Sun 18 Mar 2018
A Western Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: LAW OF THE PAMPAS (1939).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[7] Comments
LAW OF THE PAMPAS. Paramount Pictures, 1939. William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Russell Hayden, Sidney Toler, Steffi Duna, Sidney Blackmer. Based on characters created by Clarence E. Mulford. Director: Nate Watt.
Law of the Pampas is a Hoppy Western set mostly in Argentina (or some relatively convincing Burbank equivalent) with Sidney Toler, on temporary leave from the Chan films, as comedy relief.
I never much liked Hopalong Cassidy as a kid, and as an adolescent I scoffed at his clean-livin’ ways and the lectures he gave kids on his TV show. In the wisdom of my advancing years, however, I’ve come to see him as a rather likable and even off-beat icon, more Symbolic than Real, but very warm nonetheless.
The early Hoppy’s are very well produced as well, and a lot of fun to watch if you don’t take them too seriously. This one offers a mystery that would insult the intelligence of a five-year-old, but not, apparently, that of the Latin Americans who just naturally look to Hoppy for guidance in these matters.
But that’s too serious. On its own level, for those who can take it that way, it’s still a fun movie.
March 18th, 2018 at 2:23 pm
Since I wrote these I’ve become a big fan of the Hoppies, with Boyd’s self-assured playing and the recurring theme of Community.
March 18th, 2018 at 6:18 pm
The Hoppy films had unusually good casts for B Westerns, not only Boyd, who had been a silent film star, but actors like Toler, Blackmer, a young Lee J. Cobb, Robert Mitchum, George Reeves, James Ellison and many others.
The plots are standard, but some effort is made in the presentation and Boyd’s sincerity and belief in Hoppy show.
The one aspect carried over from the Mulford books is the camaraderie and feeling of family felt in the books.
It’s surprising just how entertaining these films are, with Hoppy ranging as far away as Argentina and Arabia in the course of the series, again something true to Milford, who among other things had Hoppy shanghaied.
March 18th, 2018 at 6:54 pm
The Paramount Cassidy films are first rate for what they attempt, and the UA’s, while a little behind are still acceptable. The only Hoppy’s that work poorly, and by that I mean well below Republic westerns, or even Monogram pictures, are the final twelve personally produced by Boyd on the cheap. I know a little about this because for a few hours back in 1970 I owned them.
March 18th, 2018 at 8:41 pm
It sounds as though there’s a story there that should be told, Barry, should you care to do so some day!
March 18th, 2018 at 9:17 pm
Here goes. And I believe a book could be written, not so much about this, but the aftermath.
A friend of mine thought reviving the Hoppy’s as a concert attraction, with Mr. Boyd also appearing might go over, and he asked me to make the contact. So, I wrote and when I heard back, in the form of another note I was informed that the final twelve would be available and that someone would contact me, also and this directly from Boyd, that he would not appear, and if he did his fans would be disappointed at the changes in his appearance. In any case after a lapse of weeks I was contacted by the NBC executive who years earlier had put Bill and Hoppy on the air. I did not know this man, but he had frayed cuffs, was very much a gentleman and wanted ten thousand dollars to for film rights in perpetuity. I called a friend of Dick Feiner, head of Feiner & Co. a noted television syndicator and Dick advanced the monies, and the deal as done. later that day I signed my share over to him, and he then went ahead and bought the other, Pop Sherman produced films. All fifty four of them. Neither of us ever met Hoppy himself, but Dick developed a friendship with Grace Bradly Boyd that lasted until her death.
Feiner became more than fascinated with reviving the films, but also had in mind developing series of Hoppy restaurants. This became, if not an obsession with him, might near it, and he did start construction in New York state of what was to be the first of these, but this great, near brilliant businessman, failed and in his eighties had to be rescued by his son, a film executive who did what he could for his father, which brings us up to just a few years ago, but by this time the films had been farmed out to various distributors around the country and I am not in the loop on any of that though it seems to be ongoing.
March 18th, 2018 at 9:54 pm
Thanks for a long interesting story, Barry. You’re part of Hoppy history!
March 18th, 2018 at 10:04 pm
There is a coda to all of this. Feiner gave me 5% ownership in the films as my compensation in putting this his way. I sold my share to Bud Collyer’s son Michael, one the kindest, most generous gentleman I’ve ever known, now like everyone else in this thing, gone. I took my cash, and with a post production deal at Cannon films initiated a production of my own which I shot on Long Island. Southampton to be exact. To put this in perspective, Louis Hayward had just optioned a script called The Brave Fools. My wife suggested, with some humor, that he could have just followed us around and saved his money.