Many Hoppy fans feel that this is the best or one of the best Hopalong Cassidy movies ever made. As another reviewer notes, "Wide Open Town" is a remake of "Hopalong Cassidy Returns." Disappointing to me, it's not nearly as good as "HC Returns", because it's not as violent, not as well-played, & several key elements are weaker here. Despite the relatively high number of gunfights (5), it's one of the only HC films in which he neither kills nor even wounds a bad guy! California & Lucky each actually kill/wound three baddies. Evelyn Brent, playing the same role she did in "HC Returns", suffers consequences not as dire as in the previous version. In "HC Returns", Brent was one of the very few women who was of romantic interest to Hoppy, but here Hoppy is too much of a "goodie two shoes" to even become interested in Brent at all. A foretelling of what is to come, Hoppy's only black clothing is his hat; his shirt & pants are a lighter color, & sure enough, this episode is milder than many others. Leisurely paced, but some good action scenes. Hoppy is wounded in the shoulder by a baddie, but doesn't even shoot back, & rather decides to fight with his one good arm! Involved plot, well-thought-out, but strangely uninspiring & mild compared with "HC Returns", which may be my pick for the best of all Hoppy films. I still rate "Wide Open Town" 8/10 because it's far superior to most other B westerns of the time.
Review of Wide Open Town
