BONANZA was the masterpiece of all westerns. The cast was well picked. Every episode was well written. David Dortort, the producer was a true family oriented person. Bonanza moulded my thinking and guided my actions. RIP
Landon must have learned from him. He directed and produced Little House On The Prairie which is one of the few shows I let my kids watch growing up due to its wholesomeness
This episode has history and high drama. People laid out w/ wounds. The image of the horses running loose after the ambush are better than most western movies. gun violence is bad business, and this ep shows how serious buckshot or bullets really are
Man, my dad was right about these westerns he grew up with! I remember watching "Gunsmoke" reruns with him as a little boy (I'm 53 now)! But where was I when he was watching "Bonanza"? I ignored this show for 53 years, wow I sure missed a lot boy!
Seguri si hoy día pleno 2022seguimos viendo educativa y sin igual serie no hay existe comparación nada que ver sirva tenga todas edades ni en familia nada tv ni ningún sitio para compartir aprender y actuar dan buenas experiencias como actuar cada paso vida antes y hoy día seguro solo humanidad ser buenos humanidad fue será está bonanza con su ponderisa y zorro .eso no hay dudas
Don't get me wrong, I'm a bonafide Bonanza fanatic, having watched all 431 episodes at least twice. I only wish that more attention was paid to Plot Logistics. This is the third episode that treats the journey to Mexico from The Ponderosa as a sort of casual ride. In fact, the Mexican border is at least 600 miles from North Lake Tahoe. A good horse would only be good for 30 or so miles of consecutive days' riding...making it about a 3 week trip. One way. And the gold in this episode was stolen from Mexico and on it's way to Europe...so which way were they going? To San Francisco and take a Clipper Ship around the Horn? Or head up to the Oregon Territories and hang a right to the East Coast? Anyway, I still Love the Show. One of the Best Westerns, crossing all genres, of All Time. Thank You for posting..
Leo V. Gordon played a real psychotic in this one. He was one of the few writers in Hollywood who also doubled as an actor. He wrote and appeared in a couple of Adam-12 episodes.
As much as I love Bonanza, it was very disappointing that the show's writers kept splitting up the Cartwrights, pretty much in every episode. David Dortort made the ultimate mistake to allow Pernall Roberts to slip through his fingers! 🖐️
Once again a very good episode. You can always learn something in Bonanza. This time about the history of Mexico. Benito Juarez triumphed in the end against Maximilian. This Habsburg, however, was a truly tragic figure. Through lies and deception he had to become emperor of Mexico and broke in the process.
About Leo Gordon (who played Forsythe) director Don Siegel said “Leo Gordon was the scariest man I have ever ever met.”, and Siegel had directed John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. In real life before acting he had served 5 years in San Quentin for Armed Robbery, where he was shot several times by police at point blank range but survived. He deserved his fearsome reputation and, before discovering his past, as a child I always thought he had a terrifyingly evil look about him. He was well cast here.
@@kevincook2793 Actually, just had a recount and it's 20, if you count The Deserter, where it only looks like he's been shot but you don't actually see it, and also Second Chance, where he's shot by an arrow. 😃
And no blood on sofa when they carried Jo upstairs. And a small spot no hole on bk of his coat after being blasted with a "sawed off" lol I noticed it when he was trying to go out to barn and girl was pulling him back.
Hoss and Little Joe have a lot more episodes than Adam. I'm speaking of the first six seasons, before Adam left the show. Hoss and Little Joe's admirers were really lucky, but admirers of Adam were slighted some what. 😒
Robert Pernel heart was not committed in the Adam character . Wished they had chosen another actor to play Adam from the onset. You can see how Lorne, Dan & Micheal put their heart & soul into each of their characters
@@karencox446 If he didn't want the character of Adam he hadn't to accepted it. It was his own decision. He was a good actor but sadly his ego was bigger than his common sense
@@sharinaannuar3727 I wish the actor who played Little Joe's long lost half brother had stayed. He was really good and there was a lot of potential there. Unfortunately Pernell led the producers to believe he'd stay on, then bowed out the next season. The opportunity to get a more cooperative actor was missed.😞
BONANZA I LOVE YOU SO VERY MUCH AND I MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH MR LORNE GREENE AND PERNELL ROBERTS JR AND DAN BLOCKER AND MICHAEL LANDON I HOPE TO MEET YOU IN HAVEN FROM YOUR BIGFAN AND FRIEND ANN BENKOWSKI GOOD NIGHT
In the dangerous Wild West, pretty much every ranch and farm had dogs to warn them of any strangers approaching. But not the Ponderosa or any other ranch on Bonanza.
Probably with the ones taking gold to San Francisco and to Europe they could have just taken it there on a trip and the rest of the gold could have been transported and I do think that the general & Ben Cartright would have made good friends
Bonanza fan though I am, I have to agree with what some hombre said below. There are more holes in this plot than buckshot in the good General's body. To begin, that has to be the most cackhanded hold up scene in western history. The wagon was a sitting duck with all the soldats in single cluster around the wagon and el Generale still managed to lose most of his men in the assault. And Forsythe and Pablo the inveterate baddies could have walked in and taken out the whole lot in under 2 minutes at any time they chose. Instead they chose to negotiate endlessly with Sims who clearly had more good than bad in him.
It was an "honest" t.v. show budmangt2, a very good t.v. show, Ben is known to read from the Bible in others. There is none like it today. But even then it was a t.v. show. Did you not watch it as a child? No you were not born yet? "May God keep us safe. Amen."
I saw an interview with one of the producers here on RU-vid discussing Bonanza's actor and crew. He finally admitted that Pernell was a problem actor. He was constantly complaining about the "low-level" story lines. He thought himself too good to play the role. It shows every time he's on camera. It's not just the character he plays, you can see he'd rather not be there. The same thing happened on the Virginian with Lee Cobb (another professional snob too good for the show he contracted with). James Drury spoke of how his bad attitude made it difficult to work on set. Pernell was the same, always threatening to leave. Thankfully he finally got out of his obligation to the show and the true brotherly affection Michael and Dan shared became the glue that kept the show in the upper numbers for six years. Michael really came in to his own as a writer and director through the show. You could see how towards the end of the series the episodes began to reflect more social issues of the day. It became more than a western and had the potential to grow into something more. If Pernell had humbled himself and followed Landon's example maybe he would have been able to write and direct and make the stories he thought he deserved. Unfortunately, Dan's passing brought an end to the show, people loved Dan and Michael together. That's what caused the numbers to drop and the show to end.
I expected Ben to run into the house to make sure Joe was okay but they seemed to ignore the situation?? And later Ben supposedly takes Joe upstairs to rest, then removes a bullet from the general - all in about 5 minutes and then somehow jumps out of the 2nd story window so that he can come thru the front door and kill the bad guys! I sort of wish I hadn't seen this episode because it's so silly. I'll need to take a break so I can start over with fresh - not cynical eyes.
One moment the wagon is being pulled thru a dry sagebrush countryside then all of a sudden it's in a lush pine tree-covered area on a sound stage. Oh, I forgot we're not supposed to notice things like that.
Another gr8 Episode. Crap mercenary guy, the gringo. General was nice. Ben was Ben. $$$ always twists mens mind 4 betrayal & coruption..... Unfortunately
@@whumpcookies In real life if you punch someone as hard as you can on the jaw or cheekbone, then you are going to do yourself more damage (like punching a brick wall).
@@redblade8160 learn something new everyday, I've only had to punch someone a fee times..mainly two timing ex's and that's in the nose 👃 I'll remember never to win for the jaw unless wearing boxing gloves 🥊
Why don't they have more realistic ambushes? Just to keep everything in one close-up frame? Fewer camera setups? Who would bunch up together to protect a weapon? Who would plan to ambush a wagon by riding up on horseback with six-shooters rather than from protected positions with rifles? Especially since they just stole a dozes from the Cartwrights. It's a bit disappointing that this became the Western standard. There should be advance riders that you let pass and trailing riders to contend with. Have to put more thought into a workable plan from both sides. A true ambush would be simultaneous but for TV, make it sequential. Presumably you first shoot the driver and guard. At the sound of the shot, the leading men quickly move, so the first shot misses them, and they spin around to hunt the attackers. Another man jumps onto the driver's seat while other try to cover him. The men in the rear accelerate but go wide to attack the attackers.... How would you write it? The gun for hire cuts open the canvas that's hiding the secret? But they still need to sneak it into Mexico... Then the general cuts open the sack... :) 42:43 How could he not hear the door opening? That was silly! It was nice idea the being given that much time to decide if he's in or not was tiresome. The final shootout was much better, more dynamic. I would have liked to see Ben or the last gun or both promise to the general (just before he died) that they would return the gold to Mexico. A ridiculous premise that the gold would travel from Mexico, north to the ponderosa (Lake Tahoe, near Carson City & Reno, Nevada) and then south to San Francisco. Maximillian controlled land on both coasts but far south of the border, which was about in the same place in 1862 as it is now. No reason to go through SF to get to Europe (France), unless he stole it from a government bank close to the border. But also wouldn't really "buy Mexico its freedom" because it was originally their money. But that doesn't really matter.
@@susanmccormick6022 What I should have said is that hair dye products were not readily available to buy in small towns in the 19th century and yet we see the majority of women with blonde hair!
Hoss Cartwright middle brother cattle Adam Cartwright old brother cattle Joseph Cartwright little Joe home shot back Ben Cartwright home Joseph horse barn
Hoss and Adam Cartwright ride horse cattle Joe Cartwright younger brother shot back put horse barn Benjamin Ben Cartwright son Joseph horse barn kill ant
