Hop-a-Long Cassidy *** (1935, William Boyd, James Ellison, Paula Stone) – Classic Movie Review 11,030

‘Tough luck for cattle rustling hombres when these three bronco busting buckaroos get after them… a yarn with a kick like a loco steer…’

Director Howard Bretherton’s 1935 B-Western double feature film Hop-a-Long Cassidy [Hopalong Cassidy Enters] stars William Boyd, along with George ‘Gabby’ Hayes, James Ellison, Paula Stone, Robert Warwick and Charles Middleton. In 1935, Boyd was offered the supporting role of Red Connors in Hop-a-Long Cassidy but he asked to be considered for the title role and won it, a role originally offered to James Gleason.

Clarence E Mulford’s goodie-goodie cowboy Hopalong Cassidy provided actor William Boyd (1895-1972) with an incredible 66 movies – the cinema’s longest series of feature films. The first 41 were made for Paramount under producer Harry Sherman, who in 1942 moved over to United Artists for the remainder of 13 movies, followed by 12 more produced by William Boyd for United Artists from 1946 to 1948.

In the first film, made in 1935, the character was called Hop-a-Long, but the hyphens were dropped thereafter. The film that started the series is a minor Western boosted by a star-making performance from Boyd as Clarence E Mulford’s hot-tempered but good-hearted hero who is mixed up with impetuous kid Johnny Nelson (James Ellison). George ‘Gabby’ Hayes provides the dubious comic relief as Hoppy’s pardner, Uncle Ben, in a low-violence, family-oriented Western with a message.

The screenplay by Doris Schroeder and Harrison Jacobs is based on the 1912 novel Hopalong Cassidy by Clarence E Mulford, in which the ranch foreman Pecos Jack (Kenneth Thompson) tries to start a range war by playing two cattlemen – Buck Peters of the Bar-20 (Charles Middleton) and Jim Meeker (Robert Warwick) – against each other while helping a gang to rustle their cattle.

After the films ended in 1948, Boyd took the character to TV for 52 episodes running between 1949 and 1951.

The clean-living Hoppy cowboy hero movie character didn’t smoke, swear, drink alcohol (his drink of choice is sarsaparilla) or like to shoot people, and always let the bad guy start the fight, so perhaps it is a surprise he was so popular. Mulford’s original character was a hard-drinking, rough-living red-headed wrangler.

Cassidy’s name is Bill Cassidy but, after having been shot in an earlier gunfight and his leg is wounded, he tells Uncle Ben he can ‘hop along’ with the help of a stick, and it sticks as a nickname.

Also in the cast are James Ellison, Paula Stone, Kenneth Thompson, Willie Fung, Frank McGlynn Jr, Ted Adams, Franklin Farnum, John Merton and Wally West.

Hop-a-Long Cassidy [reissued as Hopalong Cassidy Enters] is directed by Howard Bretherton, runs 60 minutes or 54 minutes (edited for TV), is made by Harry Sherman Productions, is released by Paramount, is written by Doris Schroeder (screenplay) and Harrison Jacobs (additional dialogue), is shot in black and white by Archie Stout, is produced by Harry Sherman, and is scored by Sam H Stept and Dave Franklin.

It is shot in Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, and Red Rock Canyon State Park, Highway 14, Cantil, California.

It is followed by The Eagle’s Brood (1935).

Boyd bought the rights to sell to syndicated television beginning in 1948. Each feature was re-edited to 54 minutes so as to fit into a 60-minute time slot, with six minutes for commercials. Finally, 50 years later that, with the cooperation of Boyd’s fifth wife, the actress Grace Bradley Boyd, they were restored to their original length, along with their opening and closing credits.

Boyd died on September 12, 1972, aged 77, from complications related to Parkinson’s disease and congestive heart failure.

Grace Bradley Boyd died on September 21, 2010 on her 97th birthday.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,030

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