User Reviews

The Older Brothers are really supposed to be the notorious Younger Brothers—more or less. Viewers who know the history of the Old West should not be worried about the many liberties they take in this episode. This is all a spoof and in this case, it doesn't matter that it is set in the late 1880s, when the real life Youngers were Bob, Cole, and Jim, and that from 1876 on, they were not involved in any sort of crime, as they were all in prison. That is, from 1876 until 1889 Bob Younger was in prison, then he died. His two brothers were paroled in 1901.

The show also depicts Frank and Jesse James holding up the Youngers, even though Jesse was killed in 1882 and Frank had moved on to becoming a farmer by the time this takes place.

Our comical story begins with the three men, actually named Younger, trying to figure out what to do with themselves, now that they are paroled from prison after 20-year sentences. In this story, the three are clearly some distance shy of being smart enough to be a 19th Century version of The Three Stooges. One derisively speaks of the trio as being "The Older Brothers"—hence the show's title.

They plan to rob a bank, with Cole, the leader, almost being killed by dynamite set by his brother Bart. It appears to us that the town is a ghost town. Somehow, they find sacks of mail. Happening upon a stage coach, they hold it up. But all they get is sacks of mail. They wouldn't have gotten away with that if not for Isaiah Edwards coming along right after the stagecoach driver and guard get the drop on them. They see Isaiah charging toward them and figure he's one of the gang so they flee on foot. Isaiah thinks it's the crooks who fled and helps the Youngers re-load the mail onto the stage.

The crooks, who had read a letter in the mail stolen earlier talking about Mr. Edwards having lots of money, just let him ride away. Later, they decide to go to the town where he said he was staying to steal his money.

Before they can do that, the stage coach men reach town and report on the holdup men. Having talked to Edwards, the idiot (and if you watch it, you'll know I'm not being fair to idiots by describing him this way) sheriff gets them to help him burst in on Edwards in the bathtub (with clothes on, naturally) and arrest him for being one of the "Younger Brothers." Well, now the Youngers have to bust Edwards out of jail, and all that takes is another stick of dynamite and in the process, they take Isaiah but leave behind the money they wanted to get. Their next plan has them going to Walnut Grove and demanding ransom from his partners—Almanzo and John Carter.

Somehow this works, but this is where the James Gang shows up and steals the money from the Youngers. Surprisingly, nobody recognizes each other, even though the Youngers and James gangs worked together for some time. Their next scheme is, (and I am not kidding) even dumber than the earlier ones. Of course it all works out well for the good guys. More so than most of the Little House comedies, this one is aimed at younger (pun intended) viewers. If Agent 86 on Get Smart was never too dumb for you, if you can still enjoy The Three Stooges on occasion, you will probably enjoy this episode. If those shows seem too stupid to watch, you would almost certainly be wise to avoid this one.

I am mixed. I much preferred the humor on Season 8's The Legend of Black Jake, where the crooks were bumblers but far more intelligent than this crew. I laughed some at the "Older Brothers" but not all that much.

Waltons' fans might enjoy seeing Robert Donner (Yancy Tucker) as one of the Youngers.

You've heard of the James brothers, right? Jesse and Frank, the greatest outlaws in the west. Well, out in Minnesota, there's a gang known as the Younger Brothers who are, by all accounts, the worst outlaws ever to sling a gun. Cole, Lonnie and Bart Younger. They used to have a reputation for being notorious bandits when the Youngers were younger, but now they're older and they've lost their touch. They can't even shoot a line of glass bottles. They can shoot everything around them just fine however. Deciding it was time to start over and rebuild the reputation they once had, the bumbling outlaws ride over to Silver Hill, now a ghost town, to do a bank job. Using a stick of dynamite, they blow open the door, nearly killing Cole in the process, all they find is a bag of mail. As Bart peruses the love letters, he comes across one telling of a bank draft of $500 to a Mr. Edwards in a town called Walnut Grove. Figuring the town to be loaded, they head off on foot as they had no horses. When making a rest stop, they decide to hold up a stagecoach, but little did they know the stage guard was packing a double-barrel, so the tables were turned. At that moment, coming the other direction was Isaiah Edwards, bound for the town of Barton to make a lumber deal, carrying nothing but $500 cash and a sidearm. When he sees the stage guard aiming his rifle at the Younger Brothers, he assumes the latter are the victims and so firing his pistol in the air scared away the heroic stage guard. Cole and Bart thank Edwards for helpin' them, not knowing he was the fella they were seeking, and he was on his way. Unfortunately the stagecoach was carrying nothing but mail, and as Bart read through some more letters not addressed to him, he finds another message to Edwards, making it clear that he's carrying a wad of cash. Knowing where he was heading and what he was carrying, Cole sends Lonnie on ahead to Barton to locate Edwards and procure the money.

Meanwhile in Barton, as Edwards takes a hot bath in his clothes (it's a family show), the stage guard and driver had reported their earlier misfortune to the sheriff, and now, armed to the teeth, they burst into Edwards' room and arrest him, figuring him to be one of the Younger brothers. He tries to prove his innocence, but naturally the hick sheriff doesn't believe him. Hearing this, Lonnie reports back to Cole and they formulate their next plan of attack: break INTO the jail, get Edwards and steal his money. What, you never heard of an outlaw trying to break into jail? So they ride into Barton, and successfully break into the jail, and knock out the sheriff. Lonnie padlocks the front door while Bart drags the sheriff into a cell and locks him in, then releases Edwards and forces him to come along. So far, so good. I'm amazed. But oops, where's the money? The sheriff had it in his money belt, and they just lost the keys to his cell, and worse yet, they can't get out the way they came in. So after blowing the door, almost killing Cole again, they make their break. Deciding to hold Edwards for ransom, Cole goes into Walnut Grove to find Almanzo and John. They take out a loan to cover ransom, but as Cole heads out of town, he himself gets robbed by the James brothers. How the mighty have fallen...further. Almanzo and John head to Barton to report this to the sheriff, who assumes they are also Younger brothers and locks them up! Meanwhile, the Youngers come up with yet another "brilliant" scheme to get rich quick: turn themselves in and collect the $500 reward! So, the Youngers and Edwards go back to Barton and try to turn themselves in, though the idiot sheriff wasn't too quick to bargain. And so, Lonnie sets off TNT stick #3 and once again Cole nearly misses being killed. Cole Younger is invincible! But in the end, it all works out...for the good guys. John and Almanzo collect the $500 reward, plus the other $500 he got from Edwards, and the Younger brothers go back to jail, where I think they're better off. Th-th-th-th-That's all, folks!

One of the very few all-funny episodes of Little House on the Prairie. I must say, this one is so bad it's great. Cole, Lonnie and Bart are the funniest outlaws you'll ever see. I think they could have gotten their own movie spin-off. Cole's facial expressions are priceless. And of course, Mr. Edwards is a riot. Great writing from Michael Landon, reusing a script from his Bonanza days. This really does seem like an episode of Bonanza. Mr. Edwards served as a decent Hoss; Victor French was great as both actor and director. If you want a break from Little House's gut-wrenching drama, you might want to check out "The Younger Brothers". It's retarded, but it's still really funny.

I don't know if i like this episode or not. I have seen the series from one end to the other and loved every minute of it. However, even though the series is based on the books of Laura Ingalls Wilder, i cant help but noticing the similarity to Bonanza episode 412 ( which is released prior to this )

IT IS EXACTLY THE SAME...

i don't think that its right to make this kind of rip-off in the name of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Not even when the executive producer (Michael Landon) was in both shows. (He wasn't appearing in this episode though) That is the reason i have given this episode a rating of 2/10.

Still a fan of TLHOTP though. :-)

This is by far the worst episode of any I have seen on little house. To me it's like the writers had run out of material and they just threw this in to fill up space. I made it to about the last 15 minutes and threw in the towel.