Synopsis
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A beat-up old Cadillac drives through a foggy night up a wash-board road until it ends by a ramshackle saloon. As he gets out, a down-at-the-heels singer, the Kid (Robert Carradine), wonders how he could have ended up here. Inside, the place seems long abandoned, with its dust-covered bar guarded by a wooden Indian. Suddenly a Stranger (Martin Sheen), in a dark duster bursts through the swinging doors, steps to the bar, and pours the Kid a drink. After being taken aback for a moment, the Kid asks where everybody is, explaining he was supposed to have a singing gig here tonight, but even the measly $75 fee promised for that now seems a forlorn hope. The Stranger has no answer, but as the Kid starts to leave, he notices the Stranger's gloves, black leather, embossed with a shiny star. The Stranger offers a deal: he'll tell him a story about the gloves, if the Kid will play him a song. Having nothing to lose but a little more time, the Kid agrees. The Stranger's yarn is a classic tale of hate, murder, and revenge. The mysterious Tex (Lou Schwiebert), seething over his humiliation under the lightning-fast guns of the game-legged, black-gloved Hopalong Cassidy (Chris Lybbert), raids the Bar 20 ranch with a band of hired killers. When word reaches Hopalong, he returns to the Bar 20 to find his friends killed or wounded. Worse yet an injured Buck (Clu Gulager), the Bar 20's owner, tells Hoppy that Tex has kidnapped Mary (Adrienne Stout-Coppola), his niece and Hoppy's girl. Back in the saloon, the Kid wonders aloud how someone could do a thing like that. For the Stranger, the events he recounts seem all too common. For Hoppy, he continues, as there were no hesitation. Accompanied by two Bar 20 hands, Red (Pat Bourke) and Lanky (Tom McDermott), he rides off after Tex. Tex keeps Feret (James Oseland) and others in his gang, from abusing Mary. She rebuffs Tex's advances and warns him of Hopalong's wrath. Tex has planned on Hopalong's pursuit and divides his men to set a trap. When the Bar 20 men also split up to follow two trails, Hopalong is captured alone. Rather than face Hopalong man-to-man, Tex takes the gloves and leaves him hog-tied to die in an explosion in an old mine. Hopalong manages to escape, rejoins Red and Lanky, and overtakes the gang. Feret and the others are killed or captured, and Mary is rescued. Tex, escapes. The Kid wonders how could Hopalong ride off and leave Tex at large, and the Stranger finishes his yarn. Back at the Bar 20, Buck and the other injured are on the mend. Hopalong's return with Mary is to be celebrated by a rodeo-style competition with the neighboring ranch. The riding and roping abilities of Red, Lanky and the other hands give the Bar 20 an edge. Hopalong's shooting skills should clinch it. But a new challenger arrives: Tex. Tex actually outshoots Hopalong against stationary targets. But facing another man is a different matter. In the inevitable duel, Hopalong proves he is still the fastest, and Tex dies unrepentant. So what happened with Hoppy and Mary, the Kid wants to know. The sun has come up, and the Stranger sees it's time to go, so the rest is a story for another time. As he noodles with a melody and lyrics on his guitar, the Kid notices the gloves have been left behind. He runs out to return them to the Stranger, who merely says, 'I don't need'em no more.' And rides off over the hill. Newly inspired, the Kid sings, 'The Ballad of Hopalong Cassidy.'