Pride of the West

Good scenic Hoppy. The middle part plays out mainly in town. The first and last, however, feature good hard riding among the rock spires and high Sierras of the Alabama Hills. The plot's fairly standard with a bad guy in town conspiring to prevent ranchers from paying their mortgages, which he'll then confiscate. It's a hardship that likely resonated with Depression era audiences. Good thing Hoppy, Windy (Hayes), and Lucky (Hayden) are there to help out. There's lots of shooting but hardly any falling; I guess some marksmanship lessons are needed. Catch the shoulder puffs on cutie Mary's dress that are big enough to swallow her arms. Too bad actress Field has only two credits; she was certainly talented enough to merit more. Anyhow, Hayes is a funny grouch, Hayden is a winning buddy , while Boyd is his usual entertaining hero. So fans like me should be happy.

(In passing-- the version I saw is clearly missing an opening sequence where Lucky gets wounded in a stage robbery. Apparently, when these features first appeared on TV, they were edited down to accommodate commercials, {IMDB}. Too bad. Hope yours is a complete version.)