Incannerax What a waste of my time!!!

ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Catherina If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

jeremy3 As a kid in the 70s and 80s, this was one TV Western I watched in rerun. Bonanza is probably the most well known of countless TV Westerns of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. It easy to think that TV Westerns are square and sophomoric. However, compared to most TV shows today these Western TV shows range from decent to great. My favorite one is Gunsmoke, but Bonanza was quite good. Although the cowboy period was actually a lot shorter than most people think nowadays, the Western was a great way to present moral lessons. The small towns with very little formal laws is reminiscent of times when having a moral code was key. The gunfighters in the TV Westerners are both idealized and pitied. Having a quick trigger makes one a celebrity, but also means that people constantly want to challenge you to a duel. In Bonanza, the fists are used more than guns. Lorne Greene plays the widowed father of the Cartwright family of three sons - Adam, Hoss, and Joe. Ben Cartwright is a very moral man who uses words and deeds to show why he is the largest landowner in the Virginia City, Nevada area. He can use his fists, but he is getting a little older. His sons use their fists, but all are heroic. Bonanza ran for 14 years, and had a host of guest stars. For example, Carroll O'Connor plays a ruthless entrepreneur who finds out the hard way that greed has a great cost in the long run. Bonanza is about moral values and lessons that people learn from their behaviors. This is something seriously lacking in the vast majority of today's TV. Too much canned laughter and gutter level, shock the audience humor and action. Lastly, Bonanza does a good job in showing about racism and class prejudice. Native Americans are neither portrayed in the brutal fashion like in A Man Called Horse with Richard Harris or like Dances With Wolves with Kevin Costner that idealized Native Americans. The show tried to show how people really were, and the challenges and conflicts in those days as honestly as they could on TV. The script writing on many of these westerns is underrated. Many, such as Sam Peckinpah, who wrote many of the scripts for The Rifleman, went on to become famous directors. Interesting too that the last season Tim Matheson from Animal House replaced Michael Landon while he went on to do Little House On The Prairie.

keelhaul-80856 Bonanza was an awesome show, that really was ahead of its time(sometimes a bit too much, in its revisions of history). It featured some black and Asian ppl, and many other groups as a part of the magnificent tapestry of the West, and touched on many exciting frontier topics. To me, the show was more grounded and realistic in earlier episodes, and some later ones. There was a period(as the show went on for so damn long!) where the writers seemed to drop acid and then do a story at the last minute, and the gear was anachronistic and crazy at times. I always noticed that many episodes were supposed to be taking place before the Civil War, or around that time, yet every guy on the show has a lever-action rifle like a Winchester! I realize that the Henry rifle and others came out around that time, but it is very unlikely that every goofball and cattle thief on the Nevada frontier would have these things, as they were mainly used by US military units in small quantities. Then there were a bunch of episodes where Hoss or Joe would meet some nutty inventor or leprechaun, or vampire, or gypsy, etc. and a bunch of campy silliness and cheesy music would ensue. The show was on for so many years that it undoubtedly ran into trouble with new ideas, but man, did it get super cheesy in places. Another funny problem was that they never wanted to introduce a new character or love interest, and actually keep them! Seriously, I bet 5,000 women died or mysteriously left at the end of one or two episodes, leaving the brothers or Ben broken-hearted, but somehow "better" for the experience. Like, couldn't they just surprise us once, and have a new member join the cast and marry one of the brothers? If I was a woman, I wouldn't go anywhere near this family, as you are 99% likely to die, be kidnapped, or have to make a difficult life choice to leave and disappear. Cousin Will was one of the few exceptions to additional characters they kept, but he isn't a woman.Another funny thing they played out was the way the town or state viewed the Cartwrights. On one episode, the whole state would be trying to get Ben elected to governor, or very supportive of his problems, and in debt to him for helping the entire community. On the next episode, the entire town would be trying to sabotage the family, and everyone hated them.Other flaws-- Sheriff Roy Coffee(who replaced other earlier lawmen) was the most useless and comical old guy on the show. "Now Ben, I know you and your boys are great people, but we may have to just hang Little Joe if someone accuses him of a crime this week." Roy never got anything done, or solved a case-- it was always the Cartwright boys coming to his or the town's rescue, but he always had some "Dr. Phil" type wisdom or just plain dumb stuff to say about everything. He was so lame it was actually funny, in an unintentional way. Overall, way better than many shows on TV, and it broke ground in many diverse areas, but some really cheesy years as well. Still, a guilty pleasure that delivers if you're bored, or want decent family entertainment with basically good morals.

northernlightstm I love Bonanza the bits. Every episode seems like a film. Hoss Cartwright and Joe Cartwright are my favourite characters. Although Ben Cartwright is cool too. I love the time Bonanza plays in. It describes Virginia City in it's prime. Some characters in the series are real and got honored in this show. I like the friendship between Joe Cartwright and Hoss Cartwright. Alsow in almost every episode there is a girl, who falls in love with one of the Cartwright's boys. It doesn't matter in which episode you begin. Every episode has it's own special story. I also like The Ponderosa. It is beautiful. Although too many people get hanged. Though I believe that's how it was back then.

Panamint This show ran for a loooong time. It started out in the late 1950's as a gloriously colorful, entertaining big TV western series, it was terrific and I highly recommend the first year and most of what was produced until "Adam" left circa 1965. After that event the producers were obviously stunned for a while and struggled to continue. They admirably tried to right the ship but TV westerns were in decline. In response to the overall western decline they attempted to convert "Bonanza" into a sort of relevant (what ever that means) TV drama series. However they made the mistake of losing the big, colorful entertainment value. We are left with many years of routine TV, mostly ordinary TV-style drama scripts and production. Maybe I am a little biased- I remember seeing the first episodes on my uncle's big color TV as they were broadcast in 1959- they seemed magnificent at the time.If the first season stood alone I would give it a solid "10" rating. Subsequently maybe "9" until 1965. After that this series is not a recommend for me.