting actors in the film are Kermit Maynard and Eddie Dean...both who both were minor B-movie stars themselves when they weren't playing various characters in other stars' films. Dean plays the Sheriff and Maynard plays Johnson...one of the Baron's henchmen. Finally, Jan Clayton played Lucky's love interest...and in real life she and Russell Hayden were actually married at the time.