EPISODE: The Rescue
Reviewed by Ginny
Episode # 55, Season 2, Airdate February 25, 1961
Guest stars: Leif Erickson, Ron Hayes, and Lane Bradford
Written by Steve McNeil
SUMMARY:
The story opens with a skuzzy-looking older man (Josh Tatum, played by Leif Erickson) emerging from a house (shack?), stretching and yawning. He then peers into a cracked mirror hanging on the side of the house and picks up a razor. He is joined by a young man (Gus, played by Lane Bradford) carrying 2 cups of coffee who asks him "Are you going to shave Pa?" Pa throws down the razor like it bit him and drawls that he might shave Saturday if they go to town.
Son wants to know what they are going to use for money and Pa tells him that that fella will pay them for that 40 head of cattle, (These people have 40 head of cattle?) but right now he better get breakfast ready. Another young man (another son, Jack, played by Ron Hayes) comes from the barn dragging a bundle which turns out to be cow hides (Ponderosa cow hides, uh-oh!) and which he was supposed to have buried.
Too late now! Here comes Ben! Ben tells the Tatums that they wouldn't have had to bury the hides if they told him they needed beef. Josh sarcastically tells Ben that is right generous of him and accuses Ben of calling him a thief. Ben reminds Tatum that his house (shack?) is more than a quarter-mile inside the Ponderosa and he never said anything about that.
The scene ends with Gus leaning out the window pointing a rifle at Ben waiting for his father to say the word for him to pull the trigger.
"Dum de dum de dum de dumm, Bonanza!" Ride up to the camera, commercials, introduce guest stars. Back to the show
More words are exchanged and turn into punches as Ben and Josh (and their stunt doubles) slug it out. Josh is getting the worst of it (of course) until Gus and Jack give him a hand (cheaters!) by holding Ben while their pa pounds him.
Tatum throws water on Ben to revive him. Ben struggles to his feet and Jack hands him his hat. Ben staggers onto Buck and they ride off with Josh Tatum staring after him, a thoughtful look on his face.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the boys are eating breakfast and wondering where their father is. It turns out that Ben has been fretting about rustlers and the boys are afraid he has ridden out after them alone. They decide that Pa is too old to be doing things like that, and someone should tell him to take it easy. (All eyes go to Joe, who forcefully declines).
Enter Pa, sneaking in all bruised and battered and trying to hide it (more like his youngest son). Ben finally admits to his dazed sons that he'd been in a fight but wouldn't say with who because they would go off half-cocked. He then goes upstairs to change shirts, while the discussion downstairs gets back to Pa taking it easy.
With a lot of stammering and panicked looks at each other, Adam, Hoss and Joe convince Ben to stay behind while they go look for the rustlers.
When next we see our boys, they are following tracks towards a box canyon (ominous music). Two bad guys can be seen peeping over a boulder. No sooner than our boys get down from their horses to be less easy targets, shots ring out and Hoss gets shot in the leg. Adam patches him up with some banter between them about that is why Adam wears a clean shirt every day.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Pa is fretting.
We also, at this time, find out that (surprise, surprise!) the Tatums are in on the rustling.
Morning finds our boys trapped and being shot at. Adam wings one of the bad guys with his famous billiard ball shot.
Morning also finds Pa on his way to his boys. Who does he run into but Josh Tatum on his way to his boys.
As Pa rides into the draw, he is shot off his horse by a bad guy. Tricky Pa is playing opossum and that is the end of that bad guy. Along the way, Pa also wounds Jack Tatum.
Pa to the rescue! Only problem is, Pa is now just as trapped as the boys. But, as Pa says, his name is Cartwright too.
With one of his sons shot, Josh Tatum gets the idea that it just isn't worth it. He sends the remaining two bad guys off to get the bad guy, Curly, to a doctor and goes off with a "flag of truce" to talk to Ben.
He tells Ben that he didn't think it would come to that. He didn't want to see any of Ben's sons hurt anymore than he wanted to see his own hurt. That there weren't any cattle in Nevada worth either of their sons. After a lot of yelling at each other, Ben and Tatum said that they were butting their heads together like 2 old billy goats. Tatum says that they are like two she bears with their cubs and he wouldn't want to mess with a she bear protecting their cubs.
The Cartwrights and the Tatums then join forces to tote Hoss back to the Ponderosa since the Cartwright horses all sensibly ran home and the Tatums don't own any. Josh Tatum comments that "If they had to shoot one, I wished it had been the little one".
After a hearty, friendly turkey/beefsteak dinner, friendly Ben loans the reformed Tatums horses so they can ride into Virginia City and turn themselves in. But not before Ben and Josh commiserate on the problems of raising sons.
Adorable, sheepish looks are exchanged between Adam and Joe, Pa chuckles, and the 3 of them go into the house.
REVIEWS:
“There were a lot of Hoss/food jokes in this episode. Ben is having pork roast and sweet potatoes for supper, which Hoss claims he smells while they are penned down in the rocks. Joe tells Adam that one time Hoss smelled biscuits in a sandstorm and when they got home, there were biscuits. As Ben leaves the house to look for the boys, Hop Sing hands him a small bundle of sandwiches for Adam and Joe, and a bigger bundle for Hoss. When Ben reminds Hop Sing how hungry Hoss will be, Hop Sing goes off muttering to kill, clean and cook a 2nd turkey. Adam and Joe tease Hoss about a wounded man not being allowed to have food, which gets Hoss really mad at the rustlers pinning them down. (I love the sneaky grin on Adam’s face). This is the episode we find out that Hoss doesn’t like cheese. When Ben tells the boys he lost the bundles of roast beef sandwiches, Hoss says it was too bad they weren’t cheese, because he doesn’t like cheese.” Ginny
“I did see the part when poor Hoss was told that a wounded man could not eat. I got laughing so hard, that I missed parts, and now I am glad that I taped it.” Miss Maggie
“I love how the boys all think their old pa needs to start taking things easier and letting them handle the hard stuff and then he has to rescue them. Ben seemed to have a sort of grudging friendship with Josh. The man has rustled his cattle and even lives on his land, but he doesn't do a whole lot about it. I guess because deep down, Ben knew that Josh valued his sons as much as he does and even stopped the fighting before either of them could lose one.” Leesa
“Good ep, but not one of my favorites. You see the boy’s personalities emerge a bit more though and the humor among them too is priceless. I thinks it's cute how they want try to convince Joe to be the one to tell Pa to ''take it easy". Tell me Joe isn't Ben's favorite? Great Hop Sing scenes too, he does love to feed his boys, Hoss most of all I think!” Nancy
“This is one of my favorite eps as it is a real family one. Love the boys discussing Pa, and Joe's reaction when he thinks that Adam and Hoss want him to be the one to tell Pa to slow down and the bit when they gather round his desk and persuade him to stay behind, is priceless. Poor Hoss is once again the main spokesman I also love the banter that goes on between the three boys when they are pinned down, the teasing of Hoss about not being able to eat and Hoss smelling the food which Hop Sing is cooking. My favorite is the bit when Joe realizes that Pa has come to rescue them. His face lights up and he says 'Hot diggity.” Lynne
“I particularly remember the billiard ball shot and the moan about having to carry the big one, wishing it had been Joe.” Lyn Robinson
“My favorite part of this episode is when Ben comes to the breakfast table, and each of the boys' tentatively asks how Ben got bruised. Joe's "Forget to duck?" question is kind of cheeky, and something that I think only Joe could have gotten away with. And Ben really reacts like a father (or any of the Cartwrights, for that matter) by reassuring his sons that the bruises are nothing, and (the famous Cartwright phrase) "I'm all right"!" Susan Grote
“I loved the entire tone of the kibitzing banter when they first got trapped by the rustlers...from Adam caring for Hoss with his clean shirt...to their discussion of what they did in town...to their teasing Hoss about how he can't eat because he has an injury... There was once a scintillating conversation discussing the motion and movement of Hoss' hand under his hat...when he was lying on the ground. What was he doing?” Lillian
“This is one of my favorites. The Cartwrights have all those brotherly quips, Pa proves himself right and everyone lives happily ever. It was one of the first episodes to use some of the famous clichés: Hoss can smell food miles away. Some cowboys eat to live; Hoss lives to eat...unless it is cheese. It takes at least 3 baddies to defeat a Cartwright in a fist fight, even Pa. Ben will find his boys anywhere they are in danger.” Robin