weezeralfalfa Review of Cassidy of Bar 20

Cassidy of Bar 20 (1938)

The 3 mesquiteers love 'em and leave 'em

[6/10 · 27 December 2018]

I have taken the liberty of stealing an appropriate label(The 3 Mesquiteers) for the 3 wandering friends: Hopalong Cassidy(Bill Boyd), Lucky(Russel Hayden), and Pappy(Frank Darien) from Republic Pictures of the same era...... On the surface, just another of the very familiar plot of a grasping cattle baron trying to swallow his smaller neighbors, by hook or by crook(usually murder, or bankruptcy by rustling). Robert Fisk, as Clay Allison, is the cattle baron, with his double X brand. He wants the next door T.D. rancho, from whom he has been stealing unbranded cattle. This ranch is owned by spinster Nora Blake, who happens to be Hoppy's long suffering girlfriend, and by old Tom Dillon, whose 19 year old daughter, Mary, also takes a part in tending to the ranch, being much more of a tomboy than Nora, who seems to mostly stick around the ranch house. Clay's evident strategy is to steal enough cattle to make the T.D. Rancho unprofitable, while intimidating any of their hired hands. Hence, hey haven't had a roundup for 3 years. Later, Clay decides to speed things up by shooting Tom in the back, after he refuses to sell, and blaming the deed on one of his wranglers: Jeff, who witnessed the shooting. Jeff is the son of Ma Caffrey, who runs the town general store, and doesn't seem to know about his association with Clay, whom she hates. Ma is the most interesting character in the film, by my reckoning, followed by Mary. Both are tough as nails. Strangely, the town jail is housed in the back of Ma's store, rather than its usual place, in the back of the sheriff's office. Given the nature of the present sheriff(played by Ed Cassidy), who appears to be a puppet of Clay, perhaps the jail is safer in Ma's store. The jail cell has another striking peculiarity: It has a trap door that heads to a pitch black room, and eventually just outside the jail wall, where there is another trap door. Naturally, I'm curious how this trap door arrangement came to be situated in the jail?! The tunnel is used by Pappy, who discovers it while sweeping out the cell, and bravely feels his way to the other side, where he discovers the exit door, and finds his mule, to ride out to the T.D. Rancho. Later, it's discovered by Jeff, who is accused by his mother(Ma) of shooting Tom, even though she suspects it was Clay. Tom is afraid of telling on Clay, but claims his own innocence. Jeff nearly shot dead Lucky, at Clay's order, stopped only by Mary shooting at him. In jail, Jeff traverses the secret tunnel and opens the outside door, near where Clay happens to be standing. They exchange some words, then Clay shoots Jeff, who staggers back through the tunnel and appears at the jail entrance, where he says a few words to Ma before expiring. Now, Ma finds the casing for a 44 caliber, 40 grain bullet near Jeff's hand, before he slumped back down the tunnel. She sold this type of bullet, which could be used in rifles and pistols of the time, to Clay, who said he wanted to use it in his pistol. Hence, Ma thought she had found the 'smoking gun' evidence to implicate Clay in Jeff's murder. But, why would Jeff have the casing in his hand??. Makes no sense!.......In court, the 3 Mesquiteers plead guilty to Clay's charge of cutting his fence, and trespassing on his range. Hoppy's idea is to try to wranglea sentence of them working off their fines by working for Clay, so that they can examine the brand, or lack there of, on the cattle on his range, and so he can get better acquainted with his workmen. Strangely, after considerable hesitation, Clay agreed to this arrangement.Toward the end, Clay and his gang of Texas gunslingers ride out to the T.D. Rancho ranch house with the intent of shooting Hoppy, whom they assume is there. But , Hoppy holds them off until Lucky arrives with a gang of Hoppy's wranglers, who chase Clay's bunch back to town(Why didn't they go to Clay's ranch?). They hole up in Ma's store, waiting for Hoppy's bunch to arrive. The latter find hiding places and shoot at Clay's bunch. Pappy tells Hoppy about the secret tunnel, and Hoppy feels his way to the inside trap door. When he emerges, Clay is about to shoot Ma, when Hoppy shoots him. Lucky then storms the front door, and Clay's gang give up........ During the film, Hoppy had renued his flirtation with Nora, while Mary took a liking to Lucky, whose life she had saved. Pappy reminded Ma of her dead husband. But, in the end, The 3 Mesquiteers said ado to the women folk, riding into the sunset toward their next adventure.........Incidentally, Clay Allison was the name of a notorious cattleman on the western frontier who was credited with shooting a number of men........See the film at YouTube.