Weite Reise

Michael Landon, knew a wise man learned from the past. Before this film, he made an outstanding motion picture with a somewhat similar premise, but the film which was supposed to be a pilot with Gil Gerard did mot make it as a television series, but was a fine motion picture. Here Michael Landon is able to bring both of those factors together and the way he does that is two words, Michael Landon. That is not to say that there are many other people that without them, he would not be able to bring this project and others together. He would be the first person to tell you such. However, from the point of view of watching the film, Landon's gifts as an actor, make this both a film that can stand on its own and a television pilot that can stand on its own.

Much of the images from the film come from Landon's subconscious, I believe, based on my knowledge of the him as a person. A lot of his work, was him working out things that were going on in his personal life on paper. At the time of the production of this motion picture "Us" Mike was in the seventh year of his third marriage, which had produced two children, Jennifer Landon of FBI: Most Wanted and Sean Landon a real-estate developer. The time from the end of Little House to the beginning of Highway to Heaven was a tough time for Michael personally. He had come off a divorce to Lynn, mother of four of his nine children, which was quite painful for him and a film called Love is Forever, in which he gives an outstanding performance, but had to deal with a director that he did not see eye to eye with and this director ruined the picture. I will not mention the name of the director, because he was not someone Mike liked during or after.

I feel that this pilot, film is a release and recovery for Michael as an artist and a human being. He got to travel America as the angel Jonathan and suddenly everything and everyone around him is dying. Things are changing, more so than before. So, the script was letting a lot of things out that he was trying to get out of his system. It was relief of pain. There are images in this film that to me clearly show that it is a commentary not only on America, and the American family, but Michael and his family.

One striking image in the film, is a criminal in it, a jewel thief, smashes through a vase window, when they are caught by the police. There was a vase window in Michael and his second wife's home. When he is released from prison, his relationship with his son's mother, seems like the relationship that he was having with his second wife Lynn and his son Mike jr. I have no doubt that they inspire the characters, to a degree. The father that Barney Martin plays is likely inspired somewhat by Mikes own father Eli. For example, Jack does not like to talk out problems, he would prefer to wash his "damn shoes". Michael often said his father was this way, he would not confront his problems. In fact, in 1955, when Landon was known as Eugene Orowitz and was leaving to go to University of Southern Cal on an athletic scholarship, Landon said his father asked him if he knew about sex yet, and proceeded to try and have the 'talk' with him, but could not get it out, and so he told his father he already knew everything he needed to know, by talking to the guys. The film is about Landon reconciling the relationship with his son and it is a commentary on a lot of fathers and sons, but is also about Michael and Mike jr, I believe. Great motion picture and this would have made a great series.

Michael Landon was at his full peak of best health at the time he wrote, filmed and assembled the pilot film in November and December of 1990. The story and characters are somewhat more realistic and edgier and Landon himself has elements of the last 3 characters he played ( Bonanza-Joe, Little House-Charles, Highway to Heaven-Jonathan ) in the new character of Jeff Hayes. Landon himself, in his own self is very evident in the character of Jeff. His master technique of acting is certainly very well evoking in this pilot film. His new hairstyles, trimmed-down muscular build and his own clothing ( except the MGM wardrobe prison garb ) and the 90's suburb-settings are more then a sign he did not look back to the past for limitless creativity, but the future. He was working out several weeks at the gym and at MGM, before he filmed this and many assumed this was made when he was sick with cancer, which is a big misconception to many of his fans. Untrue. Filming of the first 12 episodes was set for early June 1991, but tragedy occured some months before that would make this new series impossible. It's a showcase of something that would have been, perhaps his most satisfying role, had he not fell sick some 4 months later in February 1991, with pancreatic cancer, then diagnosed with it in April after sensing he was not well, spanning 5 months through July 1, 1991, to his demise. The US pilot was aired on CBS a few months after he died, in September 1991 and later reran in 1992. Since then on cable television and dish TV. Perhaps a most disturbing scene is in the first act of the film, he is walking down a Los Angeles street at night--and for the first time in his career--he is not accompanied by a sidekick, as with Victor French, Dan Blocker or Merlin Olson. Somewhat detached, seeing him alone in a scene, where most of the time, he's in the presence of another lead actor, as a co-hero. Ten months earlier in January 1990, while on Larry King, he recalled how a "Bonanza" remake would be impossible, since his closet co-stars had all died ( Pernell Roberts excluded, who is still living ), and some of the reality of these tragedies surface in US, in a subtle sense. Michael is there--but he should have his old-co-stars with him at some point of a scene--a modern and somber reminder time has marched on and they have been lost in death. He made an appearance on Entertainment Tonight-the Christmas 1990 edition and sadly the next one would be in April 1991, when he held the press conference at his Malibu home, announcing his grim illness to the world on television. He can never be replaced as the Master of Family Television and a good man, in every sense of the word.

I love this movie & put it up there as one of my top 10 movies of all time! I can relate to this film on a deep emotional level having experienced having a wonderful loving father who died way too soon when I was only 21 years old. Michael Landon wrote, produced & starred in this film as his final gift to us. A very special film!

There are several scenes in the movie which touch me deeply. One of which when Michael Landon is having an argument with his father over Michael Landon "Jeff Hayes" son. He tells his father the following > " When I was in prison I used to dream about being a father. I used to read books about raising kids & from year # 1 on how you get to hold them & look at them & how quick they get to know you & the terrible 2's, & the potty training, & their first days in school, about the joys & the fears. I used to lye in my bunk at night trying to get myself to dream I was doing those things with my kid, teaching him how to swim & throw a ball, & you know what? In my dream my kid loved me!"

This was Michael Landon's last project before his death. The show centers around a man who was wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not committ and ends up getting pardoned after decades in prison when evidence is discovered proving his innocence. After being paroled (Jeff Hayes) Landon's character returns to his old life to reconnect with the family he left behind. The movie was intended as a pilot for a new series by Landon, which the network greenlighted for the upcoming year. Sadly, the show never got passed a few unaired episodes before Michael Landon passed away. His flare for family dramas like Little House on the Prairie, Highyway to Heaven, and his early years on Bonanza is a lasting legacy for his committment to providing equality family entertainment that not only was wholesome, but taught lessons about morality and decentcy which sadly is lacking in Hollywood today. Michael Landon is a true icon of what Hollywood use to stand for and will never be forgotten. If you have not watched his last made for TV movie watch it, you will be glad you did.

Made with most of Michael Landon's usual behind-the-camera crew (except for composer David Rose, who had passed away the year before - Steve Dorff takes musical duties here), "Us," as has been documented elsewhere, was a 1991 pilot movie for a series that had been sold to CBS and which was only prevented from going ahead by Landon's untimely death that year. The pilot itself, though edging into stronger territory than he was associated with (which overlooks the fact that he starred in "I Was A Teenage Werewolf," as well as the darker episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" like the one with a faith healer who's unmasked as a fake when a boy he "cures" ends up dead), is at heart the story of three generations of a family getting to know each other, revolving around our hero (Landon) released from jail after 18 years for a crime he didn't commit, building his relationship with his dad and coming to grips with his own son.

Although it opens with a robber in drag being gunned down by the cops and later has a lady of the night who our hero befriends becoming the seventh victim of a serial killer (a plot thread which surprisingly doesn't become a major thrust), for the most part sleaze is kept at bay with character and emotion the real selling points. As usual, it's sentimental (especially the end), but never unwatchable, and it's to Landon's credit as a writer-director that it doesn't scream "pilot" at you the way some others of its ilk do.

You can see where this would have gone as a series; another look at people travelling across America and finding themselves, but at least this TV movie is far superior to the late Robert Urich's "Crossroads," which had a similar premise and did become a series. Not Landon's best, but watchable.