Review of Hopalong Cassidy Returns

On the surface, this western may seem just another story about a saloon owner who doubles as the brains of a local criminal empire. Indeed, in many ways, it resembles the screenplay of the previous offering in this series. But, in this story, the crooked saloon owner is a woman, and that creates interesting tensions with the newly arrived Hoppy. The woman is Lilli Marsh(Evelyn Brent), who typically wears very fancy dresses when in her saloon. Among the men who are associated with her, two stand out as having special status. Handsome, debonair, mustached Bob Claiborne, mostly is seen in her saloon, where he makes sure it runs smoothly. He's probably also her lover, as he is frequently seen in her upstairs sanctuary. Then, there is the dark, brooding Blackie(Morris Arkrum): her primary hatchet man. In the beginning, he's officially the usually drunk marshal, who heads a gang of badmen, who work in collaboration with Lilli. Presumably,(later confirmed), he orchestrated the murder of old gold miner Peg Leg Holden(Irving Bacon), at Lilli's command. Peg Leg unwisely came shooting up the town, to announce his gold strike. He already had his claim papers filled out, and was about to go to the county seat to register his claim. But, he shot off his mouth in the saloon the evening before, and was found dead the next morning, minus his claim papers. The very next day, news got around that Lilli's men had discovered a gold mine. A later assay determined that a sample from her mine matched the sample Peg Leg had left with the newspaper editor, in it's total chemical composition. According to Mary Saunders, daughter of editor Bob Saunders, Peg Leg wasn't the first local miner to mysteriously die soon after announcing his gold strike. Others had been swindled out of their claim or gold at the gambling table. ........After Peg Leg's death, the wheelchair-bound Saunders wrote a piece about the need to clean up the local criminal element. As a result, in a strange turn of events, Lilli suggested that he be made sheriff, to carry out his reform suggestions. He was duly elected by a mob, deposing Blackie, who didn't seem to care. A few days later, Saunders was lassoed along with his wheelchair, and dragged backwards along the main street, until his wheelchair slammed to a parked wagon. He suffered fatal injuries, and never knew who did this. The viewers know that Blackie was guilty, but, strangely, no one in the town saw the incident! Serendipitously, Hoppy, along with his younger brother, Buddy, arrived in town just as Saunders was dying. In a strange twist, soon after Saunders dies, we see Hoppy wearing his sheriff's badge. No election or appointment or proclamation. He just assumed Saunders now vacant office, and got away with it! ........Now, as to the tumultuous relationship between Hoppy and Lilli: As Hoppy was riding toward town, he spotted Lilli on her runaway horse, frightened by a rattlesnake. He managed to bring the horse to a halt, and Lilli was quite grateful. Later, she came to know that her savior was the noted Hopalong. Lilli's cohorts were nervous about her friendly attitude toward Hoppy. Eventually, their relationship would sour. To placate Hoppy, she offered to give him the job of supervisor of her mining operations. Of course, he turned it down. As he sauntered toward the door, she pulled out a pistol and aimed it at him. But, she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger, even though she knew that a dead Hoppy would probably save her criminal empire........Then , at the end of the film, when it was clear that Hoppy would soon succeed in exposing the local criminals, she was in her room with Blackie, who had sneaked back into town after being exiled by Hoppy. Looking out her window, Blackie spotted Hoppy coming down the sidewalk. As he aimed his pistol at Hoppy, Lilli ran to the window, and called Hoppy to look out. Blackie just missed him with a shot. She continued to push at him, as he continued to look for Hoppy. Blackie pushed her backwards, into the desk where she kept her pistol. She leveled her pistol toward Blackie, but he turned around and shot first. As he went over to check on her, Hoppy climbed up the outside to the balcony outside Blackie's window. With Blackie still standing over Lilli's body, Hoppy looked through the window and shot Blackie dead. He then checked out the mortally wounded Lilli. She said some regrets, then requested that he kiss her, which he did, with her last breaths. Should he have honored her request? - after all the deaths and other criminal acts she had a hand in? But then, she had probably saved his life in warning him of Blackie's intentions........See it at YouTube.