Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996) Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, Patrick Duffy, Ken Kercheval, George Kennedy Movie Review

Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Larry Hagman in Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996)

The Ewings Strike Back

After he lost the family oil business to Cliff Barnes (Ken Kercheval) and left Dallas with many believing he committed suicide, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) returns to Dallas as scheming as ever. For Bobby (Patrick Duffy) his brother's return spells trouble as not only does that mean he is drawn back in to the old family feud and the oil business but as he has been weighing up what to do with South Fork J.R.'s return could put a spanner in the works.

"Dallas" was for me a huge part of my growing up and it was one of the few shows that my entire family all watched. Now it is a long time ago that the original series ended and I will be honest, whilst I remember Omri Katz as John Ross I can't remember how the old series finished. I do know that I never did get around to watching any of the TV movies which followed, although I did love it when the series returned many years later and was disappointed when it got canned.

Patrick Duffy in Dallas: J.R. Returns (1996)

Now to be honest "Dallas: J.R. Returns" doesn't need much of a review as we have J.R. crawling out of the woodwork with a scheme to wrestle back the business, that means dragging Bobby and their sons in to his schemes which also involve an inheritance. As for Bobby, well you can't have the shows hunk single so within minutes of seeing him again he bumps into old friend Julia Cunningham and they end up on a date. As for J.R. and women, well he still has an eye for an attractive woman and the charm to seduce them that is not when he is double crossing them.

The question of course, is "Dallas: J.R. Returns" any good? With my heart I would say as a fan of "Dallas" it is just good to have some thing with the Ewings in to watch. But with my head I have to say it is flawed and feels like budget and time restrictions have seen them cut corners all over the place. As such some of the dialogue is weak whilst some of the scenes involving special effects stick out like a sore thumb. And in general this feels like a four episode story line condensed into 90 minutes or so and as such makes it feel a little rushed in places.

What this all boils down to is that "Dallas: J.R. Returns" watched now has some very obvious issues which stick out like a sore thumb. Yet at the same time for those who loved "Dallas" just spending time with the Ewings makes it entertaining.


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