During the 1940s, Victor Jory, Robert Mitchum and George Reeves appeared in several Hopalong Cassidy films. In all of them, Jory played a bad guy...and he was very good at it. As for Reeves and Mitchum, since they were not yet stars, their roles were delegated to henchmen in nearly all the films. However, inexplicably, they decided to change this up in "Bar 20". Reeves was made one of Hoppy's sidekicks...taking on the sort of role played by Lucky or Johnny or Jimmy. And, as for Mitchum, he's a guy who you just aren't sure about through much of the film. Is he evil or a good guy? Well, see the film to find out which.
Shortly after the film begins, Marie's jewels are stolen and she receives a demand for ransom to get them back. Her fiance, Richard (Mitchum), offers to sell some of his land in order to buy them back for her. Additionally, Hoppy has arrived to buy cattle from Marie...and soon he, too, is robbed. Who is behind all this? Hoppy suspects Richard and Richard suspects Hoppy! Well, as I mentioned above, Jory ALWAYS plays bad bosses in these films....so guess who is orchestrating all this!
So is this any good? Of course....nearly all the Hopalong Cassidy B-movies are among the best in the genre due to excellent acting and decent production values compared to other series westerns. Well worth seeing.
By the way, when Hoppy's stolen money is found, it's referred to as 'yellowbacks'. As most know, greenbacks were normal paper dollars back in the day. Yellowbacks, in contrast, were paper dollars which were backed by gold...meaning a bearer could exchange these bills for gold if they desired. This practice was eliminated about a century ago. Also, at 54 minutes this is the shortest Hopalong Cassidy film....and this is the original length, not the length after the film was edited for television (a common practice in the 1950s).
Shortly after the film begins, Marie's jewels are stolen and she receives a demand for ransom to get them back. Her fiance, Richard (Mitchum), offers to sell some of his land in order to buy them back for her. Additionally, Hoppy has arrived to buy cattle from Marie...and soon he, too, is robbed. Who is behind all this? Hoppy suspects Richard and Richard suspects Hoppy! Well, as I mentioned above, Jory ALWAYS plays bad bosses in these films....so guess who is orchestrating all this!
So is this any good? Of course....nearly all the Hopalong Cassidy B-movies are among the best in the genre due to excellent acting and decent production values compared to other series westerns. Well worth seeing.
By the way, when Hoppy's stolen money is found, it's referred to as 'yellowbacks'. As most know, greenbacks were normal paper dollars back in the day. Yellowbacks, in contrast, were paper dollars which were backed by gold...meaning a bearer could exchange these bills for gold if they desired. This practice was eliminated about a century ago. Also, at 54 minutes this is the shortest Hopalong Cassidy film....and this is the original length, not the length after the film was edited for television (a common practice in the 1950s).