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Bonanza - The Spanish Grant
episode 1.21
USA 1960
produced by David Dortort for NBC
directed by Christian Nyby
starring Lorne Greene, Pernell Roberts, Patricia Medina, Sebastian Cabot, Paul Picerni, Celia Lovsky, Holly Bane (as Michael Ragan), Dan Blocker, Michael Landon, Stuart Randall, Ned Wever, Victor Sen Yung, Claudia Bryar, John Frederick (as John Merrick), Genaro Gomez, Salvador Baguez
story by Morris Lee Green, screenplay by David Dortort, Leonard Heideman
TV-series Bonanza
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Homesteaders are driven from their land, apparently by the men of
Isabella Maria De La Cuesta (Patricia Medina), whose family has been
owning the years for centuries, since the Spanish King has granted it to
the family. Thing is, Isabella's land repossession might also concern the
Ponderosa of the Cartwright family, so papa Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene)
decides to do something about it, and before you know it, he has sent his
oldest son Adam (Pernell Roberts) to talk to the lady and find out a
little bit about her. And wouldn't you know it, he finds the lady
frequenting bars and dancehalls far below her social status, while her
operation is actually run by Don Antonio Luga (Sebastian Cabot) and his
henchman Sanchez (Paul Picerni), who seem to use her to front their
landgrabbing scheme, and soon enough doubts arise that she really is
Isabella Maria De La Cuesta, or rather an impostor, as a certain gambler
and blackmailer (Holly Bane) suggests. Thing is, Adam also falls in love
with the woman, and she with him, but slowly he can make her see his point
of view and make her repulse the violent acts others do in her name - but
still she insists on repossessing what she claims to be her inheritance
...
So Adam travels to San Francisco to dig up something about her past,
her real past, and he comes back home with Dona Teresia Esperanza (Celia
Lovsky), and aunt of the real Isabella Maria De La Cuesta, and she talks
into the girl's conscience and makes her give up her claim on the land -
without ever disclosing whether she really is Isabella Maria De La Cuesta
or not ...
Rather clichéd episode of the series with a deus ex machina-like
ending that's nothing short of a letdown and is too cheesy to be true.
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