In Old Mexico (1938)

Crappy film

Absolutely Brilliant!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

It's the girls (Clayton & Amann) getting most of the screentime until the bang-up finale. Seems an outlaw, The Fox, lures Hoppy down Mexico way to exact revenge for sending him up in the good ole USA. Now our three heroes have to avoid traps The Fox and his sister lay for them. To me, it's just an okay Hoppy. I could use more antics from Windy and more action. Nonetheless, the girls are cute even if devious, the desert horizon is dramatic, and Boyd's an effective blend of charm and toughness. Then there's an unexpected twist with Windy and a long ride. Also, the main gunman is Glenn Strange familiar as Sam the bartender from the classic Gunsmoke series. All in all, it's an easy hour without being anything special Hoppy-wise.

Hoppy, Lucky and Windy are all in fine form as they are brought to Mexico under false pretenses. Lucky, as usual, falls for the pretty girl but in this case, it was for real and he married her in real life. The girl is Jan Clayton from the TV Lassie series and she is very very young (and she sings, too).The Uber-villain is very well played by Paul Sutton. His voice seemed familiar and IMDb shows that he was the voice of Mounty Sgt. Preston on "olde timey" radio! The evil henchman is Glenn Strange, later employed as the bartender at The Longbranch Saloon in Dodge City where he mostly got to talk to Miss Kitty.This time we get to go to "Old Mexico" and see the impressive scenery of Joshua Tree, CA. It's rather fun finding out just where these older westerns were filmed and more so when one has actually been to the locations.Good plot. No cattle rustlers (yep, spoiler checked !), funny side story with Windy and a much married lady at the hacienda.Recommended.

"The Fox" (Paul Sutton) is out for revenge and lures Hoppy across the border via a letter from an old friend into Mexico. Hoppy finds that his friend has been murdered and had left a partial message written in the sand, "Zorro", Spanish for Fox. Hoppy, who had captured "The Fox" in "Borderland", whilst working undercover for both the U.S. and Mexican governments; the Fox had been leading raids on both sides of the border.Morris Ankrum aka Stephen Morris played "The Fox" in "Borderland". Paul Sutton does a fine job as "The Fox"; but for the sake of continuity I would have preferred Morris Ankrum in the role.This one is a little more violent than the majority of "Hoppy" pictures but not unnecessarily so, it also has the benefit of a good plot and the story moves along nicely; and "Hoppy", "Lucky" (Russell Hayden) and "Windy" (George "Gabby" Hayes) are in fine form as are the rest of the cast. Highly recommended. See Borderland first, if you can.

Straightforward "Hoppy" fare of revenge and murder across the border, with pals Lucky and Windy along for the ride. Some feminine treachery puts a twist on the plot, and seeing Jan (Jane) Clayton of much later "Lassie" TV fame as singing and shooting "Anita", is fun. She married Russell Hayden (Lucky) the year this was made.