Bonanza: La chevauchée punitive

In the 1990's, several attempts were made to revive the Bonanza franchise, with little success. This film features the great Ben Johnson, Jack Elam and even Leonard Nimoy as Frank James ! Mike Landon Jr and Dirk Blocker (sons of the original Little Joe & Hoss) also appear.

Despite the interesting cast of veterans & newcomers, the movie ultimately fails to deliver the goods. Lorne Greene, Blocker & Landon are especially missed. Unlike the series of Gunsmoke TV films of the same era, this film series fails to recapture the excitement and collegiality of the original TV show. I did like the performance here by Nimoy....... a nice change of pace.

I rarely fail to recommend westerns with Ben Johnson & Jack Elam ...... but this one may be for avid fans only.

The Ponderosa is intruded upon by renegade Pinkertons, led by murderous detective Dennis Farina. They're chasing reformed outlaw Frank James (Leonard Nimoy!), who finds protection among the next generation of the Cartwright clan and his old Civil War pals Ben Johnson and Jack Elam.

Johnson, Elam, Farina, Nimoy, and Richard Roundtree are all fun to watch, though some of the younger actors, including the offspring of a few of Bonanza's original stars, are a bit wooden and the script a few bad lines of dialog.

However, everything's so laid back and the old-timers so good that it's virtually impossible for me to dislike. The story premise is fairly solid too.

Some might call it heresy to try and further the adventures of a TV series without the benefit of any of the original stars. I'm glad they went ahead and at least tried. It took guts.