Bonanza: The Next Generation (1988) (TV)

Director:

William F. Claxton

Writers (WGA):

David Dortort (television series)
David Dortort (story)

Release Date:

23 March 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

This is the continuing saga of the Cartwrights, only none of the original Cartwrights are here anymore but their sons...

Plot Keywords:

Sequel

Cast

Robert Fuller	...	Charlie Poke
John Ireland	...	Captain Aaron Cartwright
Peter Mark Richman	...	Mr. Dunson
John Amos	...	Mr. Mack
Michael Landon Jr.	...	Benjamin 'Benj' Cartwright
Barbara Anderson	...	Annabelle 'Annie' Cartwright
Brian A. Smith	...	Josh Cartwright
Richard Bergman	...	Sheriff Montooth
Gillian Greene	...	Jennifer Sills
Kevin Hagen	...	Nathaniel Amsted
William 'Billy' Benedict	...	Gus Morton (as William Benedict)
Dabbs Greer	...	Sills
Gary Reed	...	Eldon Poole
Lee McLaughlin	...	Mayor
Robert F. Hoy	...	Feathers (as Robert Hoy)

Also Known As:

Bonanza: The Movie

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Ponderosa Ranch - 100 Ponderosa Ranch Road, Incline Village, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, USA

Company:

Bonanza Ventures

Trivia:

Lorne Greene was originally signed to reprise his role of Ben Cartwright from the original TV series ("Bonanza" (1959)), but died before production began.

Movie Connections:

Follows "Bonanza" (1959)

Awful Tribute

What a sad tribute to Bonanza this movie was. Even though it had a few good actors like Robert Fuller, John Amos, David Richman, and John Ireland, it was awful. Many of the plot lines made no sense and were very contrary to the tradition of Bonanza. For example, where did Aaron Cartwright come from? We all remember Will Cartwright from his brief visit on the original series. Why was Michael Landon and Pernell Roberts not involved? They were both alive and in their 50s when this movie was made, and it would have been nice to see them in the movie. One of them could have played the role of the elder Cartwright.

As others mentioned, the music was very off. It often repeated over and over and had no relationship to the action on the screen. The actor who played Josh Cartwright was very bad. Dirk Blocker should have been used for that role. There was a lot of very bad dialogue too. This film looks like it was done with a very tiny budget, and that is a shame. There was a lot of great history and tradition that could have been brought into this film and most of it was ignored.