Bonanza
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Bonanza |
| Original title | Bonanza |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1959-1973 |
| length | 50 minutes |
| Episodes | 431 in 14 seasons ( List ) |
| genre | Western film |
| idea | David Dortort |
| music |
Ray Evans Jay Livingston |
| First broadcast | September 12, 1959 (USA) on NBC |
| German-language first broadcast |
October 13, 1962 on German television |
| occupation | |
| |
Bonanza is one of the most famous American television series of the 1960s, set in the western milieu of the 1860s. With over 430 episodes, it is the second longest western series in the world after Smoking Colts (635 episodes). Since only 229 episodes of Rauchende Colts were broadcast in Germany, Bonanza is the longest western series shown in Germany.
Bonanza is an English word of Spanish origin for "rich gold mine" or "stroke of luck". The Cartwright family, around which the series is based, consists of father Ben Cartwright and his three sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe. The ranch on which the four men live is called Ponderosa, named after the Ponderosa pine that grows there .
The roles and their actors
| character | actor | Seasons | Episodes (total) | role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Benjamin "Ben" Cartwright | Lorne Greene | 1-14 | 417 | Head of the Cartwrights family and owner of the Ponderosa Ranch. After the death of his last wife, he runs the ranch together with his three sons, who call him Pa for short . |
| Adam Cartwright | Pernell Roberts | 1-6 | 173 | The oldest son in the family. |
| Eric "Hoss" Cartwright | Dan Blocker | 1-13 | 401 | The second eldest son, a striking figure because of his body |
| Joseph Francis "Little Joe" Cartwright | Michael Landon | 1-14 | 416 | The youngest son of Ben Cartwright. |
| Hop Sing | Victor Sen Yung | 1-14 | 107 | The Chinese family chef. |
| Roy Coffee | Ray Teal | 2-13 | 98 | The veteran sheriff of Virginia City . |
| Clem Foster | Bing Russell | 4-5, 7-14 | 58 | Sheriff Roy Coffee's deputy. |
| Will Cartwright | Guy Williams | 5 | 5 | Ben's nephew who has worked on the ranch for some time. |
| "Candy" Canaday | David Canary | 9-11.14 | 93 | A former soldier who is now the Cartwright ranch foreman. |
| Jamie Hunter / Cartwright | Mitch Vogel | 12-14 | 47 | A red-haired orphan boy who is taken in by Ben on his ranch. |
| Handle King | Tim Matheson | 14th | 12 | A former convict who wants to leave his criminal past behind as a worker on the ranch. |
action
prehistory
Ben Cartwright was married a total of three times. There is a son from each marriage. He met his first wife Elizabeth through her father, Captain Abel Stoddard, in Boston , where Ben served as the first officer on his ship. Elizabeth Stoddard died in 1829 giving birth to her son Adam. Cartwright had promised his wife that he would realize his old dream of a life in the West. He met his second wife Inger in 1834 on a trip west to Illinois , where she ran a grocer's shop with her brother Gunnar. In 1836, their son Eric "Hoss" was born while they were on their way west to build a ranch. The son was initially given two names, Eric and Hoss; the latter was also the nickname of her brother Gunnar. Inger died on her way west in an Indian attack. Ben's third wife, Marie, from New Orleans , Little Joe's mother, died after a riding accident when Ben had already bought the Ponderosa .
Venues
The series usually takes place in one of two main locations: on the estate of the four Cartwrights on their Ponderosa estate, on the one hand, and in the town of Virginia City, a few kilometers outside the ranch, especially on the main street or in the Silverdollar saloon . In this city the Cartwrights do their regular shopping and administrative procedures, the responsible sheriff is also stationed there. Depending on the storyline, other locations appear.
The Ponderosa Ranch
The approximate location of the ranch is indicated in the trailer for the TV series. Accordingly, it is located between Lake Tahoe and Washoe Lake in the US state of Nevada , borders Carson City to the east and extends north into the area between Virginia City and Reno , without really getting close to the two cities. Part of the road from Carson City to Virginia City is in the Ponderosa area.
Typical elements
All actions in the series are shaped by a profound morality, for which the wise Ben Cartwright is the godfather. A feature of Bonanza is that the Cartwrights oppose the glorification of violence. A recurring element is that the person who was shot is a previous friend of the family, who experiences changes in character over the course of the plot, which later manifest themselves, for example, through immoral behavior. Also, each of the four cartwrights is repeatedly accused of any crimes not committed by him and locked by a sheriff in the City Jail, held by Indians or pursued by a lynch mob , while the others try to clarify the false allegation and to free him, whereby they themselves often run into danger. Differences of opinion, misunderstandings and aggression developing dramaturgy are often staged somewhat naively. At the end of each episode, all conflicts are always resolved.
The cartwrights have no luck with women. Although the sons act as philanderers at every opportunity and each of the four cartwrights has one or the other romance in the course of the series, it always ends tragically, tragicomically or otherwise unsuccessfully. In any case, no woman moves permanently to the Ponderosa. The collective endeavor of the four cartwrights is also recurring to stand by travelers in case of problems, but also to drive intruders and aggressors away from the ranch. A running gag in the series is that Hop Sing, the Chinese chef of the Cartwrights, often quits his job angrily, but is persuaded to stay.
The four cartwrights are friendly and in solidarity with the regularly appearing sheriff of Virginia City, Roy Coffee. This is an older man, whose actions are usually portrayed as being prudent and prudent.
In the immediate vicinity of the Ponderosa lives the Paiute Indian tribe , whose relationship to the Cartwrights is portrayed as ambivalent. The family itself is friendly towards the Indians, but they act partly friendly, partly hostile towards the four, just as the four Rancher Indians are generally friendly and always protect them against hostility from whites.
Another typical element of the series: a guest star (occasionally two stars) plays in each episode. As a rule, these are actors who are known from other series and films of the 1950s and 1960s. Among the most prominent are James Coburn , who was seen in a total of three episodes (11, 56, 98), Charles Bronson in episode 180 as Harry Starr and Telly Savalas as Charles Augustus Hackett in episode 197. George Kennedy appeared in episodes 61 and 174, Jack Elam in episodes 49, 253, 374 and in the feature film Bonanza - The Return to the Ponderosa , Aldo Ray in episode 171 as Leif Jessup, the Star Trek stars Leonard Nimoy as Freddy in episode 46 and DeForest Kelley in episodes 69 and 112 as well as the double episode 219/220, which four years later as Die Männer von Bonanza, they rode like the wind in German cinemas.
What is atypical for the Western genre, however, is that in many episodes not a single shot is fired and the plot could just as easily take place at another time or in a different setting.
production
Charisma
NBC first broadcast Bonanza on US television on September 12, 1959. The series was filmed in color from the start, although at that time black and white devices were almost exclusively used. The NBC parent company RCA was hoping for higher sales of color television sets. The first episode was shown on German screens on October 13, 1962, and was initially broadcast on Erste . After only 13 episodes, the series was initially discontinued because of "excessive brutality". From August 27, 1967 (episode Little Joe is betting on victory) Bonanza was then to be seen on ZDF . With a total of 431 episodes, the program ran for 14 years. From 1964 to 1967, Bonanza was the television series with the most viewers in the United States. The last episode ran on January 16, 1973.
Roles and performers
Lorne Greene (in the roles of Ben Cartwright and his doppelganger Bradley Meredith) is the only leading actor who was dubbed by the same speaker, Friedrich Schütter , in all German versions of Bonanza (in the first episodes broadcast by ARD, however, Heinz was still Heinz Klevenow the dubbing voice). After Bonanza , Lorne Greene landed another series success between 1978 and 1980 with the lead role in Kampfstern Galactica , in which Friedrich Schütter also spoke. Greene, who died in September 1987, was only 13 years older than his two "sons" Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker.
Pernell Roberts (until episode 195) dropped out of the series in 1965 after the end of the sixth season, he was replaced two seasons later by David Canary in the role of Candy. Pernell Roberts let himself be written off the series (Adam left the Ponderosa to study medicine in St. Louis) because he no longer wanted to play just a cowboy. Canary played in seasons 9 through 11 and then dropped out because they couldn't agree on their fee. He wanted the same pay as the other three main actors, which the producer refused. With the beginning of the 14th and final season, he returned to the series on a full salary after Dan Blocker's death.
The series could not cope with the loss of Dan Blocker (Hoss) by his death in May 1972. Another season was produced; but it met with little interest and is partially left out of repetitions. Production was finally stopped in January 1973. All episodes of the series were later repeated on American television under the title Ponderosa .
After the end of Bonanza, Michael Landon successfully continued his career. He played the main role in the series Our Little Farm and An Angel on Earth . In addition to his work as an actor, he has already written and directed screenplays in some of the late Bonanza episodes, which he continued in his other series. He died on July 1, 1991.
In the final seasons of Bonanza, the adopted son of Ben Cartwright, played by Mitch Vogel , named Jamie, was introduced to the series. In the fifth season, the character William Cartwright, played by Guy Williams , was included in the series. This was later to replace Pernell Roberts, but could not prevail and was written out of the series.
Music and opening credits
The dynamic theme melody of the series by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (the melody guitar was played by Tommy Tedesco ), which became part of popular culture , gained particular fame . In 1962, Johnny Cash released a single with a sung version of the theme song; also in 1962 Ralf Paulsen brought out a German cover version.
The opening credits of Bonanza also became famous: It shows a map of the Ponderosa ranch, which goes up in flames after a few seconds and reveals the approaching cartwrights, whose actors are then introduced individually, with the order in each episode changing by Emphasize the equality of the protagonists. The opening credits changed over the years. From season 7 Pernell Roberts (Adam) left the series and the opening credits. From then on only three cartwrights rode on. New theme music was also played for seasons 10 and 11, with the same melody but brass band instrumentation, in the style of American marching music. With the beginning of season 12, a completely new opening credits were introduced. There was no riding, instead action pictures of the main characters were shown, underlaid with completely new, orchestral theme music, more in the style of big monumental films. At the beginning of the 14th and final season, the original bonanza melody was returned to the old guitar instrumentation. The opening credits stayed with the action pictures. In some German television broadcasts such as B. in the Country Classics series on kabel eins , the new opening credits and the new title music were at least partially dispensed with in seasons 12 and 13. Instead, the opening credits, as was common in seasons 7 to 11, were shown using the classic bonanza melody.
Voice actor
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Ben Cartwright | Lorne Greene | Friedrich Schuetter |
| Eric "Hoss" Cartwright | Dan Blocker |
Martin Hirthe (ZDF synchronization, 11 episodes 1967) Horst Breitenfeld (ZDF synchronization, 59 episodes 1967–1969) Thomas Braut (ZDF synchronization, 2 episodes 1968) Michael Chevalier (ZDF synchronization, 29 episodes 1969 and 1970s & Sat.1 synchronization) |
| Joseph "Little Joe" Cartwright | Michael Landon |
Thomas Piper (ZDF dubbing 1967–1969) Michael Günther (ZDF dubbing, 6 episodes 1968) Norbert Langer (ZDF dubbing 1970s & Sat.1 dubbing) |
| Adam Cartwright | Pernell Roberts |
Horst Stark (ZDF dubbing 1967–1969) Randolf Kronberg (ZDF dubbing 1970s) Thomas Kästner (Sat.1 dubbing) |
| Hop Sing | Victor Sen Yung |
Karl-Ulrich Meves (ZDF dubbing 1967–1969) Gerd Duwner (ZDF dubbing 1970s & Sat.1 dubbing) |
| Sheriff Roy Coffee | Ray Teal |
Hans Paetsch (ZDF dubbing 1967–1968) Klaus W. Krause (ZDF dubbing 1968–1969) Kurt Mühlhardt (ZDF dubbing 1970s) Otto Czarski (Sat.1 dubbing) |
| Candy Canaday | David Canary |
Peter Kirchberger (ZDF dubbing 1969) Rolf Schult (ZDF dubbing 1970s) Michael Telloke (Sat.1 dubbing) |
| Jamie Hunter Cartwright | Mitch Vogel |
Ulrich Matthes (ZDF dubbing) Simon Jäger (cable 1 dubbing) |
| Corp. Angus Borden | Michael Landon | Wilfried Friday |
Locations
The series originated for the most part in the Warner Bros. Studio in Burbank . All interior shots were filmed there. Most exterior shots of the ranch came on the sound stage of the Paramount studios in Hollywood . Additional exterior scenes were filmed at nearby Big Bear Lake , Red Rock Canyon , Mojave, and Kern County . Due to the high level of visitor interest, a theme park was built in Incline Village on the north bank of Lake Tahoe in Nevada and opened in 1967 on the site of enterprising farmers. The "ranch" there is not at the point shown on the Ponderosa map, i.e. about halfway between Lake Tahoe and Washoe Lake, but directly on the northeastern edge of Lake Tahoe, thus just outside the fictitious Ponderosa area. For many years, the amusement park attracted thousands of visitors, although in fact only scenes for 15 episodes were shot on the site. The weekly transport of the film crew from Los Angeles to Lake Tahoe quickly proved to be too expensive. However, the main characters were regular guests. After disappointing visitor numbers recently, the Movie Ranch was sold to billionaire David Duffield, founder of PeopleSoft , which was taken over by Oracle in 2004, for $ 50 million . In September 2004, Duffield closed the park, which has since been neglected. In December 2015, he donated a small part of his land to the community to enable a continuous hiking trail.
Others
One of the anachronisms of the series is that the Cartwrights and all the other men in the series have zips on their pants that were invented in principle during the period in which the series is set - mainly the 1860s, with occasional flashbacks to earlier decades , but not yet widely used. Some of the Colts and bolt-action rifles used by the series' heroes did not exist at the time. As a result, The Infernal Machine , the invention of the internal combustion engine was brought forward by three decades. The famous map of the Ponderosa is also not entirely up-to-date, as the first episodes of the series take place in 1859, i.e. at a time when the lake, which was later named Lake Tahoe on the map , was officially called Lake Bigler . Otherwise, efforts were made to keep props as stylish as possible.
Starting with the third season, each of the Cartwrights wears clothing that is specific to them. So is z. B. Little Joe mostly seen in a green jacket. This principle was retained until the end of the series and allowed certain recurring sequences, for example rides along a river or similar standard scenes with the cartwrights, to only be shot once and then simply copied in later episodes if necessary. Pure landscape recordings of mountains and lakes were also used in mirror image to simulate a different area. Scenes with a puma or "mountain lion" were also used in different episodes - regardless of the fact that this mountain lion changes color from one scene to the next and is "shot" at least three times in the course of the series.
The map from the opening credits of the series is drawn so that not north is up, but east. This can also be recognized by the compass rose in the top left. Washoe Lake is east of Lake Tahoe, as are Virginia City and Carson City.
The size of the ponderosa is described in the series in contradicting ways. In the very first episode, A Trap for Little Joe , Ben Cartwright specifically mentions “a thousand square miles” (around 2,589 km², more than the area of the German state of Saarland ). In other episodes the area of the Ponderosa is compared several times with the US state of Rhode Island (approx. 4,000 km²), whereby in the German synchronization the Ponderosa is given as five times as large (corresponding to over 20,000 km²). In relation to the almost 500 km² large Lake Tahoe, the area of the ranch area drawn in the map of the opening credits would have to cover about 600 km² and, depending on the shape, a maximum extension of approx. 20 km in east-west direction and approx. 50 km in north -Have south direction. In the episode easy game with Hoss is z. For example, it is said that the protagonists have been riding across the Ponderosa area for three days on the way to the ranch house, which suggests that the ranch area is much larger. On the other hand, a cartwright occasionally rides “just into town” just before sunset or even rides there and back for the duration of the other's dinner. That in turn speaks for the immediate proximity of this city, especially since in reality the routes between Lake Tahoe, Carson City or Washoe Lake could definitely be ridden in a corresponding time.
In their short film Balls à la carte (BRD 1969) Sven Severin and Marten Taege portrayed Bonanza and the West German television success of the series.
Aftermath
Sequels
In 1987 the television film Bonanza - The Next Generation was made , in which the daughter of Lorne Greene and the sons of Michael Landon and Dan Blocker played. Two more TV films followed: Bonanza - The Return (1993) and Bonanza - Attack on the Ponderosa (1995).
A new production of the series under the name Ponderosa in 2001 was discontinued after 20 episodes due to low audience ratings.
The two- parter Der Ponyexpress took place under the title The Men of Bonanza, They Rode Like the Wind a cut with a new theme song , which was not intended for the American cinema market. The episode ran in German cinemas from February 27, 1970.
DVD
From 2005 to 2008 the first seven seasons of Bonanza were released on DVD in Germany (DVD pack of four discs, German and English soundtrack, no extras); the television series up to Bonanza - Season 7 (July 2011) has been available in a new edition since 2008 (DVD pack of eight discs, each with four or five episodes and a total of around 1,600 minutes of playing time). Seasons 7 to 12 were released from January to August 2013. The last two seasons were released in autumn 2013 (DVD packs of seven and four discs). In 2017 a complete DVD box was released. This contains all 431 episodes on 107 DVDs. The DVD editions also contain the episodes that were never broadcast on German television. These are shown in the original with German subtitles under the English episode name.
comics
Bonanza comics were published by Bildschriftenverlag with 21 issues from 1969 to 1971 and by Bastei-Verlag with 103 issues from October 1973 to September 1977.
Books
Some Bonanza books were published by Engelbert / pebBücherei.
- Steve Frazee: Bonanza
- Harry Whittington: Ponderosa in danger
- Teddy Parker: Ride into Adventure
- Teddy Parker: Shots on the Ponderosa
- Teddy Parker: One is wrong
- Teddy Parker: A hot lead
- Teddy Parker: Little Joe is in danger
- Teddy Parker: Smoke signals from the Big Horn
- Teddy Parker: On behalf of the sheriff
- Teddy Parker: Last chance for Hoss
Web links
- Bonanza in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Bonanza in the synchronized file
- Bonanza at Fernsehserien.de
- TV nostalgia: Bonanza
- Synchronization information
- Current transmission dates
Individual evidence
- ↑ IMDb . As of September 13, 2009.
- ↑ the cartwright clan on pjfarmer.com, accessed on December 2, 2013
- ↑ Approximate location of the fictional Ponderosa ranch ( Memento from February 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Ten facts about Bonanza on rp-online.de
- ↑ synchronous index . Retrieved February 5, 2013.
- ↑ Sale in the wild west - Goodbye Ponderosa on spiegel.de, accessed on July 27, 2018
- ↑ Duffield land donation a Lake Tahoe paves way for critical trail on serrasun.com (English), accessed on July 27, 2018
- ↑ Sven Severin, Marten Taege: Balls à la carte (20 min.). With Hannelore Hoger , Alexander Kluge a . a. (FRG 1969).
- ^ Bonanza movie on fernsehserien.de, accessed on December 2, 2013.
