Reviews (2)

Terrible Hossless...
No Hoss. Poor fellow died prior to this episode, so we don't get to see the big guy. But that's not what makes this episode terrible. If you want to see what really killed off this series, watch Landon (Little Joe) overacting in this reinterpretation of "The Miracle Worker". Painful! Poor Altman and Landon were just doing their jobs. The blame goes to the scriptwriter and producer of this wasted effort. IMPORTANT NOTE: The DVD does NOT use the original "Bonanza" title theme, which was probably too expensive for them to procure, but substitutes a nice little alternative country-music ditty. Should be banned from all reissue. Not worth watching, even for Altman fans, which begs the question ... why is it that [junk] like this is available, but Robert Altman's wonderful films "Three Women" and "Images" remain unattainable?

I don't know about the quality, but I know about the episode
Little Joe is in one of his best episodes in this one. He tries to teach a deaf girl to talk with her hands and needs the help of the girl's daughter. But there's another man who don't care about her talking; he just wants to kiss her and all. Anyway, so Little Joe gets a book to help teach her and she soon catches on. Until she says she's in love with Joe. The Joe gets mad, but apologizes. They go back to normal later and then it has a surprising ending. A great early Bonanza to own. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

No Ranger retires perpendicular
Nasty and corrupt Mayor Nard Lundy (Edward Andrews) is challenged by idealistic Jeff Rose (Ricky Nelson) in an upcoming election. Lundy has Sheriff Clyde Barnes (Jack Elam) rough the young upstart up some. Rose's visiting father-in-law, retired Texas Ranger Captain Oren Hayes (Pat O'Brien) sends an urgent telegraph to three of his former command (Walter Brennan, Chill Wills and Edgar Buchanan) to come to Boulder immediately and help him clean up the town.
THE OVER-THE-HILL GANG is a 1969 made-for-television movie that was popular enough at the time to lead to a sequel a year later. For old movie fans it's hard to beat the appeal of this veteran character actor laden movie. It's fun to see them play off each other and confront a situation that their advancing years have forced them to deal with more with guile than brute force. What's not so much fun is seeing them saddled with this tired, predictable plot.
Brennan and Buchanan shine brightest in this one; Brennan as the gun slinger who's lost a bit of speed on his quick draw and Buchanan as the scout who's eyesight has deteriorated to the point that he's drawing his guns on stuffed and mounted bears. With a better script, and a more delicate and penetrating examination of what it feels like to suddenly find yourself old and in the way, this one could have been a classic for the ages rather than an amusing piece of fluff.
The print transfer to dvd is so-so. Some of the night scenes are muddy and it's hard to make out what's happening. The dvd also comes with the Little Rascals' short "Hooky Spooky."
Fans of old movies should enjoy the veteran character actors in this, although they may agree that the folks in front of the camera in THE OVER-THE-HILL GANG deserved far better.

One more chance to see some ol' western stars
The technical part of this review refers to the Brentwood Home Video or BCI Eclipse version.

From the Aaron Spelling stable of TV movies comes this tale with Ricky Nelson (and his wife Kris Nelson) as an idealistic couple. Ricky is running for Mayor of a small western town against Edward Andrews who plays a corrupt town boss. Jack Elam is his Sheriff and Andy Devine is his Judge, both firmly entrenched in his back pocket.

Pat O'Brien comes to town as Ricky Nelson's father-in-law, a retired Texas Ranger who rounds up his old partners (Walter Brennan, Edgar Buchanan and Chill Wills)!!! Throw in Gypsy Rose Lee as the owner of the local saloon and you got yourself a pretty good (for TV) rip-snorting western. You know how it's going to play out, but watching the all these stars in action makes up for a sub-par script.

Unfortunately the transfer is from a well-used print that looks like it was recorded in long play mode. At times, scenes taking place at night are almost unwatchable. But the chance to see these stars of westerns in their later years is a treat you should not miss if you're a fan of the western genre.

Brentwood/BCI put in their usual extras, six chapter stops, a DVD dictionary, trivia game and a short subject (Hal Roach's "Little Rascals"). This movie is also in a 10 pack of westerns at about triple the price for this one film from Brentwood Home Video called "The Wild West" and is available from Amazon.com.

Great Family Western Comedy!!
In this film a group of retired Texas Rangers(Walter Brennan,Edgar Buchanan,Pat O'Brien and Chill Wills)take on a corrupt small Nevada town relying on their brains not brawn.Also co-starring Ricky Nelson,Kris Nelson,Edward Andrews and Jack Elam.It's a great family western comedy!! ... Read more

Reviews (2)

bonanza video dvds or vhs series
i just want the viewers to know that Bonanza is nothing like the lone ranger series. Bonanza is in a class by itself. Bonanza ran for 14yrs in a row. you can't say that about anyother western of that time span. Bonanza has great stories with some shoot outs but not too much violence. Bonanza had excellent actors and writers and producers. If your're not sure of what western series to purchase, you can rest asure that anything that deals with Bonanza is a plus for your collection. trust someone who knows that show well, i promise you won't be sorry. after all we have enough violence in the real world!

Probably a 2 & 1/2 star
First of all DVD quality...It sounded in between I think the only place I noticed it was the theme sounded a little off.; but the picture did look good to me.

Now the other stuff. This has two movies: The Stranger and The Avenger. For those who haven't watched Bonanza on TV (like myself) These are not the mean killing machine type of Westerns that fill the market, but Westerns with very minimal violence. They remind me a lot of the Lone Ranger in almost every aspect. What more can I say? You decide. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Outstanding fun and suspense.
This is a definite dvd to add to your Bonanza collection. It's about a cold blooded murder by a murderer who denies killing a storeowner. Her wife testifies in court of the cold blooded murder and it makes the murderer to be sentenced at dawn to be hanged by the neck until death. But the murderer'd friend takes Ben into hostage into a stable so that if they hang him, Ben gets hung. It's up to Joe, Hoss, and Adam to go on with the hanging and save their father. Such a suspicious and entertaining Bonanza; so fans, don't pass this by. ... Read more