Dallas: At It's Best: The Arrivals

[Luke]

Requiem:

Original Dallas was not known for it's directoral creativity. There were certainly brilliant moments, but often few and far between. Watching Requiem again the other night, I was once again impressed with the directing of the the Arrivals at Rebecca's funeral. Scenes like this, often without dialogue are often overlooked due to the time they take away from storytelling. The new Dallas in fact moves so fast I would like it to slow down once in awhile. Directed by Larry Hagman (although you have to question if Hagman actually directed this scene...).

Rebecca's funeral is a big one, opening of a wide shot of the... not sure if it is a church, funeral home or mausoleum.... The Arrivals cover almost the entire cast beginning with Pam, Bobby and Katherine getting out of their limo, Katherine's boney hand sliding around Bobby's waste (foreshadowing for sure), then Afton and Cliff desend their limo followed by the Clayton getting out of the Ewing limo (shouldn't the limo's have been in reverse order with Rebecca's family first....).

We see Ellie, Lucy, Punk and Mavis, Sue Ellen, Merilee, Donna and Ray and a quick shot of Andy Bradley. Then we see J.R watching the entire event on television. So great of Dallas to bring in all of the extra characters for the brief scene, normally the show skips important extra's such as this. Short but very brief and memorable scene.

A far cry from the recent BBQ on the new Dallas...

[vaughnleland]

in the last Episode of Dallas on TNT they even had Bobby make a point of saying the BBQ was for al lthe people who ever came to Southfork over the years..and then all we see is Ray and Lucy.. no Punk 7 Mavis, no Gary 7 Val, no Marilee Stone or Sly, or Donna, no James not even Cliff! and he was in the episode. It might be nie to eventually see a new generation of Oil men.. Jordan Lee or Andy Bradley's son..etc...

[Pam's Twin Sister]

Requiem:

Original Dallas was not known for it's directoral creativity. There were certainly brilliant moments, but often few and far between. Watching Requiem again the other night, I was once again impressed with the directing of the the Arrivals at Rebecca's funeral. Scenes like this, often without dialogue are often overlooked due to the time they take away from storytelling. The new Dallas in fact moves so fast I would like it to slow down once in awhile. Directed by Larry Hagman (although you have to question if Hagman actually directed this scene...).

Rebecca's funeral is a big one, opening of a wide shot of the... not sure if it is a church, funeral home or mausoleum.... The Arrivals cover almost the entire cast beginning with Pam, Bobby and Katherine getting out of their limo, Katherine's boney hand sliding around Bobby's waste (foreshadowing for sure), then Afton and Cliff desend their limo followed by the Clayton getting out of the Ewing limo (shouldn't the limo's have been in reverse order with Rebecca's family first....).

We see Ellie, Lucy, Punk and Mavis, Sue Ellen, Merilee, Donna and Ray and a quick shot of Andy Bradley. Then we see J.R watching the entire event on television. So great of Dallas to bring in all of the extra characters for the brief scene, normally the show skips important extra's such as this. Short but very brief and memorable scene.

A far cry from the recent BBQ on the new Dallas...

Once I wrote here that the scene you mention is one of the cleverest planned in the show´s history, because it seems that the funeral is crowdy but in fact we do see a few people only, and the use of the camera lenses and score is superb and enhances the drama of the episode.

Another good thing of the Dallas directing is the arrivals (as you say in the title) of certain characters (especially women): Kristin´s comeback, Katherine´s arrival in a taxi, Holly Harwood entrance into the Oil Barons´ Club and so on: they were telling us: look at these babes, because they will be important for the plots.

[ronald mascot]

Jamie's arrival, both in the writing and directing, was executed really well and was one of the best sequences (even if it didn't live up to it plotwise) Clayton's first appearance was done really well, too.

Maybe I don't notice directing that much, I can't think of any truly great directing choices, it's hard to know what the director did and what was already on the paper. The stalking camera that led to Bobby's shooting seemed a great choice, but it was probably in the script that way because they slightly focused on Bobby's office before heading into JR's- obviously done because Katherine was the killer.

[IDFfm0870]

Another good thing of the Dallas directing is the arrivals (as you say in the title) of certain characters (especially women): Kristin´s comeback, Katherine´s arrival in a taxi, Holly Harwood entrance into the Oil Barons´ Club and so on: they were telling us: look at these babes, because they will be important for the plots.

You mean like Sue Ellen and Fake Marta did arrive in their respective cars in episode 1?

[ronald mascot]

I think Sue Ellen's car entrance was supposed to show us the contrast between her new car and her old station wagon.

[MrsSuperman93]

Rebecca's funeral was really well-filmed. Wasn't that the only funeral Dallas actually showed in a church? Bobby was buried on Southfork and we didn't even get to see Kristin's.