Border Patrol

A number of Hoppy films revolve around a mining background, they sure wanted to get their money's worth out of that particular mine setting! This time it's a crook who is using forced labour to run his mine.Hoppy tracks missing Mexican labourers to both the mine and town that is ruled by the elaborately named villain, Orestes Krebs.

Framed by Krebs as both judge, jury and executioner, Hoppy, California and Johnny are sentenced to hang. Initially suspected to be outlaws by the leading lady, Claudia Drake as Inez, (a common occurrence it seems for Hoppy and his companions), she does however see the light and helps the friends to clean up the whole crooked town.

A fairly lightweight entry in the series, with enough action and story to keep things bubbling to the end. Krebs makes a suitable evil schemer, who doesn't know when he's beaten and Hoppy gets plenty of opportunity to use his patented steely gaze at the proceedings.

Hoppy, California, & Johnny are all Texas Rangers (I guess they had very loose hiring criteria if California got in!). Hoppy's dressed in all black throughout the film (this is important to those of us who know that his black outfit signifies "he means business" & his rancher's & other outfits signify "he's only fooling around & trying to act like someone other than "Hoppy"). The setting is Silver Bullet, Texas, & no, The Lone Ranger is not in this movie, although practically everyone else is! George Reeves (Superman) is here; he plays a Mexican & is on screen for only a few moments. Duncan Renaldo (The Cisco Kid) is here, & has a nice role as a Mexican police commandant. Robert Mitchum plays his usual (for his early days in the westerns) baddie. Claudia Drake actually has a more significant role in the film than anyone other than Hoppy himself. There's good action (4 gunfights), good humorous situations, & overall it's quite nicely done, with good production values. I rate it 8/10.

More plot-heavy than most. The trio are Texas Rangers trying to bust up a silver mine operation that's luring Mexican illegals (sound familiar?) across the border. On the way, they have to get past a cantankerous Mexican senorita (Drake) and a petty tyrant—hanging judge (Simpson). Some good scenery, especially the roaring Kern River, long a favorite of these oaters. Clever action climax does a neat twist on the old circle-the-wagons maneuver. I also like the charming dinner scene with the Commandant (Renaldo) that's well scripted and nicely played.

There's also a couple of interesting lesser-knowns to add to the stars-of-the-future list (Mitchum, Reeves, Renaldo). Claudia Drake managed a shot at immortality by landing a key role in the noir cult classic Detour (1945). Here, she gives a spirited performance as the willful senorita that really over-shadows everyone else. However, perhaps most notable and surprising is the screenplay. It's credited to Michael Wilson who later penned such A-list classics as A Place in the Sun (1951), Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), and Lawrence of Arabia (1962), among others. A victim of the early-50's blacklist, several of these were written undercover, but have since been restored to his credit list. Here, the plot deals with such potential political themes as exploited workers, a company town, and a rich man making up his own laws. So, perhaps Wilson's participation is not so surprising after all.

Border Patrol finds Hopalong Cassidy together with sidekicks Andy Clyde and Jay Kirby serving as Texas Rangers guarding the Mexican. A dead Mexican national and Claudia Drake's idea that they shot the man riding the horse that the dead man was riding that she claims belonged to her sweetheart George Reeves. Even after presenting their Ranger credentials to the Mexican border cop Duncan Renaldo doesn't convince her.

But back they go across the border to an outlaw town where it's rumored a lot of Mexican laborers have gone to work. What they find is a town run by Judge Russell Simpson who makes Roy Bean look like Oliver Wendell Holmes. Fortunately for their sakes Claudia Drake has a change of mind about Hoppy and his sidekicks because Simpson doesn't recognize their status as Texas Rangers, his is the only law where he has jurisdiction.

This Hopalong Cassidy film is notable for two things, it is one of the films that featured Robert Mitchum down in the cast as one of Simpson's hired guns. The second is the performance of Russell Simpson who even as he's deadly serious about hanging Hoppy and the sidekicks still laces his 'rulings' and 'jurisprudence' with a little humor.

Definitely a must for Hopalong Cassidy and Robert Mitchum fans.

If you're a Jolly fan this is a very enjoyable film. It really needs to be restored and reblocked. It has big stars that give fine performances like Geroge Reeves and Robert Mitchum.