The year is 1905, and the Ponderosa Ranch Ben Cartwright built is now in the hands of his brother Aaron (John Ireland) and Little Joe’s widow Annie (Barbara Anderson).
Aaron gives permission for a mining company to search for gold on the Ponderosa, hoping it will provide a badly needed economic boost to the area and all the unemployed workers in Virginia City.
Meanwhile, Benj Cartwright (Michael Landon Jr.) is coming home from a visit, bringing along a medal Little Joe won during the Charge at San Juan Hill.
A stranger named Josh shows up at the Ponderosa too, looking to gun down Hoss Cartwright, the man who impregnated his late mother and left her with a bastard son.
What Josh didn’t know is that Hoss had every intention of returning to marry his mom. But he drowned saving the life of another person.
Josh is welcomed as a family member on the Ponderosa and eventually decides to stay.
Then he makes a startling discovery: The mining company is using a hydraulic process that’s basically raping the Ponderosa.
Naturally, that doesn’t sit well with those responsible for upholding the Cartwright legacy.
But with so much wealth at stake, mining company representative Dunston is reluctant to walk away from the Ponderosa.
And the Cartwright’s opposition to Dunston’s practices also puts them at odds with Virginia City businessmen and the workers who won’t have jobs if the mining operation shuts down.
John Ireland as Capt. Aaron Cartwright, left in charge of the Ponderosa after Ben Cartwright’s death in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Robert Fuller as Charlie Poke, foreman on the Ponderosa in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Review:
Michael Landon Jr. and Gillian Green, Lorne’s daughter, are on hand to provide a link to the classic TV series.
Unfortunately, this is far from a classic effort.
Part of the problem is that it’s the pilot for a possible TV series, so a new cast of Ponderosa characters has to be introduced to viewers.
By the time that mission is accomplished, the movie is an hour in, allowing little time for tension to develop around what’s supposed to be the main plot.
Even if that wasn’t a problem, too much of what happens on screen is simply groan worthy, partly because producers seemed to want to pay homage to the beloved Bonanza characters and paint the new ones as equally noble.
So foreman Charlie Poke (Robert Fuller) fires a cowboy for being cruel to a horse. Josh proves he’s every bit as gentle with animals as Hoss ever was. And Benj allows a pioneer family to keep a Cartwright cow so it can supply milk for a baby.
But the silliest scene comes when Josh meets pretty banker’s daughter Jennifer Sills for the first time. You’d think he’d never seen a young woman before.
Greene plays that role in one of only two appearances she’d make as an actress. Josh’s problem is that she’s sweet on Benj.
Her dad had signed on to reprise his role as Ben Cartwright. But he died at age 72 in 1987, before production on this film began.
the leading opponents to plan to mine on the ranch.
Five years later, another Bonanza sequel was filmed. Michael Landon Jr. had the same role; otherwise the cast was entirely different.
In that film, the Ponderosa is threatened by someone wanting to strip it of lumber, not gold.
And, yep, Josh, the bastard son of Hoss, shows up all over again, as though he never made an appearance five years earlier.
Michael Landan Jr. as Benj Cartwright, agreeing to treat Josh like a brother in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Gillian Greene as Jennifer Sills, the banker’s daughter who is sweet on Benj Cartwright in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Directed by:
William F. Claxton
Cast:
Robert Fuller …. Charlie Poke
John Ireland … Capt. Aaron Cartwright
Barbara Anderson … Annie Cartwright
Michael Landon Jr. … Benj Cartwright
Brian Smith … Josh Cartwright
John Amos … Mr. Mack
Peter Mark Richman … Mr. Dunson
Gillian Greene … Jennifer Sills
Richard Bergman … Sheriff Montooth
Kevin Hagen … Nathaniel Amsted
William Billy Benedict … Gus Morton
Dabbs Greer … Sills
Gary Reed … Eldon Poole
Lee McLaughlin … Mayor
Robert F. Hoy … Feathers
Jerry Gatlin … Deke
Rex Linn … Cease
Runtime: 93 min.
Barbara Anderson as Annie Cartwright, Little Joe’s wife and likely widow in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Brian Smith as Josh Cartwright, information Aaron of the hydraulic mining operation in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Memorable lines:
Capt. Aaron Cartwright: “One of the last things I remember my brother saying was, that north section that you plan to use for your mining site — he always said that was best left to God and eternity.”
Charlie Poke to Capt. Aaron Cartwright: “Do you have any idea what will happen to the Ponderosa if even a rumor of a gold strike leaks out. No, I reckon you don’t. Maybe you spent too much time painting pictures with that friend of yours in the South Pacific.”
Charlie Poke, of Aaron Cartwright: “Sometimes being a good man isn’t enough. There’s times when a man has to be tough, hard.”
Annie Cartwright: “Like you?”
Charlie: “Like Ben Cartwright was. When he had to be.”
John Amos as Mr. Mack, cook for the Cartwright family in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Peter Mark Richman as Mr. Dunson, head of the Amsted mining operation in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Richard Bergman as Sheriff Montooth, warnning that the mining operations will lead to trouble in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
Dabbs Greer as Sills, the banker hoping to cash in on the mining operations in Bonanza — The Next Generation (1988)
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