Hoppy Serves a Writ

Sheriff Hoppy has to find a way to bring the bad guys, headed by Tom Jordan, to justice in the Lone Star state. The problem is that they are hiding out beyond his jurisdiction, in Oklahoma.

Sufficiently entertaining Hoppy western that is sparse in action but has some good chase sequences and a good pace, plus the cast - Victor Jory, Robert Mitchum, Earl Hodgkins, George Reeves and of course our three protagonists- make this watchable. Watch out for that rough and tumble fight between Boyd and Jory in the saloon -one real wild fight.

I find this an excellent departure from the usual Hoppy routine. The dialog when Hoppy is checking into the hotel is worth the price of admission. Maybe it's just me but I find it side splitting, and a tad more adult than you'd expect from either a Hoppy movie or any movie made in 1943. William Boyd's personality is as winning as ever. Seeing Robert Mitchum's first film appearance is a hoot and George Reeves inclusion is welcome, as always. Both Mitchum and Reeves would be regulars in the Hoppy films for several years, alternating between the bad guy and the good guy. That's all I've got to say on this subject. I have to add some lines to get this to be accepted by IMDb.

The 26 year old Robert Mitchum made his screen debut in this film. I'm not too sure how good an actor he really is because he always seems to sound the same. The true test is when you compare him acting as an antagonist as opposed to a protagonist. He's a better protagonist because he's the consistent broad shouldered, tall American.

Everybody mentions Robert Mitchum in this movie, but if you coughed at the right time, you miss his entire dialog. George Reeves had the meatier part and looked Superman-ish in it. Victor Jory was a well known actor who did a lot more than cowboy baddies. Two others stood out for me. One was Earl Hudgins, the barkeep, a solid character actor who had a long list of movie credits, usually as some kind of con artist. The other was Roy Barcroft, a competent heavy in many TV cowboy shows of the 50s. In this, he had a minor part as a rancher with a complaint. There was plenty of action in this Hoppy flick if you count all the endless horse riding and the several long gunfights. The one nothing part was the lone female who gave up acting after this, her first and last job in Hollywood.

"Hoppy Serves a Writ" is an interesting Hopalong Cassidy film because of its cast. Victor Jory, George Reeves and Robert Mitchum all star as members of a gang of crooks...though, sadly, Mitchum (in his first film) has barely a line of dialog.

This version of "Hoppy Serves a Writ" is a nice because it's 65 minutes and isn't one of those chopped down to about 54 minutes back in the 1950s. This was done to allow the film to be shown in a one hour time slot back in the day. But apparently, the excised portions of Hopalong Cassidy's films were saved and were recently restored. These nice restored prints recently showed up on YouTube...and are well worth seeing. Unlike many B cowboys, Cassidy is no pretty boy nor is her a singer...just a hard-fighting do-gooer.

The film begins with a stage coach being robbed in Texas. However, the baddies run off to the Oklahoma Territory...out of the jurisdiction of Texas authorities. So, Hoppy and his sidekicks, Johnny and California, head there and go undercover. They need to find the loot and the crooks that stole it...but it doesn't look very easy in this lawless land.

This is pretty much a standard sort of Hopalong Cassidy film...well made and enjoyable.

By the way, in one scene Hoppy has a brutal fight with Tom Jordan (Victor Jory). In real life, Jory probably would have won that one as he used to be the champion wrestler and boxer in the Coast Guard.