Mitch (Leigh McCloskey) speaks to a patient in this 1981 publicity shot from “Waterloo at Southfork,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We’re Ewings. We Stick Together.’
November 14, 2012 by 6 Comments
She’s got this
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Waterloo at Southfork,” J.R. (Larry Hagman) stands behind Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes), who has summoned Vaughn (Dennis Patrick), Jordan (Don Starr), Wade (Robert Ackerman), Andy (Paul Sorensen) and Cliff (Ken Kercheval) to J.R.’s office.
ELLIE: I’d like to thank you all for coming.
JORDAN: Well, it’s good to see you again Miss Ellie, but –
ELLIE: But you wonder why you were called here – at this time of night and by me. Is that right?
WADE: You do have us guessing, ma’am.
ELLIE: Well, you can stop guessing. I called you here to tell you that Ewing Oil is now prepared to pay back your loan … with interest.
VAUGHN: [Forced smile] Well … how nice.
ANDY: I knew Ewing Oil would be coming through.
ELLIE: Did you, Mr. Bradley? I suppose I should thank all of you gentlemen for the aid you gave my son.
JORDAN: Now Miss Ellie, you know it’s just business.
ELLIE: What I do know is that you are supposed to be Jock’s friend, Jordan. And yet the minute his back was turned, you took advantage of J.R.’s situation to charge an outrageous 25 percent interest to extend your loan.
VAUGHN: Now Miss Ellie, you don’t understand.
ELLIE: I understand perfectly. And what about you, Cliff? How long are you going to perpetuate this stupid Barnes-Ewing feud? Until we’re all dead and gone? Is it worth it to you?
CLIFF: Don’t expect me to apologize because J.R. got in over his head.
ELLIE: I don’t expect anything from you, Cliff. And I don’t apologize for what my son did. It’s a family matter. We may be wrong and we may be right, but we’re Ewings. We stick together – and that’s what makes us unbeatable.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 88 – ‘Waterloo at Southfork’
November 14, 2012 by 28 Comments
Woman of the hour
Miss Ellie is the woman of the hour in “Waterloo at Southfork.” She wheels and deals with Clayton, takes the cartel to the woodshed and keeps J.R. from dragging Sue Ellen’s name through the mud in court. Ellie’s only defeat occurs when she tries and fails to oust her eldest son as Ewing Oil’s president, but no matter. By the end of the episode, J.R.’s respect for his mama has deepened. So has ours.
To no one’s surprise, Barbara Bel Geddes is wonderful every time she appears in “Waterloo at Southfork,” which is a lot: This episode has 29 scenes, and Bel Geddes is in more than a third of them. Choosing my favorite is tough because they’re all so good.
In the scene with Clayton, Ellie sits on a patio at the Southern Cross and offers to sell him the oil J.R. diverted from the Farlow refineries. Clayton agrees, telling her he’ll buy it for $33 a barrel. “That’s very fair,” Ellie says, shaking his hand. Taking a beat, she adds: “I would have taken 32.”
The scene with the cartel is just as terrific. With J.R. in the background, Ellie stands in front of his desk and chastises Vaughn, Jordan and the others for taking advantage of Ewing Oil during J.R.’s reckless war against Clayton. “I don’t apologize for what my son did,” Ellie declares. “It’s a family matter. We may be wrong and we may be right, but we’re Ewings. We stick together – and that’s what makes us unbeatable.”
This most revealing moment in “Waterloo at Southfork” comes near the end of the episode, when J.R. promises Ellie he’ll behave when he and Sue Ellen go to court for their divorce hearing. He’s lying, of course, but it seems like Ellie is going to give him the benefit of the doubt. Wrong. When the hearing begins, she enters the courtroom and takes a seat in plain sight of her son. The moment J.R. sees his mama, he abandons his strategy to embarrass Sue Ellen.
I don’t know if J.R. has learned his lesson, but Ellie has learned not to trust her son. Better late than never.
Grade: A
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Mama’s watching
‘WATERLOO AT SOUTHFORK’
Season 5, Episode 11
Airdate: December 18, 1981
Audience: 22.3 million homes, ranking 1st in the weekly ratings
Writer: Linda Elstad
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Miss Ellie sells J.R.’s stockpile to Clayton, persuades Bobby to return to Ewing Oil and chastises the cartel for taking advantage of the company’s misfortune. Pam embraces motherhood. Ray takes a loss on his real estate deal. Sue Ellen leaves the Southern Cross and wins custody of John Ross during her final divorce hearing.
Cast: Robert Ackerman (Wade Luce), Tyler Banks (John Ross Ewing), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Paul Comi (Dr. McWright), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Don Hamilton (Eric), Wiley Harker (Judge James Berwin), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Audrey Landers (Afton Cooper), Leigh McCloskey (Dr. Mitch Cooper), Patricia McCormack (Evelyn Michaelson), Barry Nelson (Arthur Elrod), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Herbert Rudley (Howard Barker), Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), David Tress (Walter Sher), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“Waterloo at Southfork” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
The Art of Dallas: ‘Starting Over’
November 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Dusty (Jared Martin) returns to the rodeo circuit in this 1981 publicity shot from “Starting Over,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We Have Four Sons, You Know’
November 9, 2012 by 9 Comments
Saving the day, again
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Starting Over,” Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) summons Ray (Steve Kanaly) to the Southfork living room, where they sit across from each other.
ELLIE: I know that in the past, you and Jock used to have these conversations, but in his absence, I, I guess I’ll have to be the one to do it.
RAY: I’m not sure I understand, Miss Ellie.
ELLIE: Well, Donna feels that you’re in some kind of difficulty. And you won’t talk to her about it.
RAY: Well, no disrespect to you, Miss Ellie, but I don’t think it’s anything we ought to talk about either.
ELLIE: But you would talk to Jock.
RAY: [Looking down] I guess.
ELLIE: Do you feel it’s a sign of weakness to talk to a woman about your problems?
RAY: [Smiles sheepishly] No, it’s not that, exactly.
ELLIE: Ray, you know how much I care about you. If you’re in some kind of trouble, why, why won’t you let us help you?
RAY: It’s kind of complicated. I know you and Jock think of me as a Ewing now. But I still think of myself as Ray Krebbs. And I’ve never really done anything to prove that I was as good as the rest of the Ewings.
ELLIE: There’s nothing to prove, Ray. We care about you because of what you are. And above all of us, Donna loves you for yourself.
RAY: But don’t you see? I have to prove it to Donna more than anyone. Look who she was married to: Sam Culver. He was a great man in this state.
ELLIE: You know that Sam’s and Donna’s marriage was for different reasons than yours.
RAY: I know that. But, I mean, look at Donna. She can sit down and in her spare time, she can write what looks like a bestseller. Now how could she be happy married to a cowboy?
ELLIE: You’ve talked about all the reasons for not talking to anyone, but you still haven’t said anything about your problem.
RAY: Well, I guess I just plain got in over my head. You know, the San Antonio deal that Punk and I set up? Well, when he went to South America, I went ahead on my own. I found out I didn’t know half of what I thought I did. Now I’m in danger of losing the whole thing.
ELLIE: And what do you need?
RAY: [Sighs] Another $3 million. Most of what I have invested at this point is Donna’s money. Now how could I go to her and say, “We’re going to lose the whole thing unless you give me another $3 million?”
ELLIE: Your not thinking enough of Donna to tell her hurts a lot more than losing the money would.
RAY: It’s not like I didn’t want to tell her. I just couldn’t. I still can’t.
ELLIE: Will you accept help from me? It’s the same thing I’d do for Bobby or Gary or J.R. if they needed it. [Smiles] We have four sons, you know. And you’re one of them.
RAY: Yes, ma’am. I’d be very grateful. I don’t know how I could ever thank you.
ELLIE: You don’t have to thank me. And if you like, no one else needs to know about this. I think Donna should, but that’s up to you.
RAY: Well, I’d rather try to get out of this mess myself before I tell her anything. I really would like Donna to be proud of me.
ELLIE: All right. Tomorrow morning, you and I will go to see Franklin Horner. I’m sure Ewing Oil can lend you the $3 million. [Ray smiles]
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 87 – ‘Starting Over’
November 9, 2012 by 29 Comments
Mine!
At the end of “Starting Over,” Bobby enters the Southfork foyer holding Christopher, the infant he believes J.R. fathered with Kristin. Bobby plans to confront his brother with the boy, but when Pam spots the newborn, she assumes her husband has finally found a child for them to adopt. “It happened!” Pam says after she snatches Christopher from Bobby’s arms. “Oh, we’ve got a baby to adopt!”
Freeze frame. Flash credits. Roll eyes.
Since the baby at the center of this scene will grow up to be Jesse Metcalfe’s character on TNT’s “Dallas,” this is one of the most consequential moments in the history of the franchise. It’s also one of the silliest. Do the writers really expect us to believe Pam would see Bobby with a baby and automatically assume it’s for her? For a woman who just checked out of a mental hospital, Pam has never seemed loonier.
Despite this, “Starting Over” is one of the fifth season’s strongest entries. The scene where Sue Ellen finally acknowledges she and Dusty have grown apart is nicely written, even if the dialogue isn’t quite as poetic as the couple’s previous farewell in the fourth-season entry “Lover, Come Back.” I also like “Starting Over’s” shot of J.R., lying alone in his shadowy New York City hotel room. It brings to mind the “Gone But Not Forgotten” scene where J.R. stands silently in the Southfork nursery, missing John Ross. This has been a dark season for our hero, hasn’t it?
My favorite scene of all comes at the beginning of “Starting Over’s” third act, when Miss Ellie summons Ray to the Southfork living room and gently gets him to admit: a) he’s bitten off more than he can chew with his latest real estate deal; and b) he should accept help from her. Ellie isn’t necessarily closer to Ray than she is to her biological sons, but their relationship feels more mature. This makes sense. Ellie and Ray did become “mother” and “son” as adults, and as she once pointed out, neither was born with the Ewing name.
More than anything, I love watching Barbara Bel Geddes and Steve Kanaly perform together. Both are terrific actors who make their characters feel like relatable people. They keep “Dallas” grounded, which is important – especially when Pam is running around Southfork, snatching babies.
Grade: A
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Dark times
‘STARTING OVER’
Season 5, Episode 10
Airdate: December 11, 1981
Audience: 23.2 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings
Writer and Director: Leonard Katzman
Synopsis: Bobby determines J.R. is Christopher’s father and brings him to Southfork, where Pam assumes the boy is a child for her and Bobby to adopt. Miss Ellie agrees to loan Ray $3 million from Ewing Oil to salvage his development deal, then discovers J.R. has depleted the company’s cash reserves. Sue Ellen breaks up with Dusty after he returns to the rodeo circuit.
Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Edmund Gilbert (Paul Winslow), Bruce Gray (Dr. Alan Cosby), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Laurence Haddon (Franklin Horner), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (Jeff Farraday), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Barry Nelson (Arthur Elrod), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“Starting Over” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
The Art of Dallas: ‘Five Dollars a Barrel’
November 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment
Sue Ellen and Clayton (Linda Gray, Howard Keel) are seen in this 1981 publicity shot from “Five Dollars a Barrel,” a fifth-season “Dallas” episode.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘I Finally Whipped J.R. Ewing’
November 7, 2012 by 5 Comments
Laugh while you can
In “Dallas’s” fifth-season episode “Five Dollars a Barrel,” Cliff (Ken Kercheval) is seated on the edge of his office desk when J.R. (Larry Hagman) enters.
CLIFF: Come right in. Did you come to pay your note early? It’s not due until tomorrow.
J.R.: [Steps forward] You know why I’m here.
CLIFF: I just want to hear you say it.
J.R.: [Another step forward] I need that extension.
CLIFF: [Smiles] Do you? [Walks behind his desk, sits] Well, I’m a man of my word. I have the papers right here. Sit down. [J.R. walks to Cliff’s desk, sets his hat on it] It’s all right here. Ten-day extension, at $200 million, 25 percent. But first, my lawyer drew that up. [Hands J.R. a document] It gives me total and permanent ownership of Ewing 6. [Hands a pen to J.R., who retrieves one of his own from his jacket’s inner pocket] You know you’re only buying a temporary delay because the price of oil is still dropping. And when this 10-day extension is up, there’s no more time. You can’t pay, you’re out. [J.R. signs the paper, tosses it onto Cliff’s desk, grabs his hat and begins walking away.] I can’t believe it. After all these years, I finally whipped J.R. Ewing.
J.R. turns, glares and smiles slightly as Cliff laughs uproariously.
Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 86 – ‘Five Dollars a Barrel’
November 7, 2012 by 12 Comments
Keep your grin up
In “Five Dollars a Barrel,” Cliff takes over J.R.’s bank note and offers him an extension on his loan – in exchange for ownership of the oilfield that split up Jock and Digger’s partnership decades earlier. J.R. all but laughs Cliff out of his office when he hears these terms. But by the end of the episode, with J.R.’s confidence fading, he goes to Cliff, hat in hand, and signs over the field to get the extension. “I can’t believe it,” Cliff says as he reclines in his chair. “After all these years, I finally whipped J.R. Ewing.”
It’s a measure of the power of the J.R. character that we don’t feel happy for Cliff at this moment. Quite the opposite. We feel sorry for him because we know he hasn’t whipped J.R. at all. This is a temporary defeat. J.R. is going to come roaring back – and when he does, he’s going to make Cliff pay for trying to humiliate him.
Watching Larry Hagman in this scene makes me appreciate how good he is, not that I need the reminder. When Ken Kercheval delivers Cliff’s line about “finally” whipping J.R., Hagman responds with a single, slight smile. It’s more unnerving – and oddly more satisfying – than any dialogue the writers might have come up with.
There’s also a lot of humor in “Five Dollars a Barrel,” and almost all of it flows from Hagman’s deadpan delivery. In the second act, J.R. is working at his desk when Sly buzzes him. “There’s a Mr. Cliff Barnes here to see you,” she announces. “Who?” J.R. responds.
In another scene, Ray arrives home after dropping off Donna at the airport and finds J.R. waiting for him in the yard, his boots propped up on the Krebbs’ patio table. “You getting good mileage on Donna’s car?” J.R. asks through a big grin.
It’s pretty remarkable that the same smile that seems so sinister at the end of the episode is so hilarious here – but that’s Larry Hagman’s genius.
Grade: A
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Splendor in the grass
‘FIVE DOLLARS A BARREL’
Season 5, Episode 9
Airdate: December 4, 1981
Audience: 22 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings
Writer: Leonard Katzman
Director: Irving J. Moore
Synopsis: Gary visits and gives his voting shares to Lucy, while Ray rejects J.R.’s offer to bail him out of his foundering deal. With the cartel’s help, Cliff takes over J.R.’s bank note and extends the deadline on his loan in exchange for ownership of one of the original Barnes-Ewing oilfields. Farraday agrees to sell Christopher to Bobby.
Cast: Robert Ackerman (Wade Luce), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Peter Brandon (Greer), Lee de Broux (McCoy), J.R. Clark (Earl Holiday), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Art Hindle (Jeff Farraday), Susan Howard (Donna Krebbs), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Howard Keel (Clayton Farlow), Sally Kemp (Mrs. Rogers), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Leigh McCloskey (Dr. Mitch Cooper), Pamela Murphy (Marie), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Priscilla Pointer (Rebecca Wentworth), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Debbie Rennard (Sly), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Robert Symonds (Martin Porter), Aggie Terry (Lori Rogers), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Cooper), Deborah Tranelli (Phyllis), David Tress (Walter Sher), Edward Winter (Dr. Frank Waring), Gretchen Wyler (Dr. Dagmara Conrad)
“Five Dollars a Barrel” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.
Dallas Parallels: Grave Decisions
November 5, 2012 by 11 Comments
The Ewings are always in crisis, but life at Southfork was downright agonizing at the beginning of “Dallas’s” ninth season: Bobby was dead, Sue Ellen was in a police station drunk tank and J.R. was scheming to keep Pam out of Ewing Oil. So when Jeremy Wendell took Miss Ellie to lunch and offered to take the company off her hands, the Ewing matriarch was understandably tempted.
In “Resurrection,” the season’s fourth episode, Ellie visits Bobby’s Southfork grave, near the tree house Jock built for Bobby when he was a boy. (A wooden Ewing Oil sign on the house proclaims “B.J. Ewing” president.) Sitting on a bench near Bobby’s headstone, Ellie tells him she’s leaning toward selling the company to Wendell, in part so “your little Christopher and little John Ross” won’t have to grow up to inherit unhappiness. “I hope you’ll understand,” Ellie says.
This terrific scene – along with everything else that happened during “Dallas’s” ninth season – was notoriously wiped away when Bobby’s death was written off as Pam’s dream, but that doesn’t mean fans should forget it. Nor does it mean the people who make TNT’s sequel series can’t draw inspiration from it.
In “No Good Deed,” one of the strongest hours during the new show’s first season, Bobby visits Ellie’s grave on Southfork, where life is once again in turmoil: J.R. has disappeared and John Ross, now an adult, has had the stuffing beaten out of him in jail. To make matters worse, J.R. and John Ross’s shady business partner Vicente Cano is inching closer to tapping the ocean of oil flowing beneath the ranch.
Bobby, who promised Ellie he’d never let anyone drill on Southfork, stands over her headstone and tells her it might be time to relent. “I keep trying to think what you’d do if you were here,” Bobby says. “But I know: You’d do whatever it takes to protect the family. And that’s just what I’m gonna do, Mama. And I know you’ll understand.”
Aside from echoing one of “Dallas’s” most resilient themes – the idea that sometimes you have to sacrifice your principles for the greater good (see also: “Ellie Saves the Day”) – this scene reminds me how much I love Patrick Duffy.
The actor has always been one of the “Dallas” franchise’s unsung heroes, but his gravitas is more readily apparent on the TNT series. Duffy has inherited the quiet strength and dignified spirit Barbara Bel Geddes brought to the original series. Like her, he never strikes a false note. And just as I can’t imagine the old show without Bel Geddes, it’s difficult to conceive the new “Dallas” without Duffy. Thankfully, we don’t have to.
‘I Hope You’ll Understand’
Troubled
In “Resurrection,” a ninth-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) visits Bobby’s Southfork grave.
ELLIE: Bobby. Oh, Bobby. [Sighs, sits on a nearby bench] This seems to be the only place where I can find peace. It’s the only place where I can get away from everyone’s questions. Here I’m just left alone with my own questions. You may not agree with me, but I hope you’ll understand. If this was the best of all worlds, I wouldn’t think of selling Ewing Oil. But it’s not the best of all worlds – or the best of all times. With you gone and Sue Ellen where she is, the family’s in trouble. I want to do what’s right, Bobby, for your little Christopher and for little John Ross. I don’t want them to inherit unhappiness. I couldn’t bear that. Your daddy always said that the only thing that really means anything is family. You knew that. Those were the last words that you, you tried to say to us. And now I have to do my part to, to keep us together.
‘I Know You’ll Understand’
Fractured
In “No Good Deed,” TNT’s eighth “Dallas” episode, Bobby (Patrick Duffy) visits Miss Ellie’s Southfork grave.
BOBBY: Hey Mama. I spent the last 20 years trying to protect this land. Protect your legacy. I remember you once told me that family is like baking a cake – from scratch. Real messy. Well, I wish I could tell you things are different, Mama, but they’re not. Our family is as fractured and dysfunctional as always. And I keep trying to think what you’d do if you were here. But I know: You’d do whatever it takes to protect the family. And that’s just what I’m gonna do, Mama. And I know you’ll understand.
What do you think of Miss Ellie and Bobby’s grave decisions? Share your comments below and read more “Dallas Parallels.”
Dallas Decoder 