Bonanza (TV Series) Check Rein (1967) User Reviews

A leader among horses

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 14 June 2018]

Young James MacArthur is injured when he's caught in a blasting area on the Ponderosa at the Cartwright logging camp. He's carrying $500.00 for a horse auction to buy a black stallion who apparently has horse charisma. He's a natural leader among horses and that's valuable on a horse ranch.

Michael Landon and David Canary go to a neighboring town to complete MacArthur's errand. They buy the horse, but in turn the horse and the bill of sale from the auction are stolen.

Behind all this is MacArthur's uncle Ford Rainey who runs that area's local Ponderosa. I found it quite ironic that MacArthur is playing the same kind of part he did in the film that got him his big break. 10 years earlier he starred in Walt Disney's Light In The Forest where he played a nephew claiming his birthright from a cruel uncle. And later on for Disney he starred in a version of Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped where again he's a nephew fighting a dishonest uncle.

Anyway it was a good episode. James MacArthur really thought he was being typecast I'm sure.

Two men seen under a blue canopy in opening scene...Goof

[rtdewey-641-991859 · 5/10 · 7 April 2012]

In the opening scene, where the actress is roping the black horse in the corral, you can see two men under a blue canopy on the right side of the screen. One man is ducking down by the fence and the other is sitting under the canopy. I slowed down the scene and saw them both clearly. They are obviously part of the camera crew or a wrangler. The episode was entertaining to watch. The major actors were right on cure it seems and the story flowed nicely. The actors got their starts on a lot of these Bonanza episodes and it is fun to see them at a younger age. James MacAurther,s role was interesting to watch knowing of his later roles.