Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Where Will This All End?’
July 24, 2013 by 3 Comments
She called it
In “Requiem,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) comes to the Southfork kitchen counter and speaks to Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who is seated at the table.
ELLIE: Good morning, Sue Ellen.
SUE ELLEN: Good morning, Miss Ellie.
ELLIE: Poor Bobby. Rebecca’s death has been so hard on him. [Pours coffee]
SUE ELLEN: I’m sure it has.
ELLIE: He looks worn out.
SUE ELLEN: Let me tell you something, Miss Ellie. I think it’s about time that your other son got a little sympathy too.
ELLIE: What did you say?
SUE ELLEN: [Holds up a newspaper] J.R. just lost the variance, thanks to Donna Krebbs.
ELLIE: Sue Ellen, how can you compare those two things?
SUE ELLEN: Well, I feel terrible about Rebecca’s death. But still. …
ELLIE: Still nothing! I’m astonished at you.
SUE ELLEN: My husband is very important to me. But this battle that he’s fighting is costing him.
ELLIE: It’s costing all of us. And you just don’t understand how much. Think ahead, Sue Ellen. Think 25 or 30 years ahead. I won’t be here then. And the fight won’t be between J.R. and Bobby. It’ll be between John Ross and Christopher. Think carefully, Sue Ellen. Your loyalty to your husband is a wonderful thing, but you’re a mother too. And where will this all end?
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘You’re Not the Man I Married!’
July 22, 2013 by 6 Comments
Sing it, sister
In “Crash of ’83,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, a sullen Bobby (Patrick Duffy) enters his bedroom late at night and sits in a chair while Pam (Victoria Principal) reads in bed.
PAM: [Unsympathetic] You look terrible.
BOBBY: Nothing like a celebration to really depress me.
PAM: I don’t understand.
BOBBY: You know that guy, Hicks? On Donna’s commission? J.R. had him bought and paid for. And I pulled a little number on him.
PAM: [Concerned] What do you mean?
BOBBY: I got down in the mud, honey. Just like I said I could. I forced him to change his vote on the variance.
PAM: What did you do?
BOBBY: I blackmailed him. I feel so dirty. [Rests his head in his hand]
PAM: [Puts down her book, leans forward] What do you want from me? Sympathy? Because you’re not going to get it.
BOBBY: Pam, I don’t want your sympathy.
PAM: Oh, yes you do. You want me to slap your wrist and then reassure you that you’re still the same wonderful man underneath it all. Well, I’m not going to help you out. You can stay dirty.
BOBBY: You don’t understand.
PAM: Understand? I understand that you’re not the man I married! The Bobby I love would rather be dead than blackmail Hicks or anybody else, double-cross the cartel and force his own mother into court.
BOBBY: [Exasperated] There were reasons.
PAM: [Screaming] Reasons? There’s only one reason! You would do anything to beat J.R. and get the company. Anything!
Bobby looks down.
Dallas Cliffhanger Classics: Season 8
July 19, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘No, J.R.’
July 17, 2013 by 3 Comments
No
In “A Ewing is a Ewing,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, Holly (Lois Chiles) arrives in the darkened Ewing Oil reception area and finds J.R. (Larry Hagman) waiting for her.
J.R.: Hello, Holly.
HOLLY: Why the late-hour meeting, J.R.? I don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me what you wanted —
J.R.: There are a number of things you don’t understand, darlin’. That’s why I asked you to meet me here. Come on in my office. [Walks into his office, stands near the door] Come on, hon. [Holly comes to the door, pauses] Come on. [She enters and he closes the door behind her.] Like a drink?
HOLLY: No. Get on with it, J.R.
J.R.: [Pouring] Looks like I’m running into teetotalers all over the place. I had a meeting with a gentleman this afternoon, wouldn’t have a drink with me. [Sips from his glass]
HOLLY: J.R., I think we better talk some other time.
J.R.: You told the Air Force that I was behind your attempt to cancel their contract. [She’s silent.] Holly, we had an agreement. No one was to know I had any connection with Harwood Oil.
HOLLY: Anytime you want out of your contract —
J.R.: I don’t want out of the contract. And I don’t want any more stupid mistakes. You understand that?
HOLLY: What I understand is that I made the biggest mistake of my life when I made a deal with you.
J.R.: Not if you listen and do exactly like I tell you.
HOLLY: For how long?
J.R.: [Pauses, looks away, then back at her] As long as I need you.
HOLLY: Then what? You break Harwood? Ewing picks up the pieces?
J.R.: I don’t need to break Harwood. I already run it. And from now on, I run you too, darlin’.
HOLLY: Never!
She turns away from him. He approaches her from behind.
J.R.: Holly, you don’t have any choice, honey. [Touches her hair]
HOLLY: Take your hands off me, J.R.
J.R.: You wanted me once. [Reaches around, unbuttons her jacket]
HOLLY: You turned me down.
J.R.: Now we can start from scratch. [Pulls her jacket off her shoulders]
HOLLY: No, J.R. I don’t want this.
J.R.: I give the orders. You just follow them. That’s the way it’s going to be.
HOLLY: You won’t enjoy it.
J.R.: You better make damn sure I do.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘My Pretty Little Ellie’
July 15, 2013 by 7 Comments
Poor Mama
In “The Reckoning,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, Brooks (Donald Moffat) questions Miss Ellie (Barbara Bel Geddes) during her testimony at the hearing to overturn Jock’s will.
BROOKS: Mrs. Ewing, did your husband ever write you about the codicil?
ELLIE: No.
BROOKS: Nothing at all?
ELLIE: Well, he told me on the phone that he had been trying to plan ahead, but it was hard. He was tired. He said that he just wanted to lie down and go to sleep for awhile. I remember that that frightened me.
BROOKS: Had you ever heard him say anything like that before?
ELLIE: Never. Jock was as strong as a bull. It must have been the fever or whatever. I don’t know, but he just wasn’t himself down there.
BROOKS: But he did write to you about how he was feeling?
ELLIE: Yes, several times.
BROOKS: Mrs. Ewing, may I ask you to read some of what he wrote to you?
Brooks pulls a letter from an envelope and hands it to Ellie. She puts on her eyeglasses and studies the letter for a moment, then begins to read it aloud.
ELLIE: “I’ve forgotten how miserable the jungle can be. Between the heat and the fatigue, I’m about done in. I’ve been running a fever lately, but I guess I’ll get over that. If Punk can survive it, so can I. We’re getting things done. It’s not like when we were young, though, Ellie. [Voice begins to break] I’m really feeling the years down here. My concentration isn’t what it used to be, either. I find myself trying to figure something out, then just drifting off somewhere. Back to younger days. Younger times. It’s funny: I stare out, and all these jungle plants just kind of dissolve — and there’s your face instead, just waiting there for me. My pretty little girl. My pretty little Ellie. Oh, how I miss you down here.” [Removes her glasses, wipes her eyes]
BROOKS: Mrs. Ewing, I won’t ask you to read any further. May we place these letters in the hands of the judge? [Hands letter to bailiff] Mrs. Ewing, I have just one more question for you: Aside from the fever and exhaustion, are you saying that at the time your husband wrote the codicil, he lacked mental competence? [She looks at J.R. and Bobby, seated across the room.] Mrs. Ewing, please answer the question: Are you saying when your husband wrote the codicil, he was mentally incompetent?
ELLIE: I’m saying that his sense of judgment not up to his usual standards.
BROOKS: That’s not what I’m asking.
ELLIE: If that’s the legal term you need to break the will, then yes, Jock was not mentally competent. [She sobs.]
Dallas Cliffhanger Classics: Season 7
July 12, 2013 by 7 Comments
Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘We’re Partners, Aren’t We?’
July 10, 2013 by 1 Comment
Two of a kind
In “The Ewing Blues,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) stands in front of his bedroom mirror, holding an icepack to his swollen face, when a smiling Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) enters the room.
J.R.: What do you find so amusing, Sue Ellen?
SUE ELLEN: Well, I was just wondering whatever happened to your ability of handling — I mean, dealing — with people.
J.R.: Well, I just forgot that cowboy has a terrible temper. He’s lucky he didn’t have his spurs on. [Sits on the bed] Rub my back, would you?
SUE ELLEN: Of course. [She removes her robe and sits behind him as he winces in pain.] I can’t wait to see you on that TV show.
J.R.: You like that sort of thing, don’t you?
SUE ELLEN: [Glides a finger down his face] I think it’s nice to be the wife of a celebrity.
J.R.: I tell you the truth, I’m kind of nervous about, about being up there, and speaking in public.
SUE ELLEN: [Giggles] Well, you’ll think of something to say. I have all the confidence in the world in you.
J.R.: Well, I’d have a lot more confidence if I had somebody up there with me.
SUE ELLEN: [Leans back] You want me on the show with you?
J.R.: [Turns to face her] If it wouldn’t be an imposition.
SUE ELLEN: You mean that, don’t you?
J.R.: We’re partners, aren’t we?
SUE ELLEN: You really mean that commitment that you made at the lake, don’t you?
J.R.: [Strokes her face] Of course I do.
SUE ELLEN: I can’t tell you how happy that makes me feel.
She leans back further and gazes at him. He smiles.
Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘It’s Up to Me to Run This Family’
July 8, 2013 by 3 Comments
Late show
In “Mama Dearest,” a sixth-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie and Lucy (Barbara Bel Geddes, Charlene Tilton) sit at the Southfork kitchen table late at night.
LUCY: Was what J.R. did really so wrong?
ELLIE: It was wrong because of why he did it. Only to get the best of Bobby. And it hurt a lot of our friends at the same time.
LUCY: But it was a business deal, wasn’t it?
ELLIE: Yes, it was.
LUCY: You know how I feel about J.R. I mean, I hardly ever approve of anything he does.
ELLIE: Lucy, you’re very troubled about this. Why?
LUCY: Well, Granddaddy would have known that something like this could happen. He knew how J.R. operated. He had to take that into account when he decided that J.R. and Bobby should compete for Ewing Oil. Granddaddy was a very smart man. Especially when it came to business.
ELLIE: [Smiles] Yes, he was.
LUCY: Then how can you try and change what he wanted done?
ELLIE: It’s very difficult for me, Lucy.
LUCY: Well, then don’t do it. I’m sure it’s all turning out just the way Granddaddy expected it.
ELLIE: [Smiles] Oh, Lucy. I know how much you loved him. I did too. And I respected his judgment. I found him very wise. But even when he was alive, things didn’t always work out the way he planned. But then he was around to make the changes and straighten everything out. It’s gone wrong. And he’s not around to fix it.
LUCY: Grandma, are you sure you’re doing what’s right?
ELLIE: No. No, I’m not sure. I don’t want to go against your granddaddy’s wishes. But he’s not here anymore. And it’s up to me to run this family.
Lucy reaches across the table and touches Ellie’s arm.
Dallas Cliffhanger Classics: Season 6
July 5, 2013 by 10 Comments
Dallas Decoder celebrates “Dallas’s” classic cliffhangers with weekly summertime flashbacks. Collect all 14 images and share them with your friends.
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