Five Sundowns episode of Bonanza

Watched two Bonanza episodes recently. I remember my old man watching reruns of Bonanza when I was a kid but I haven’t really watched the show as an adult. The two episodes we watched were “Hound Dog” and “Five Sundowns to Sunup”. Bonanza was a show that offered different types of episodes ranging from the comedic to the suspenseful and dramatic.  “Hound Dog” was the former and “Five Sundowns” was the latter.

“Hound Dogs” doesn’t really hold up well but “Five Sundowns”, directed by veteran director Gerd Oswald, holds up really well.

It opens with a man sitting on the roof of a building, holding a shotgun, keeping a watchful eye over the town. It’s clear something just happened and we’ll find out what in short time. The sheriff has been shot, Ben Cartright steps up to wear the badge. Before long the battle lines are drawn and both sides are heading for a reckoning.  There is a definite Rio Bravo influence. It is a great western story condensed to a shorter time frame. The plan that the bad guys hatch is simple and effective. The stakes are effectively raised. The only downside is that the resolution is a little forced for such a dark set up but that is due to this being a series rather then a film and as such a couple of potentially dark avenues aren’t really explored.

The episode is available to watch on Youtube. I suggest checking it out.