Bonanza (TV Series) The Avenger (1960) User Reviews

Ben and Adamun a jackpot

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 June 2020]

Thuis is one of the grimmest and strangest Bonanza stories ever done. Lorne Greene and Pernell Roberts are about to be hanged chiefly on the testimony of Jean Allison. It's her father that was killed and she says she saw Ben and Adam do the deed. Of course she saw no such a thing.

A mysterious stranger played by Vic Morrow who carries six gun in his pants intervenes on behalf of the Cartwrights. He's fast wth a gun, but does't believe in holsters. Man likes to live dangerously.

A strange man and episode.

Intriguing Episode

[leonardaaroncaplan · 8/10 · 12 October 2021]

Guest star Vic Morrow makes this episode special. It seems the entire population of Virginia City wants to see Ben and Adam hang. They've been convicted of a fatal shooting based on the testimony of one woman who didn't really see it happen. But the victirm was her father so she wants to see someone hang for it. Vic's character, Lassiter learns quickly that the Cartwrights are victims of a frameup and works on convincing the woman to stop the hanging by admitting she didn't see the shooting of her father happen. Lassiter saves the day seconds before the hanging happens by finally convincing the woman to yell it out at the hanging itself. I did like this story, but I think that the ending close call was just, too contrived to be believable. I mean, could this ever happen? Hangings can't be stopped that way, can they? It wouldn't be legal. Bonanza was frequently guilty of sacrificing believabity for dramatic purposes. So that cuts down my rating a bit but doesn't spoil the episode. I recommend it.

Cool

[vinceherb · 8/10 · 9 February 2017]

Not one of my favorite episodes but it was cool enough. However there was a TV series called Lassiter, but not with Vic Morrow. And that aspect of it was the biggest detractor of this episode, it felt like a trailer for the new character as named Lassiter. I remember thinking that, but it could...

...have been the way Ben Cartwright said " a man like Lassiter ", it was good but not as good as other episodes. I felt like there were two stars vying for the spotlight in this episode - Vic Morrow was a big name, and it just seemed odd that he would be playing second fiddle to the lead character Ben Cartwright. And it's not an episode that stays with me like episodes because for the life of me as I type this out I can't even remember the plot!

Cool Hand Vic

[glengolf · 10/10 · 12 May 2020]

A dramatic episode what with Ben and Adam waiting to meettheir maker at the end of a rope. But then a saviour in the personna of Lassiter rides into town and the tables are turned. Superb, understated role played by Vic Morrow whose life would end so tragically many years later shooting the Twilight Zone movie!

One of those men

[mitchrmp · 10/10 · 4 February 2014]

I have always loved this episode. Not only because of the haunting thought of Pa and Adam Cartwright getting hung, but also because hotty Vic Morrow is in this episode.

The episode begins with a certain eeriness when Adam and Ben are on their last day. Joe and Hoss are doing everything they can possibly to do get a stay of execution. They've gotten one of the townfolk to work on collecting signatures for the governor, but they are also trying to talk to the witnesses.

Then a stranger rides into town. He's looking for some men who wronged somebody he knew, and he means to make it right. At first he thinks it's Ben, but after meeting him and learning of the situation he takes the side of the Cartwright's and is determine the save the father/son duo from begin hung that evening.

A woman's father was killed, and she's the only living witness to tell what had happened. She wants revenge for her father's death, and the whole town is scared of a gang riding into town. Vic Morrow did an excellent performance in this one! His story is sad, and the life he's currently living is even sadder. But a cowboy's gotta do what a cowboy's gotta do.

A classic

[scottflacy · 10/10 · 15 July 2023]

Bonanza always stood for good overcoming evil. I don't typically seek out violent films or even action films. But the bad guys on Bonanza are so malignantly evil and so deeply unlikable that I live for those scenes where the Cartwrights get justice in the end. There's nothing better than seeing a bad guy get what's coming.

This is the best of this breed of episode. And Vic Morrow shines as the mysterious stranger who shows up just in time to save Ben and Adam from certain death. The scene where Morrow walks slowly into the bar like he owns it (along with everyone around him) is a master class in physical drama.

Someone outacts everyone

[jermimiami · 10/10 · 22 June 2023]

Everything he says, how he says it, what he does, how he does it - everything is cast in one piece and brought into an exact form. Even if he doesn't say or do anything, an aura surrounds him from the very first moment he enters the scene, which it's difficult for viewers to resist.

A brilliant performance by Vic Morrow, backed by a confident direction, a very good script with the appropiate score make this episode the most mature of the whole series.

The only supposed downer is the open ending and that the story of Vic Morrow's character was never told to the end. Although dramaturgically that wasn't a mistake and was appropriate to the plot, perhaps even necessary.