In the late 1940s, William Boyd (the real name for Hopalong Cassidy) made a brilliant deal. He bought the rights to all his films and edited them down in order to make a weekly TV show...one that brought tons of marketing money for Hoppy merchandise and kids of the day loved him. But what about the original unedited films? Well, Cassidy apparently kept them and these newly restored originals were recently posted to YouTube. "Call of the Prairie" is just one of many I have found on this site.
As I watched "Call of the Prairie", I felt very confused. Johnny (James Ellison) is a jerk...much more than his usual not exactly bright persona in the Hopalong Cassidy films. But if that wasn't enough, I was shocked when I saw familiar Gabby Hayes....who made many Hopalong Cassidy films...playing a villain, not the lovable coot Windy!!! In fact, it's been a long time since I ever saw Hayes play a baddie. Now I know he did in his earlier westerns...such as a few of John Wayne's B-westerns. But in those earlier westerns, he wore his teeth and played rather dapper villains. In other words, in these pictures, George Hayes isn't playing his Gabby (or Windy) persona at all. By 1936 he was a dependable lovable coot sidekick sort....and casting him as this villain was quite shocking in "Call of the Prairie"! I mean...it's hard to imagine that Gabby had gone bad!
The film begins as Hoppy arrives back at the ranch after selling his boss' stock. Now the boss has a lot of money and Johnny begs him for some. But Buck refuses, as Johnny has been gambling and hanging with jerks....and behaving like a jerk himself. After storming off, Johnny tells his ne'er do well friends about this...and they get him drunk and pump him for information. With this information, they try to rob Buck and end up beating him up in the process AND framing Johnny for it! Now everyone seems to think Johnny is more than a big dummy but also a crook! Naturally, it comes to Hoppy investigating and learning the truth.
I would imagine that many serial B-western fans would dislike "Call of the Prairie" because the trio of Boyd, Ellison and Hayes was familiar and beloved...but here the trio isn't exactly lovable. Hoppy is Hoppy, Johnny is even dumber and much more annoying than usual (he was often headstrong) and Windy (Gabby) is scum!! Of course, I could also imagine a few fans liking this as it prevented the films from all looking the same....and this certainly is a departure in style!
So is it any good in my opinion? Yes, though having Johnny behave this foolishly seems a bit limp. And, despite being a Hopalong Cassidy film, he's really just a secondary character...and Johnny is the lead. Having a weak character playing the lead isn't a great thing...especially because repeatedly Johnny make really foolish choices...even AFTER he realizes his new friends are all crooks. Not a great film but still enjoyable and worth seeing if you like old B-westerns. More Hoppy and less Johnny would have probably made for a better story.
By the way, in an interesting bit of casting, Chester Conklin was cast as a sheriff. Conklin originally gained fame by being in many Mack Sennett films...including his Keystone Kops.
And, finally, early in the film someone calls Hayes 'an old Sour Dough'. This term was used to denote that he was an old, experienced prospector...I looked it up, as I had no idea what it meant.
