TV Review: Bonanza
I recently watched a dozen episodes of this classic Western series (1959-1973) on a Mill Creek discount DVD release. Apparently, some episodes from the first two seasons have fallen into the public domain. But not the music, so the evocative opening theme was dubbed over with twangy generic “Western” music.
Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene) is the owner of the Ponderosa, the largest cattle ranch in Nevada. He runs it with the help of his three adult sons by three deceased wives, Adam (Pernell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Little Joe (Michael Landon.) It ran in an hour-long format (unusual for Westerns of the time) and was more of a family drama than an action show.
The hour-long format allowed the writers to add more nuance and character development to the plotlines, resulting in some stellar episodes. For example, “The Courtship”, which appears to be the first “Hoss falls in love” episode, moves convincingly from light comedy at the beginning, through romance, to heartbreak at the end. It was probably even more effective when first shown, as this early in the series, the audience would not have caught on to the “Cartwright Curse” (no woman a main character is attracted to will stay on the show.)
Another fine episode is “Blood on the Land.” Apparently, the earliest episodes had the Cartwrights be clannish and hostile to outsiders, and this episode was a turning point in the series. Ben Cartwrights open refusal to let anyone cross his land brings him into conflict with a sheepherder who acts as Ben’s dark mirror. The sheepherder is just as stubborn and prideful as Ben, and calls him out on his autocratic behavior. While the sheepherder’s fine words are a cover for his own ruthless venality, Ben does take their message to heart and works on becoming kinder to sttangers.
It’s notable in these episodes how little respect the Cartwrights’ money and power get them. No one ever toadies or gives way to them on account of their wealth. When people do show the family respect, it’s because of their high moral character and (especially in Hoss’ case) their proficiency in a fight.
An aspect of the show that has aged less well is the “very special” episodes that deal with socially relevant topics like racism and substance abuse. Ben Cartwright has some peculiarly 1960s attitudes for a man living in the 1850s. While the writing of these episodes certainly comes across as earnest, it’s also quite heavy-handed and given to platitudes. And every so often it exposes the show’s blind spots. Pernell Roberts is said to have left the show at least partially because there were never any black people in Virginia City unless the episode was specifically about how wrong prejudice against black people is.
Also, many episodes do show the patterns that eventually made the show.so easy to parody. In addition to the tendency of romantic interests to die or leave town abruptly, if there are two antagonists, one clean-shaven and the other blessed with beard stubble, the clean-shaven one will invariably be uncomfortable with the path of evil and be redeemed, while the stubbled one will be close to pure evil and usually die.
That said, this is fine old-fashioned television viewing. I recommend picking up the official release if you can, because the theme song is part of the experience.
