JohnHowardReid A Paramount Picture, relased 23 May 1941. Director: Lesley Selander. Players include William Boyd, Russell Hayden, Andy Clyde, Eleanor Stewart, Morris Ankrum, William Haade, Dennis Moore, Henry Hall, Britt Wood. 69 minutes. (Available on an excellent Platinum Disc DVD). This one starts off with a bang, but unfortunately that initial promise is slowly whittled away when Hoppy and his comrades make their belated entrance. True, it still has its moments (thanks mostly to villainous Morris Ankrum and the lovely Eleanor Stewart), and its real locations are superbly photographed. Unfortunately scriptwriters Ethel La Blanche and J. Benton Cheney obviously decided to pander to the Saturday matinee audience by making our genial Hoppy helpful enough, but rather slow on the uptake. A ten-year-old could work out the clue to the gold mine right from the very moment it's presented. On the other hand, it takes the slow-witted Hoppy almost the entire movie - and even then he achieves the solution only by accident. Naturally, Russell Hayden is too bewitched by Eleanor to be of much help (we don't blame him!), while garrulous Andy Clyde of course is both too stupid and too self-absorbed.

chipe To me this was one of the worst, most disappointing Hoppy films. Andy Clyde's never ending comic dialog was childish, unfunny and excruciating. There was hardly any action in the film, save a shoot-out at the cabin near the start of the movie.The plot was also a big nothing: at the end of the film, bad guy Morris Ankrum gets angry when the heroine won't sell her mine to him. He starts to manhandle her, and Hoppy rescues her. That's it! Not much of a crime to jail him for.The only fairly interesting and clever thing in the movie was the mysterious clue left behind by the killed miner ("eagle will show way to mine at sundown") and Hoppy's unraveling of it.As one reviewer pointed out, the title "Pirates on Horseback" has nothing to do with the movie. It also implies action which the film sorely lacks. The bad guy is merely a crooked gambler and conman, some pirate on horseback!

classicsoncall By the time this Hopalong Cassidy film came out, Britt Wood had already appeared in a few of them as Speedy McGuiness, one of Hoppy's sidekicks along with Russell Hayden as Lucky Jenkins. There was "The Showdown" and "Stagecoach War", both from 1940, so it was interesting to see him show up here as an unrelated character, only to have him take a bullet at the hands of the outlaws after being a bit too loose lipped about discovering a gold mine. That was kind of curious actually, because it was referred to as the mythical El Dorado Mine that no one knew the location of, but later when California (Andy Clyde) mentions he found some nuggets, there's a virtual stampede to the exact location. All for naught though, the 'Golden Nuggets' were a brand of giant mushrooms!Well never let it be said that these old time oaters had to make any sense. Another case in point would have been California's claim that he was Ben Pendleton's (Wood) forty-second cousin. How do you go about figuring that out? All in good fun though, as Andy Clyde had this believable quality about him even when he was making it up as he went.Another frequent player in Hoppy's films was the villain of the piece here, Morris Ankrum as Hawkeye Bar owner and Rim Rock town boss Ace Gibson. Normally creepy enough as an outlaw, as another reviewer points out, he outdoes himself as a potential suitor for Pendleton's legitimate heir, niece Trudy (Eleanor Stewart). He's so dastardly that for a brief time, he's got Hoppy and the boys on the outs with the heroine. It doesn't last long however, especially after Ace makes a take it or leave it offer of five grand to Trudy for the gold mine.With a clue left by Ben Pendleton before he died - 'Eagle will show way to mine but only at sundown' - the cowboy heroes eventually figure out that a shadow cast by a rock formation points to the location of the hidden gold. Battling the bad guys, Hoppy and his crew save the day for Miss Trudy, and in one of those rare instances in a Hoppy flick that I've managed to catch so far, this time Lucky Jenkins actually winds up with the girl!

dougdoepke Aces all around except for the rather tame climax. Credit producer Harry Sherman for the general superiority of the Hoppy matinees. Here, he pops for scenic Lone Pine locations, expertly filmed by Harry Stradling— hard to beat that desert-mountain-big rock combination. Hoppy and the boys are trying to find a lost gold mine before the baddies led by the sneaky Ace Gibson (Ankrum) do. Note the movie's many extra touches—the well-staffed barroom, the busy street, the detailed shack interior. These show attention to background unusual for programmers. Also, catch that expensive line of gold-rushers heading for the mine, though the scene appears shot in the cost-saving LA area.For me, the scariest part is when the oily Ace looks like he's getting romantic with the winsome heroine (Stewart). Now, in his stellar career, the lordly Ankrum defeated A-bomb mutants, aliens from outer space, commanded armies, advised presidents, and also made a convincing baddie. But for some reason, the thought of his snuggling up to the girl ran a shudder right through me.Hard to say enough about Bill Boyd in his Hoppy role. He's easily the most charming and affable of the matinée heroes, but can also do the hard-eyed stare when necessary-- as he does here. He, Clyde, and Hayden make a winning team, as their amusing fireside byplay shows. Anyway, there's enough hard- riding, straight-shooting, and story interest to make this a generally superior Hoppy entry.