Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996) (TV)

Director:

Leonard Katzman

Writers (WGA):

Arthur Bernard Lewis (story)
Leonard Katzman (teleplay) ...

Release Date:

15 November 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Years after J.R. Ewing lost Ewing Oil and apparently committed suicide, we learn that he is alive and well...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | TV Series Reunion | Judge | Sequel | Second Part

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Rosalind Allen	...	Julia Cunningham
Chris Demetral	...	Christopher Ewing
Patrick Duffy	...	Bobby James Ewing
Linda Gray	...	Sue Ellen Shepard Ewing Lockwood
Larry Hagman	...	J.R. Ewing
Omri Katz	...	John Ross Ewing
Deborah Kellner	...	Pamela Rebecca Cooper
George Kennedy	...	Carter McKay
Ken Kercheval	...	Clifford 'Cliff' Barnes
Audrey Landers	...	Afton Cooper
Tracy Scoggins	...	Anita Smithfield
Deborah Rennard	...	Sylvia 'Sly' Lovegren
Buck Taylor	...	Steve Grisham
George Petrie	...	Harv Smithfield (as George O. Petrie)
Blue Deckert	...	Detective Markham

Runtime:

120 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:L

Filming Locations:

Dallas, Texas, USA

Company:

Eagle Point Production

Trivia:

In the scene where Bobby (Patrick Duffy) encounters J.R. (Larry Hagman) at Southfork for the first time, Bobby offers J.R. a drink, but J.R. refuses, citing doctor's advice. This film was filmed and aired less than four months after Larry Hagman's liver transplant in July 1996.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Bobby Ewing rescues Julia Cunningham from the back of a galloping horse, the ground changes several times between grass in the long shots to sand in the close-ups.

Quotes:

John Ross Ewing III: [after JR appears screwed by Cliff because he sold Ewing Oil to Bobby and Sue Ellen] Dad, I don't understand, why are you smiling? You just lost Ewing Oil?
John Ross 'J.R.' Ewing, Jr.: Son, you don't understand. Ewing Oil is back in Ewing hands. Your Uncle Bobby is no longer going to sell Southfork, and is back in the oil business. I am the Chairman of the Board of Weststar. Your mother is back at Southfork, and you are going to remain in Dallas to learn the oil business under the best damn oil man there ever was.
John Ross Ewing III: Dad, when you say it that way, it appears you'd planned everything to work out this way from the start.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Followed by Dallas: War of the Ewings (1998) (TV)

Dreadful -- with a Big "D"

If this forum permitted it, the "caps-lock" key would have been in force in titling this review -- it only seems fitting. For a series that so revolutionized television to be this badly given artificial respiration is a TV tragedy.

"Dallas: JR Returns" is everything that was horrid about the original show, with none of what made it so special. While the original was, at its best, a character-driven drama with a solid back story, the sequel is an overly-plotted morass of mediocrity.

Not only has the cast aged -- frighteningly, for the most part -- but so has television continued to grow. "JR Returns" is a throwback to the worst of 1970s television ... meaningless and ultimately unsatisfying.

Kudos only to Linda Gray (of the original cast) and newcomer Chris Demetral (as the grown Christopher, adopted son of Bobby and Pam). No one else displays any passion or vitality.

Some things are better left untouched. The legacy of "Dallas" is one.