THE TROUBLE WITH TROUBLE
The Trouble With Trouble - first shown
'Hoss takes over as temporary sheriff of Trouble, a well
named community that thrives on rowdyism, frustrating Hoss's efforts to bring
about law and order.'
Guest Stars: Gene Evans as Montana Perkins, Jeff Morris as
Matthew Brody, Lane Bradford as Jack Clanton, Edgar Daniels as Tom Blackwell,
Chanin Hale as Lili, Don Hamner as Fred, Sunshine Parker as Wally, Ray Young as
Reverend Brody.
*****
I found Jack B. Sowards' previous comedy scripts to be
anything but funny. However this episode is a hilarious Hoss adventure and I'm sure
it succeeds because Sowards' script is so much better and because Dan/Hoss has
plenty of people to play off and bounce the comedy back and forth. The episode
is also fast moving which I think was a good decision by director Herschel
Daugherty.
There is a very, very funny opening scene when Ben's old friend Montana Perkins
(now the Reverend Perkins!) arrives and he, Hoss and Joe all tease Ben about
"Alice from Dallas via San Antonio" though we never do find out
exactly what Ben got up to with Alice LOL!!
Perkins persuades Hoss to become temporary sheriff of a town called Trouble and
trouble is exactly what Hoss gets!! While a lot of the comedy is slapstick,
it's quality slapstick. Hoss arrests nearly all the town's citizens and
captures the Clanton Gang too! There is also some lovely Hoss/Joe banter when
Joe arrives to help Hoss at the end of the episode.
Dan delivers some wonderful one-liners and gives us the full range of wonderful
Hoss expressions. Gene Evans as Montana/Reverend Perkins and E.J.Andre as the
judge provide great supporting roles.
A very nice Bonanza comedy from Hoss and Dan looked as though he had a lot of
fun!