a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

This was the 64th of 66 Hoppy movies, and it was one of the worst, unfortunately. The few things to like in the movie are: (1) the neat title to the movie, "Borrowed Trouble;" I always liked that; (2) the wordless scenes at the start of the movie — the cowboys driving the cattle through the plains to the railhead; good mountain scenery; (3) Anne O'Neal's performance as the crusty, feisty old schoolmarm was at turns charming and tolerable; and (4) a surprising twist ending when the "mystery" was solved.Those are all minor good points and are weighted down by the many many minutes of bad aspects: tedious repetitive scenes; lack of action; and California's stupid humor that would try the patience of a child. The plot was no great shakes, relied on coincidences (gifts from heaven). The main story line lacked much interest — the noise from a saloon disrupting the teaching of children in the near-by school house.

After selling off some Bar 20 cattle Hoppy, Lucky, and California run into some Borrowed Trouble when the rivalry between two saloon owners takes an interesting twist. Borrowed Trouble is stolen from our cowboy heroes by the performance of Anne O'Neal as one feisty schoolteacher who has it in for one of the saloon owners.Seems as though his place during the daylight hours is quite the fascination for her pupils especially those just starting those pangs of puberty. She emphasizes to Hoppy that John Parrish's place is too much for her to deal with and she's going to close it one way or another. All while telling Hoppy that she's no kind of blue nosed reformer though she sure looks like she belongs in Carry Nation's army.Can't go any farther because this story does take an interesting twist. Let's say that some forensic evidence tells the tale to Hopalong Cassidy who O'Neal insists upon calling William.Some nice scenes with Hoppy and the school kids show why he was such an idol among America's youth and Andy Clyde teaching a bunch of kids all smarter than him is a hoot.One of the better of the later Hopalong Cassidy films. All owing to Anne O'Neal.

This is a bit of a change of pace for a Western. A spinsterish schoolmarm (Anne O'Neal) declares a running feud with saloon owner Mawson (John Parrish) about to open a new establishment right across the street from her school. When Miss Abott breaks the windows of The Golden Mill, Mawson naturally assumes it was done by Davis (Cliff Clark) of the rival Big Dome Saloon. Right there a big old question mark arose in the story for me - why wouldn't Miss Abott be opposed to both gin mills instead of just Mawson's? The Big Dome was just down the street from the one about to open.Well I guess one wasn't supposed to wonder about things like that. Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his pals Lucky Jenkins (Rand Brooks) and California Carlson (Andy Clyde) arrive in town just in time to help settle things down before they get too riled up. There's a nice scene of Hoppy interacting with the school kids, and the youngsters have a fine time propping up a dunce cap atop California's head when he falls asleep watching the classroom.Meanwhile, Miss Abott is kidnapped by Davis's henchmen with the dual objective of blaming it on Mawson and getting his potential competitor to close down. As Hoppy gets to the bottom of the real high-jacker's identity, Miss Abott thwarts a shootout between Davis and Mawson when she targets one of her trusty apples at Davis's gun - talk about an apple a day!Well it's always interesting to catch an old Western like this where the story doesn't revolve around your standard rustling or mineral rights issue. The inclusion of Miss Abott as a surprisingly refreshing comic figure was an added bonus, and I had to chuckle over the way she characterized the three R's the saloon owners brought to town - 'rye, rabble and roulette'.

This entry in the Hoppy series is pretty much a matter of taste. There's not much hard- riding or fast-shooting; however, the Lone Pine locations do provide some good big rock scenery. Also, the plot's a little different. Saloon owner Mawson is feuding with both rival saloon owner Davis and with schoolmarm Abott who can't teach with a saloon next door. When Abott mysteriously disappears, Hoppy and the boys investigate. The entry may be a little short of action, but the dialog and interplay between characters is better than usual. Anne O'Neal is excellent as the spinsterish schoolmarm with several good throwaway lines— (On their first meeting), Hoppy, "My name is Hopalong Cassidy". Schoolmarm, "That's not my fault. Maybe you should change it !". The ending is also something of a departure and surprise. Then too, I suspect the series was aiming for both a change of pace and a story more directly involving kids (here, it's the amusing school kids). Lucky (Rand Brooks) has his usual mock romance, this time with a dimpled saloon girl (Chapman). Nonetheless, I think the series lost a lot when Russell Hayden withdrew from the cast as Lucky. He was so good at being moonstruck in these romantic situations.Anyway, this rather offbeat 60-minutes in the Hoppy series is short on action but long in other departments, and remains largely a matter of taste.