Hopalong Cassidy: Call of the Prairie

Including the tuneful Ki Yi Yippy Ki Yippy Ki Ye sung by Chill Wills and his Avalon Boys, this fourth feature in the Cassidy series has a number of interesting twists. Gabby Hayes is not yet the loveable sidekick, but plays one of the heavies, Shanghai McHenry, whose only soft spot is for his lovely daughter, Linda. Johnny Nelson is not the faithful younger sidekick, but is a drunk and gambler, and appears to Hoppy to be siding with some bad guys. In one of his drunken outings, Johnny comes under the influence of Shanghai and the ruthless Sam “Apache” Porter, who get him drunk, steal his gun and neckerchief, and frame him for the robbery and shooting of Bar 20 boss, Buck Peters. Hoppy, determined to get to the bottom of Johnny’s apparent crime, discovers he is being used by Shanghai’s gang to rob the Bar 20 of a load of money. After Shanghai double crosses Porter by taking the stolen money, he returns to his cabin where he tells Linda he plans to return the money. Porter and Hoppy are both after Shanghai to recover the money, Porter gets there first and shoots Shanghai. Hoppy arrives just in time to save the wounded Shanghai from certain death. Shanghai clears Johnny of any wrongdoing and looks on approvingly at the budding romance between Johnny and his daughter.