Bonanza (TV Series) The Blood Line (1960) User Reviews

The truth about Good ol' Pa

[mitchrmp · 7/10 · 7 July 2014]

Characters: Todd Grayson and Diane Jordan

Cartwright involved: Hoss and Ben

Missing: Joe and Adam (gone on a roundup, I believe)

The beginning of this episode shows Luke Grayson coming into the general store drunk with his girlfriend. He gets mad and tries to kill Ben. Instead, he's killed by Ben. It's a matter of self defense. Ben did everything he could to keep from killing him and no one in the town disputes this - except the girlfriend.

Enter Todd, Luke's son who had come to meet up with his father and start a ranch. No matter what anybody tells him, Todd is convinced that his father was gunned down and murdered; and Ben is getting away with it because he's rich and powerful.

It's classic Ben - he takes in the boy to his home. But no matter what he and Hoss try to do, they can't get through to the boy.

Lee Van Cleef adds drama to this. Obviously, we know he's going to be a baddie. And he does not disappoint in this episode. His party is pretty minor, but he serves his purpose.

Dead: 2

Lee Van Cleef has fun in this one

[scocope-654-771165 · 7/10 · 6 April 2019]

Bonanza is one of those shows where you can tell actors are having fun while guest starring on them. Lee Van Cleef certainly was having fun. As always Lee's up to no good and he has a twinkle in his eye as he says his lines. My favorite ones are when Diane Jordan says, "I've seen you in every mining camp and every tanktown honkytonk between here and Mexico; even though you don't have the same face or the same fancy duds, you have the same cold eyes, the same way of walking and the same stink of killing on them" Lee, "Now that we understand each other, I'll have that drink"

The next one is, "You see I was listening outside your door, and it's not socially correct maybe but it's the way to find thing out" Only Lee Van Cleef could deliver those lines with that sly grin of his; any other "bad" man those wouldn't work at all.

Even a justified killing can be problematic

[cashbacher · 8/10 · 3 May 2020]

When a man goes berserk in the local store and tries to kill Ben Cartwright, he draws and kills the man. Even though he knows that he had no choice, Ben feels deep remorse and wishes that there were something else he could have done. Shortly after the shooting, 16-year-old Todd Grayson arrives by stage from Boston in order to be reunited with his dead father. Anguished and full of hero worship for his father, Todd can think of nothing but killing Ben in revenge. Ben takes responsibility for Todd, even taking him to the Ponderosa and giving him room and board. A gunman traveled the stage with Todd and befriended him. Seeing an opportunity to be paid well for killing Ben, the gunman talks the girlfriend of Todd's father into paying him. It is only when the girlfriend finally comes clean with Todd that he realizes that his father was not the man he thought he was. It is at this point that Todd drops his vendetta. The essential goodness of Ben Cartwright is on display here. Even though he knows Todd is determined to kill him, be reaches out to Todd and does everything he can to try to make amends for an act not his fault.

definitely bitter-sweet

[georgeredding · 10/10 · 21 April 2021]

This episode may have a surprise ending, depending on your viewpoint. A young man named Todd Grayson-played by David Macklin (last name) (?) comes all the way to Virginia City from Boston to see his father, only to learn that his father is dead, because beforehand Ben Cartwright killed the father in self-defense: that is how the episode starts off. Rocky Lane acts well as the no-good father. When the sixteen-year-old Grayson does arrive, he is as ill tempered as is possible, and wants to kill Ben, which he tries to do with, he finds out later, with an unloaded gun. Though Diane Jordan-played by played by the beautiful Jan Sterling-is not overly concerned about Tod, she does try to help him since the father was someone she once loved. At the same time, she hires a bounty hunter-played excellently by the appropriate Lee Van Cleef, to kill Ben.

The episode does have a touching resolve, which it is why it is a bitter-sweet ending.

A kid from Boston visits the West

[yonhope · 23 September 2010]

David Macklin is the handsome young guest star in this excellent episode of Bonanza. Jan Sterling and Lee Van Cleef and Allan "Rocky" Lane also turn in very fine performances that make this feel like a '50s movie, not a TV series.

David Macklin has to be a lovable bad kid which is something he can do. He looks great enough to have been a teen idol. He definitely could hold his own with the old pros here as the story develops. David's character arrives in town and he hears his dad has just been killed by that mean old Ben Cartwright.

The story unfolds from there. Neither Michael Landon nor Pernell Roberts appear in this episode.

Unbelievable

[deforest-1 · 2/10 · 8 October 2013]

You can certainly see why TV critics started coining the term "horse opera" in reaction to "Bonanza" when it arrived in 1959, especially up against "Gunsmoke", "Wanted Dead or Alive" and other more adult westerns. In the 1959-60 series the writing for Ben Cartright's character, particularly, was uneven, often coming across as an ambitious land baron almost to the point of tyrant over any interlopers. Here, the opposite and he's written as an idiot-saint, weeping and wailing about the fate of a 16-year-old boy whose wild, drunken father he shot in self-defense and to save others. Unbelievably, spreading his saintly largesse over all and sundry, he is allowed to take the boy in, after he too has tried to kill Ben and is obviously itching to try again. The boy's part too seemed written for effect, throwing himself all over the place like a spoiled brat; familiar face David Macklin looked too mature for this sort of thing, even aged 14 and a half. Similarly, Jan Sterling as the dance hall woman deludedly in love with the dead sidewinder -- who incredibly encourages the boy in his bid for revenge. Dan Blocker was the only actor here that comes through with much credit, apart from the always dependable Sheriff Roy Coffey.

More promiscuous shooting

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 1 February 2019]

I confess that I have to agree with the other reviewer who said it was a bit much to expect Ben Cartwright to take in young David Macklin after he had shot down his father who was nothing but a drunken lout and was shooting in the words of Tom Destry rather promiscuously.

David Macklin comes in by stagecoach from Boston and we never really hear about his mother or who was taking care of him there. All he does is arrive just in time for the funeral and to learn that Lorne Greene is the one who did the deed.

Lee Van Cleef as a gunman and Jan Sterling as a saloon girl each try to influence the kid. Ray Teal paroles young Macklin to the care of Lorne Greene even after Macklin tries to kill him at the funeral. Because Greene asks him for it.

In real life those three sons would have inherited a large chunk of Nevada real estate sooner or later.