Opinion – Dallas Decoder

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 43 – ‘Return Engagements’

May 31, 2012 by Chris Baker 19 Comments

Dallas, Gary Ewing, Joan Van Ark, Return Engagements, Ted Shackelford, Valene Ewing

Talk about baggage

“Return Engagements” is an exercise in efficient storytelling. During the course of this episode, Gary and Valene reunite, remarry, reconcile with his family and decide to relocate to Southern California. Who says “Dallas” is slow-paced?

Much of this feels rushed and underwritten, but there are some exceptions, beginning with the monologue Miss Ellie delivers when she announces her intention to buy a house for the newlyweds. Val points out how much her mother-in-law has already done for her and Gary. “Miss Ellie, we owe you so much. You raised Lucy,” she says.

“Yes, I raised her,” Ellie begins. “I raised her because the Ewings made it impossible for you to raise her. But I shouldn’t have. I should’ve fought them. I didn’t. I did nothing. Do you think my giving you a house is fair payment? I don’t. If you want to refuse it, refuse it because the gift is small. Otherwise, take it. Please take it.”

Scriptwriter David Jacobs’ dialogue here is flawless. Short, declarative statements (“I didn’t. I did nothing.”), delivered with conviction by Barbara Bel Geddes. What a shame these two didn’t collaborate more frequently. It would’ve been wonderful to see Bel Geddes deliver more of Jacobs’ words.

Another lovely moment: Immediately after Ellie’s speech, there’s a knock on Val’s front door and Bobby opens it, revealing Jock. “I believe I have a son getting married here today,” the Ewing patriarch says as he steps into the room. “I’d like to attend the ceremony, if I’m welcome.”

I can’t help but get a little lump in my throat when I watch this scene. Jim Davis delivers his line quietly, almost sheepishly. Jock’s guilt has humbled him.

Also good in this episode: Ted Shackelford, who makes his first appearance as Gary, and Joan Van Ark, who is always wonderful as Val, even if the couple’s reunion is a little pat. Perhaps “Return Engagements” suffers because Jacobs was busy getting ready for “Knots Landing,” which debuted a week after this episode aired?

Interestingly, the most entertaining couple in this episode isn’t the spinoff-bound newlyweds, it’s shipping magnate Eugene Bullock and Sally, his gold-digging young wife. The Bullocks are a plot device – Sally offers Kristin a glimpse of the future she believes she’ll have if she succeeds in becoming Mrs. J.R. Ewing – but E.J. André is a hoot as crotchety Mr. Eugene and Andra Akers is delicious as bitchy Sally.

Maybe they should’ve gotten a spinoff, too.

Grade: B

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Willing victim

‘RETURN ENGAGEMENT’

Season 3, Episode 14

Airdate: December 20, 1979

Audience: 20.3 million homes, ranking 2nd in the weekly ratings

Writer: David Jacobs

Director: Gunnar Hellström

Synopsis: Gary returns to Dallas and with Miss Ellie’s encouragement, proposes to Val, who accepts. J.R., who is on a “business trip” with Kristin, races home to stop the ceremony but arrives too late. Ellie’s gift to the newlyweds: a house in Knots Landing, a Southern California suburb.

Cast: E.J. André (Eugene Bullock), Andra Akers (Sally Bullock), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Terry Lester (Rudy Millington), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Ted Shackelford (Gary Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Joan Van Ark (Valene Ewing)

“Return Engagement” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Andra Akers, Barbara Bel Geddes, E.J. André, Jim Davis, Joan Van Ark, Return Engagements, Ted Shackelford

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 42 – ‘Mother of the Year’

May 30, 2012 by Chris Baker 17 Comments

Dallas, Linda Gray, Mother of the Year, Sue Ellen Ewing

Prodigal mother

Larry Hagman directed “Mother of the Year,” and despite his limited experience behind the camera (Hagman’s most notable pre-“Dallas” directing credit: “Beware! The Blob”), he makes this episode the third season’s most inventive entry.

Consider the moment J.R. learns he’s struck oil in the Pacific. Hagman opens the scene with J.R. staring at his office telephone, awaiting news from Hank Johnson, his man in Asia, while Kristin massages his shoulders.

The phone rings. Kristin answers.

“It’s the Associated Press,” she announces. “They want to know something about an oil well.”

J.R. takes the receiver, tenses his shoulders, rises from his chair.

“What? Well, now, I, I haven’t got a confirmation on that yet,” he stammers.

Another line buzzes. Kristin answers. It’s Hank.

J.R. puts the AP on hold, takes Hank’s call.

“Where the hell have you been?” he demands.

In the background: A drumbeat begins building – slow, steady.

Bum.

“What?” J.R. asks Hank. “Yee-ha! We hit!”

Folksy strings join the drums as J.R. switches back to the other line.

“Yes, that’s a confirmation,” he says. “Absolutely. A strike in the Pacific – maybe the biggest one ever yet! Yeah, you can quote me. J.R. Ewing!”

The scene is clever because Hagman constructs it like an oil strike: The news about J.R.’s “hit” trickles in over the phone lines – slow but steady – before finally producing his joyful rupture.

I also appreciate Hagman’s attention to detail. He is an honest-to-goodness Texan and has a good ear for how these people talk – or at least how we expect them to.

Before Sue Ellen arrives for the Daughters of the Alamo luncheon, Hagman allows us to eavesdrop as the socialites gossip around the buffet table (“I can hardly believe what she was wearing to that formal dinner party!”).

Hagman also proves to be generous with his fellow cast mates. Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, Ken Kercheval and Victoria Principal all have nice scenes here, although “Mother of the Year” is mostly a showcase for Linda Gray.

Sue Ellen gets two – count ’em, two! – scenes with Dr. Elby, and when she finally picks up baby John at the end of the episode, it’s a powerful moment.

By the time the closing credits roll, there’s no doubt: Sue Ellen might be “Dallas’s” mother of the year, but director-of-the year honors go to Larry Hagman.

Grade: A

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Someday his wells will come in

‘MOTHER OF THE YEAR’

Season 3, Episode 13

Airdate: December 14, 1979

Audience: 19.6 million homes, ranking 7th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Rena Down

Director: Larry Hagman

Synopsis: To prevent Ewing Oil from having to drill on Southfork, Jock decides to sell the Asian leases. Before the sale, the company hits a gusher. J.R. stops funding Cliff’s campaign. After fighting with Cliff, Sue Ellen shows interest in her baby, leaving Pam feeling as if she has “lost” another child.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jocelyn Brando (Mrs. Reeves), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Joan Lancaster (Linda Bradley), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Mother of the Year” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, Ken Kercheval, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Mother of the Year, Victoria Principal

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 41 – ‘Ellie Saves the Day’

May 29, 2012 by Chris Baker 22 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Ellie Saves the Day, Miss Ellie Ewing

Savior

“Ellie Saves the Day” is essential viewing for anyone who loves “Dallas” and its mythology. The story brings the Ewings to the brink of financial ruin, and their darkest hour turns out to be one of the show’s finest. This is a great episode.

The plot of is straightforward – the Ewings discover J.R. has secretly mortgaged Southfork, and they must scramble to raise the money to pay the banks – but the subtext is rich. There are allusions to the consequences of codependence and parallels to the real-life economic morass of the 1970s. These themes prove resilient.

In many ways, “Ellie Saves the Day” is the flip side of “The Kristin Affair,” which aired six weeks earlier in the fall of 1979. “The Kristin Affair” is also a classic episode, but it is relatively breezy, while “Ellie Saves the Day” is moodier, broodier and ultimately, more satisfying.

‘I Never Taught Him When to Stop’

Dallas, Ellie Saves the Day, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman

Sinner

“Ellie Saves the Day” opens with J.R. panicked because he has hasn’t struck oil in Asia and the deadline to pay the Southfork mortgage is looming. The crisis leaves him gloomy and full of self-pity. “I’ll write you a nice reference,” he tells Kristin.

Seeing J.R. this way invites us to consider the roots of his greed. To say the character is power hungry tells only half the tale. J.R. really craves Jock’s respect, and he believes boosting Ewing Oil’s size and stature is the only way to earn it. For J.R., power is a means to an end.

Unfortunately, J.R. becomes addicted to his own ambition. In “The Kristin Affair,” he gets drunk with dreams of making Ewing Oil “the biggest, most powerful independent in Texas” and mortgages Southfork to finance his overseas drilling venture. It’s a risky scheme, and when it finally unravels in “Ellie Saves the Day,” it’s not unlike watching a drunkard coming off a bender. This idea is reinforced by the five o’clock shadow that shows up on Larry Hagman’s face in the third act.

Make no mistake: J.R. is as compulsive as Sue Ellen. She is an alcoholic, but he is powerless over his own ego, and just as the Ewings indulge her, they also enable him. Jock alludes to this in “Ellie Saves the Day” when he discovers the mortgage scheme and tells Bobby, “I trained J.R. and taught him everything he knows. Gave him the fever for big business. But I never taught him when to stop.”

‘Sweat and Hope and Dreams’

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Ellie Saves the Day, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Patrick Duffy

Humbled

This is just one achingly poignant scene in an episode full of them. In another, Bobby finds Jock sitting alone on the Southfork patio in the dark of night. Bobby sees his father is worried and tells him he can “start over” if Ewing Oil collapses, but Jock waves him off. “Not enough time left for me to do that,” Jock says, and as we watch his silvery hair catch the moonlight, we know he’s probably right.

Jock is nothing if not realistic. “It’s not the oil business that I’m worried about,” he tells Bobby. “There’s just no way that you can build another Southfork. Not in six lifetimes.”

Bobby, true to his nature, doesn’t give up. He implores his father to persuade the banks to extend their loan. “We’ll try, Bobby. We’ll try,” Jock responds. “But this feels like the end of 40 years of sweat and hopes and dreams.”

Jim Davis and Patrick Duffy’s performances in this scene are beautiful, and so is the dialogue. “Ellie Saves the Day” was written by Arthur Bernard Lewis, perhaps “Dallas’s” best scriptwriter, and David Michael Jacobs, who apparently is not the same person as “Dallas” creator David Jacobs. Regardless, Lewis and this second David Jacobs demonstrate they understand better than most what makes “Dallas” tick.

Gunnar Hellström’s direction during Jock and Bobby’s conversation is also inspired. It is intensely quiet, with the faint sound of crickets in the background and a 17-second, longer-than-it-seems pause at the beginning of the scene. Hellström shrouds Davis and Duffy in blackness, making them look a bit like actors in a stage play. This is fitting, given how Jock and Bobby’s conversation – with all those references to the passage of time, respect and failed dreams – feels like something out of “Death of a Salesman.”

Hellström concludes the scene by slowly pulling back the camera, leaving us with a wide shot of Jock and Bobby, dressed in their pajamas and brooding over what the next day might bring. Never before have these big men seemed humbler.

‘It’s Time That Southfork Repaid Those Debts’

Capped

The somber tone of “Ellie Saves the Day” reflected the national mood in 1979, when gas shortages and the Three Mile Island meltdown were seen as signs of American decline. For some people in today’s audiences, these themes will still resonate.

Jock’s “six lifetimes” line also reminds us the collapse of Ewing Oil and the foreclosure of Southfork wouldn’t be equal losses. These twin institutions define “Dallas” and its characters, but the ranch is by far the more precious of the two. It’s no accident Miss Ellie, “Dallas’s” moral center, personifies Southfork, while the corrupt J.R. embodies the company. (It’s also no surprise the virtues of drilling on Southfork will again be debated during TNT’s new “Dallas” series.)

From this vantage point, “Ellie Saves the Day” resembles a parable about the inequities in American capitalism and conservationism. In the real world, we rush to relax our environmental standards when the economy suffers – even President Obama has weakened clean-air rules – just as Ellie decides to bail out Ewing Oil by lifting the generations-old embargo against drilling on the ranch.

As she tells Jock at the end of this episode, “Forty years ago, Ewing Oil paid off the mortgage on Southfork – and saved it. Now I think it’s time that Southfork repaid those debts.”

‘I May Never Forgive You for This, J.R.’

Giant

Barbara Bel Geddes’ performance in “Ellie Saves the Day” might be her best during the series. She delivers her lines with her trademark quiet conviction, but I also love the way she carries herself. Bel Geddes might be small, but her grace makes her a giant.

This is best illustrated in the final scene, when Miss Ellie refuses to use Vaughn Leland’s pen to sign away the mineral rights to her family’s land. If we saw another actress do this, it might make Ellie seem petty. When Bel Geddes does it, it’s a moment of triumph.

Of course, this scene also exposes the just-below-the-surface flawed logic in “Ellie Saves the Day.”

To make the storyline work, the producers fiddle with the show’s continuity: When “Dallas” begins, Ewing Oil and Southfork seem to operate independently of each other, but at the beginning of the third season, they suddenly are referred to as subsidiaries of “Ewing Enterprises,” a parent company that is rarely mentioned again after this season. From this perspective, the Ewings kind of get what they deserve. Who in their right mind makes the family home dependent on the family business?

Another quibble: In the episode’s closing moments, when Ellie is leaving the Ewing Oil office, she glances at her eldest son and says, “I may never forgive you for this, J.R.” Bel Geddes’ face isn’t shown when she delivers the line, which sounds like it was dubbed in after the scene was filmed. I don’t know why the people who made “Ellie Saves the Day” felt the line was needed. Imagine if Ellie had simply turned to J.R. and cut him a withering look. Her silence would have been more unsettling than anything she might have said.

Regardless, the fact Ellie is unmerciful toward J.R. is telling. It lets us know she may be able to save Southfork and Ewing Oil, but she knows she can’t save her son’s soul. He’s too far gone for that.

Grade: A+

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Thinker

‘ELLIE SAVES THE DAY’

Season 3, Episode 12

Airdate: November 30, 1979

Audience: 18.5 million homes, ranking 13th in the weekly ratings

Writers: David Michael Jacobs and Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Gunnar Hellström

Synopsis: The Ewings learn J.R. mortgaged Southfork to finance his Asian deal. To stave off foreclosure, Miss Ellie decides to allow Ewing Oil to drill on the ranch.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Jimmy Weldon (Sy Stevens)

“Ellie Saves the Day” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Arthur Bernard Lewis, Barbara Bel Geddes, David Jacobs, David Michael Jacobs, Ellie Saves the Day, Gunnar Hellström, Jim Davis, Patrick Duffy

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 40 – ‘The Heiress’

May 25, 2012 by Chris Baker 9 Comments

Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Heiress, Lucy Ewing

Fickle finger

“The Heiress” focuses on Lucy, and it’s one of the weakest entries during “Dallas’s” third season. This isn’t a coincidence.

At this point during the show’s run, the producers can’t decide who they want Lucy to be. Sometimes, she is a troublemaking teenager who blackmails Pam (“Lessons”) and runs away from home (“Runaway”). At other times, she is a sweet young woman who deals gracefully with a broken engagement (“Royal Marriage”) and struggles to forgive her deadbeat mama (“Secrets”).

In “The Heiress,” Lucy is all over the place. We see her seduce Alan Beam, which is a pretty grownup thing for a college freshman to do, but we also see Jock ground her for getting too many speeding tickets, which is not. Lucy’s zig-zagging from childhood to adulthood and back again is dizzying.

I don’t blame Charlene Tilton. She’s a spirited actress, and when she’s given good material, she’s one of “Dallas’s” most charismatic performers. I admire Tilton’s work in many episodes, especially “Royal Marriage.”

But in “The Heiress,” Tilton is given a weak script and bad direction. When I watch the episode, I get the feeling she’s trying her best, but there’s only so much she can do.

Consider the scene where Lucy goes to Alan’s office to flirt with him. At one point, Tilton fixes an unblinking gaze on Randolph Powell and rests her chin on her left index finger. I suppose director Leslie H. Martinson thought this would be seductive, as if Lucy is sizing up Alan and imagining what it would be like to sleep with him, but it comes off looking like an exaggerated gesture out of a Mae West movie.

Later, when Alan takes Lucy to a swanky piano bar, Tilton delivers her lines with such girlish enthusiasm, the scene takes on a creepy tone. It’s almost as if Powell’s character is robbing the cradle – in the most prurient sense. Not helping matters: the “Dallas” makeup artists pancake Tilton’s cherub face in this scene, making her look like a child playing dress-up.

“The Heiress” also leaves me feeling embarrassed for other “Dallas” cast members, including Larry Hagman and Jim Davis, who are each given sitcommy scenes involving faked phone calls in the Southfork foyer.

Of course, both actors are given lots of great scenes in future episodes. Tilton’s opportunities are much more limited, which is a real shame. She deserves better.

Grade: C

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Charlene Tilton, Dallas, Heiress, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Lucy Ewing

Call a script doctor!

‘THE HEIRESS’

Season 3, Episode 11

Airdate: November 23, 1979

Audience: 17.7 million homes, ranking 8th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Loraine Despres

Director: Leslie H. Martinson

Synopsis: Lucy pursues and seduces Alan after witnessing another staged fight between him and J.R. Cliff moves closer toward running for Congress and vows to win back Sue Ellen. Bobby learns about Ewing Oil’s Asian venture but J.R. won’t reveal his financing.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Joe Bratcher (Harry Shaw), Charles Cooper (Harry Shaw), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Karlene Crockett (Muriel Gillis), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Walker Edmiston (Roy Tate), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Eugene Jackson (Pianist), Laura Johnson (Betty Lou Barker), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Joan Lancaster (Linda Bradley), George O. Petrie (Harv Smithfield), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Marcus Wyatt (Jimmy)

“The Heiress” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Charlene Tilton, Heiress, Jim Davis, Larry Hagman, Leslie H. Martinson, Randolph Powell

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 39 – ‘Mastectomy, Part 2’

May 24, 2012 by Chris Baker 13 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing, Mastectomy Part 2, Miss Ellie Ewing

Ellie and her rock

In “Mastectomy, Part 1,” Miss Ellie gets breast cancer, probably becoming television’s first major character to have the disease. “Mastectomy, Part 2” is equally provocative, as the health crisis prompts the Ewings to ponder the meaning of beauty.

Who says “Dallas” isn’t deep?

In one of this episode’s best scenes, Sue Ellen and Pam debate attractiveness. When Sue Ellen declares she has “never met a man yet who thought of brains when he first looked at a woman,” her sister-in-law is incredulous. “Women don’t just exist for men,” Pam says.

To some, this scene is probably a little Nixon-goes-to-China. When it aired in 1979, “Dallas” – along with fellow hits “Charlie’s Angels” and “Three’s Company” – routinely touting the sex appeal of its lead actresses. Sue Ellen and Pam’s conversation suggests “Dallas” aspired to be something more, at least during the “Mastectomy” episodes.

The scene also invites us to wonder how the cancer storyline might have been different if Sue Ellen or Pam had been diagnosed with the disease instead of Miss Ellie. My take: It might have been more audacious to assign the disease to a younger character, but it wouldn’t have necessarily been more eye-opening.

Consider the “Mastectomy, Part 2” scene where Ellie, having returned home after her surgery, tries on dresses in her bedroom and decides none fit properly. She collapses in tears and Jock rushes to her side, telling her “it doesn’t matter.”

“Why doesn’t it matter?” Ellie says, sobbing. “Because I’m not young anymore? Don’t you think I care the way I look? Don’t you care?”

I’ll confess: I rarely think of Miss Ellie as a sexual character. The notion that a woman her age might want to be physically appealing to her husband hadn’t occurred to me, so this scene makes me appreciate how bold the “Mastectomy” episodes remain.

Ellie’s breakdown also offers another reminder – not that one is needed – of how good Barbara Bel Geddes and Jim Davis are in their roles. This is a big scene for the actors and they perform well, but they also excel in this episode’s quieter moments.

For example, at the end of “Mastectomy, Part 2,” Jock visits Bobby under the pretense of discussing Southfork business, but the conversation soon turns to Jock’s struggle to reconcile with Ellie. “I just had to have somebody to talk to,” Jock says. Davis delivers the line with such desperation, it’s hard to not be moved.

Ultimately, moments like these make “Mastectomy, Part 2” satisfying. This episode raises questions but doesn’t really answer them – and that’s OK, because the goal seems to be making viewers think for themselves.

Grade: B

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Brains and beauty

‘MASTECTOMY, PART 2’

Season 3, Episode 10

Airdate: November 16, 1979

Audience: 22 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: After her surgery, Miss Ellie struggles to cope with the loss of her breast. Digger urges her to leave Jock for him, but she turns him down and reconciles with Jock.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Keenan Wynn (Digger Barnes), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Mastectomy, Part 2” is available on DVD and Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Jim Davis, Mastectomy Part 2

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 38 – ‘Mastectomy, Part 1’

May 23, 2012 by Chris Baker 14 Comments

Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Mastectomy Part 1, Miss Ellie Ewing

Oh, pioneer

In the 1970s, Edith Bunker and a few other major television characters had cancer scares, but no one actually got the disease. “Dallas” upends this convention in “Mastectomy, Part 1,” when Miss Ellie learns a newly discovered lump in her breast is malignant.

This storyline, like the second-season episode about Kit Mainwaring’s coming out, demonstrates the pioneering spirit that distinguished “Dallas’s” earliest seasons. The show’s willingness to venture into unchartered territory is commendable, even if it occasionally stumbles along the way.

For example, some of the dialogue in the “Mastectomy” episodes sounds like it was lifted from the cancer brochure Ellie is seen reading in “The Dove Hunt,” an earlier third-season entry. Various characters refer to “regular checkups,” “frequent self-examination” and “special radiation treatment.”

The clinical talk is clumsy, but in the pre-Google era, at least “Dallas” cared enough about its audience to want to educate them. (A measure of television’s potential back then: The “Mastectomy” episodes were originally broadcast as a single two-hour “Dallas” installment, drawing half the homes that watched TV that night.)

Of course, the heavy-handed dialogue isn’t as bothersome as the subplot about Amanda, Jock’s first wife, whom the “Dallas” writers seemingly invented to drive a wedge between Jock and Ellie before her surgery. This plot device is unnecessary. Cancer is scary enough. “Dallas” didn’t need to artificially heighten the drama surrounding Ellie’s diagnosis.

But don’t let the subplot distract you from Barbara Bel Geddes’ flawless performance, which undoubtedly helped her win the Emmy for best dramatic actress at the end of the 1979-80 season.

The actress is especially good when Ellie’s doctors explain what will happen if her tumor is malignant. In the scene, Ellie sits on her hospital bed, dressed in a pink medical gown, looking tinier than usual. As her doctors speak, tears slowly streak her face. It would’ve been easy to go overboard here, but Bel Geddes was smart enough to know those silent tears were all she needed to convey Ellie’s fear.

This is heartbreaking stuff, but the saddest moment in “Mastectomy, Part 1” comes when Jock turns to his sons and says, “God, why couldn’t it have been me they cut up instead of her?”

The line is made poignant by the fact Jim Davis died of cancer a little more than 500 days after the “Mastectomy” broadcast. Hearing him deliver the dialogue reminds us how real cancer is, and how frightening it remains.

Grade: B

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Poignant pause

‘MASTECTOMY, PART 1’

Season 3, Episode 9

Airdate: November 16, 1979

Audience: 22 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: After Jock tells Miss Ellie about his first wife, she refuses to tell him she is having a breast cyst examined. Jock eventually finds out and is at Ellie’s side after her surgery, when he learns the tumor was malignant and the doctors removed her breast.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Jane Kean (Mitzi), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Lev Mailer (Dr. Mitch Andress), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Mastectomy, Part 1” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Barbara Bel Geddes, Dove Hunt, Jim Davis, Mastectomy Part 1

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 37 – ‘Rodeo’

May 22, 2012 by Chris Baker 19 Comments

Dallas, Dusty Farlow, Jared Martin, Rodeo

Those eyes

Rodeos pit man against beast and on “Dallas,” no one is more beastly than J.R. In “Rodeo,” Sue Ellen, having failed to tame her savage husband, considers climbing in the saddle with a man who seems far less brutish: Dusty Farlow.

Sue Ellen meets the dashing cowboy when she enters a Braddock café with an armful of packages and accidentally bumps into him. Dusty’s first words – “Let me help you, ma’am” – are prophetic, letting us know he’s a different creature than J.R. The attraction between Sue Ellen and Dusty is instant.

Their brief conversation at the café continues the next day at the Ewings’ annual rodeo, where Dusty is the star competitor. Sue Ellen tells him about her loneliness; he tells her about his nomadic life on the rodeo circuit. They realize they have more in common than either might have guessed.

Linda Gray and Jared Martin have an undeniable chemistry, although let’s be honest: It would be hard for any actress to not have chemistry with him. With his lean frame, passionate delivery and come-hither eyes, Martin exudes sensuality.

Together, Gray and Martin make “Rodeo” a third-season highlight and one of my favorite “Dallas” episodes. I also like Leonard Katzman’s direction, which captures the rhythms of a real-life rodeo. Katzman constantly ducks and dives, cutting between the action in the arena and the drama unfolding in the crowd.

Toward the end of the episode, Dusty tells Sue Ellen he doesn’t need the prize money he’s poised to take home but wants it anyway. “The competition,” he says, “that’s not the important thing – it’s winning.”

The line evokes memories of the second-season episode “For Love or Money,” when Cliff compares his affair with Sue Ellen to a game. We remember how Sue Ellen was hurt the last time she sought love with another man.

In “Rodeo’s” closing moments, J.R., fed up with Sue Ellen’s public flirtation with Dusty, yanks her into their bedroom. She slaps him and he throws her onto the bed – and we’re reminded of another second-season scene: the disturbing climax in “Black Market Baby,” when J.R. forces himself on his unhappy wife.

In that episode, Sue Ellen submits to J.R. This time, she bucks him off.

“I’ve wasted more than enough time on you,” J.R. sneers before leaving.

In “Rodeo’s” final shot, Katzman freezes the frame on Sue Ellen, lying on her bed, while Jock’s voice is heard over the loudspeaker outside, announcing Dusty has won the award for best all-around cowboy.

But is he the best man for Sue Ellen?

Grade: A

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Eight-second ride

‘RODEO’

Season 3, Episode 8

Airdate: November 9, 1979

Audience: 17 million homes, ranking 15th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: The Ewings host their annual rodeo at Southfork, where Sue Ellen arouses J.R. jealousies by flirting with cowboy Dusty Farlow. Meanwhile, J.R. stages a fight with Alan, who impresses Lucy; Digger drops by to see Jock and Miss Ellie’s grandson; and Ray learns Donna’s husband is dying.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Sherril Lynn Katzman (Jackie), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jared Martin (Dusty Farlow), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Keenan Wynn (Digger Barnes)

“Rodeo” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Black Market Baby, For Love or Money, Jared Martin, Leonard Katzman, Linda Gray, Rodeo

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 36 – ‘The Lost Child’

May 21, 2012 by Chris Baker 7 Comments

Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Lost Child, Luke Middens, Ronnie Scribner

Surrogates

“Dallas” is sometimes thought of as a “man’s show” not just because of its rugged western motif, but also because the Ewing women so often take a backseat to their male counterparts. Consider “The Lost Child,” in which Pam suffers a miscarriage but the tragedy is seen mostly through Bobby’s eyes.

To pull this off, scriptwriter Rena Down has Bobby befriend Luke, the young son of ranch hand Bo Middens. When Bo is bitten by a rattlesnake and hospitalized, Bobby allows eager cowboy-in-training Luke to fill in for his “pa.” Bobby and Luke bond while working together, especially after Luke tells him how he never has a chance to grow close to people because he and his widower father are always on the move.

Patrick Duffy displays an effortless, big brotherly charm in his scenes with guest star Ronnie Scribner, who is believable as sensitive Luke. At times, Bobby and Luke’s relationship feels a bit too “Little House on the Prairie” for “Dallas,” but their sentimental conversations help establish Bobby’s paternal instincts.

Ultimately, this is what makes “The Lost Child” one of the cleverest entries in “Dallas’s” third season. If Luke didn’t exist, we wouldn’t know how loving Bobby is with children – and Pam’s miscarriage might not resonate with the audience as much as it does.

In a way, Luke serves the same function as baby John. At the beginning of the third season, when Sue Ellen brings home her newborn son, Pam bonds with the baby instantly, establishing her parental bona fides. The difference between these two plot devices is John is a newborn and Luke is an adolescent, so his relationship with Bobby feels more substantial.

In “The Lost Child’s” final scene, Luke tells Bobby he is moving to Montana with Bo, who has recovered from his snakebite. Bobby’s farewell scene with the boy is touching, mainly because we know Bobby isn’t saying goodbye to Luke as much as he’s saying goodbye to his dream of becoming a father.

Grade: B

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Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Lost Child, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Love and miscarriage

‘THE LOST CHILD’

Season 3, Episode 7

Airdate: November 2, 1979

Audience: 19.8 million homes, ranking 5th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Rena Down

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: After Pam suffers a miscarriage, she tells Bobby about her genetic disease and declares she mustn’t become pregnant again. Bobby befriends the young son of a ranch hand and is sad when the boy and his father move away. Cliff tells Digger he is baby John’s father. Sue Ellen begins seeing Dr. Simon Elby, a psychiatrist.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Jeff Cooper (Dr. Simon Elby), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Med Flory (Cal McBride), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Ronnie Scribner (Luke Middens), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Keenan Wynn (Digger Barnes)

“The Lost Child” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: Lost Child, Patrick Duffy, Rena Down, Ronnie Scribner

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 35 – ‘The Dove Hunt’

May 18, 2012 by Chris Baker 21 Comments

Dallas, Dove Hunt, Jim Davis, Jock Ewing

Facing his past

“The Dove Hunt” is a western, plain and true. It drops the Ewing men into the Louisiana wilderness, but it might as well transport them to the 18th-century frontier. The themes scriptwriters D.C. and Richard Fontana explore here – honor, justice, redemption – are timeless.

Throughout “The Dove Hunt,” we don’t know why craggy-faced Tom Owens is stalking the Ewings’ hunting party. In the next-to-last scene, Owens finally comes face to face with Jock and reveals he wants to avenge events from 32 years earlier, when Jock forced Owens to sell him his farmland, ruining him.

The tense confrontation climaxes when Owens points his rifle at Jock, who doesn’t flinch. “Come on,” Jock huffs. “If you’re gonna do it, do it.”

While composer John Parker builds a drumbeat in the background, director Leonard Katzman zooms in for tight close-ups of Jim Davis and Robert J. Wilke, the veteran villain-of-the-week (“Bonanza,” “Gunsmoke”) who plays Owens.

Finally, Owens lowers his gun. “I can’t. I’m not a killer,” he says.

What a great scene. We watch it knowing Owens isn’t really going to kill Jock – after all, this is 1970s episodic television, where the hero never dies – but the confrontation is still dramatic.

Much of the credit goes to Davis and Wilke. Both actors did a ton of westerns before “Dallas,” and they know exactly what a scene like this calls for. Wilke makes Owens menacing, while Davis’s steely courage has us rooting for Jock, even though we never doubt for a minute the Ewing patriarch wronged Owens when they were younger.

I also love the Fontanas’ beautiful dialogue at the end of the scene, when Owens asks Jock why he isn’t pressing charges against him.

“I owe you, that’s all,” Jock says. “Back in those days, I ran roughshod over a lot of people. I don’t remember you, Owens, but I should have – because you got a lot of pride. When you get right down to it, that’s all a man can take to his grave.”

Ultimately, this is what makes “The Dove Hunt” so good. There are no white hats and black hats here. Owens isn’t seeking revenge as much as he’s seeking justice, the only way he knows how; Jock’s redemptive impulses allow us to forgive him for strong-arming Owens all those years ago.

This is a western, but a morally ambiguous one. With “Dallas,” would we expect anything less?

Grade: A

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Dallas, Dove Hunt, Robert J. Wilke, Tom Owens

Not a killer

‘THE DOVE HUNT’

Season 3, Episode 6

Airdate: October 26, 1979

Audience: 20.1 million homes, ranking 6th in the weekly ratings

Writers: D.C. Fontana and Richard Fontana

Director: Leonard Katzman

Synopsis: On a hunting trip, Jock and J.R. are ambushed by a farmer Jock once strong-armed in business. While awaiting rescue, Jock confesses to J.R. he was married briefly before Miss Ellie and later vows to make amends with people he treated unfairly while building Ewing Oil. Ellie has a lump in her breast examined.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Thomas Callaway (Dan Owens), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Stefan Gierasch (Ben Masters), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Robert J. Wilke (Tom Owens), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“The Dove Hunt” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.

Filed Under: Critiques, Critiques (Classic), Opinion Tagged With: D.C. and Richard Fontana, Dove Hunt, Jim Davis, John Parker, Leonard Katzman, Robert J. Wilke

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 34 – ‘The Kristin Affair’

May 17, 2012 by Chris Baker 7 Comments

Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Kristin Affair, Kristin Shepard, Mary Crosby

Eyes on the prize

“The Kristin Affair” is quintessential “Dallas.” This isn’t the show’s best episode, but it might be the episode that best captures “Dallas’s” essence during its heyday. Almost everything we love about the series is here.

J.R. is “The Kristin Affair’s” center of attention. We see him clash with Bobby, snipe with Sue Ellen and plot Cliff’s ruin, all while pursuing Kristin, who becomes his secretary at the top of the hour and his mistress by the time the closing credits roll.

“The Kristin Affair” also offers a rollicking Southfork dinner scene, some nice location shots at the ranch and in downtown Dallas, and another great score from Bruce Broughton. My favorite music during the episode: the ominous piano tune heard during the darkly lit scene where J.R. agrees to mortgage Southfork.

Notably, “The Kristin Affair” also shows the Ewings in the costumes they’re wearing in one of “Dallas’s” most famous cast shots, when the actors posed on Southfork’s front lawn. This photo – which is probably remembered as the one with Victoria Principal in the maroon dress, Linda Gray in the yellow blouse and Charlene Tilton in pigtails – is undoubtedly burnished in the minds of many “Dallas” fans, so watching “The Kristin Affair” is like seeing the picture spring to life.

Of course, no “Dallas” episode is perfect and “The Kristin Affair” is no exception. Ray is nowhere to be found here, Jock and Miss Ellie don’t have a meaningful scene together and it appears Pam has once again misplaced her backbone.

But “The Kristin Affair” has so much good stuff – and so many good J.R. scenes in particular – I’m willing to overlook its flaws.

My very favorite moment is very brief. It comes at the end of the scene where J.R. meets with his government mole and learns how much money he’ll need to win the bidding for the Asian drilling contract. “That’s a tidy little sum. Woo-wee!” J.R. says.

Larry Hagman delivers the dialogue under his breath, making me wonder if he ad-libbed it. Improvised or not, the actor seems to be having a ball playing J.R. In this episode, I have a ball watching him.

Grade: A

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Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Kristin Affair, Larry Hagman

Having a ball

‘THE KRISTIN AFFAIR’

Season 3, Episode 5

Airdate: October 19, 1979

Audience: 18.2 million homes, ranking 10th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Worley Thorne

Director: Irving J. Moore

Synopsis: J.R. secretly mortgages Southfork to finance a risky oil deal in Asia, plots with his protégé Alan Beam to lure Cliff into a no-win congressional race and sleeps with Kristin, who becomes his secretary. Pam tells Bobby she is pregnant but doesn’t mention her genetic disease.

Cast: Robert Ackerman (Wade Luce), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Mary Crosby (Kristin Shepard), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Hugh Gorrian (Lowell Hansen), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Jeanna Michaels (Connie), Dennis Patrick (Vaughn Leland), Randolph Powell (Alan Beam), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Martha Scott (Patricia Shepard), Paul Sorensen (Andy Bradley), Don Starr (Jordan Lee), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Keenan Wynn (Digger Barnes)

“The Kristin Affair” is available on DVD and at Amazon.com and iTunes. Watch the episode and share your comments below.