Renegade Trail

The whole point of Renegade Trail is to prevent young Sonny Bupp from finding out his dad is not a dead war hero but a live escaped prisoner who has come to town looking for his wife Charlotte Wynters. Upon finding her he intends to rustle her cattle herd and leave her flat. Definitely Russell Hopton is one of the slimier villains ever to grace a Hopalong Cassidy feature.

Hopton might just have gotten away with it if Bill Boyd and Russell Hayden were not in town visiting their old pal Gabby Hayes who is now the town marshal. As it turns out Gabby has filled young Sonny Bupp's ears with tales of Hoppy's exploits so he already is a hero worshiper. Even if his dad were on the straight and narrow I doubt he could live up to Hoppy.

Anyway to see how this is all resolved is for you to watch this good Hoppy feature.

Fast but predictable Hopalong Cassidy flick lasts only 50-some minutes but of course pays off with some fistfights, gunfights, pretty girls in tight period costumes, and back clad hero Boyd, plus a foursome of singing cowboys. Standard Saturday morning fare for the ten years olds of yesteryear.

Gabby Hayes' last movie with the Hopalong Cassidy series is a good one. He has an unusual role (for him) as the Marshall of Cactus Springs, & is actually fairly effective as a Marshall! There's a strong plot, good character development, & Hoppy is often not on screen. The cast is strong, especially Russell Hopton as the main baddie. Good action shots of Gabby & William Boyd (separately) riding hard. Hoppy is in his black outfit all through the movie, always a good sign. The two songs don't slow things down too much, but the main weakness of this film is the overall lack of action, for example, Hoppy is in only one gunfight. Rated 3*.

Hoppy goes to town to help Marshal Windy with some rustlers and winds up helping the widow Joyce when confidence men try to take her herd. To complicate matters, one of the rustlers is her husband - she told her son that his father's dead instead of saying he's working on a chain gang - and Joyce doesn't want her son to know that he isn't a war hero as she told him.

There's a scene in this Hoppy entry where Hoppy and Lucky gift Gabby Hates with a gun belt and Gabby looks moved - the whole scene is sort of a poignant goodbye to the grizzly sidekick as this is his last appearance in a Hoppy western, and a fairly leisurely paced one. It has a gradual build-up, setting up the bad guys and their plans in the first twenty minutes before the gun smoke blooms. Well, not too much of it. It isn't packed with action (only a modicum amount) but has a good story and plot.

Fans looking for lots of Hoppy action may be disappointed. The usual cowboy hard-riding and fast-shooting really don't pick up til the end. Then it's crash-bang buckboard style along the great rocky slopes of the eastern Sierras, along with an impressive herd of groaning cattle. In the meantime, there's entertaining byplay between Hoppy, his pals, and little Sonny Bupp, but Fuzzy's not as wacky as usual since he plays the town Marshal, that's right, the town Marshal. Then too, there's actress Wynters who's more than just eye-relief for us guys. Instead she's an integral part of the plot and sees a lot of action-I hope she got paid double. To me the real downside was the plot, mainly Wynters' ex-husband (Hopton) who schemes to rustle her cattle and undo her as Bupp's mother. Maybe it's just me, but I really tried to connect those underwritten dots. Anyway, there's always Hoppy with his easy smile, hardy guffaw, and fast gun. So you might give the scenic flick a try.