In Old Colorado

I hate to complain. I actually like the Hoppy films a lot, mainly for William Boyd's appealing personality and acting, the good production values, and the fine outdoor location scenery. I'll make two complaints, though. One, I find the comic sidekicks (other than Gabby Hayes) grating. Here, California Carlson got on nerves with his never-ending chatter. Same goes for the double talk routine of the cook. The other thing that bothers me is the slender, chancy, coincidental thin reeds of the mystery-solving. In this movie, there are two main forces arrayed against each other, each accusing the other of rustling their cattle and other misdeeds. Hoppy, for some good reasons, thinks a third party is guilty. And he thinks, for no real good reason, a member of that party is an insider at Ma Woods ranch. Ma Woods had blabbed all over town that Cassidy was coming with money to buy her cattle so anyone could have heard of this. Then, the first night Cassidy spends at Ma's ranch, one of the bad guys happens to sneak out in the middle of the night, and Hoppy decides to follow him. To me it seems difficult to follow a horseman over wide open plains and not be detected. Likewise, to me it seems impossible for Hoppy and friend to scale a mountainous peak to subdue a lookout, and the lookout does not hear or see the guys. And so it goes.

The version of "In Old Colorado" that I watched was the recently restored version, not the chopped up for TV version made in the 1950s. Fortunately, most of the old Hopalong Cassidy films were restored and posted to YouTube recently...and they make dandy viewing.

When the story begins, two adjacent ranches are fighting over water. Well, this isn't an unusual topic for a B-western AND in most cases I've seen, an unseen third party is manipulating things for their own ends. Why and who...well that waits to be seen.

As for Hopalong and his friends, they weren't involved with this ruckus at first. But when one of the warring sides decides to just sell off their cattle, this means Cassidy and his two friends will be arriving soon with cash to buy them for the Bar 20. But because some evil piggy is trying to stir things up, Hoppy is jumped by several fellows and the money stolen! Now Hopalong and his pals have a stake in this mess...and they, of course, will investigate and punish the guilty...as usual.

"In Old Colorado" is a very good...but also very predictable movie. Part of it is because one of the baddies is someone you see early in the film and he ALWAYS plays baddies in the Hopalong Cassidy films!!

So which rancher should have watering hole priorities for his cattle herd on an open range. Should it be the rancher whose herd stays closest to the hole (Davidson) or those herds who simply need the water (Ma Woods). That's the main plot point, namely a struggle between those wanting an "open range" and those wanting a "closed" one. Also, note how the storyline finesses the problem. Then too, It's a tricky problem reflecting the modern issue of balancing private property with community needs.

Anyhow, it's a spectacular Hoppy western. Those scenic Alabama Hills with their jutting hard rock spires are beautifully photographed in color. No wonder the hour uses them as a backdrop for all the hard riding that may not always make plot sense, but with all the spectacle who cares. Then too, it's hard at first to make out who the bad guy is, an unusual aspect for a matinee oater, but stay tuned.

All in all, Hoppy and his sidekicks don't get their ususal screentime, having to compete with the heavy plot and scenic Hills, but still remain their entertaining selves, especially with Hoppy's occasional happy guffaw. However, don't let Andy hook you into betting which pod is hiding the hidden pea, even though he can't seem to get his goofy scam right.

Anyhow, be sure to catch what may be Hoppy's most scenic action flick. So ride-em, cowboy, into those wonderland Hills.

In Old Colorado finds Hopalong Cassidy along with Russell Hayden and Andy Clyde come up from Arizona on a cattle buying deal from the Bar 20. An old friend of Bar 20 foreman Buck Peters needs to sell her cattle because Sarah Padden and her granddaughter Margaret Hayes can't get them to water. They're locked in a bitter dispute with Stanley Andrews who owns the local Ponderosa and controls the water rights. And he ain't about to let no homesteaders have any. Homesteaders by his definition is late arrivals to the territory be they cattlemen or farmers.

Padden leads the homesteaders and she's in a bitter dispute with Andrews. But Morris Ankrum of her crowd is looking to get everyone killed and take over. It takes diplomacy to settle this one and Bill Boyd has plenty of both.

The romance department in the Hopalong Cassidy series was always left to the young sidekick. Russell Hayden gets a bit serious with Margaret Hayes who would go on to have a good career as usually a second string leading lady.

Hoppy fans will go for this one.

IN OLD Colorado has all the qualities and a few of the faults of this series, which brightened the lives of a generation of little boys (and a few girls). More than half a century later, nostalgia and recognition of the exactness of the approach both make this one rewarding.

To start with there's Boyd's painstakingly idealized lead, riding, shooting and attitudinizing. Some of Russel Harlan's most striking mountains photography backs the action, which includes a smallish herd of cattle getting pounds run off them in stampedes in swirling dust. Hayes proves one of the spunkiest of the heroines, actually filmed close to the action, as the herd sweeps by, and managing to take down the bad hat with a rifle shot. The best of the lead trios show up, with Clyde's California allowed to eliminate a look out with a comic routine, after being left holding the horses, and Heyden's Lucky backing off when one of those young women, who seem to prefer Hoppy, actually shows an interest in settling down with him. Bretherton, who did the first of the series, organises things efficiently. The balance between action and basic plot is just right and the comedy is even occasionally funny.

Against this is s certain simple mindedness. The cowboys sleep in full western gear. Hoppy manages to reconcile the Nesters and the Rancher and penetrate a dastardly plot with a couple of unconvincing lines of dialogue. Buck Jones and Tim Holt used to ride through something closer to the real world - but what the heck!