Say, did you get a good look at the Trilling Gang during the opening of the story when all those newspaper headlines blared the gang's robberies? In between stories, the gang looked like it had over twenty riders! That's a lot of bad guys to divvy up the loot with. If I were Bud Trilling (Don Costello), I think I'd have cut a few of those guys loose.
The story starts out with a bank robbery in the town of Holbrook, with Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his pals Jimmy (Jimmy Rogers) and California (Andy Clyde) on hand as part of a Bar-20 cattle drive. Hoppy and a few of the town locals pull a move I don't think I've seen before - they block the exit out of town with a couple of wagons in the middle of the street. This made me wonder why the outlaws didn't turn around and go the other way, but just as well. They're put in the calaboose by Marshall Blane (Jack Rockwell), and Hoppy can return to the trail with his men.
Meanwhile, Bud Trilling himself remains incognito as a well dressed businessman, and hangs around to help spring his top henchman Bert Rogan (Francis McDonald) and the rest of his men out of jail by passing him a weapon. From there on in, it's a see-saw game of the baddies and the Bar-20 crew gaining the upper hand. Trilling even impersonates Cassidy by warning Sheriff Sam Newhall (Forrest Taylor) that Hoppy and his men intend to steal his cattle!
Well no need to tell you how this thing turns out. With the help of the sheriff's daughter (Eleanor Stewart), this time Hoppy's guys make a jailbreak and take it to the bad guys for a final showdown among the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine, California. It's a tribute to Hoppy's skill and ingenuity that after so many adventures, he's able to come out on top while all during the story, he spent a good deal of time with both hands tied behind his back.
The story starts out with a bank robbery in the town of Holbrook, with Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his pals Jimmy (Jimmy Rogers) and California (Andy Clyde) on hand as part of a Bar-20 cattle drive. Hoppy and a few of the town locals pull a move I don't think I've seen before - they block the exit out of town with a couple of wagons in the middle of the street. This made me wonder why the outlaws didn't turn around and go the other way, but just as well. They're put in the calaboose by Marshall Blane (Jack Rockwell), and Hoppy can return to the trail with his men.
Meanwhile, Bud Trilling himself remains incognito as a well dressed businessman, and hangs around to help spring his top henchman Bert Rogan (Francis McDonald) and the rest of his men out of jail by passing him a weapon. From there on in, it's a see-saw game of the baddies and the Bar-20 crew gaining the upper hand. Trilling even impersonates Cassidy by warning Sheriff Sam Newhall (Forrest Taylor) that Hoppy and his men intend to steal his cattle!
Well no need to tell you how this thing turns out. With the help of the sheriff's daughter (Eleanor Stewart), this time Hoppy's guys make a jailbreak and take it to the bad guys for a final showdown among the Alabama Hills of Lone Pine, California. It's a tribute to Hoppy's skill and ingenuity that after so many adventures, he's able to come out on top while all during the story, he spent a good deal of time with both hands tied behind his back.