This Hopalong Cassidy western concerns the deposition of the proceeds from a large cattle sale by the bar 20 ranch. Hoppy handles the sale, and brings the money to his partner, Buck Peters, for temporary storage in his safe........This film is unusual in that Hoppy's usual riding partner(Johnny Nelson), as well as his friend Windy(George Hayes, here called Shanghai), are adversarial to Hoppy for the better part of the film. Hayes had sometimes played villains in past westerns, but it seemed like sliding backwards to cast him as a villain for Hoppy to catch, rather than his recent roles as Windy, aid to Hoppy..........While Hoppy was away, Johnny had got into hanging out with 'the wrong crowd', which included some members of a outlaw gang, including Shanghai. Around a gambling table, Johnny complains that Hoppy made a good profit on the cattle sale, but didn't give him any money to gamble with. Some of the gamblers hear this, and immediately start planning to rob the Bar 20 safe, and pin it on Johnny. When Johnny passes out from drink, they take his gun to use in the heist, to put the blame on him. It almost works, but Buck Peters outsmarted them by putting some worthless paper in the kerchief he was thrown by a hidden assailant. However, Buck was seriously wounded with Johnny's gun, as an afterthought..........Sam Porter, outlaw boss, tells Shanghai to take Johnny 'up in the hills' and see that he doesn't return. We see Johnny digging his own grave, but he pitches a shovel full of dirt in Shanghai's face, blinding him long enough that Johnny galloped off..........Hoppy rides alone, taking the money to the bank. Two outlaws ambush him but, incredibly, miss him. He kills one, while the other rides off. Later, after Hoppy deposited the money in the bank, the outlays rob the bank in broad daylight........I don't understand why Miss Linda, Shanghai's eligible daughter, is seen galloping full speed and hollering. Johnny chases after her, and when he catches her, she gets off her horse and faints! He carries her to the shade, with a nearby spring, and douses her face with water. At first, she's disturbed, but then decides Johnny is trying to be helpful. She invites Johnny to accompany her to her father's(Shanghai's) mining cabin, where she also lives. When they get there, Johnny doesn't want to go inside, because he sees several of the outlaw gang, who assume he's dead. The outlaws leave for a spell, and, when they return, they stick up Johnny, and tell Shanghai they will also deal with him, since he was supposed to execute Johnny. Instead of shooting Johnny outright, Porter decides to make him sweat, by rigging a pistol pointed at his torso with a thin piece of rawhide, tied to something else. He places a candle under the rawhide, saying that rawhide shrinks when it gets hot, pulling on the trigger. The outlaws then leave in a hurry when they discover that Shanghai sneaked out the back, and took the sack of money hidden under the mattress. Hoppy now arrives, just in time to hear the pistol go off, hitting Johnny, but not killing him. Later, there is a showdown between the outlaws in the cabin, and Hoppy, out in the open. Again, the outlaws are such poor shots, they can't hit Hoppy, as a sitting duck, yet Hoppy manages to kill two, hiding inside! Only Porter escapes(as expected),and rides to Shanghai's cabin. When Hoppy and Johnny arrive, Porter is about to shoot them, when Shanghai wrestles with him. He shoots Shanghai, but not fatally. Meanwhile, Hoppy rushes through the door and shoots Porter. Shanghai gives the sack of money to Hoppy, and tells him that Johnny wasn't involved in either robbery attempt or the shooting of Buck Peters...........During the opening and closing credits, and during the screenplay, Chill Wills and his Avalon Boys sing the title song........Isn't it remarkable that Johnny, Buck Peters, and Shanghai all are shot in the torso at close range, and all recover very quickly, whereas all outlaws presumably are shot dead, most at long range.
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