Comwayon
A Disappointing Continuation
Nessieldwi
Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Darin
One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.
tomasg-69814
Well, I just want to publish my very own personal review about this global smash hit. And keep it that way.Liked it A lot when it was on screen here in Sweden during the years about 1981-1993(?). (Some 2-3 year delay from U.S prime time.) That was a usual standard for American TV shows for European watchers by then.... (National television was Russian style in Sweden too, you know.) Got curious when my mother got hooked on the Ewing/Barnes feud, myself being just seven years old at the time. (I naturally didn't get so much out of it then.)What was meant by the creators of "DALLAS" to be a five act drama TV show with the troublesome marriage between Bobby Ewing and Pamela Barnes in center, grows to be the major series of the 80's. (The response from the viewers after some episodes were so good that the producers called for an extension.)We were allowed to get into the flesh of a family, with sons and daughters always fought each other for power and wellness. Office suits mixed with rancher blue jeans. Oil business and kettle care in the same sweet melody.When the DALLAS show was released over here on DVD in a "two season per year-plan" in the early 00's, It was time to take the trip all over again. During a six year period, I consistently dug deeply into it season by season during free time, and enjoyed it to the fullest.The Southfork Ranch almost became my own living room.Not A member of A fan base, I want to share my own profit of taking the trip from start to finish:"The Jock Ewing Years" are/were DALLAS at it's best. Jim Davis was the Brando of the Ewings, without doubt. The plot of the whole show was more centered and interesting while he was present. The screen writers re-grouped the three sons of an oil-mafia matriarch, surly in a "godfather" style. Late Larry Hagman (R.I.P) was the senior son J.R, the natural heir of the throne. Always thinking business, besides the hunger for women as a pleasure. Stone cold and calculating, he smashed every fly that came around him trying to steal his limelight. 2nd son Gary was placed beside in script, for several reasons. (Fans aware of "Knots Landing", uh?) Baby brother Bobby eventually took the fight with his older brother for the captain's seat; after having his "easy living"-years he rapidly learn the business, but a little too late to ever compete with his way too superior brother, who were always one step ahead.(Actor Patrick Duffy once said that an early take with Larry Hagman, which included some physical acting, ending up with Hagman laughing at his opponent's bad acting, was a real boost to shape up, and never feel minor in acting skills to Larry in a scene ever again.) Cowboy Ray Krebbs (Steve Kanaly), the janitor of SF ranch, grows highly during this long history of the Ewings. Starting as kind of a youth manservant to them, he turns out to be more family than anybody of the Ewings ever dreamed of. (My personal favorite down to earth personality figure during the whole saga.) Forced into a world he never wanted to be part of.On the opposite side, One Cliff Barnes always moaning of his father's stolen piece in the Ewings wealth, him being a partner to Jock Ewing in their oil "teen-years". (But drank it away.) Cliff B builds his own castle, but keeps up having hard time to compete with old J.R Ewing as Texas Oil Baron no. 1. Some good strikes on the way for Clifford, from time to time, always gave the series some fresh air and a forward push. The family drama went on for years and years. People comes and goes. Weddings, barbecue parties, and some good fist fights at the annual Oil Baron's Ball. Liquor for breakfast, coffee for lunch. Heavy fuel for hard people.Halfway the series gets a little stalled, but the writers kept on finding new and sometimes cheer ways to keep the story going on. Yes, there's alcoholic intoxicated wives on the way.It's getting kind of silly around the "dream-season" alright. (A solution created because of the actors big egos $....)But I kept on watching it after that anyway, didn't I?And did I love the ride?YES. To the final "shot".
sophieahmed
Dallas was and still is a TV phenomenon. It took the model of the tired old American soap and turned it into something fresh, fascinating and compelling watched by millions of people around the world. It used for the first time the device of the cliffhanger at the end of the season to keep people coming back for more. Personally I believe the 1981-1984 central seasons were its high point with the titanic struggle between JR and Bobby for control of Ewing Oil plus other strong story lines.What was the secret of its success and longevity? I believe this is down to 3 factors.1. The story lines cleverly combined subjects that would appeal to a mass audience - love and sex, glamour, money and power, family problems, and controversial subjects for the time e.g. Sue Ellen's alcoholism that attracted interest and raised awareness.2. Excellent writing with top notch scripts.3. Superb acting from the key cast team. I have to single out Larry Hagman's performance as JR, I have never seen any performance to match it in any TV drama. He completely got under JR's skin and while he showed us what a monster the man was, he also made us aware of his redeeming features (particularly his strong sense of family) so that we never quite lost empathy for him. Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Ken Kercheval also gave remarkable performances as Bobby the 'good' brother who was never boring, Sue Ellen the wronged wife who eventually found a life of her own and Cliff, JR's neurotic, bungling rival who rarely managed to best him.
DKosty123
It is amazing how one actor, Larry Hagman, alias JR Ewing, could so dominate a program that no matter who you put around him he'd still come out on top. That really is the story of this show. Every large family has it's black sheep. JR is the nightmare come true of them all.By the time Hagman came to this show, he had plenty of acting experience. He had learned to be a straight man to Barbara Eden on I Dream of Jeannie. In a way, his deceptions of Doctor Bellows to explain the strange goings on around him & Jeannie prepared him well for this role. JR is the ultimate deception character.In a way if Hayden Rourke (Dr. Bellows) had been able to have done a couple of Dallas shows as JR's therapist, it would have made interesting fodder. I mean if innocent Tony Nelson could baffle Bellows, old JR could have confounded him with both hands tied behind his back.The plots got me started with this show. Then the good looking women who were always waltzing through kept me interested. Finally old JR just kept me coming back for another & another. The highlight everyone remembers is JR being shot. That too me is one of many. When the DVD's get to the season where Bobby is killed in the accident, put the accident scene in slow motion & keep a special eye on Victoria Principal (Pamela). If the scene is not touched up from it's original broadcast, you will see a little wardrobe malfunction which happened long before the Super Bowl & gives you a much better look at Victoria briefly, than you could ever imagine.With all the spice, all the intrigue, all the feuds, & all the nasty old rich oil Barron's, this show always entertained. Like old JR would tell them at the oil Barron's, "Bring me a bourbon & branch."
parkerr86302
The first four to five seasons represented television at its finest---the show had genuinely compelling characters, story lines, production values, you name it. But after about five years, as is typical of long-running TV shows, the producers and the writers started to run out of ideas. Plot lines grew increasingly absurd, too many ideas were recycled, and when the regular cast members started quitting the show (looking for greener pastures they never found), they were replaced by new characters who were nowhere near as interesting or charismatic---in fact, Morgan Brittany's Katherine Wentworth character remains my own personal nominee for most repellent character in the history of television. Linda Gray reportedly tired of playing Sue Ellen as a drunken harridan, and demanded that producers turn her into a positive role model for women, which took the edge completely off her character. Ditto for Charlene Tilton who reportedly demanded that producers start portraying Lucy as a wholesome young woman instead of the nymphomaniac she started the show as.The producers started to chicken out as the years went by. Stung by criticism that the show glorified evil, the writers started to have J.R.'s schemes consistently fail, corresponding with increasing scenes of J.R. getting punched out. A potentially lively story had Sue Ellen getting involved with a much younger man (Christopher Atkins), but the producers pulled so many punches with it there were no sparks. At one point, the show implied that a romance between Sue Ellen and the older Clayton Farlow (Howard Keel) was forthcoming---I never spoke to a Dallas fan that didn't want to see them get together, but it never happened; Clayton married Miss Ellie instead.Bottom line is, buy the first five seasons on DVD and enjoy them, and try to forget the rest of the series ever happened.
