THE IMPOSTERS
The Impostors - first shown
'Hoss and Joe go to Pineville to look for Joe Bruter.
Bruter's son, Randy, Bud York and Gabe Leroy stole $51,000 from Hoss. Hoss and
Joe pretend to be Bud York and Gabe Leroy to collect at least 2/3 of the money.
Randy Bruter, the only person who can identify them, is safely tucked away in
the
Guest Stars: Strother Martin as Joad Bruter, Tony Colti as Randy Bruter, William Lucking as Gabe Leroy, Jarion Monroe as Cass, Diane Shalet as Mrs York, Larry Finley as Petey, Harry Harvey Sr as Bixle, Robert Ridgley as Marley.
*****
This is a gentle comedy adventure, not the most hilarious,
but well worth a view for the incomparable Hoss/Joe double act. Dan and Michael
give us every expression in their books and there are a high proportion of
wonderful facial close-ups for those fans who just like looking at Hoss/Dan and
Joe/Michael!
The story line involves Randy Bruter and his accomplices Bud York and Gabe
Leroy who stole $51,000 from Hoss in a stagecoach robbery.
In a nice twist to Cartwright canon, it's Hoss who leads Joe a merry chase by
having them go to Pineville to seek out Randy's father with Hoss and Joe
pretending to be Bud and Gabe. Only Randy, in jail in
Strother Martin is truly hilarious as the Bruter father, Joe. He is the perfect
foil to Hoss and Joe and the three of them give us some glorious comedy
moments. I was so intrigued by just what makes a great comedy actor that I
rewound many of the Dan/Michael/Strother and Dan/Michael scenes just to observe
truly great actors at work. I am sure that someone has to have an innate talent
for comedy – you just can't teach the genius that Dan and Michael had for
comedy.
Two scenes that I really enjoyed were Hoss's bedroom scene and Joe's fight at
the end of the story. Bud York's real wife arrives, takes the Cartwrights'
side, and pretends to be Bud's i.e. Hoss's wife. Joe Bruter offers them his
bedroom for the night to Hoss's acute embarrassment and Joe's delight!
In a fight scene where the escaped Randy Bruter shows up, Michael does his own
dynamic fight scene. Trivia: watch for his protective knee pads!
Not the greatest Bonanza episode but an excellent showcase of Dan and Michael's
inimitable comedic talents.