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Year: 1960
Genre: TV series, Western
Country: United States
Language: English
Starring: Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts, Dan Blocker
Creator: David Dortort
Run time: 13 hours, 12 minutes
DVD distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
Oh, those Cartwrights. So good, so honourable, so wise and upstanding, every one of them. In the first episode of Season Two Volume One, out December 7th from Paramount Home Entertainment, a dangeruos gang of bank robbers holes up and hides out near the Ponderosa. Through a strange leap in logic and a stretch in plotting, one of the gang members gets himself hired on at the Ponderosa by the Cartwrights so he can spy on the sheriff and the marshalls.
The Cartwrights immediately accept this stranger as one of their own, and they show him all the kindness, hospitality and friendliness befitting a member of the family. Only Little Joe is wary of the new hired hand, but the others refuse to listen. See, they’re all about seeing only the good in people, and no man is guilty until proven guilty, and Little Joe is just sour cause the new guy is a better horse rider and macked on his girl a little, see?
Soon, the overwhelming kindness and reasonable nature of the Cartwrights – the selflessness of Adam, the jovial friendship of Hoss, and the wise gravitas of Ben – overwhelm this crook. And before long, he renounces his life of violence, confesses his life story tale of woe, and turns in his evil gang mates all thanks to having met the Greatest Family Who Ever Lived. Yes, it’s all utterly silly and far-fetched, especially for a 40-minute run time. But it’s fun, and it’s easy, and it’s Bonanza!