Dallas Character Jock Ewing - A Great Man!

[Pammy P]

Whilst I have been rewatching my DVD's from the beginning, I slowly realised what a great actor Jim Davis was, he made Jock Ewing stand out for me! His acting was outstanding!

I loved it when he used to tell JR off, and JR would say "yes Daddy" or "yes Sir"... There was one scene at the evening Dinner table and Jock was talking, and he said "JR, are you paying attention?", JR said "yes Daddy".... Clayton Farlow played by the great Howard Keel was an ok substitute, but in my book the casting was spot on for Jock with Jim Davis, shame he died so soon into the series!

 

[Swami]

That whole dynamic between JR & Jock was magic.

Swami

 

[Toni]

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Jim hadn´t died and Clayton had not been introduced. I mean, would all the Clayton storylines had gone to Jock instead: would he have defended Sue Ellen against J.R., or what would he have thought about Jamie and Jack, or how would he have reacted to Bobby´s "death", or would he have had another heart attack, another flirt with a much younger woman or another secret son (because Mr. Katzman had not too much imagination regarding plots for the elders...).

What do you think, and what would you have liked Jock to be doing (no dirty thoughts please). RIP Mr. Davis, you were Da Man!!

 

[Karin]

Jim Davis was wonderful as Jock. It was great that he finally became famous after working for many years in the studio system doing different movies.

I don't think Clayton was a substitute for Jock though as they were very different. But well yeah obviously if Jock had lived the key chasing leading to the family Jock rescued in the second world war would have involved him.

The feeling insecure about taking over another man's family and having Jock's portrait removed was all Clayton's plot though. It never would have happened with Jock.

Clayton had a different relationship with Sue Ellen than Jock ever did as Clayton fell in love with her. I don't see Jock ever being in love with Sue Ellen.

 

[Tatianna]

I agree, Jim Davis was great as Jock Ewing. With Jim's background in western movies and TV shows he gave the proper touch for a believable Texas patriarch. Jim truly made the character his own. Even though Jim had an active life in western roles, he pretty much achieved a status as "B" actor at brest. It's the character of Jock Ewing in DALLAS that elevated him to a household word in his golden years.

After Jim's death I thought Howard Keel was an addition to the cast as a companion/husband for Miss Ellie. I really appreciated and admired that Howard/Clayton's role did not compete with Jim/Jock. For me I consider Howard/Clayton as a really nice addition instead of being written as a replacement for Jim/Jock.

I really liked how Ray and Bobby respected and formed a great relationship with Clayton, not comparing him to Jock, rather welcoming him to the family. J.R. on the other hand was completely different. J.R. said "He's not going to take my Daddy's place," but Clayton just wanted to be accepted into their world.

Jock's portrait made for some uncomfortable moments for Clayton, but as I recall it was Miss Ellie who had the portrait moved to Ewing Oil. The matter was handled respectfully to both men and I believe Jock would have approved.

 

[Luke_Krebbs_Ewing]

He was perfect as Jock Ewing, a shame we lost him so soon.

 

[Presea]

Jim Davis was wonderful as Jock. It was great that he finally became famous after working for many years in the studio system doing different movies.

I don't think Clayton was a substitute for Jock though as they were very different. But well yeah obviously if Jock had lived the key chasing leading to the family Jock rescued in the second world war would have involved him.

The feeling insecure about taking over another man's family and having Jock's portrait removed was all Clayton's plot though. It never would have happened with Jock.

Clayton had a different relationship with Sue Ellen than Jock ever did as Clayton fell in love with her. I don't see Jock ever being in love with Sue Ellen.

Jock and Sue Ellen!? Now there is a frightening idea! I don't think that Jock even remembered Sue Ellen's name half of the time! He usually just referred to her as "that girl".

 

[Natalia Patterson]

Jock Ewing was such a Man's MAN. Jim Davis portrayed this character perfectly. He was strong willed. Yet he did have a sensative side that only Ms. ELLIE COULD GET. He didn't have a problem with standing up to JR. He stood his ground. He was a true leader. He was extremely Handsome. I loved to watch him ride the horses. True Cow Boy.

I love the adoration that he had for Ms. ELLIE. He even embraced Ray as his son with open arms. I still have alot to watch. I am only on season 4. Looking forward to seeing more of good ole Jock.

 

[Barbara Fan]

I wouldnt call the character of Jock Ewing a GREAT man, i think he was a flawed man - he used and abused his power and position to walk and ride roughshod all over people, like in the Dove Hunt, getting someone committed to a sanitorium to steal their land (and the poor guy kills himself in the process) and using the 3Bs to get what he wanted and blackmailing a bribing a few people along the way and turning a blind eye to some of Jrs deeds.

He also cheated on Miss Ellie and lied to her, and was a bit of a chauvinist, a womans place is in the bedroom!
Jock wasnt a saint but they tried to make him into one in later years and with the jewish war time (and not that plausible) story.

Jock had his strengths and showed his sensitive side when Miss Ellie underwent a mastectomy, but he also had his weaknesses and I think Miss Ellie must have put up with a lot when married to him.

I do think it sad that Jim Davis didnt get very long to enjoy his new found fame afer he died in 1981. He should have been around for much longer.

 

[Kenny Coyote]

You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his children. I think Jock was a great man to have inspired the type of love and loyalty he did in Bobby and JR. He wasn't perfect when you consider Gary and how he never taught JR when to stop. But no human being is perfect and not being perfect doesn't mean he wasn't great. He had lots of good, loyal friends. He was a self made man who provided a valuable product with his business. He also saved Southfork from being auctioned off. You only need to look at Miss Ellie's reaction to his death after their over 40 years of marriage to realize she loved him dearly and missed him terribly. He also handled the situation of finding out Ray was his son in a great way and truly accepted Ray as his son.

It was upsetting to see Miss Ellie treat him so badly because of his accepting Ray into the family, to the point she almost divorced him after 43 years of marriage! He was very supportive and loving towards Miss Ellie,especially when she was going through her mastectomy. he went to the hospital constantly, barely sleeping, and yet she ignored him and treated Digger Barnes very warmly while she let Jock suffer, all because he had divorced Amanda. Then when she met Amanda she realized he had to divorce Amanda when he did, but she sure put him through hell over that and his accepting Ray into the family. She even threatened him, saying about Bobby possibly moving from Southfork into a home of his own with his wife "If I lose another son because of you I will never forgive you"! Lose another son? Bobby wasn't dying; he was moving to a home that he and his wife could call their own! How many mothers go through that and don't accuse their husbands of making them "lose" a son? What Bobby and Pam was about to do is actually very normal thing! So that was cruel and wrong. basically, she wanted Jock to keep Bobby at Southfork at any cost, even at taking JR's job away from him and giving it to his much younger Bobby who only had a small fraction of the experience and expertise in running an oil business that JR did. In fact, while Bobby had time for nothing but playing football and being a playboy, JR was working right by Jock's side, in the oil fields and in the office. JR was working right by Jock's side while Bobby was "sowing his wild oats." When Bobby finally did go to work for Ewing Oil he was what Jock once called "the company pimp." That consisted of handing out favors to influential people who could help Ewing Oil - hardly the same as working by Jock's side for 7 years running the company!

So while Jock had a few small flaws, he certainly had no more than Miss Ellie. He was a great man and Jim Davis did a wonderful job portraying him. It would have been terribly disrespectful to have replaced him after he died with another actor playing Jock so I'm very glad they didn't do that. I can't imagine anyone else playing that role. My favorite scene with Jock is when Bobby fights with Jock in front of his friends and complains about Jock taking money out of his own company without getting Bobby's permission! Jock stood up and proceeded to give the best performance he had given in the whole series as he told Bobby "So I gave you power. Well if I did give you power you've got nothing! Nobody gives you power. Real power is something you take"!

 

[Mustard]

I would say Jock Ewing was a great character. As a man, he had strong good, bad and ugly sides, all emphasized most in the brilliant episode "The Dove Hunt".

It was upsetting to see Miss Ellie treat him so badly because of his accepting Ray into the family, to the point she almost divorced him after 43 years of marriage!

That's down to the Gary issue. Miss Ellie loved Gary most and never abandoned hope that Gary would be back living at Southfork doing ranching and business work. Jock had long been scathing of Gary's character, his excessive drinking and his running away from responsibility, and now here was Jock announcing Ray as his son and being very generous towards Ray. Miss Ellie got angry by that, and used the Takapa dispute as a cover to voice her anger at Jock.

 

[Maryann]

Jim Davis was a great actor, so sad he left too soon. I would have love to see how things would have continued to play out with Jock alive. I didn't think Jock was that much of a great man, father or husband. He was a lousy father to Gary, he cheated on Miss Ellie and
he was shrewd business man who taught JR some of the back stabbing and unscrupulous things in business.

 

[Natalia Patterson]

I guess what made Jock a good Man to me. He was accountable for all his wrong doing. He would sacrifice for his family. I agree that he did treat Gary wrong. Perhaps something happened when he was young and didn't know how to relate to Gary. At that time Gary was weak and always avoided confertation. Jock wanted him to be a little stronger. Maybe he should have learned to just love him through it.

JR was his bulldog. He knew that JR would be able to run Ewing Oil. JR knew how to con, and manipulate. I guess Jock felt like that was the only way to be successful.

Yes, he did cheat on Miss Ellie. I am not exusing his behavior. He is human and people make mistakes. Again, unlike most men he told her about it. That says alot about his character. I think that in life people need to able to be foregiven when they are accoutable. He adored Miss Ellie. As, tough as he profess to be. He had a soft side when it came to HER. .

 

[Natalia Patterson]

You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats his children. I think Jock was a great man to have inspired the type of love and loyalty he did in Bobby and JR. He wasn't perfect when you consider Gary and how he never taught JR when to stop. But no human being is perfect and not being perfect doesn't mean he wasn't great. He had lots of good, loyal friends. He was a self made man who provided a valuable product with his business. He also saved Southfork from being auctioned off. You only need to look at Miss Ellie's reaction to his death after their over 40 years of marriage to realize she loved him dearly and missed him terribly. He also handled the situation of finding out Ray was his son in a great way and truly accepted Ray as his son.

It was upsetting to see Miss Ellie treat him so badly because of his accepting Ray into the family, to the point she almost divorced him after 43 years of marriage! He was very supportive and loving towards Miss Ellie,especially when she was going through her mastectomy. he went to the hospital constantly, barely sleeping, and yet she ignored him and treated Digger Barnes very warmly while she let Jock suffer, all because he had divorced Amanda. Then when she met Amanda she realized he had to divorce Amanda when he did, but she sure put him through hell over that and his accepting Ray into the family. She even threatened him, saying about Bobby possibly moving from Southfork into a home of his own with his wife "If I lose another son because of you I will never forgive you"! Lose another son? Bobby wasn't dying; he was moving to a home that he and his wife could call their own! How many mothers go through that and don't accuse their husbands of making them "lose" a son? What Bobby and Pam was about to do is actually very normal thing! So that was cruel and wrong. basically, she wanted Jock to keep Bobby at Southfork at any cost, even at taking JR's job away from him and giving it to his much younger Bobby who only had a small fraction of the experience and expertise in running an oil business that JR did. In fact, while Bobby had time for nothing but playing football and being a playboy, JR was working right by Jock's side, in the oil fields and in the office. JR was working right by Jock's side while Bobby was "sowing his wild oats." When Bobby finally did go to work for Ewing Oil he was what Jock once called "the company pimp." That consisted of handing out favors to influential people who could help Ewing Oil - hardly the same as working by Jock's side for 7 years running the company!

So while Jock had a few small flaws, he certainly had no more than Miss Ellie. He was a great man and Jim Davis did a wonderful job portraying him. It would have been terribly disrespectful to have replaced him after he died with another actor playing Jock so I'm very glad they didn't do that. I can't imagine anyone else playing that role. My favorite scene with Jock is when Bobby fights with Jock in front of his friends and complains about Jock taking money out of his own company without getting Bobby's permission! Jock stood up and proceeded to give the best performance he had given in the whole series as he told Bobby "So I gave you power. Well if I did give you power you've got nothing! Nobody gives you power. Real power is something you take"!

I totally agree. Jock had a lot of hats to wear. Yes, he made some mistakes. He is human. He was always there for Miss Ellie no matter what.

 

[Sarah]

I absolutely loved Jock - but he scared me. I wouldn't mess with him and I didn't like the way he spoke to people at times. You can see why JR was the way he was - trying to win approval from Jock would be really tough.

 

[www.JimDavis.de]

Jock was a great man. A loving Father, husband and brilliant businessman.
He makes mistakes, but everybody make mistakes. Nobody's perfect.

The same for Jim Davis.
Only he was no businessman rather an actor.
A good actor. Most of the time underrated.

For more about Jim´s life and work look on my Hoempage

www.JimDavis.de

 

[Justine]

Jock was very old-school, which is a lot of reason why I find it hard to like him. He was a fabulous contribution to the show and the structure of the family, however. It would have been fun to see his interaction with Clayton, had Jock returned from South America to find Sue Ellen and John Ross had moved off of Southfork.

 

[Toni]

Jock was a great man, but he also was a big fat liar, an adulterous and a con man when he had to. That´s the way "Dallas" was written and the way that made us love it so much. But hey, let´s not be so adoring towards this character who was afraid of a woman being able to manipulate his son (Leslie), and who considered Sue Ellen as a baby machine in the early days.

And regarding his father skills, he only cared about JR because he needed someone to run Ewing Oil in the future, just like JR needed John Ross for that same reason. None of them were good fathers, and much less JR. When you are one, you don´t use your son for your own benefit, you don´t kidnap him, you don´t bash your wife (or your brothers) when he can hear you, etc.

So to me Jock was a lousy father, not only because of the way JR turned out to, but also because he let Bobby become a violent man, and he almost disowned Gary just because he wasn´t up to his old-fashioned standards of what a man should be. And don´t forget that he allowed JR to take Baby Lucy away from Val, an incongruency that I could never understand about Miss Ellie´s backstory. A few mistakes? I´d say that he mellowed with age, but actually, he eventually grew up to have a few good qualities. Just my two cents...

Oh and let´s remember that "The Early Years" was produced and aired during the Dream Season, so maybe it was one of Pam´s sweet dreams too.

"Bidness is bidness. Whatever.
Takapa all the way!"​

 

[Kenny Coyote]

who was afraid of a woman being able to manipulate his son

Is the implication there that a better father wouldn't mind someone manipulating his son?

his old-fashioned standards of what a man should be.

If it's old fashioned to want your son to have some guts instead of running away from every challenge he encounters in life, if it's old fashioned to not want your son to be an alcoholic, a compulsive gambler or get a 15 year old girl pregnant, then why wouldn't you want to be old fashioned?

to me Jock was a lousy father

Jock was a wonderful father. That's why all his sons who appeared on the show regularly both loved and strived to emulate Jock. None of his sons ever quite lived up to the standard he set, but he set the bar awfully high being a self-made man who reached the top of his field, had a successful 43 year marriage, had good friends, and was respected and admired by his peers.

 

[Toni]

Is the implication there that a better father wouldn't mind someone manipulating his son?

No, the implication is that a millionaire in his 70´s wouldn´t be afraid of him or his son probably being influenced by their P.R. They pay for her services, so they (should) know how to handle her. Besides, it´s HOW Jock referred to Leslie ("that Stewart woman" I seem to remember), and especially, how a woman, any woman, but here Miss Ellie, felt that Jock really meant that in a mean way ("you are disgusting!").

If it's old fashioned to want your son to have some guts instead of running away from every challenge he encounters in life, if it's old fashioned to not want your son to be an alcoholic, a compulsive gambler or get a 15 year old girl pregnant, then why wouldn't you want to be old fashioned?

Jock was a wonderful father. That's why all his sons who appeared on the show regularly both loved and strived to emulate Jock. None of his sons ever quite lived up to the standard he set, but he set the bar awfully high being a self-made man who reached the top of his field, had a successful 43 year marriage, had good friends, and was respected and admired by his peers.

I won´t answer to the rest of your "complaints". This is a soap, not real life. The painful death of a very dear actor shouldn't blind us about how his character was (or seemed to be for me).

Oh and "Wonderful" is such an over-used word today. As is "successful". And this is nothing personal, @Kenny Coyote: we just disagree.