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Why so much hype?

hyped garbage

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

It's almost as though the other reviewers here were reviewing another movie than the one I saw. It was decent, and perhaps pretty good for the time it was made (1936), but I found it pretty creaky, mediocre, almost juvenile with all the Windy-Johnny banter.For me, one sign of a weak adventure movie is seeing the hero easily start a brush fire to deter the bad guys, here the bad guy's herd of cattle.Another thing that threw me was that Hoppy suddenly is convinced to organize a cattle drive to deliver cheap food to a hungry town. I couldn't understand why it would make any difference as to whose herd reached that town first -- benevolent Hoppy's herd (which would be sold by Hoppy for a fair low price) or a greedy bad guy's rival herd (who would charge a lot for his cattle). What was the rush? Why should a day or two matter? Hoppy could have easily sent a horseback rider to the town, telling the townspeople to wait for Hoppy's inexpensive cattle.

"Trail Dust" from the Hopalong Cassidy series is a real duster in every sense of the word. Most of the story takes place on a dusty and dry cattle drive. Unscrupulous cattleman Tex Anderson (Stephen Morris) is withholding his cattle from a hungry market in order to drive up prices. The cattle buyers prevail upon some smaller ranchers including Hoppy (William Boyd)to form a drive and bring their cattle to market. Hoppy takes on the job of trail boss and is joined by his two pals Johnny Nelson (Jimmy Ellison) and Windy Halliday (George "Gabby" Hayes). Along the way the pick up the heroine Beth Clark (Gwynne Simpson)who is searching for her father. Unbeknownst to the group is that the evil Tex Williams has hired on in order to sabotage the drive and his cattle to reach the market first. This is a better than average entry in the series. Produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman and directed by Nate West, this adventure takes place on the trail and leaves the viewer as thirsty as the cattle from all of the dust and long days along the trail. At 77 minutes this picture is longer than most series westerns but benefits from the extra running time. The outdoor photography is breathtaking and gives the viewer the feel of being on the trail too. In fact Boyd's traditional black costume is covered in dust through most of the film, unheard of for most "B" western heroes. Boyd plays Hoppy the trail boss with an edge unusual for a series western hero. He takes no guff from anyone including his friends. This is what set the early Hoppys above most of the competition of the day. Hayes had still not adopted the "Gabby" nickname at this point. He was still being billed as George Hayes. Ellison was nearing the end of his tenure on the series, wanting to go on to "A" features. Morris became better known as Morris Ankrum later in his career. As usual at the end, Ellison dumps the heroine and Hayes makes a remarkable recovery from a leg wound to ride after Hoppy and join him for the next adventure.

This is the one Hopalong Cassidy adventure that really stands out in my mind as being the best. It's a little more gritty than some of the later ones, and more like a real western than an episode of a tv show. Later on Hoppy would get a bit more corny and more like a wandering doo-gooder, but here he's just an ordinary cattle-man, trying to get his herd on down the trail. Gabby Hayes is, as usual, excellent as Windy, while the rest of the cast make great cowboys. My dad taped a whole bunch of these off PBS for us, and this is what I watched growing up, instead of cartoons or other things, and I think I'll always love these classic adventures. This is definitely the best of them all.

"Trail Dust" is a pleasing example of how a simple "formula" western can, with a bit of imagination and a good cast, can be turned into a first-rate adventure. Hopalong Cassidy, together with his usual sidekicks Windy and Johnny Nelson, volunteer to sell their herd at a reasonable price during a food shortage. This does not set well with some greedy cattlemen (led by Morris Ankrum, who was to become a familiar staple in later Hopalong adventures, usually as an unctuous villain). The bad guys set out to sabotage the cattle drive at every turn, and the action scenes are vintage Hopalong Cassidy. There are some pleasant diversions along the way - including an understated Beth Clark - and the climatic denouement seems a natural to the scenes which precede it. There is a little singing along the way, but - as in most of the early Cassidy movies - the music is pleasant, authentic to its genre, and does not interfere with the plot or action. Also, Trail Dust contains some good scenes of cattle-droving, using some real-life cowboys. Quite Enjoyable.