Bonanza (1959)
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Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright
Episodes 202
A Rose for Lotta
Lotta Crabtree is hired by mining tycoon Alpheus Troy to lure one of the Cartwrights into town and hold him for ransom in exchange for Ponderosa timber rights.
Read MoreDeath on Sun Mountain
Greedy opportunist Mark Burdette and his accomplice Early Thorne stir up trouble between the Paiute tribe and the citizens of Virginia City. Ben discovers Burdette and Thorne are selling antelope beef to the miners and finds the price too high. He offers the miners beef at a more reasonable price. Burdette and Thorne retaliate by framing the Paiute's for attacks, by dressing as them and killing ranchers. Based on a factual accounting. Lorne Greene's first voice-over narration, and no landing constructed yet for the Ponderosa stairway.
Read MoreThe Newcomers
John Pennington and his crew want to mine the Ponderosa land by hydraulic means. Ben is totally against this method and evicts them in short order. Hoss is given the task of telling Pennington's men to leave, but soon has a moral dilemma on his hands when he meets Pennington's beautiful sister, Emily. He soon discovers a heartbreaking secret...she's terminally ill; but their relationship soon leads to plenty of trouble for the Cartwrights.
Read MoreThe Paiute War
Trader Mike Wilson attempts to escape punishment by the Paiute Indians after mistreating two of their women, by placing the blame on Adam. A fierce war between the Paiutes and the California militia follows, and the Paiutes seize Adam as hostage. Very impressive battle scenes in the this first mini-epic of the series. This episode did all it could to stage the real thing; 50 Indians were used and 50 cavalry actors and extras were used, and the production involved three days of shooting on location. This episode encompassed both the biggest cast and most costly stunts. This episode is based on the factual accounting that occured in May and June of 1860.
Read MoreEnter Mark Twain
Samuel Clemens arrives in Virginia City to write for the Territorial Enterprise at the same time a crooked politician tries to lay claim on the Ponderosa.
Read MoreThe Julia Bulette Story
Little Joe is infatuated wih saloon owner Julia Bulette, whom he imagines is like his late mother. First episode to reveal backround details concerning Marie Cartwright, and inspired by the true story of a Virginia City madam. Also, the first episode to showcase Michael Landon.
Read MoreThe Saga of Annie O'Toole
Adam defends the mining claim of Annie O' Toole in a court presided over by Judge Ben Cartwright. Annie comes to the Washoe Diggings with a claim to a mine filed by her beau, Swede Lundberg. Swede has two claims and sold one to an acquaintance of theirs named Gregory Spain, creating confusion, that only Judge Ben Cartwright can make a ruling on.
Read MoreThe Phillip Diedesheimer Story
Adam and Hoss assist a German engineer in developing the concept of "square set timbering" in the mines. Based on fact, and the first episode not to include all four Cartwrights. Hoss refers to the character, Emily, with whom he was in love with in, "The Newcomers".
Read MoreMr. Henry Comstock
In a flashback, the legendary prospector arrives on the Ponderosa and participates in the founding of Virginia City. Coincidentally, guest star Jack Carson played a teller at the Comstock Bank and Trust in the 1942 film, "Gentleman Jim". This early classic was the second episode filmed.
Read MoreThe Magnificent Adah
Virginia City is visited by actress Adah Issacs Menken, who happens to be an old acquaintance of Ben's. Joe is badly beaten by Adah's jealous suitor, John C. Regan, who is bested in a fight with an enraged Hoss.
Read MoreThe Truckee Strip
Luther Bishop and Ben Cartwright have had an ongoing land dispute for a number of years, over a small tract called the Truckee Strip. One of Bishop's employee's has a grudge against the Cartwrights and wants to stir up the feud again, while also harboring designs on Bishop's pretty daughter, Amy.
Joe meets and falls in love with Amy, in spite of the family differences and the two want to marry. Just when it looks like the feud will end with the union of the two young people, Bishop's man attacks Amy and Joe must come to the rescue.
Read MoreThe Hanging Posse
Adam and Joe reluctantly join a group of vengeful townsmen, who are out to lynch the three men who supposedly killed Vannie Johnson. The posse is run by Paiute Scroggs and Flint Johnson, the dead woman's husband. When Adam and Joe clash with them, they both separate and try to reach the three men before the posse does. This episode's storyline is a variation of the 1943 film "The Ox-Bow Incident".
Read MoreThe Sisters
This episode begins with Adam defending the honor of Sue Ellen Terry in a duel. No one gets shot because the other man misses Adam and Adam generously shoots in the air to end the duel. Sue Ellen lives with her sister, who seems nice but turns out to be fairly evil, consumed with jealousy because she's getting older and her sister is a young beauty. When Adam drops Sue Ellen off after a date one night, half way through this episode, someone shoots her dead, and Adam becomes a suspect and is thrown in jail. When the sheriff suggests that Adam escape, he does it, but when he walks out, someone tries to shoot him. He chases after them but doesn't find them, and soon after hears Sue Ellen's sister scream. He runs up the stairs to find her dead, and of course, is then suspected of that murder as well. Of course, his family helps him during the last half hour, and it all turns out that someone we should not have suspected did all the murders, but that he actually wasn't trying to hit
Read MoreThe Last Hunt
Hoss and Joe come across a pregnant Indian woman while hunting bighorn sheep and must deliver her baby. Despite touches of humor, including a scene in which Joe refers to a meal as "cattle fodder", the story does not have an altogether happy ending.
Read MoreEl Toro Grande
Ben sends Hoss and Joe to Monterey to purchase an expensive seed bull. The first of Blocker and Landon's many comic misadventures, although the casual use of violence, as in the rapier fight, is oddly uncharacteristic for the series. Hoss reveals his real name to be Eric for the first time.
Read MoreThe Outcast
Because she is related to criminals, a young woman is ostracized by everyone but the the Cartwrights. She unwisely seeks solace with an ex-con friend of Joe's, Clay Renton, and it's up to Ben to straighten everything out. First episode to have a chapter title after the cast credits.
Read MoreA House Divided
As the Civil War approaches, Adam and Joe clash over which side to support. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Frederick Kyle, a Southern sympathizer. He was an old friend of Joe's mother and viewers also discover that Joe's middle name is Francis.
Read MoreThe Gunmen
In the first all-out comic episode of the series, Hoss and Joe travel to Kiowa Flats, Texas, where they are mistaken for the notorious Slade Brothers, also played by Blocker and Landon.
Read MoreThe Fear Merchants
The Cartwrights encounter racial bigotry in Virginia City and end up protecting a Chinese boy from mob violence. Victor Sen Yung, in his largest role to date, speaks normally in the presence of his fellow countrymen, but reverts to broken English when with the Cartwrights.
Read MoreThe Spanish Grant
In "The Spanish Grant", a young bargirl, Rosita Morales is pretending to be a Spanish noblewoman named Isabella Marie Inez de la Cuesta and at the end of the story, it's revealed she is really Rosita Morales, but on the other hand, is she really Rosita Morales? This little twist at the end is simply entertaining everytime it's viewed, with the viewer able to determine the young woman's real identity at the end of act four.
Read MoreBlood on the Land
A shiftless sheepherder, Jeb Drummond, encroaches his herd of sheep on the Ponderosa and refuses to budge. He resists all of Ben's attempts to throw him off his land and finally resorts to taking Adam prisoner in exchange for ownership of the ranch.
Read MoreDesert Justice
When a tough U.S. Marshal from California arrests a Ponderosa hand, Dave Walker, for murder, Adam and Hoss go along to make sure their employee reaches Los Angeles alive. In one scene, Adam is dressed in black for the first time. In another, Hoss, upon seeing Southern California for the first time, remarks, "It sure ain't never gonna amount to much". Later, Adam makes an amusing reference to the chow Joe says he was forced to eat in "The Last Hunt".
Read MoreThe Stranger
Nevada Territory is awaiting statehood, and Ben considers running for governor until he learns he is wanted for murder in New Orleans. Inspector Charles Leduque arrives and says Ben is wanted for commiting the murder 20 years earlier, and after Joe kills his bodyguard in self-defense, Inspector Leduque makes it appear the other way around. Ben has no choice but go with Leduque, to clear his name in a very suspense-filled episode. Once again, there are several references to Joe's mother, and viewers are shown Marie's grave near the shore of Lake Tahoe.
Read MoreEscape to Ponderosa
After Adam is bushwhacked by three army deserters, Ben tracks them down, and tackles the brutal Captain Bolton who is pursuing them.
Read MoreThe Avenger
A restaurant owner whom Ben and Adam have confronted over stolen Ponderosa beef ends up dead one night. His daughter, Sally Byrnes runs the cafe and in her resentment, wrongfully accuses Ben and Adam of murdering her father and they are sentenced to hang. A rancher by the name of Hawkins is also jealous of the Cartwrights and has hired his men to stop the town from helping Ben and Adam, ensuring they hang. Hoss and Joe are willing to stop them, but Ben insists they stay within the limits of the law.
Read MoreThe Last Trophy
Adam takes Ben's friends, Lord Marion Dunsworth and Lady Beatrice, on a hunting expedition, and they are captured by a gang of crude thieves and murderers. During one early scene, after listening to Ben reminisce, Hoss says, "Always like to hear Pa get wound up. He don't do it often."
Read MoreSan Francisco
In this comic episode, the first to take place far from the ranch, Ben, Hoss, and Joe deliver a herd to San Francisco. Although he warns his sons to be careful in the big city ("This is not the Ponderosa!"), Ben is the one who is shanghaied and must be rescued.
Read MoreBitter Water
Len Keith, a miner, wants to purchase some land adjacent to the Ponderosa from rancher Andy McKaren. Andy's son, Tod, is anxious to sell. Keith has offered him a partnership,and more importantly, he is in love with Keith's daughter. When Ben warns Andy that a mine on the property would foul up Ponderosa water, Andy agrees not to sell the land. Len Keith, determined to get that land, plants tick infested cattle in a Ponderosa herd to turn Andy against the Cartwrights.
Read MoreFeet of Clay
Hoss takes Billy Allen, the young son of a convicted felon under his wing, then is forced to kill his father and Billy will not forgive him. The most emotional Hoss story since "The Newcomers" and one of Blocker's best.
Read MoreDark Star
Joe falls in love with Tirza, an undeniably strange gypsy girl who says she is cursed and never does seem to "snap out of it". The first episode of the series with a supernatural flavor, directed appropriately enough, by Lewis Allen, who made the classic ghost film "The Uninvited".
Read MoreDeath at Dawn
Virginia City is plagued by organized crime, Sam Bryant and his gang. One of his men, Farmer Perkins, kills a storekeeper, and at his trial, the wife of the store owner is afraid to testify. When Perkins is sentenced to hang, Bryant kidnaps Ben and wants to exchange Ben for Perkins, which leaves Adam with the most difficult decision of his life. A stellar cast.
Read MoreThe Mission
Filmed almost entirely outdoors, this is more like a feature than a series. Captain Pender is looking for a scout to lead him and his company of men across the desert, along with a currency shipment they are carrying to another army fort. Charlie Trent, a former scout and now a drunk, still blames himself for his troops being led to massacre. Hoss sees that this is Charlie's opportunity to redeem himself and win back his honor. Meantime, Captain Pender is having trouble with Cutter, another scout who is a devious and cunning bear of a man, who agreed to lead him across the desert, but Pender lets him go and with Hoss' suggestion, Captain Pender agress to have Charlie be their scout.
Read MoreBadge Without Honor
Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights.
Read MoreThe Hopefuls
Adam guides a wagon train of Quakers and falls for the leader's daughter, Regina. The force Adam must employ to protect them, conflicts with their passive philosophy of life.
Read MoreDenver McKee
While celebrating the return of his daughter Connie, former lawman McKee is asked to assist in the capture of an outlaw gang. While Joe is courting Connie, no one realizes that McKee is involved with the outlaws.
Read MoreDay of Reckoning
Prejudice erupts on both sides when Ben gives an Indian named Matsou and his wife, some of his land, after saving Ben's life from a renegade Indian who almost killed him on the Ponderosa. An intense and magnetic performance by Ricardo Montalban.
Read MoreThe Abduction
Hoss and Joe take their sweethearts to a colorful and strange carnival for the day. Joe's recent girlfriend Jennifer Beale is abducted by the sinister owner, Philip Reed and his accomplice Gerner. Her father is Joshua Beale, the richest man in the Comstock. Gerner convinces Reed to hold her for a $1 million dollar ransom, and her father will gladly pay them to ensure her safe return. Reed's girlfriend Della Thompson is jealous of Jennifer and has second thoughts about the abduction. Hoss and Joe take notice of Jennifer's disappearance and travel deep into the bowels of the carnival, meeting fierce resistance from the carnival people at every avenue. They come up without a trace of finding her.
Read MoreBreed of Violence
Joe's friend Dolly Kincaid is the daughter of the sheriff and she's always getting caught up with the wrong crowd. When she gets close to Vince Dagen, Joe gets worried and tries to intervene.
Read MoreThe Last Viking
Gunnar Borgstrom is the leader of a vicious band called the Commancheros. They burn houses, kill people and steal anything of value. When the Commancheros get to Nevada, Gunnar decides to visit his relatives, the Cartwrights. Meanwhile the gang capture Little Joe and his girlfriend. When Gunnar returns to the gang, he has no idea who Joe is because he'd never met his nephew before.
Read MoreThe Trail Gang
On a cattle drive back to Nevada from Texas, Ben hires a young man who is both an outlaw and the son of the sheriff whose town the Ponderosa cowhands are entering.
Read MoreThe Savage
Adam's life is saved by a woman known to the Indians as White Buffalo Woman, but who is actually the daughter of Norwegian immigrants.
Read MoreSilent Thunder
Captivated by the pretty, deaf-mute daughter of a reclusive mountain man, Little Joe teaches the young woman sign language. Thrilled with her newfound ability to communicate, Annie mistakes her gratitude to Little Joe for love, much to the chagrin of Albie, who is determined to have her for his own.
Read MoreThe Blood Line
Ben feels responsible for the son of a man he was forced to kill, but the young man is determined to get even. A professional gunman offers to do the job for him.
Read MoreThe Courtship
Hoss plans to marry the widow of one of Ben's friends, not knowing she is a compulsive gambler and refusing to believe it when the other Cartwrights confront him with the truth.
Read MoreThe Spitfire
Joe becomes the target of a tough and vengeful Kentucky family, after he kills one of them who almost sets the Ponderosa on fire and the Cartwrights take in the dead man's daughter.
Read MoreThe Bride
The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?
Read MoreThe Fugitive
Adam goes to Mexico to find out how the son of a family friend was killed, only to learn the man is still alive.
Read MoreVengeance
Hoss accidentally kills a drunk he was trying to disarm. The man's brother bushwhacks Hoss, who has lost the will to live. Joe makes a promise to Hoss that he will kill Red Twilight, the vengeful brother who bushwhacked Hoss, no matter what happens, and will not let Adam stand in his way.
Read MoreThe Tax Collector
The kindness Hoss extends to shiftless Jock Henry is not exactly repaid when Henry becomes an assistant assessor and raises the Ponderosa's annual tax bill from $375 to $1700.
Read MoreThe Rescue
The Cartwright boys are concerned that Ben might be getting on in years, yet it is he who saves them from cattle rustlers.
Read MoreThe Dark Gate
Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.
Read MoreCutthroat Junction
When freight company detective Jed Trask is fired after a decade of service, he joins the thieves preventing supplies from reaching Virginia City.
Read MoreThe Infernal Machine
Hoss believes in his friend's primitive version of the automobile in this lighthearted, yet sad episode. When the "car" uses up the last of its fuel, Hoss remarks, "Dadburn it, I still say it woulda worked".
Read MoreThe Thunderhead Swindle
With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everybody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.
Read MoreThe Secret
Joe is the victim of an elaborate frame-up, accused of murdering a pregnant girl. When Ben is asked if Joe is telling the truth, he replies, "If I were to start doubting my son at this point, everything I've lived and worked for would be lost".
Read MoreThe Dream Riders
To finance his dream of constructing an airship capable of crossing the Atlantic, Ben's old friend plans to rob the Virginia City bank while diverting the citizens' attention with a hot air balloon.
Read MoreElizabeth, My Love
At the bedside of a seriously ill Adam, Ben thinks back to his days as a first mate in the merchant marines and his marriage to Adam's mother, Elizabeth Stoddard.
Read MoreThe Smiler
A drunk is killed in a saloon brawl with Hoss, and though the man's brother insists there are no hard feelings, he is actually a silver-tongued devil bent on revenge.
Read MoreSpringtime
A friend of Ben's (Mr. Milbank) arrives at the Ponderosa at a bad time...when the Cartwright boys are fighting in the mud. Mr. Milbank, who is injured by a flying log during the fight, gives an assignment to each of the three boys. Can they fulfill the assignments, or has Springtime gotten to them all?
Read MoreThe Honor of Cochise
The Cartwrights and a bigoted army captain are pinned down by Cochise and his braves, who claim the officer poisoned 30 of their people.
Read MoreThe Lonely House
Little Joe pays a visit to the widow Lee Bolden, and brings her a bank draft for her husband's investments with Ben. Actually, the investments were losing propositions. Ben just wanted to help out his friend. During his visit, a wounded man stumbles into the house, and Joe recognizes him as Trock, who had just robbed the local bank. Lee Bolden was a nurse to her husband physician, and removes the bullet from Trock. Joe soon learns that Lee is in love with Trock, and that is the only thing standing between him and an early grave.
Read MoreThe Burma Rarity
In this comic episode involving a precious emerald and the sweet widow, Clemantine Hawkins who is attracted to Ben, turns the tables on a pair of land swindlers.
Read MoreBroken Ballad
Adam tries to help a reformed gunman who wants only to live peacefully near Virginia City. Good story without a tidy ending. Pernell's first chance to sing on the series.
Read MoreThe Many Faces of Gideon Flinch
Hoss and Joe become involved when "Bullethead" Burke vows revenge on an old man he claims cheated him in an investment deal.
Read MoreThe Friendship
Joe befriends and takes responsibility for an ex-convict named Danny. Danny loves horses and is not used to people's ways on the outside of jail. Will his rough jailhouse upbringing mar any hopes of friendship?
Read MoreThe Countess
A woman Ben once loved, Lady Chadwick, returns and attempts to trick him into marrying her by ruining his business. Ben says almost losing the Ponderosa will make him and his sons appreciate it more.
Read MoreThe Horse Breaker
A professional wrangler working for the Cartwrights is paralyzed when thrown by a particularly mean bronco. The woman nursing him was once engaged to the late son of a neighboring rancher out to get Ben.
Read MoreDay of the Dragon
Joe wins a card game and an unexpected prize...a young lady. She goes to the Ponderosa and serves them, not wanting to be set free. Meanwhile, an army is looking for her and the Cartwrights.
Read MoreThe Frenchman
An irritating man who boasts of being the reincarnation of French poet Francois Villion shows up causing trouble for the Cartwrights.
Read MoreThe Tin Badge
Joe accepts the job of temporary sheriff in the town of Rubicon, unaware he is being used to facilitate a scheme involving murder.
Read MoreGabrielle
In this Christmas story, inspired by Johanna Spyri's "Heidi", Hoss and Joe come across a blind girl whose family has been killed in a wagon wreck, learning later that her grandfather is a bitter hermit who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
Read MoreThe Tall Stranger
Hoss plans to marry Margie, a pretty blonde, but Margie becomes fascinated with a tall, traveling stranger named Mark Connors. Margie marries Mark but soon finds it was far from a match made in heaven.
Read MoreThe Lady from Baltimore
An overbearing friend of the family tries to force her daughter into marrying Joe, though she does not love him. The situation grows more complex when Adam stumbles onto the scheme.
Read MoreThe Auld Sod
The Cartwrights pretend the Ponderosa belongs to the town lush, when his aging mother from Ireland arrives.
Read MoreGift of Water
The Cartwrights dig a well, build a rig and a windmill for a drought-stricken farm family.
Read MoreThe Jackknife
Adam gives a second chance to a family man he suspects is one of the rustlers who has been hitting the Ponderosa herds.
Read MoreThe Guilty
When Ben fails to prevent the death of a friend's son, Adam and Joe, concerned by their father's depression, attempt to prove there was nothing he could have done.
Read MoreThe Wooing of Abigail Jones
In order to keep peace on the ranch, Hoss and Joe try to help ranch hand, Hank Meyers woo the the plain-looking schoolteacher, Abigail Jones. When their first plan backfires, they convince Adam (who doesn't want to get involved) to help and this makes things worse because Abigail believes it is Adam who is wooing her and Hank Meyers believes Adam wants to steal her away.
Read MoreThe Lawmaker
Ben supports the appointment of Asa Moran as Virginia City's temporary sheriff, but Moran goes overboard with his authority, jailing Adam in the process and pistol-whipping a Ponderosa hand.
Read MoreLook to the Stars
A young genius, Albert Michaelson, vies for a scholarship. Adam assists Albert in the boy's experiments. Albert only needs the school teacher's approval to be granted a scholarship-which will be very difficult to get considering Albert was expelled from school.
Read MoreThe Gamble
In the town of Alkali, the Cartwrights are jailed on false charges of robbery and murder, but Joe escapes and returns with an army of Ponderosa hands.
Read MoreThe Crucible
Adam is left to die in the desert after two thieves take $5,000 and his horse from him. Near death, he stumbles into an old prospector named Kane who offers to lend him a mule and supplies in exchange for three day's work at his mine. Kane, however, turns out to be a demented madman. He holds Adam prisoner and tortures him to prove his theory that anyone could be driven to kill, even a man as rational as Adam. This is Pernell Robert's favorite episode along with "The Wooing Of Abigail Jones".
Read MoreInger, My Love
Ben indulges in a nostalgic reverie about Hoss's deceased mother. Having worked his way west to Galesburg, IL., Ben is befriended by a girl named Inger, the fiancee of the tavern owner who gave him a job.
Read MoreBlessed Are They
When two feuding families argue over the custody of two orphaned children, a reluctant Ben is called upon to straighten out the situation before real trouble erupts.
Read MoreThe Long Night
Ben, Joe and Adam travel to Bowleg to pay the yearly taxes on the Ponderosa. After the transaction is completed, Ben and Joe ride over the summit to join the cattle drive. Adam is on his way to Genoa and is carrying a $10,000 bank draft his father has given him. A prison guard rides into town and announces two hombres have broke out and escaped who are holdup men and killers. Elmer Trace and his partner Poindexter were assisted by a guard in escaping prison and they betray him on the trail. Trace takes his clothes, horse and firearms, leaving Poindexter with only a rifle and rides off. Meanwhile, the Sheriff of Bowleg organizes a posse immediately.
Read MoreThe Mountain Girl
Joe promises a dying sheepman he will make sure the old man's granddaughter gets her rightful inheritance from a wealthy San Francisco family. This episode was filmed immediately after "Inger, My Love", which explains why Blocker's arm is still in a sling.
Read MoreThe Miracle Maker
Hoss blames himself when a young woman is crippled in a wagon accident, and hopes a faith healer can help her walk again.
Read MoreThe First Born
Clay Stafford signs on to work for the Cartwrights and shortly afterwards shoots and kills a man who accuses him of cheating at poker. The miners warn Clay to leave town, but it appears he killed in self-defense. Surprisingly, he tells Little Joe that he is his half-brother, and Marie was his mother. Ben listens to his story and takes his word for it, but Adam and Hoss think he should wire the judge in New Orleans to confirm Clay's real identity. Meanwhile, Clay and Joe develop a close relationship, but the vengeful miners still want Clay out of Virginia City and their first warning, is when Joe is beaten up by them. Ultimately, Clay decides life on the ranch is not for him.
Read MoreThe Artist
Ben helps Matthew Raine, a famous painter who has gone blind and now wallows in self-pity, discover a new purpose in life. However, Raine's employee Gavin has other ideas.
Read MoreA Hot Day for a Hanging
Hoss is jailed for robbing the bank in Dutchman Flats, a town on the brink of economic collapse, even the sheriff knows he is innocent, but a lynch mob gathers and Hoss' fate is not good.
Read MoreThe Deserter
An Indian-hating officer, Colonel Edward J. Dunwoody, comes to the Ponderosa looking for army deserter Bill Winters, who is a good friend of the Cartwrights. Bill happens to be his son and is married to an Indian. It seemed Bill deserted when he was ordered to massacre the Shoshone, by poisoning their food and water, genocide. The Shoshone find out and abduct Bill's father.
Read MoreThe Way Station
With a storm brewing, Adam takes refuge at a way station, run by cantankerous Jesse and his young grandaughter Marty, who yearns to see what exists away from the way station. The station is also visited by Luke Martin, a killer who is running from a posse. He makes Marty an empty promise to take her with him and see the world together, but Adam steps in and suggests Luke let her alone. Everybody but Marty is relieved to see him go, but he quickly returns and holds everyone hostage to protect himself from the posse.
Read MoreThe War Comes to Washoe
The Civil War once again divides the citizens of Nevada, as well as Adam and Joe Cartwright. One of season four's highlights, the plot involving British spy Bill Stewart, based on historical fact.
Read MoreKnight Errant
Hoss volunteers to pickup an injured neighbor's mail-order bride, but by the time they return, she has fallen in love with Hoss and a price is put on Hoss' head.
Read MoreThe Beginning
Billy Horne is a white man who was captured by the Shoshone when he was six. He comes into Ben & Joe's campsite one night uninvited. They capture him and take him to town. Roy Coffee wants to put him in jail for safekeeping, but Ben says he'll take him to the Ponderosa. They buy Horne clothes and become friends to him. A guy named Milton Tanner says the deed to the Ponderosa is weak and tries to take a third of it. Billy goes to Tanner's ranch and warns him that he will kill him if he tries to take the land. Tanner turns his dog loose on Billy. Billy kills the dog and then Tanner, who is going for a gun. Billy pleads guilty, but breaks out. Eventually he goes back with Joe and tells what really happened.
Read MoreThe Deadly Ones
The Ponderosa becomes a war zone when it is invaded by a detachment of Mexican mercenaries under General Diaz. The general is furious when one of his men, Forsythe, disobeys his orders to get a hostage peacefully, and instead shoots Little Joe in the back. Diaz forces Ben to lead his men over the back roads of the Ponderosa, so they can ambush a gold train led by Emperor Maximilian's men.
Read MoreGallagher's Sons
Hoss helps Charlie and Will (Charlotte and Willomina), two young girls who just lost their father. They go on a journey to find their only nearby relative, Aunt Cloe. Charlie takes with her a stolen sack of money that her father gave her and tries her best to lose Hoss. Four bandits show up looking for the loot Charlie has. In the end, Hoss finds out about the stolen money and talks the girls into giving it back. He puts them in dresses and sends them off to Boston on a stage, telling them they did the right thing and will probably get the money back as a reward for helping capture the bandits!
Read MoreThe Decision
Hoss is seriously injured internally and Ben seeks help from the only doctor within 50 miles, who happens to be in prison for murder. Ben talks to the judge, and with some convincing, talks him into letting the doctor look at Hoss. Danny, who works for the Doctor, tells Ben what he saw about the murder. Ben discovers what really happened and proves to the judge that the doctor really is innocent. The judge stops the hanging and Hoss survives.
Read MoreThe Good Samaritan
Hoss decides to help out Wade Tyree and introduces him to Abigail and her daughter, Bonnie. Hoss hopes this will stop Wade's constant drinking. Wade soon marries Abigail, but when things don't go his way, he goes back to drinking. Hoss helps out by helping the new family plant crops. When no rain comes, Hoss introduces them to irrigation, and Abigail faints while watering the crops. Wade realizes he has been a terrible husband and father, but gets a second chance when Abigail finds out she is going to have another child. Abigail and Bonnie both forgive Wade and a new family is born!
Read MoreThe Colonel
Frank Medford, a figure from Ben's "wild, misspent youth", shows up in Virginia City, and though down on his luck, creates troubles for the Cartwrights by claiming to be a successful businessman.
Read MoreSong in the Dark
Adam's guitar-strumming friend, ranch hand Danny Morgan, is arrested on suspicion of murdering and robbing the Widow Baker. Someone had reported hearing Danny singing outside her place at the time of the murder. More, importantly, Morgan has bad scratches on his arm, and the widow was found with human skin under her fingernails. Adam is thoroughly convinced that Danny couldn't have done it; the two became friends after Danny saved Adam's life a few years ago.
Read MoreElegy for a Hangman
A stranger, Bob Jolly, arrives in Virginia City to accuse a drunken Judge Harry Whitaker of sending his innocent father, Carl, to the gallows. Adam defends the judge's honor because of his long friendship with the Cartwrights. After Adam talks with Jolly, he begins to believe his story. Upon further investigation, Adam discovers that Senator Cal Prince and Hobie Klinderman as well as the judge might have had a lot to gain from Carl Jolly's murder. In an attempt to learn what really happened, Adam organizes an informal meeting in the saloon.
Read MoreHalf a Rogue
In this entertaining episode, laced with humor, Hoss first meets mountain man Jim Leyton. Bing Russell makes his first appearance as Deputy Clem Foster.
Read MoreThe Last Haircut
A vain outlaw murders a man in front of witnesses, including Joe, but a clever lawyer is able to get him acquitted. Though enraged, Joe has to convince the dead man's son it is wrong to take the law into their own hands.
Read MoreMarie, My Love
When Cochise falls on Joe, Ben cannot help but remember that is how Marie Cartwright was killed. He thinks back to meeting her in New Orleans in a rather confusing story not quite in synch with details discussed in "The First Born".
Read MoreThe Hayburner
For a change, it is Adam rather than Joe who becomes mixed up in one of Hoss' funny exploits. Together they purchase a thoroughbred horse, and end up competing against their little brother in the big Virginia City race. This is Pernell Robert's favorite comedy episode.
Read MoreThe Actress
Joe becomes romantically involved with a woman who considers herself a serious dramatic actress. Unfortunately, she is the only one who does.
Read MoreA Stranger Passed This Way
Hoss develops amnesia after being bushwhacked and hit over the head by two outlaws and moves in with a Dutch couple. The woman regards him as a substitute for her dead son, and unless he recovers his memory, the other Cartwrights fear he will leave them forever.
Read MoreThe Way of Aaron
Adam takes a shine to Rebecca Kaufman, the daughter of a Jewish peddler, and bandits are convinced the Kaufman wagon is worth robbing.
Read MoreA Woman Lost
Ben's attempt to rehabilitate an alcoholic singer he knew in better days are complicated by her involvment with a former prize fighter.
Read MoreAny Friend of Walter's
Classic comedy in which Hoss first meets prospector Obie and his lazy but allegedly brilliant mongrel dog, Walter.
Read MoreMirror of a Man
The peaceful world of a Ponderosa hand is disturbed by the arrival of his no-good father and twin brother, who is a wanted man.
Read MoreMy Brother's Keeper
While hunting for a wolf, Joe is attacked by the wolf. Adam also hunting for the wolf, hears Joe struggling with the wolf comes to Joe's aid. He fires his rifle but the bullet hits Joe. Adam hurries over knocks the wolf off Joe, shoots, and then kills the wolf. The damage has already been done with the wolf bite and Adam's bullet in Joe. Adam has to rush his little brother back to the Ponderosa. Will he make it back to save Little Joe's life, since the wolf's bite is fatal?
Read MoreFive into the Wind
After their stagecoach crashes, a group of rag-tag passengers and Joe must get out of the desert alive. One of the passengers may or may not be a murderer and Joe is accused.
Read MoreSaga of Whizzer McGee
Hoss becomes concerned for the welfare of an insecure, belligerent fellow who is as small as Hoss is large. Interesting blend of comedy and pathos that ends unpredictably.
Read MoreThunder Man
Little Joe's 19-year old girlfriend is killed by a good samaritan, an explosives expert who had stopped to render aid to the woman's uncle after he suffers a stroke. Unable to talk, the only clue he can offer the investigating Cartwrights is a scrawled title of the song the assailant was whistling — ""New Orleans Woman.""
Read MoreRich Man, Poor Man
Claude Miller, the laughingstock of Virginia City, gets even with everyone who made fun of him when he strikes it rich.
Read MoreLittle Man... Ten Feet Tall
When a Italian immigrant comes to the Ponderosa, he decides he wants to give up the guitar to become a cowboy.
Read MoreShe Walks in Beauty
Hoss wants to marry mysterious Regan Miller, a woman with less than a pristine past. When he thinks Adam is trying to steal her away, he loses control and beats Adam up.
Read MoreA Passion for Justice
Renowned English novelist Charles Dickens comes to Virginia City. In short order, he is accused of a crime he didn't commit. The problem then becomes how to convince the stubborn author to defend himself.
Read MoreRain from Heaven
A destitute rainmaker and his family arrive in drought-stricken Virginia City. While Ben tries to help him make rain, Hoss tends to the man's seriously ill little girl.
Read MoreTwilight Town
Joe is bushwhacked in the desert and awakens to find himself in Martinville, a town that may or may not be populated by ghosts. An errie, surrealistic and well-produced episode.
Read MoreThe Toy Soldier
Adam encounters drunken artist James Callan, branded a "squaw man" because he is married to an Indian, and whose talent is going to waste in the town of Sheep Head.
Read MoreA Question of Strength
Hoss and a pair of nuns, the younger one having a difficult time training for the order, are robbed and stranded at a way station.
Read MoreCalamity over the Comstock
Joe has a run-in with Calamity Jane, and takes her home with him after promising her dying father to take care of her. At first the Cartwrights (besides Joe) think ""Cal"" is a boy, but they soon find out differently. Cal begins to fall in love with Joe, but Joe finds her attentions unwanted...especially when Cal's boyfriend, Doc Holliday, has it in for Joe.
Read MoreJourney Remembered
Ben finds an old journal that he kept while in a wagon train travelling from St. Joseph, Missouri to Ash Hollow. As he is reading it Ben remembers the journey he undertook with his wife Inger and a young Adam. During the trip Hoss is born and they have trouble with some Indians.
Read MoreThe Quality of Mercy
Joe struggles to understand whether his friend was right in killing a dying man who pleaded to put out of his misery.
Read MoreThe Waiting Game
Adam becomes involved with the recently widowed Laura Dayton and her little girl, Peggy.
Read MoreThe Legacy
Adam, Hoss and Joe mistakenly believe their father was murdered. They split into 3 different directions to confront the supposed killers. In his heart, Ben knows his sons will not act outside the law; but he is not 100% sure that Joe will behave correctly.
Read MoreHoss and the Leprechauns
In what is arguably the best comedy of the series, Hoss swears he has seen green elves running around the Ponderosa and a smooth-talking Irishman complicates matters even worse.
Read MoreThe Prime of Life
Ben becomes irritable and reckless when the completion of an important timber contract is hindered by an old rival.
Read MoreThe Lila Conrad Story
Joe and Adam protect a saloon girl, who has killed in self-defense, from an angry lynch mob. The accompanying Judge, along with his wife, takes a liking to Lila, and before it is all over, he and Lila discover much more about themselves.
Read MorePonderosa Matador
Adam, Hoss, and Joe vie for the attention of a pretty young lady named Dolores. Hoss talks Joe into entering a bull fight, but it doesn't work out quite as planned.
Read MoreMy Son, My Son
Ben's plans to marry Katherine Saunders are upset when her son Eden is accused of killing his former girlfriend.
Read MoreAlias Joe Cartwright
A man who looks similar to Joe uses Joe's name and gets Joe in the position of facing the firing squad.
Read MoreThe Gentleman from New Orleans
The new stranger in town claims to be the famous pirate Jean Lafitte, and Hoss believes him.
Read MoreThe Cheating Game
In this sequel to "The Waiting Game", Laura resents Adam's advice on how she ought to be running her ranch. A newcomer, Ward Bannister, comes to her aid, but is actually part of a scheme to steal her ranch.
Read MoreBullet for a Bride
While out hunting for a mountain lion, Joe accidently shots Tessa Caldwell causing her to go blind. As a result of his guilt, Joe ends up proposing to the girl. However, other circumstances arise that cause Tessa to make a rash decision - one that both her and Joe may regret in the future.
Read MoreKing of the Mountain
When mountain man Jim Leyton decides to marry, he chooses Hoss as his best man. Julie's father, Grizzly, does not agree and Hoss must come to the rescue.
Read MoreLove Me Not
While talking with an Indian, Ben is given an unexpected present...a woman. She is a young white woman named Joan who has lived with the Indians since she was a little girl. Through a humorous learning experience, Ben tries to teach Joan how to behave like a white woman. In the process, Ben finds himself in an awkward situation.
Read MoreThe Pure Truth
Hoss is suffering from spring fever, goes to the wrong town and is accused of bank robbery.
Read MoreNo Less a Man
The town council feels Roy Coffee can no longer do his job, and with the notorious Wagner gang on their way to rob the bank, everyone is in a panic. Ben and Adam disagree with the town council and do what they can to help Roy out.
Read MoreReturn to Honor
Ben must travel to pay his respects after he learns of the death of his nephew Will. When he visits the grave, he finds his nephew barely alive with a bullet wound. He takes him to a doctor and Will insists that he leave, but Ben refuses. Will explains that the men after him must believe that he is dead. Ben decides his best bet is to take Will home. He and Will are followed by the same men who are interested in some valuables Will is carrying.
Read MoreThe Saga of Muley Jones
The Cartwrights are visited by their second cousin, Muley Jones of Weedville, Missouri who sings with a window-shattering voice and stirs up trouble with Indian negotiations that Ben is trying to ensure.
Read MoreThe Roper
Will is having second thoughts about staying on at the Ponderosa, and outlaws hit the ranch and take him with them. The leader, Lee Hewitt, is a young killer and plans on robbing the Ponderosa, so Will must take action to save himself, Hewitt's wife, the doctor, and his newfound relatives, the Cartwrights.
Read MoreA Pink Cloud Comes from Old Cathay
A headstrong Chinese girl (Marlo Thomas) visiting the Cartwrights incites labor unrest among local workers.
Read MoreThe Companeros
Mateo Ibara and his wife Carla visit the Ponderosa. Ibara asks Will to return to Mexico with him. Ibara and Will fought together for Juarez's cause and Ibara saved Will's life. For this reason, Will feels obligated to Ibara, but Ben is suspicious of the man's motives.
Read MoreEnter Thomas Bowers
After a triumphant tour in Europe, a famous Negro singer encounters racial prejudice in Virginia City when he arrives for a concert.
Read MoreThe Dark Past
Moody bounty hunter, Dev Farnum, shows up on the Ponderosa, where the Cartwrights are harboring the wife of the man he is after.
Read MoreThe Pressure Game
Laura Dayton's Aunt Lil comes to visit and quickly decides it's time she help the hesitant Adam propose to her favorite niece. Her plan is to make Adam jealous by using his cousin Will but it doesn't go exactly as planned.
Read MoreTriangle
Adam and Laura are finally engaged. Adam is secretly building a house and planning for the future. Laura realizes that it's Will she is in love with. Adam is then confined to a wheelchair after falling from a ladder and out of guilt, Laura and Will deny their feelings.
Read MoreWalter and the Outlaws
Hilarious sequel to "Any Friend Of Walter's" in which Obie leaves Walter in Hoss' care. The three outlaws, Macy, Teague, and Willard, kidnap Walter and hold him for ransom, leaving Hoss and the returning Obie to rescue him, but matters turn out the other way.
Read MoreInvention of a Gunfighter
Joe teaches Johnny Chapman how to use a gun for defense. What Joe doesn't see is the deadly consequences that it has in the long run when Johnny becomes a gunfighter.
Read MoreThe Hostage
Outlaws capture Ben and hide him in an abandoned mine, holding him for a ransom. The boys must come up with a plan to save him before it's too late.
Read MoreThe Wild One
Lafe Jessup doesn't really want to be married, and now he's about to be a father! The horse wrangler finds a fight with Hoss at his reluctance to perform his duties.
Read MoreThanks for Everything, Friend
After inadvertantly falling into the river, Adam is rescued by Tom Wilson. Wilson has feelings for Sue Miller, which bring him into trouble after her father is killed.
Read MoreLogan's Treasure
Sam Logan is released from jail after serving his twenty year sentence for stealing $100,000 worth of gold dust. He is followed by a bounty hunter who believes Sam will lead him to where the gold is buried.
Read MoreThe Scapegoat
Hoss hires Waldo as a ranch hand after keeping Waldo from killing himself. Hoss soon learns that Waldo is lousy at his job and only causes problems for everyone else due to his clumsiness. Although Hoss is willing to defend him, he soon finds out a secret about Waldo.
Read MoreA Dime's Worth of Glory
An author is inspired to write about the heroic Cartwrights after watching first-hand as they fight off an attempted robbery of a stage. As Ben and Adam see no use for the glory of such a novel, they turn the writer down forcing him to turn to the sherriff who quickly accepts.
Read MoreSquare Deal Sam
A conman heads into town and takes advantage of the Cartwrights with a fake land deal. The conman ends up staying in Virginia city to run an orphanage.
Read MoreBetween Heaven and Earth
When Joe and his friend Mitch go after a puma, Joe climbs a big peak and throws his gun up higher, intending to crawl up after it. But as he looks down, things begin to spin. He realises he can't go any higher, and he retreats down the hill. Needing to prove himself, Joe spars against Mitch.
Read MoreA Man to Admire
Hoss relies on clever attorney Whitney Parker, who has a drinking problem, to clear him of a murder charge.
Read MoreThe Underdog
Little Joe convinces Ben to hire Harry Starr, a half-Indian who is accused by other ranchers of being a chronic horse thief. Joe sets out to prove the others wrong, but is the youngest Cartwright's trust misplaced?
Read MoreA Knight to Remember
Two robberies take place on stagecoaches that Adam is traveling on, and both times a knight in shining armor scares the robbers away. Adam is accused of robbery, and his story about the knight is none too helpful.
Read MoreThe Saga of Squaw Charlie
A peaceful Indian is framed for the kidnapping of a young girl, a stunt which ends of tragedy.
Read MoreThe Flapjack Contest
Hoss unknowingly enters a flapjack contest and Joe puts Hoss on a diet which Hoss doesn't care for. Joe's betting on the flapjack contest could get him into some trouble and will he ever succeed in getting the window pane his Pa wants?
Read MoreThe Far, Far Better Thing
On their way to prevent a young woman from encountering the renegade Indians, Joe and Tuck are captured, and in order to save them all, Joe must fight Sharp Tongue, who is the leader of the band who went to school with Joe as a youth.
Read MoreWoman of Fire
Ben's friend, Don Miguel, visits the Ponderosa with his two daughters, Margarita and Elena, and Elena's two very anxious suitors. Their mission? They're on their way to California to meet Margarita's suitor, Don Luis. Trouble is, Margarita is a "woman of fire" who manages to scare away all suitors with her hot temper. Since Margarita is the older daughter, she must be married before Elena. Elena's two suitors are quickly losing their patience, and Don Miguel fears his name will be disgraced if Margarita rejects Don Luis.
Read MoreThe Ballerina
Kellie Conrad dances and her father plays the fiddle to earn a living. Hoss feels a sense of guilt after he unintentionally hurts the arm that Kellie's father uses to play the fiddle, in a saloon fight with some roughnecks. He gets them to stay at the Ponderosa while the girl's father recuperates. While there, Ben introduces Kellie to his friend Paul Mandel, a ballet star before an explosion cut his dancing career short.
Kellie persuades Paul to help her learn ballet. She soon comes to the realization that she loves both the ballet and Paul. She struggles inwardly to make a choice between her love of ballet and giving it all up for the love of her father.
Read MoreThe Flannel-Mouth Gun
Adam becomes involved with a quick-triggered range detective hired by the Virginia City Cattleman's Association to find out who is responsible for all the rustling going on in the area.
Read MoreThe Ponderosa Birdman
Professor Klump and Amanda pull Hoss into their flying machine scheme. The ""Hoss-mobile"" doesn't seem to be destined for a great take-off.
Read MoreThe Search
Adam sets out to track down the man who has been impersonating him to clear his reputation.
Read MoreThe Deadliest Game
The Cartwrights play host to Guido Borelli, a world renowed aerial acrobat who once saved Ben's life in Italy. Borelli's troup is beset by internal strife, and is performing in Virginia City.
Read MoreOnce a Doctor
Hoss' latest acquaintance, an Englishman named Professor Poppy, is actually Percival Alexander Mundy, M.D., who has given up the practice of medicine. However, when Hoss is shot in the back, only Mundy's skill can save his life.
Read MoreRight Is the Fourth R
While working as a substitute teacher, Adam uncovers an ugly secret about the territory's past that others prefer remain hidden.
Read MoreDead and Gone
Adam tries to find the good in Howard Mead, a talented troubadour who refuses to stay on the right side of the law. Dramatic debut of singer/songwriter Hoyt Axton. Last episode Pernell Roberts worked on, although he appears in the next two, that were made prior to this episode and aired afterwards.
Read MoreA Good Night's Rest
First Ben's sons are making lots of noise, so he goes into town to sleep in the hotel. Then, various noises and things interrupt Ben's sleep. Will he ever get his desired good night's rest?
Read MoreTo Own the World
One of the wealthiest men in the world, Charles Augustus Hackett, offers to buy the Ponderosa, price no object. Ben says the ranch is not for sale and Hackett refuses to give up.
Read MoreLothario Larkin
Ladies' man Lothario Larkin creates havoc whenever he hits Virginia City, so Roy Coffee orders him out of town. Naturally, Hoss takes him in.
Read MoreThe Return
No one in Virginia City is happy to see ex-con Trace Cordell, especially the man he crippled in a gunfight, now married to Cordell's former girlfriend.
Read MoreThe Spotlight
Ben invites opera singer Angela Bergstrom to perform at Virginia City's anniversary celebration. She accepts, but does not tell him that her famous singing voice is long gone
Read MorePatchwork Man
Hoss befriends a self-demeaning recluse named Patch, who makes the best apple pie Hoss has ever tasted. Hoss is so impressed with him, especially his pie, that he hires him to work on the Ponderosa. Ben, however, is unimpressed with Hoss' new friend when the Cartwrights get into a gunfight with a mining outfit, and Patch cowers. He has a deepseeded fear of violence stemming from an incident in his teen years, but he knows in order to survive in the West, he must overcome it.
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