Forty Thieves

"Forty Thieves" was the 54th and final Hopalong Cassidy series western produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman. It is nonetheless an above average entry in the long running series. It was directed by long time series director Lesley Selander. The production values remained high and the supporting cast was filled with a cast of veteran players.

Hoppy (William Boyd) is the sheriff who has driven out all of the bad elements from the town with the help of his trusty deputies California Carlson (Andy Clyde) and Jimmy Rogers (Jimmy Rogers). The film starts out with several hard ridin' chase sequences of Hoppy chasing down the baddies. One day an old nemesis Tad Hammond (Douglas Dumbrille) rides into town. It seems that Hoppy had been responsible for Hammond's recent imprisonment.

Hammond vows revenge. Since Hoppy is running for re-election as sheriff, Hammond plans to run his own candidate for the office with a little help from his friends. His candidate is the spineless gambler Jerry Doyle (Kirk Alyn). So Hammond calls in the forty thieves of the title to ensure that Doyle wins. The forty thieves include such "B" western veteran heavies as Glenn Strange, Hal Taliaferro, Bob Kortman and Jack Rockwell.

The heroine and love interest of Rogers is Katherine Reynolds (Louise Currie) the daughter of upstanding citizen Judge Reynolds (Robert Frazer).

Hammond fixes the election and Doyle is proclaimed sheriff. Hoppy then decides that it is time to clean up the town once more. He is aided by his former boss Buck Peters (Herbert Rawlinson) and the boys of the Bar 20. After a classic climatic gunfight justice prevails and California provides the standard "leave 'em laughing" ending.

This would be the last Cassidy feature for two years. Boyd would take over production of the series in 1946 and crank out a further 12 installments before moving on to TV in the early 50s.

Kirk Alyn (Doyle) is best remembered for playing Superman in two Columbia serials (1948 & 1950).

"Pop" Sherman could hold his head up high as he signed off from the series for the last time.

Douglass Dumbrille an outlaw who Hopalong Cassidy brought to justice once is out on parole and he's got himself a scheme to take out Hoppy as sheriff. He imports a gang of Forty Thieves to town and they run roughshod over the populace at election time. Believe it or not, the symbol of western law and order is defeated at the polls by Kirk Alyn who is a no good and weak gambler and is Dumbrille's stooge.

Of course these kind of crooked shenanigans might be good for the big city east and their political machines, but in the west they don't cotton to that sort of thing. In the end Hoppy with the help of sidekicks Jimmy Rogers and Andy Clyde get things righted and the real forces of law and order triumph.

With some of the commentary it makes Forty Thieves is one of the more interesting Hopalong Cassidy westerns made. The screenwriter Michael Wilson found himself blacklisted as a result of the HUAC hearings and I can see why some right wing yahoos might object to some of the content of this film.

I'd give it a look, it's quite interesting.

During the 1950s, the B-westerns of heroes like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy were hacked to pieces in order to fit them into a TV time slot. In some cases, these adulterated versions are the only ones we have left. Fortunately, William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy) was smart and kept original copies of his films. And, even more fortunately, these complete versions were posted to YouTube some time back....and they are in gorgeous condition and free to watch.

Douglass Dumbrille made a career out of playing bad guys and scum-bags. So when I saw that he was going to be in "Forty Thieves", I assumed that he'd be some evil boss who ultimately would get his comeuppance from Hoppy! This isn't much of a stretch.

When the story begins, Hoppy is running for re-election as sheriff. To his surprise, he sees an old enemy, Tad Hammond (Dumbrille) rides into town. Apparently, he's been paroled and as sheriff, Hoppy is now Hammond's parole officer! Well, neither Hoppy nor Hammond like this...and Hammond hatches a plan to get rid of Hoppy...at least as sheriff. This means convincing a weak boob to run...and Jerry Doyle is just such a boob! But to win the election, well, that takes a bit of trickery, as Hoppy is a popular guy and well liked by the good people of the town. So Hammond brings in a bunch of thugs to do whatever needs to be done to make sure Hopalong loses! What's next? See the film and find out for yourself.

Like all the Hopalong Cassidy films I've seen, this one features two sidekicks...usually one who is an old coot (Andy Clyde) and another who sings and does the romancing (Jimmy Rogers).

While the cheating in this film isn't exactly subtle, the film is clever and fun...like most Hopalong Cassidy films. Not among his best, but still enjoyable.

Set in Buffalo Buttes, the opening is exciting as the film starts with a gunfight on horseback. Hoppy starts off dressed all in black, which usually indicates a hit more than a miss, but then changes to a gentleman's outfit before changing back to black near the end. On the positive side, Earle Hodgins has a (too short) role as a drunk, California is in two real (not comic) fistfights, & gets beat up in both, & there are four gunfights. On the negative side, Jimmy Rogers appears as Hoppy's young sidekick & as always, he can't act (unless you consider "slouching" to be "acting"), is not handsome (as many of the young sidekicks were), & gets beat up in the one fist fight he engages in. Great scene: Hoppy puts guns in the holsters of the baddies, but they're afraid to use them; as Hoppy walks away from them, they shoot. Another great scene: a dozen men in a saloon advance at Hoppy all shooting; as he hides behind the bar, he shoots the lights out, then surprises them from the side of the bar. Despite these highlights, this was disappointing for Sherman's last Hoppy film. I rate it 5/10.

This episode of the series hits the ground running from the first scene as Hoppy cleans up the territory while newspaper proclaim this with banner headlines.

It's a shoe-in that Hoppy will be re-elected town sheriff, that is until parolee, Tad Hammond rides into town. Still smarting from been sent up the river by Hoppy years earlier, he vows revenge and with the help of the local gangs, he rigs the election. Saloon owner, Doyle is installed as puppet sheriff and the crooks think they've won. Up to the point where Hoppy gives them an ultimatum to leave town and gives the warning of what will happen if they don't in the summary above.

Hoppy has his black duds on and his steely gaze is full on too. Even California proves he isn't quite the bumbling comic relief when he saves Hoppy from a back-shooter. Sadly, Jimmy Rogers is useless and just gets tied up at any occasion.

Good action all the way through with a big shoot out at the finale and a classic fight on a swaying rope bridge above the river. All of which may be clichés now but still entertaining just the same.