Bonanza (TV Series) Showdown (1960) User Reviews

Listening post

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 10 June 2020]

This Bonanza story has the bank in Virginia City being robbed by Jack Lambert and his gang. Lambert assigns young Ben Cooper to get a job on the Ponderosa as a kind of listening post to find out what the law might be doing.

Cooper gets the job and the other 3 accept him at face value. But Michael Landon has his doubts.

Ray Teal as sheriffRoy Coffee makes his debut in what was Bonanza's 1st show of its second season. Lambet's as mean as ever as heusually is as a heavy. Cooper is fine as the kid with a chip on his shoulder.

Little Joe, the doubter

[mitchrmp · 8/10 · 4 March 2014]

Ben Cooper seems to play this type of character a lot. In this episode, his character is an angry kid who was wronged and wants to get even. He's a really nice guy, knows how to break horses, and is pretty charming. Yet we know from the very beginning that Sam helped rob a bank. As we get to know the man, we learn what makes him tick and act the way he does.

There is a scene in this episode that always bothers me. Little Joe walks up to see Sam being kind to a woman he has the hots for. Irrationally, he gets angry, and for what? Personally, I think that the truth should have come out and Ben should have taught Joe some manners himself! Unless she's promised to him, she can love on any man she wants and he can't do a thing about it! But, this is typical Little Joe temper for sure!

Two dead