Ben Cartwright and his three sons (by three wives) ride herd over the sprawling Ponderosa spread in 1860s Nevada in one of the most handsomely mounted and beloved series of all time.
The first TV Western to be shown in color, it ran for 14 seasons.

Bonanza

Episode 32: Death at Dawn

Criminals have taken over Virginia City and are forcing citizens to pay for protection lest they suffer an “accident”. A store owner who didn’t pay is murdered by gang member and the sole witness, the victim’s wife Beth, is offered protection at the Ponderosa. For his trouble, Ben is kidnapped by the gang leader.

Bonanza was probably one of the more influential western series of all time. Along with “Gunsmoke” this also was one of the longest running series in the history of television.
White-haired Ben was the proud patriarch of the Cartwrights, the family at the center of one of TV’s most beloved series. Their ranch, the Ponderosa, was 1,000 square-miles (600,000 acres) in size and sprawled from mountainous shores of Lake Tahoe to the desert terrain near Virginia City in the Nevada Territory.
Ben oversaw his frontier empire with the help of his three sons: Adam, Hoss, and Joe.
The series was set in 1859 when the series began and would progress through and following the Civil War.
But the thing that really made it great was the fact that the cast and crew were able to go from serious drama to some very light hearted episodes and make it more than just a western but a family drama with stories that could easily fit into any era.
Bonanza is really a show for the ages.

Cast and Crew:

* Lorne Greene – Ben Cartwright
* Michael Landon – Joseph “Little Joe” Francis Cartwright
* Dan Blocker – Eric “Hoss” Cartwright
* Pernell Roberts – Adam Cartwright

# Creators: David Dortort, Fred Hamilton
# Producers: Ben Koenig, Barney A. Sarecky

Production Company: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white / color
Date Release: 1959

Additional details in: IMDB
Video streaming: courtesy of www.finemoviesonline.com

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