THE RELUCTANT AMERICAN
The Reluctant American - first shown
'A ranch near the Ponderosa is plagued by rustlers. The
owner, who lives in
Guest Stars: Daniel Massey as Leslie Harwood, Jill Haworth
as Gillian Harwood, Richard Long as Gore Stanhope, Dan Kemp as Bolton, Boyd
'Red' Morgan as Stokely, J. Pat O'Malley as Big Mac.
*****
The story features an English couple Lesley and Gillian
Harwood who have been sent to
The main theme is comedy over the Harwoods' lack of experience of the American
west with two sub-plots: their foreman
I found this episode to be mostly embarrassingly awful in the ridiculous
stereotyping of the English couple. The good parts of
these characters were Lesley's courage in standing up to his detractors and
Gillian's gumption in adapting to ranching life,
especially while pregnant. Had those aspects been followed, then the episode
would have been far better. I was left wondering what the English performers
Daniel Massey and Jill Haworth thought of their parts. The mix of comedy and
serious issues didn't work for me either.
This was also another episode where the Cartwrights were relegated to bit
parts. Ben and Joe at least had some decent dialogue. Ben was able to provide
good, neighbourly help and Joe (actually Hal Burton, Michael's double at this
time) had an all action fight scene. Hoss had the cardboard cut-out role and
Dan looked a somewhat disgruntled Hoss at times. (He had my sympathy!)
The two bright sparks of the episode for me were comedy scenes from Hop Sing
and Jamie. When the English couple mistake the Ponderosa for their own ranch,
Hop Sing's wrath falls on them in no uncertain terms and Victor gives us
classic Hop Sing on the warpath! Mitch had some comedy lines which he delivered,
both verbally and with body language, brilliantly. His bright smile cheered the
episode temporarily.