Hills of Old Wyoming and North of the Rio Grande
With Hills of Old Wyoming and North of the Rio Grande, Russell Hayden was asked to fill in for the recently departed Jimmy Ellison. Hayden had plenty of behind-the-camera experience in a variety of functions (as a film cutter, assistant cameraman, production manager, etc.), but he had no previous acting experience. While he lacked the charisma and the high-spirit of Ellison, Hayden provided to be a capable presence, continuing as Hoppy’s sidekick for the next 27 features. (Eventually, he even starred with Ellison in their own Western series.)
Whereas most of the Gene Autry Westerns typically take place in the same setting, the Hopalong Cassidy movies featured a remarkable variety of locations. In Hills of Old Wyoming, the boys head to an Indian reservation while chasing rustlers and discover the local government agents take great affront to the intrusion (led by the typically despicable Stephen Morris). Could the agents be responsible for the cattle rustling?
Russell Hayden’s first big dramatic scene in the Hopalong Cassidy series is almost guaranteed to induce winces today. When Lucky Jenkins (Hayden) and Windy Halliday (Hayes) track the rustlers to an Indian trading post, Jenkins treats the Indians belligerently as he pushes them for answers. He hates the Indians and treats them with no respect whatsoever. But The Searchers this ain’t, so the scene turns Lucky Jenkins into a difficult-to-like character. In North of the Rio Grande, Hayden fared considerably better for he isn’t given the same emotional baggage. This film continues the series’ focus on more mature subject matter. It starts when Hopalong Cassidy’s brother is killed by train robbers. Hoppy then heads to Cottonwood Gulch (a haven for outlaws) to search for the culprits, using the name Bad Bill "Dynamite" McGrew.
Once again Stephen Morris plays the lead bad guy, in a compelling double-role performance. His respectable persona is railroad executive Henry Stoneham, but the respectability is a cover for his nefarious activities as a gang boss named the Lone Wolf. Also scoring big in a supporting role is New York stage actor Lee J. Cobb, who here plays a railroad president. He enlists Hoppy’s help to determine who is responsible for the train robberies. Even at this early stage in his career, Cobb had a commanding presence.
North of the Rio Grande is the final film represented in Image Entertainment’s "Hop-a-long Cassidy: The Early Years" series. The eight films in the series represent a good sampling of the series’ formative years. Not all the early movies are included in this DVD series. The discs contain three movies from the series’ first season of six films and the first five from the series second season. Some audience favorites, such as The Eagle's Brood (the second Hoppy movie), are not included, but it’s hard to complain about this set. This is a marvelous collection of movies.
A note regarding hypens: Hopalong Cassidy's name was spelled at least three different ways. The title on the movie poster for the first movie was spelled "Hop-a-long Cassidy." However, the title displayed during the movie is spelled "Hop-along Cassidy." After the first movie in the series, Hopalong Cassidy's name was spelled without hypens (with at least one exception: the players list during the opening credits of Bar 20 Rides Again uses the "Hop-along" spelling). Image Entertainment's DVD series uses the double-hypens spelling (although a no-hypens spelling would likely have made more sense).