Truly Dreadful Film

Just so...so bad

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

to see Dallas for an East European is always a strange experience. under the Communist regime, it was a fairy tale. under the democratic regime - a promise. but, always, in a strange way, more than fiction. because Larry Hagman creates a spectacular bad guy, splendid mixture between Shere Khan and Darth Vader. because it has the gift to be more than one of many soap opera from the same period but a phenomenon. because, its spectacular longevity transforms the viewer in part of story. sure, all is a fiction . but the dose of reality is right for discover the trace of series in every day life. it has the right story and the right actors. this is its success roots. and the seal for a period looking the perfect story for understand the reality escaping from it.

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".

It was announced earlier this week that the U.S. soap opera 'Dallas' is to make a comeback. To me, its about as welcome a return as The Black Death or Adolf Hitler. I wasted much of the '80's hating not only the show itself, but the people who worked on it, and the B.B.C. for importing the flaming thing. It was the 'X Factor' of its day. You could not pick up a newspaper nor switch on the television without finding someone ( usually Nina Myskow ) gushing about how great it was. A 'Radio Times' letter writer called it: "television's greatest achievement ever!" ( what medication was he/she on? ). Yet I could not ( and still can't ) see its appeal. It was essentially 'Crossroads' with helicopter shots.Created by David Jacobs ( not the former B.B.C. presenter ), it told of the trials and tribulations of the filthy rich Ewing family, who lived in Dallas ( hence the title ), Texas. The head of the clan was grizzled Jock Ewing ( Jim Davis ), but he had to be written out after a few seasons as the actor playing him died. He was married to simpering Miss Ellie ( Barbara Bel Geddes, then Donna Reed, then Barbara Bel Geddes again ), their sons were bad guy John Ross ( J.R. for short, played to the hilt by Larry Hagman, former co-star of the sitcom 'I Dream Of Jeannie' ), and good guy Bobby ( ex-'Man From Atlantis' Patrick Duffy ). Bobby's wife was lovely Pam ( Victoria Principal, the lady who took away Anthony 'Psycho' Perkins' virginity ). J.R. was a swine who loved two things in life - himself and money. He was married to the permanently emoting 'Sue Ellen' ( Linda Gray ), who had a drink problem, a quivering upper lip and a tendency to throw empty glasses at her husband each week after a row. The Ewing ranch - Southfork ( known in my house as 'Forkoff' ) - was augmented by juicy Lucy ( Charlene Tilton, who must have been last in the queue when they handed out necks ). Jock had an illegitimate son in the shape of cowboy Ray Krebbs ( Steve Kanaly ), adding to the existing family friction. J.R.'s main business rival was creepy Cliff Barnes ( Ken Kercheval ).Promiscuity was rife, rather bizarre in an era where we were all being urged to be monogamous. 'Dallas' offered some startling insights into the high-powered world of big business. For instance, I learnt that the job of oil tycoon involves sitting behind a desk all day, puffing cigars, knocking back whisky, and trying to inject the word 'offshore' into everyday conversation as often as possible. In the immortal words of 'Yosser Hughes' ( Bernard Hill ) from 'Boys From The Blackstuff': "Give us a job...I can do that!". It might have been fun had it been played for laughs, sort of like the Susan Harris sitcom 'Soap', but everyone concerned took the stupid plots of adultery and double-dealing deadly seriously. When J.R. got shot at the end of one season, the tabloids went into a frenzy, attempting to identify the would-be killer. 'Who Shot J.R.?' became the most oft-asked question of the '80's. Since then, almost every soap has tried to do a 'who shot J.R.?' type cliffhanger, with varying results.Howard Keel was Miss Ellie's love interest 'Peyton Farlow' and Steve 'The Baron' Forrest was made up to resemble a goat's bum as 'Wes Parmalee' ( where did they get these names from? 'Star Wars'? ) Terry Wogan was the first British 'Dallas-phile' and it is his name I used to curse each week when that bombastic theme tune blasted out of the television. I.T.V. attempted to poach the show from the B.B.C. at one point but sold it back to the B.B.C. - just as interest was on the wane. The final straw came in 1986 when, after being killed off, Bobby was famously resurrected in a shower, invalidating an entire season ( was this where Steven Moffat got the idea from for the Season 5 finale of 'Dr.Who'? ). Fans decided they'd had enough, and the last series went out in a graveyard on Sunday afternoon slot on B.B.C.-1 in 1991.As if the prospect of a new 'Dallas' is not worrying enough, a 'Dynasty' revival ( Ye Gods! ) is also threatened. Good to know that Hollywood is currently bursting with exciting new ideas. To my mind the 'Dallas' series is the second worst thing to have happened to that famous city, the very first being J.F.K.'s assassination.On the plus side, it kept a lot of women entertained for over a decade, and the late, great Kenny Everett did a wonderful parody called 'Dallasty' which ended each week with the credit: 'Creative Realisation Associates Production' ( spell out the first letters ).

Dallas has to be one of the greatest ever TV shows, because it had all of the attributes for entertainment. It had great characters, good writers and story lines that ranged from the ridiculous to the sublime. Oh how easy it was to run an an oil company! Watching Dallas was pure fantasy, it's simply what makes TV fun and relaxing, take out an hour from the real world and enjoy, for people who saw the show they know what I mean!So there we were introduced to the Ewing's who were in a bitter feud with the Barnes. However it was the biggest mismatch since George Foreman pounded Joe Frazier into the canvas 6 times in two rounds in the 1973 heavyweight title fight. The Ewing's led by JR body-slammed Cliff Barnes around for the first two seasons. In reality it was not a fair contest, a multimillion dollar family with connections up against a small town lawyer were always going to come out on top! However, that was to change as the series progressed. Of course the show quickly centered on JR (played by Larry Hagman) and the writers created a character that people would really hate; he had no problem playing fast and lose with other peoples lives.So what did JR do that upset so many people! Swindled and cheated the cartel on more than one occasion, blackmailed politician's and government officials into helping him with his crooked deals, had the police set people up on phony charges as he had much of Braddock and Dallas police dept in his payroll. However JR wasn't satisfied with just tormenting the powerful, his family were not spared either, he was instrumental in trying to break up both Bobby, Garry and his mothers marriage's on numerous occasions. Cheated on his wife so many times that he turned her into an alcoholic and had her committed to a sanitarium. Government regulations were also no obstacle to his ambitions. He defied a State department embargo and illegally sold oil to Cuba, instigated a military coup in some oil rich country in Asia and risked a middle east war by hiring mercenaries to blow up Saudi Arabian oil fields to jack up the price of oil, and finally had a run in with the CIA and the Justice Department.It was not just Cliff Barnes he wreaked havoc on, other people were fair game too. He betrayed, conned and left many of his subordinates, business associates and former lovers twisting in the wind, either in jail, broke or on the run from the police. As a consequence of his meddling, reputations were ruined family relationships were left in tatters and ambitions shattered as he turned his back or double crossed some of his closest confidants. It doesn't get any better than this! Not surprisingly the phrase "I'll get you JR if it's the last thing I'll do" or "you'll pay for this JR" both became fairly regular clichés as they all vowed revenge! As I write this I can count at least 5 attempts on JR's life as they tried to get even. Many would say that the golden years of Dallas were the 1978-82 seasons. That's probably true, all the characters were developed through those seasons and I think Dallas had it's highest ratings. However my personal favorites were the 1987-1990 (the last series was poor)! In 1986 with the series tottering on the edge, the writers took a chance and despite ridicule brought back the character Bobby by making the previous season all a dream. It was a risk but they resuscitated a series by binning the most boring and tired looking season in 1985/86 (and that's according to Larry Hagman too) as never happening and therefore having a fresh start to the series. To start with not everything went JRs way he lost Ewing oil, Sue Ellen started to get her act together and fight back on equal terms, Pam left the series and Bobby became a more aggressive character without her. It was a brave attempt by the creators to revive the series and they certainly pulled it off, Dallas never would have lasted as long if they had not done it! They filmed in locations such as Austria, France , Russia and gave a higher profile to the skin crawling Jeremy Wendell head of Weststar and after his exit he was followed by the lager than life Carter Mackay, who kept up the pressure on JR and the Ewing's far more than the cartel.Some of the story lines introduced scenarios from movies such as COOL HAND Luke when JR was sentenced to hard time on a chain gang , or ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST when JR in bizarre scheme bribed a judge to commit him into a puzzle house to find out information from Clayton's mentally ill sister. Even Bobby was not spared, on his trip to Paris his wife April was kidnapped very much a story similar to the 1987 movie FRANTIC. With the proliferation of satellite and cable TV the major networks sensitive to their advertising revenue delved into trash TV and the half hour sitcoms which are cheap to make. Just over the horizon audience participation shows i.e. Opra, Rikki Lake and Springer and dopey half hour sit-come's were awaiting and if you were to fast forward looming ahead were the so called reality TV shows of the late 1990's.Dallas was the first of the glam soaps and the second last to be canceled (1991). Was it all more entertaining than what's on today, well you be the judge!