Michael Landon, the Father I Knew

This film is about the life and times of Michael Landon, fifties teenage b-movie actor and star of successful and long-running TV series like "Bonanza", "Little House on the Prairie" and "Highway to Heaven". It focuses on the private life of Landon, reaching from his early "Bonanza" days in the sixties to his sad cancer death in 1991.

Directed by his son, Michael Landon jr., it is rather an autobiography about a tragic father and son relationship. As Landon left his family very early for another younger woman, it's the only thing that this movie is really about. What could have become an interesting portrait of a TV actor is just a boring and cheesy kitchen sink drama and a bit of an autotherapy of the director. You won't learn much about Landon or his works, but more about his hair styles during all those decades. And that's not enough for an interesting movie.

I'm sorry Mr OhioBonanza - it seems you are too emotionally involved with the Landon's for any impartial reasoning. Did you fail to read the title : 'The Father I Knew' / 'A Father's Son' ???????

It's a son's recount - who was clearly taken for granted and at times, forgotten by his self-indulgent, hormone-crazed father - of this man who was his parent. & for someone who wasn't there to disregard what he experienced growing up being Michael Landon Jnr - is very selfish, arrogant and mean spirited.

**************A stale piece of hogwash, 16 May 2004. This film vilifies Michael Landon, a man of extraordinary talent, guts, compassion,intelligence, and empathy for the downtrodden. I am a big Michael Landon fan...and I watched and taped the movie when it was aired years ago. It was completely biased. For example, it made Lynn Landon look like a poor betrayed wife...well, that is partially true, but nowhere did Michael, Jr. mention that Lynn was married to two men before Michael!!! Mr. Pontrelli...and then Mr. Manny Baier...She was older than Michael and more experienced...in many ways. She was said to be more concerned with her Beverly Hills status than with enjoying life with Michael. She wouldn't cook, and she apparently couldn't even be bothered to learn how to make a cup of coffee. Michael,Jr. also neglected to mention that he was heavily into drugs as an older teen, and that he was asked to leave the college he attended. Cindy was made out to be a teenybopper type; I have met Cindy, and she was warm and sensible..and she truly loved Michael. Such a superficial treatment by Landon, Jr., with bad acting, poor casting, hackneyed direction, and poor-me writing...makes this "daddydearest" a real loser. Avoid it; spend the time watching repeats of "Bonanza"..."Little House" and "Highway to Heaven".... Betsy

Michael Landon, junior did a good job, as his life with a very famous father seems to have brought him maturity. Meaning that he is able to love his father, whose warts abound as much as any of us. Most times, we find it more than a little hard to love our parents when we discover that they are as human as we are!

I think "his" account (personal viewpoint) of his dad is told as honestly as he was able to tell it. I hope he follows this movie up with a sequel. It would be nice to know how all of the Landon children survived the death of their dad. I imagine that the writing and the directing of this life experience was more than a little helpful to the author.

If there is one thing that stands out in the movie, it is the work ethic his father had. The movie show us how Michael junior learned how to work hard instead of sponging off of his wealthy parents. There are a few things like the example of "hard work" in the movie that make it more than just merely beneficial to watch.

A homage from a son to a deceased father. It is always regretable to knock a tribute movie but due to a bad script the acting is flat and on occasions well over the top. (No children welcome their father in such a manner unless he has been away for a couple of hundred years.) Incidents like Landon Sr. bending a cheeky guy's finger for swearing in front of his children appear contrived and incidental to the story. As a whole the movie sprawls over too long a time period. I feel Landon Jr. should have focussed more tightly on key incidents and looked deeper into his own emotions, maybe then, the viewer could have more sympathy with his (Landon Jr's), predicament. The editing lacks sharpness and slows a boring movie down to a snail's pace. Even for daytime TV this movie has very little to engage the interest.

While I was prepared for a nasty tell-all in the form of "Mommy Dearest," as the reviewer in TV Guide had written, I was pleasantly surprised to see a poignant story of the son of a once-loving father having to come to terms with his own and his father's imperfections.

While it was a joy to see the depicted Michael Landon, Jr. eventually triumph over many life-controlling problems, and learn to love his father, the viewer will be compelled to use up a box of Kleenex when he learns that his father, the nationally-beloved Michael Landon, must inevitably die of inoperable cancer. Even though many of us lived through it ourselves as we watched Michel Landon's courageous fight against pancreatic cancer in the news, it was even tougher this time; we had to see the process through the eyes of a loving son who is unable to help his father fight a relentlessly progressing disease.

Most surprising of all is the clarity of Michael Landon, Jr's directorial vision. From the first moment, his style easily drew the viewer in to the point that the audience could actually experience what it was like to be part of the Landon family. That makes watching the family deteriorate later on even more involving and immediate. He will grow to be a true master of the art of film as he matures. I look forward to more of his work.