Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 18 – ‘Kidnapped’

April 25, 2012 by 4 Comments
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Kidnapped, Patrick Duffy

Bobby, trapped!

New rule: If you’re watching “Dallas” and a Ewing becomes a crime victim before the second act, chances are it’s going to be a lackluster episode.

So far, crooks and lowlifes have been front and center in three installments: The first-season episode “Winds of Vengeance” (two working Joes hold the Ewings at gunpoint and threaten to rape the women), the second-season entry “Runaway” (a robber makes Lucy his reluctant accomplice) and now “Kidnapped” (three abductors hold Bobby hostage).

The first of these segments is actually pretty good. The other two? Not so much.

The problem is “Dallas’s” depiction of criminals. They’re almost always straight-from-central-casting villains who specialize in evil cackling and corny one-liners.

In “Kidnapped,” the bad guys think they’re nabbing J.R. when they tail his Mercedes and force it to come to a stop on a dusty Texas back road. They’re surprised to learn Bobby is behind the wheel, having borrowed his older brother’s car after his own vehicle got a flat tire.

“Our luck!” exclaims Fay, one of the kidnappers, while laughing uproariously. “We may have the wrong goose – but he can still lay the golden egg!”

“Kidnapped” isn’t as awful as “Runaway.” Patrick Duffy does a nice job making Bobby more vulnerable than usual, and I appreciate how the show uses Cliff as the intermediary between the Ewings and the kidnappers. It’s a clever way to involve Cliff in the story and add drama to the scenes of the family awaiting word on Bobby’s fate.

This plot device also lends “Kidnapped” some historical significance: This is the first episode where Larry Hagman and Ken Kercheval share scenes.

Today, we remember J.R. and Cliff’s bitter feud as one of “Dallas’s” defining conflicts, so it’s surprising to remember it took 18 episodes to bring them face-to-face.

Cliff also figures into “Kidnapped’s” best moment: when Jock and Miss Ellie wish him luck before he departs to deliver the ransom.

“You bring my son home safe, I’ll be grateful to you forever,” Ellie tells Cliff.

For a woman whose husband is holding a bag with more than $1 million in cash, those words prove mighty cheap.

Grade: C

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Cliff Barnes, Dallas, J.R. Ewing, Ken Kercheval, Larry Hagman

Face to face, at last

‘KIDNAPPED’

Season 2, Episode 13

Airdate: December 17, 1978

Audience: 16.5 million homes, ranking 18th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Lawrence Dobkin

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Byron Clark (Tom), Stephen Davies (Will Hart), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Bob Hoy (Mahoney), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Paul Koslo (Al Parker), Kelly Jean Peters (Fay Parker), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

Synopsis: A trio of kidnappers hold Bobby hostage for $1.5 million. Cliff delivers the money and secures Bobby’s release, but they’re almost shot when J.R., Ray and several ranch hands ambush the kidnappers.

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

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Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Don’t You Ever Threaten My Brother’

April 24, 2012 by 1 Comment
Dallas, Fallen Idol, J.R. Ewing, Larry Hagman

Blood is thicker than oil

In “Fallen Idol,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) enters his office to find Jeb and Willie Joe (Sandy Ward, John Ashton) waiting for him.

J.R.: Well boys, what’s got you all stirred up on a busy Monday morning?

JEB: We heard about your little brother’s shopping center. It was all over town by 9 this morning.

J.R.: [Standing behind his desk] Well you didn’t come here to talk about a shopping center.

WILLIE JOE: He’s building exactly where your daddy’s will gives you the right to drill for oil!

JEB: We share in that oil, J.R. It’s the basis to every deal we’ve made. I’m beginning to think that maybe that will is a fake.

J.R.: You calling me a liar?

WILLIE JOE: If we come up dry in the Panhandle, and Bobby builds on that red-file land, we could be out of business!

J.R.: I’ve always protected you boys. You keep this up and I’m gonna stop.

JEB: [Leaning across J.R.’s desk] If you don’t stop Bobby, I’ll stop him.

J.R.: [Drops his mail on his desk] What’s that supposed to mean?

JEB: You know damn well what it means.

J.R.: [Pauses, then slaps Jeb, sending him back on his feet] Don’t you ever threaten my brother – or any other Ewing. I told you I’d handle this. Now get out of my office! [Turns his back to Jeb and Willie Joe and stares out the window. They leave.]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 17 – ‘Fallen Idol’

April 24, 2012 by 9 Comments
Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Fallen Idol, Guzzler Bennett, Richard Kelton

Guzzler rising

“Fallen Idol” arrives halfway during “Dallas’s” second season, and while we know the characters pretty well at this point, this episode demonstrates how they still manage to surprise us.

One of the best moments comes during the third act, when J.R.’s underhanded cronies Jeb Ames and Willie Joe Garr show up at his office to complain about Bobby’s plan to build a shopping center on Southfork. Their gripe: Bobby’s project will be constructed on Section 40, the oil-soaked tract where J.R., Jeb and Willie Joe secretly plan to drill when Jock dies.

“If you don’t stop Bobby, I’ll stop him,” Jeb snarls to J.R.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” J.R. asks.

“You know damn well what it means.”

And then: Pow!

J.R pops Jeb in the mouth, sending the creep staggering backwards.

“Don’t you ever threaten my brother,” J.R. says. “Or any other Ewing.”

Seeing J.R. knock the sneer off Jeb’s face reveals a side to him we haven’t seen before. It’s nice to know he cares about someone other than himself.

In another unexpected twist, J.R. invites Pam to lunch to enlist her help in stopping Bobby from doing business with Guzzler Bennett, a shady pal from Bobby’s college football days.

It’s fun to see J.R. turn to Pam, one of his greatest adversaries, for help. My favorite part: When a skeptical Pam asks J.R. how she is supposed to persuade Bobby to drop his construction project, J.R. responds, “You’re a very clever woman, Pam. You’ll think of something.” Delicious.

Scriptwriter Arthur Bernard Lewis saves “Fallen Idol’s” best moment for the end, when we learn Bobby has known all along about Guzzler’s troubled past but is willing to go along with the construction project anyway.

Of all the twists in “Fallen Idol,” this is the niftiest. We realize Bobby is smarter than he seemed, but we’re also relieved to know he wasn’t going to turn his back on a friend in need. It’s an unexpected discovery, yet it’s also perfectly in keeping with what we know about our hero.

“Fallen Idol’s” other high point: Miss Ellie’s soliloquy near the end of the episode, when Bobby tries to justify his construction project by telling her the shopping center will be built on “land we never use.”

“Does everything have to be used?” Ellie responds. “Can’t some things just be? Stay the way they’ve always been? Do we have to change everything we touch? Does it really make things better that way?”

Unlike “Fallen Idol’s” many surprises, solemn, stare-off-into-space speeches like this are exactly what we’ve come to expect from Miss Ellie.

Would we want it any other way?

Grade: B

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Barbara Bel Geddes, Bobby Ewing, Dallas, Fallen Idol, Miss Ellie Ewing, Patrick Duffy

Mall in the family

‘FALLEN IDOL’

Season 2, Episode 12

Airdate: December 3, 1978

Audience: 16.3 million homes, ranking 23rd in the weekly ratings

Writer: Arthur Bernard Lewis

Director: Vincent McEveety

Synopsis: Bobby brings a partner into his construction business: Guzzler Bennett, his old college chum. Miss Ellie reluctantly gives them permission to build a shopping center on Southfork but Guzzler turns out to be a fraud and leaves Dallas.

Cast: John Ashton (Willie Joe Garr), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Richard Kelton (Guzzler Bennett), John Petlock (Dan Marsh), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), Sandy Ward (Jeb Ames)

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

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Dallas Styles: Ray’s Plaid Suit

April 23, 2012 by 2 Comments

Good men wear plaid

When “Dallas” begins, J.R. isn’t the only shady character at Southfork – so is his buddy Ray. The two men try to break up Bobby and Pam and go carousing in Waco, all while Ray is secretly having trysts in the hayloft with Lucy.

Perhaps realizing two cads are two too many, “Dallas” turns Ray into a hero during the second season. The evolution doesn’t happen overnight – on his way to redemption, Ray has a one-night stand with Sue Ellen – but it’s soon clear Ray is becoming a new man.

The character grows more honest and reliable, and much more honorable. In other words, Ray becomes a lot like the cowboys who preceded him in prime time. Think Marshal Matt Dillon, but without the badge.

To underscore this change, “Dallas” tweaks Steve Kanaly’s wardrobe. The orange hunting vest and heavy jacket he wears during the first season are replaced by a more traditional cowboy uniform of plaid shirts and blue jeans.

The transformation continues in “Triangle,” when Ray falls for Garnet McGee, an ambitious country-western singer who cheats on him with J.R. It’s the first time we really root for Ray, which is pretty remarkable given all the smarmy stuff he’s done in the past.

In one of “Triangle’s” pivotal moments, Ray brings Garnet to a nighttime party at Southfork. The scene is a plot device to introduce Garnet to J.R., who is instantly smitten with her, but the show also uses the sequence as another opportunity to remind us of Ray’s cowboy bona fides.

The character comes to the party dressed in a gray plaid suit with a blue string tie, not unlike the ones Colonel Sanders used to wear in those Kentucky Fried Chicken commercials. Ray’s outfit is thoroughly western, letting us know he’s a cowboy even when’s off the clock.

It’s a little surprising Kanaly is given a gray hat to wear in this scene instead of a white one, which is the color of choice for most western heroes.

Then again, no “Dallas” character is all good or all bad – and even though Ray is becoming a better man, he’s far from perfect – so maybe a gray hat is the best choice after all.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘What’s Your Excuse?’

April 23, 2012 by 3 Comments
Dallas, Garnet McGee, J.R. Ewing, Kate Mulgrew, Larry Hagman, Triangle

Pillow talk

In “Triangle,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, country-western singer Garnet McGee (Kate Mulgrew) nibbles from a plate on her dining room table while J.R. (Larry Hagman), stretched across her bed, pours himself a drink.

J.R.: You hungry again?

GARNET: Honey, I am always hungry.

J.R.: Were you very poor?

GARNET: Uh-huh. You want some of this? [He shakes his head no. She sits at the table.] There were 10 of us, J.R. You know, I never had a pair of shoes of my own, brand-new, till I was 16 years old and started working? Always had my mama’s or my big sister’s. I figure that’s how come I’m so greedy now. What’s your excuse?

J.R.: [Takes a sip] I don’t need one.

GARNET: [Joins him on the bed] That’s probably how come I like you so much.

J.R.: Is it?

GARNET: You’re just the way I am. [Counts the money from their poker game while he caresses her hair] Maybe a little worse. And not the least little bit ashamed of it, are you?

J.R.: Do you really like me?

GARNET: Well, I still have a whole pack of little brothers and sisters to take care of – not to mention myself. [He nuzzles her neck.] Hey, hey J.R. Don’t you have to go home now?

J.R.: Sue Ellen’s a very understanding wife. When Ray gets back, I want you to finish it. I mean it. Finish it with him – because if you don’t, I will. [Nuzzles her neck again]

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 16 – ‘Triangle’

April 23, 2012 by 11 Comments
Dallas, Garnet McGee, Kate Mulgrew, Triangle

Honky-tonk angel

“Triangle” is an episode about a country-western singer, and it plays out like an old-fashioned country-western song. Hearts are broken, dreams are dashed and before all is said and done, Ray nearly tells the Ewings to take their job and shove it.

Kate Mulgrew is mesmerizing as Garnet McGee, the rising star who gets caught between Ray and J.R. Mulgrew looks like a glammed-up Patsy Cline and sounds a bit like her, too. This is Garnet’s only appearance on “Dallas,” but Mulgrew makes such a strong impression, the character is referred to periodically throughout the show’s run, including during the series finale.

“Dallas” probably wants the audience to dislike Garnet after she cheats on Ray, but I’m willing to cut her some slack. After all, Garnet is trying to make it in showbiz – “a life of hard work and terrible disappointment,” as Miss Ellie describes it – and it’s not like she isn’t upfront with Ray about her priorities.

Consider the scene where Ray asks her to elope and she turns him down, citing her weekend singing engagements. Garnet is direct (“I can’t afford a reputation for running out on club dates”), but Ray is both dismissive (“It’s only a weekend”) and manipulative (“You don’t want to marry me. That’s it, isn’t it?”).

J.R. and Garnet’s revealing pillow talk also makes me sympathetic toward her.

After she sleeps with him to get a record deal, she notes their similarities. “You’re just the way I am,” she says. “Maybe a little worse. And not the least bit ashamed of it.” The implication: Ray isn’t the first man who has made Garnet feel bad about her own ambition.

A similar theme is explored during an earlier second-season episode, “Black Market Baby,” when Bobby objects to Pam’s desire to delay motherhood so she can pursue a career. In “Triangle,” Pam doesn’t seem to begrudge Garnet’s aspirations, but she clearly doesn’t approve of her methods.

During the Southfork party scene, Pam accuses Garnet of using Ray “until something better comes along.” Garnet, alluding to Pam’s romance with Ray before she married Bobby, responds, “Didn’t you?”

Meow! So much for sisterhood.

Of course, even if Garnet and Pam are bitchy to each other, at least they know there’s more to life than standing by your man.

Grade: A

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Dallas, Garnet McGee, J.R. Ewing, Kate Mulgrew, Larry Hagman, Triangle

Cheatin’ hearts

‘TRIANGLE’

Season 2, Episode 11

Airdate: November 26, 1978

Audience: 13.2 million homes, ranking 39th in the weekly ratings

Writer: Camille Marchetta

Director: Vincent McEveety

Synopsis: Ray falls for country singer Garnet McGee, who rejects his marriage proposal to focus on her career. She sleeps with J.R. to get a record deal, and when a heartbroken Ray discovers her infidelity, he ends their relationship.

Cast: Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Edward Call (Sam Gurney), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Michael Dudikoff (Joe Newcomb), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Steve Kanaly (Ray Krebbs), Harry Middlebrooks (Mervin), Kate Mulgrew (Garnet McGee), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing)

“Triangle” 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: ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Chances Are It’s Yours’

April 20, 2012 by 1 Comment
Act of Love, Dallas, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

In a family way

In “Act of Love,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, J.R. (Larry Hagman) pours champagne for him and Sue Ellen (Linda Gray), who is seated in the Southfork den.

J.R.: Now, tell me everything. How far along are you?

SUE ELLEN: About six weeks, near as we can tell.

J.R.: [Chuckles] Six weeks! How about that! Six weeks. That was right before Lucy’s birthday, wasn’t it?

SUE ELLEN: [Sips her champagne] Around there.

J.R.: Now, you sure it couldn’t be longer than six weeks?

SUE ELLEN: Well, I don’t think so. Why?

J.R.: [Sits down] I don’t see how you can be six weeks pregnant.

SUE ELLEN: Why, I don’t understand.

J.R.: Well, I do. Seems it’s been longer than that since you and I could’ve conceived a child. If I remember correctly, I was down in Austin for … 10 days, right about that time. Yeah, it was that time. I repeat, Sue Ellen: How can you be six weeks pregnant?

SUE ELLEN: [Rises and approaches J.R.] Well, I know we don’t practice our connubial rights with anything approaching regularity, but you did come home from Austin for the weekend. Is it possible that you don’t remember? It happens so rarely I thought it might make an impression.

J.R.: No, there’s something wrong here. Something wrong. Now even if I did remember, I think it’s mighty peculiar that after seven years of trying, you should get pregnant that one particular night.

SUE ELLEN: Stranger things have happened.

J.R.: Not to me they haven’t.

SUE ELLEN: Are you trying to tell me that you may not be the father of my child?

J.R.: [Simmering] You tell me.

SUE ELLEN: There’s nothing to tell. I’ve been just as faithful to our marriage vows as you have, darling. That’s the only thing that interests you, isn’t it? That precious Ewing heir – no matter whose it is.

J.R. rises and slaps her.

SUE ELLEN: [Angry] Don’t you ever do that again!

J.R.: I’ll do anything I want to.

SUE ELLEN: Not anymore! Because I finally have something you want – our baby.

J.R.: Our baby?

SUE ELLEN: Chances are it’s yours, J.R. And if it isn’t, what are you going to do about it? How are you going to tell Daddy that it isn’t yours, that it’s somebody else’s? What’s he going to think about you then? And what about the boys at the club – what are they going to say? I guess you’re just going to have to learn to live with it. Like I said J.R., chances are it’s yours.

She turns and exits, leaving J.R. bewildered.

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Critique: ‘Dallas’ Episode 15 – ‘Act of Love’

April 20, 2012 by 6 Comments
Act of Love, Cliff Barnes, Dallas, Ken Kercheval, Linda Gray, Sue Ellen Ewing

Bad romance

“Act of Love” is the first “Dallas” script penned by Leonard Katzman, who becomes the show’s auteur, writing and directing more episodes than anyone else. It proves to be an inauspicious debut.

My main gripe: When the episode begins, Sue Ellen and Cliff have been sleeping with each other for six weeks, so we never see the first time they consummate their relationship – a big letdown given how much time “Dallas” spends laying the groundwork for their affair.

To make matters worse, Katzman’s plotting is a bit sitcommy.

It seems Bobby is wooing a client for his construction business and needs Pam to help him charm the man, whom Bobby’s business associate describes as an old-money conservative who “places just as much importance on a man’s personal life as he does on his professional.”

But Pam has a dilemma: Her boss Liz Craig has invited her on a business trip to Paris, which would prevent Pam from helping hubby entertain his client. What’s a wife to do?

There’s even a “Three’s Company”-style misunderstanding. Pam asks Sue Ellen to lunch but is vague about the reason for the invitation, saying only “it’s important that we talk.” Sue Ellen, suspecting Pam has found out about her affair with Cliff, accepts the invitation and is perturbed to discover Pam only wants advice on entertaining Bobby’s client. “You don’t mean to tell me that you have brought me in to lunch with you to talk about having a party?” Sue Ellen fumes.

(An aside: What’s with Victoria Principal’s Texas accent in this scene? It hasn’t been this thick since the first season!)

Of course, “Act of Love” isn’t altogether bad. The final scene, when J.R. questions Sue Ellen about her pregnancy, is nicely written and performed, although I cringe when J.R. slaps her. In 1978, this may have been an acceptable way to demonstrate J.R.’s anger. Not today.

I also like director Corey Allen’s handheld camerawork in the opening breakfast scene, when the younger Ewings rush off to work and school, leaving Jock and Miss Ellie alone, as well as the fisheye lens Allen uses when Pam and Liz ride the elevator at The Store.

Allen’s willingness to experiment isn’t enough to save Katzman’s script, but it makes me wish the show had used the director’s talents more frequently.

Grade: C

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Act of Love, Barbara Babcock, Dallas, Liz Craig, Pam Ewing, Victoria Principal

Fisheye!

‘ACT OF LOVE’

Season 2, Episode 10

Airdate: November 12, 1978

Audience: 12.1 million homes, ranking 41st in the weekly ratings

Writer: Leonard Katzman

Director: Corey Allen

Synopsis: The Ewings are overjoyed when they learn Sue Ellen is pregnant. Privately, Sue Ellen isn’t sure if the father is J.R. or Cliff, with whom she is having an affair. When J.R. questions her, she tells him he probably is the father.

Cast: Barbara Babcock (Liz Craig), Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie Ewing), Nancy Bleier (Connie), Nicolas Coster (Joe Morris), Jim Davis (Jock Ewing), Patrick Duffy (Bobby Ewing), Meg Gallagher (Louella), Linda Gray (Sue Ellen Ewing), Larry Hagman (J.R. Ewing), Ken Kercheval (Cliff Barnes), Victoria Principal (Pam Ewing), Charlene Tilton (Lucy Ewing), John Zaremba (Dr. Harlan Danvers)

“Act of Love” 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: , , ,

Dallas Styles: Miss Ellie’s Pearls

April 19, 2012 by 2 Comments

Don’t mess with Mama

The second-season episode “Survival” features one of my all-time favorite “Dallas” moments: the scene where Miss Ellie points a shotgun at a snoopy newspaper reporter and orders him off Southfork.

The confrontation demonstrates how the Ewings, a thoroughly modern family, cling to old values like defending their land. The shotgun, a symbol of the American frontier, is a crucial prop in the scene – but so are the pearls around Ellie’s neck.

Until characters like Peg Bundy and Roseanne Connor smashed the stereotype in the 1980s, pearls were one of television’s most enduring symbols of motherhood. Donna Reed and Barbara Billingsley wore them while doing housework and mediating domestic disputes in 1950s sitcoms, and Barbara Bel Geddes continued the tradition when “Dallas” began in 1978.

Miss Ellie wears pearls a lot during the show’s second season, when “Dallas” is establishing her character as the show’s wise matriarch. The white beads help reinforce the pearls of wisdom Ellie is forever dispensing to her family.

But the necklace is never more important than it is in “Survival,” when Ellie answers the front door at Southfork to find a reporter seeking comment about the crash of the Ewings’ plane with J.R. and Bobby aboard. Ellie doesn’t take kindly to this intrusion, ordering Ray to fetch the shotgun from the hall closet.

Without the necklace, Ellie is just a little woman holding a gun. Add the pearls and she becomes wife, mother and fierce protector of her family.

Ellie doesn’t wear her pearls as often in “Dallas’s” later years (although Reed sports them when she plays Ellie during the show’s eighth season) and we never see the character wield a shotgun after this episode.

That’s OK, because at that point, we know not to mess with Miss Ellie.

Filed Under: Dallas Styles, Dallas Styles (Classic), Features Tagged With: , ,

Dallas Scene of the Day: ‘Ray, Get Me the Shotgun. …’

April 19, 2012 by 6 Comments
Barbara Bel Geddes, Dallas, Miss Ellie Ewing, Ray Krebbs, Steve Kanaly, Survival

Beat the press

In “Survival,” a second-season “Dallas” episode, Miss Ellie and Ray (Barbara Bel Geddes, Steve Kanaly) are chatting in the Southfork foyer when someone knocks on the door. Ellie opens it and finds Dallas Press reporter Ken Jackson (Andy Jarrell) on the stoop.

JACKSON: Mrs. Ewing?

ELLIE: Who are you?

JACKSON: Ken Jackson. I’m with the Press. I called earlier.

RAY: You’re trespassing, mister.

ELLIE: I’ll take care of this, Ray. How did you get in here? [Walks toward Jackson, who backs up onto the front porch] How did you get onto the ranch, Mr. Jackson?

JACKSON: Well I did an article on the place a couple years back, and I remembered an arroyo that led into the feedlot.

ELLIE: We’ll have to take care of that. [Continues walking toward him] Now, exactly what do you want with me, Mr. Jackson?

JACKSON: Well, uh, you know, maybe a statement. You know, just a few words.

ELLIE: You hear a rumor that a plane is down, my two boys missing. And with no respect for human feeling, or private grief, you come circling around here like a vulture. Do you know what we do to vultures out here, Mr. Jackson? [Continues staring at him] Ray, get me the shotgun out of the hall closet.

RAY: Yes, ma’am. [Puts on his hat and enters the house]

JACKSON: Now, Mrs. Ewing, I’m just – I’m just doing my job.

ELLIE: Then find a better job! Or a better way of doing this one. [Ray steps onto the porch, cocks the shotgun and hands it to Ellie.] Now Mr. Jackson, anybody on my land, without invitation, is a trespasser. So unless I see your tail heading out of here right now – and fast – I’m going to blow it off. [Points the gun at him]

JACKSON: Yes, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. [Turns and runs]

ELLIE: Now get out! Get out!

Filed Under: Dallas Scenes of the Day, Dallas Scenes of the Day (Classic), Features Tagged With: , , ,
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