Product Description

Its 1905 ben and the boys are long gone but the ponderosa carries on. Its now run by bronc evans (ben johnson) one of ben cartwrights old hired hands. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/07/2004 Starring: Ben Johnson Rating: Pg Director: Mark Tinker

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #49534 in DVD
• Brand: Twentieth Century Fox
• Released on: 2004-09-07
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 89 minutes

Customer Reviews

Honor Above All
It's 1905, Ben and the boys are long gone but the Ponderosa carries on. It's now run by Bronc Evans (Ben Johnson), one of Ben Cartwright's old hired hands. His grandkids are there, too. One's a smart alecky squirt who's also a lawyer, another's a good natured big guy, and the other was last seen crawling out of a second story window at his "intended's" house. Guess which young'un belonged to which pa.
The peacock network slipped three Bonanza The Next Generation made-for-tv movies in under my radar between 1988-1995. BONANZA:UNDER ATTACK is the last of them, and it's a decidedly mixed bag.
The core story is engaging enough. A rogue Pinkerton agent (Dennis Farina) has been chasing the outlaw Frank James (Leonard Nimoy) for years, and has him cornered somewhere on the 1000-square mile Ponderosa ranch. Adam's son Adam (Jeff Phillips) finds the wounded James and defends him at the point of a gun from the swarming Pinkertons. It's a temporary reprieve, of course, and the bulk of the movie is dedicated to saving James from the murderous Pinkertons. BUA works well when it's takes itself outside under the tall pines.
The trouble comes from the side-stories involving the young Cartwrights. Michael Landon, Jr. plays Little Joe's son Ben Cartwright and, well, he simply isn't an accomplished actor. (Dan Blocker's son Dirk, a better actor, also appears as a newspaper reporter.) Adam's sidebar love story is more distracting than anything. The 75-year-old Ben Johnson, a fine actor in his day, is simply too old for the role. Jack Elam is wasted as the grouchy cook Buckshot.
On the other hand, Nimoy is good as the wounded and played out Frank James, and Dennis Farina adds an appropriately menacing air to the maniacal Pinkerton agent. And the movie does begin with the burning map intro, not always available on video releases of the original series.
If you're a fan of the original "Bonanza" series you won't miss much if you pass on this one.

godd fun for Western fans
Just discovered this on DVD and was very pleased by it. Nimoy is fun as Frank James, Ben Cartwright's grand kids are along for the ride, Richard "Shaft" Roundtree is here too, and veteran Western actor Ben Johnson is great. This one is well worth adding to your Western collection.