Reviews

While this film is certainly not outstanding, it is not a dreadful as some have said. It has some negatives, some moments of utter stupidity, but some of the screenplay was not bad, and Sorbo, Fonda, and. Galligan do a pretty good acting job. Galligan suffers a little bit in gun battle sequences, of which there are not enough of, but the director did not get much out of the actors as it was in the scenes and that is because he was afraid to have them shoot em' up. The actors could not handle the guns. Galligan was mediocre at firing the guns and the others just plain stunk. The introduction of J. Frank Dalton is the most interesting part of this film, and Galligan, minus the shoot em' up sequences, does quite well. The fault here lies with much of the action sequences and the costuming. The coffin thing was utterly stupid. The only reason that I am giving it four stars and not three or two is becaue I felt Sorbo did such an excellent job, and Fonda. Most of the set pieces look too new and the costume people did not even attempt to make some of the costumes not look like Halloween costumes, but it is watchable.

Basically all Michael Landon productions, beginning with Bonanza where he honed his crafts as a writer and director, were able to do serious episodes and funny ones and the audience still find it compelling. This episode is mostly Mrs. Oleson creating news where it does not exist and reporting gossip, half-truths, and crap. Of course, all of that is rather funny to see Mrs. Oleson make a total fool out of herself, but it gets serious and Charles takes matters into his own hands. Michael Landon lets us know that freedom of speech and the press does not give one the right to print half-truths and outright lies. A lot of negative things have been said about Mike recently, I regard them as crap, but some buy into them. Mike is not hear to defend himself against things people say today, but some assume guilty until proven innocent, even though it is supposed to be the other way around. Several things that a former cast member said about Michael can easily be proven wrong. One allegation is that most directors did not make it through the first season. For the record, the majority of episodes in the first season and throughout the series were directed by Michael, Bill Claxton, Victor French, and Maury Dexter. Sean Penn, made his acting debut in the series, because his father Leo Penn directed some episodes. Leo directed a first season episode of Little House. Of all the directors that directed an episode during the first season, Alf Kjellin was the only one who did not work for Michael Landon again. Leo Penn would go on to direct a few more Little Houses and a couple of Father Murphy's. Another allegation that he cut this persons screen time is also false. If anything the character Carolina Ingalls was given more and more and more screen time as the show developed through the years.

Charles fixes a little girl that has one leg that is longer than another new shoes. It is a touching and sometimes funny little episode, as Laura shoves Nelly into the creek. Little behind the scenes story on this, and I would not add it if not too make a point, Allison Arngrim writes that in the scene in which Nelly is pushed into the lake/pond/creek that director Alf Kjellin shot the scene with her stunt double, being pushed into the water, but then he was going to shoot a take with Allison being pushed into the water. What reason? Michael Landon evidently thought there was no reason for that either. He wanted to move on and shoot close ups of Nelly's reaction. Now in the book apparently, Arngrim is trying to criticize Michael Landon, but I agree with him. I think it would have been a not a smart move of the other director. For one, it would be a waste of film to shoot Allison after already having shot her stunt double, and it could cause the child to catch pneumonia. Michael Landon then fired Alf, after telling him he was doing his job for him, and the two of them exchanged some choice words. Michael was obviously right, and anybody that thinks otherwise would not be much of a problem solver, to put it nicely.

I may be biased being a huge fan of her father Michael Landon, but I honestly believe that Jen Landon is by far and away the best actor on this series. She should have more to do with the action. In the scenes where she consoles Jess's daughter Natalie. When she cries looking in her face, it reminds me so much of her father. Her mannerisms are very much like her dads. The whole time I wanted her character to take control of the action, but this was the first episode of this series that I have ever watched and so I was finding out who the characters were still, but it would be cool if they could work her character into a principal role in someway. I hope if she every wants to direct, they will let her. It would be neat to see her play a similar role in television as her father. She definitely as his acting chops. Other than that, I genuinely think that it would make the show better, if it was not so much a standard police procedural that is like others that we have seen. Some originality would be great and they could have a great series.

Michael Landon, knew a wise man learned from the past. Before this film, he made an outstanding motion picture with a somewhat similar premise, but the film which was supposed to be a pilot with Gil Gerard did mot make it as a television series, but was a fine motion picture. Here Michael Landon is able to bring both of those factors together and the way he does that is two words, Michael Landon. That is not to say that there are many other people that without them, he would not be able to bring this project and others together. He would be the first person to tell you such. However, from the point of view of watching the film, Landon's gifts as an actor, make this both a film that can stand on its own and a television pilot that can stand on its own.

Much of the images from the film come from Landon's subconscious, I believe, based on my knowledge of the him as a person. A lot of his work, was him working out things that were going on in his personal life on paper. At the time of the production of this motion picture "Us" Mike was in the seventh year of his third marriage, which had produced two children, Jennifer Landon of FBI: Most Wanted and Sean Landon a real-estate developer. The time from the end of Little House to the beginning of Highway to Heaven was a tough time for Michael personally. He had come off a divorce to Lynn, mother of four of his nine children, which was quite painful for him and a film called Love is Forever, in which he gives an outstanding performance, but had to deal with a director that he did not see eye to eye with and this director ruined the picture. I will not mention the name of the director, because he was not someone Mike liked during or after.

I feel that this pilot, film is a release and recovery for Michael as an artist and a human being. He got to travel America as the angel Jonathan and suddenly everything and everyone around him is dying. Things are changing, more so than before. So, the script was letting a lot of things out that he was trying to get out of his system. It was relief of pain. There are images in this film that to me clearly show that it is a commentary not only on America, and the American family, but Michael and his family.

One striking image in the film, is a criminal in it, a jewel thief, smashes through a vase window, when they are caught by the police. There was a vase window in Michael and his second wife's home. When he is released from prison, his relationship with his son's mother, seems like the relationship that he was having with his second wife Lynn and his son Mike jr. I have no doubt that they inspire the characters, to a degree. The father that Barney Martin plays is likely inspired somewhat by Mikes own father Eli. For example, Jack does not like to talk out problems, he would prefer to wash his "damn shoes". Michael often said his father was this way, he would not confront his problems. In fact, in 1955, when Landon was known as Eugene Orowitz and was leaving to go to University of Southern Cal on an athletic scholarship, Landon said his father asked him if he knew about sex yet, and proceeded to try and have the 'talk' with him, but could not get it out, and so he told his father he already knew everything he needed to know, by talking to the guys. The film is about Landon reconciling the relationship with his son and it is a commentary on a lot of fathers and sons, but is also about Michael and Mike jr, I believe. Great motion picture and this would have made a great series.

While this film was a made for television film, it does not feel like one. It has been said that Landon admired three filmmakers that he was not taught by Orson Welles, John Ford, and Alfred Hitchcock. The influence of Welles and Ford can definitely be seen her. Yet, Landon does not copy them. The film is not cliche. Cliche is something that Mike was often accused of. Here he takes what he has learned from William F. Claxton and others on the set of Bonanza and techniques that he admires from the above mentioned filmmakers, and he knows when and where to use them. Like Ford, he shoots the picture economically. He uses long takes when necessary, so as to make his point and to make it without having NBC come in and edit the heck out of it. He uses bars and other natural objects to create separate frames like Welles, and the story is inspired a bit by something Hitchcock might do. It is a 70's film, but it is a Michael Landon film all day long. That man is what makes this motion picture a very fine motion picture.

There is no other way to say this show was wonderful because of two words: Michael Landon. His vision as the Executive Producer, Director, Writer and Star ensured this show's success, however he was smart enough to realize that in an esoteric sense you are only as good as the people around you and Michael surrounded himself with good people, both in front and behind the camera. He was loyal to those that were loyal and did their job. I absolutely loved this show and it would not have made it, it it were not for Michael.

I can understand why when Michael read this script he though it would be a refreshing change. An actor always likes the opportunity to be in someone else's work, and apparently this was the first time in a long time, than he had read something that he thought might translate well to the screen. It did not. The director Hall Bartlett took a script for a dramatic love story, set against the results of the Vietnam war, and tried to turn it into some type of action film, filled with terrible cliches. The only parts of this film that work are those with Landon, particularly when he gives the speech about the dangers of war and the regime. Some of the supporting players are okay, but overall the movie is only decent and Landon's presence is the only reason that it is decent and able to be watched. In my view, if Landon had of taken over the production, re-wrote the screenplay, directed, and cut the film himself, I think it would have turned out ten times better.

I wonder if this episode was really shot in 1958 because Michael Landon looks much smaller in stature than in I Was a Teenage Werewolf shot in 1957 and the pilot for Wanted Dead or Alive shot in 1958 also. It's very cool to watch because if you ever attempted an acting career yourself, it reminds you of where you may have come from because Michael looks like he has not been in Hollywood long, not in his performance, but he looks like a starving young actor, teenager, yet he more than holds his own and is more believable than these more experienced older actors that he is working with. This is the kid form Collingswood, New Jersey, not that I think Landon ever forgot where he came form, but it is interesting to watch him as a kid. He was a scrapper definitely and its endearing to watch, because he is so young and is out there making it happen, just like when he would play characters and dream at the cave he made at the lake across the street from the house he grew up in, in Collingswood.

A lot of people were upset with how Michael Landon ended LHPOP with this abbreviated 10th season television film, but he stood his ground and for what he believed in. This film is all about what property rights, hard work and life are really about. We learn, correctly, that property rights do not believe what the people of Walnut Grove and most of us assume that it means. If the government thinks that it would better serve society for a corporation, in this case a railroad, to have your property, then they can take it, but Michael Landon shows us with a bang, that we can stand together against this forces.

I really loved this film, because it is so easy to relate too. Essentially it is about how a young man finds his niche to get out of a town that is rife with 50's conformity. Landon addresses many issues of the day in the process. Which is quite wonderful. Ultimately it is the story of a family and how father and son and mother get to know one another in the end and learn that love is what saves us. Landon did not care much at all for 50's conformity and the post-war influence of corporate America and greed. He warns us of their influence and how this mentality of being better than thou instead of working together will get us in trouble. Very lovely film.

I think Emilio Estevez intended for this program to be a bit more like the second Mighty Ducks film in that it would have more of a commentary on America. It was clear that they favored Lauren Graham's character over Emilio. I did not like the direction they took with the series, although it had its bright moments. Emilio's inspirational speeches as Gordon, but the writer's or producers never wanted Gordon to develop into Gordon. They clearly did not want Estevez to be the main character, which is their loss and not his. In one episode, they have Gordon listen to Evan's dad about giving Alex a stuffed animal. Gordon has been around the block enough times that he would know better than to do this. He tells Coach T about his college experience as a coach, and he would know better than to do that. In the Pilot by the end they had Gordon coming back around to being his old self, and Gordon's speech at the end basically saves what was otherwise a lackluster episode, only to the next episode have him laying on the coach the whole time and very little involvement. It is my belief that the producers only wanted Emilio on the dotted line, so the show would be green lighted. Emilio just come off his greatest film as a filmmaker/actor and won numerous awards for that film. He is better than this program and the program would have been a lot better under his leadership. Emilio hang in there and fight another day. I wish the cast and crew luck, but I wish Emilio luck as well and cannot wait for his next film, which is Guns 3: Alias Billy the Kid. The fact he is directing, writing, and starring should ensure that films success. God bless Emilio!

For a television film, this is an outstanding film. For a film, it is a pretty good. Th Estevez brothers did all they could to buy this production more time, even turning in part of their salaries. It was still extremely good considering it was a television film. Emilio does not pull punches, pulls out all of the stops. This film is not so much about pornography, but about loss of innocence, and playing outside of the rules of God and society and how that can lead down the road to hell. It is about families during the Vietnam War era, the excess of the 80's and then the early 90's. One of would expect exploitation and gratuity, but Estevez manages to pull no punches, but to not cross the line. This was an excellent film and I recommend to all and especially those who are Emilio Estevez fans.

This was the fifth episode of Bonanza that Michael Landon directed. He also wrote the teleplay for this episode. This is my personal favorite episode. The reason I believe that I like this episode so much, is that it is really about Michael Landon working out his feelings about God and Man, and Man and religion. He grew up in a dysfunctional family with a Catholic mother that was very emotionally unstable. His father was Jewish, but could also be quite distant. Despite being angered by his parents ways, Michael Landon did love them. He said once that he thought he hated religion, and particularly Catholicism, because his mother would walk around in her night gun holding her Bible praying to god that he would kill Eugene (Mike) because he was Jewish like his father Eli; but that eventually through his writing he realized that he did not hate religion, but his mother and father's behavior. They constantly bickered about religion and would only talk to one another through their children. Michael's mother favored his sister and hated her son, because he was Jewish. In this episode there is a corrupt town boss and this is very much a commentary on the times. There is a corrupt power on main street. This was a time in which both management of companies and labor leaders, such as Jimmy Hoffa were corrupt. There was an enemy within as Robert Kennedy called it, and it was very much there in this episode. Ben is ambushed, but he kills his assailant, the leader of the town. The glorified town bully. The Padre tries to guide Little Joe, but Little Joe is having none of the religious arguments and at one point tells the Padre "Father, don't give me that meek shall inherit the earth stuff!" By the end of the episode Little Joe and the Padre have learned to work together to resolve this issue, and while Little Joe does not convert to Catholicism, there is a mutual understanding and sense of tolerance and appreciation between he and the Padre. Little Joe has learned from the Padre to look for the good in others, even in the worst times, and Joe has taught the Padre to stand firmly and fight back against the forces of authoritarianism and oppression. I believe that this is Michael's way of affirming his Judaism and tolerance for Christianity through the character Little Joe and his relationship with the Padre. I really liked the lighting, the set design, the blocking, the cinematography, and editing in this episode. Also all of the performances were outstanding!

This is my favorite LHOP episode. Written and Directed by Michael Landon, he shows us not only the character Charles Ingalls closeness to God, but his own. He talked about the really big turn around in his life being in 1973, when his daughter Cheryl was involved in a serious automobile accident and the doctor told Mike over the phone that there was no chance for her to live. He and her mother Lynn got on a plane and flew to Tuscon, Arizona as fast as they could. While Lynn laid down crying on a bed in another room and praying I am sure, Michael knelt beside Cheryl's bedside and promised God, that if He allowed her to live, he would dedicate the rest of his life to doing that which glorified God. He would make television programs that reflected ideal values, more specifically community values and faith. Michael was Jewish and he had his opinions, but he was tolerant of everyone else and their faith. He was a very loving, generous human being. He did so many wonderful things for this world. He did make the world a better place. And the miracle that happens at the end of this episode is electrifying. Outstanding writing, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, and everything else. Well done Michael Landon!

This was an outstanding and inspirational show by Michael Landon. The show deals with every aspect of the American life and is not about religion, so much, is it is about being a good person. Michael Landon was a good person, I believe, and I do not like to see derogatory things written about this wonderful man of so many talents as a filmmaker, actor and as a human. Landon was known to be the type of fellow who would give someone the shirt off of his back. He was a Republican, but he held progressive views, which I think was wonderful. Landon was sort of a surrogate father figure for me through watching him on television and learning about him as a person. His shows and he meant so much to me. He was Jewish and was proud of it and I salute him for it! Thank God the political party that he affiliated with was not a dogma cult, back then.