Dallas: The Early Years

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Dallas: The Early Years was a made for television movie that first aired on March 23, 1986 on CBS during the eighth season of the TV series Dallas. It chronicled the exploits of John Ross "Jock" Ewing (played by Dale Midkiff), Eleanor "Miss Ellie" Southworth Ewing (played by Molly Hagan), and Willard "Digger" Barnes (played by David Marshall Grant) during the 1930s and firmly established the beginning of TV's Dallas with the long and ongoing feud between Jock Ewing and Digger Barnes. Larry Hagman appeared in the opening sequence as his character J.R. Ewing, he is conducting an interview with a reporter who is researching the Barnes-Ewing feud.

[edit] Trivia

The three-way bar fight between Jock, Jason, and Digger is symbolic of the eventual conflict between the three men and their descendants. In fact Digger falls first, then Jock, and finally Jason — symbolic of the eventual demise of the three men.

When Aaron Southworth and Jock Ewing offer Digger Barnes that piece of property which had originally been promised by Aaron to Digger's father many years before, the completely obstinate Digger refuses and even demands the deed to sell it. A fed-up Jock gives him the $1000 dollars that Digger demands. Later Digger is hunting when he comes across the land. He finds that it's teeming with oil. The oil is practically oozing out of the ground. Naturally blaming everyone, especially Jock, instead of his own foolishness he crashes the Armistice Day Barbecue in the 1950's at Southfork and attempts to shoot Jock. The land in question is the infamous Section 40 which J.R. and the Westar magnates coveted. Aaron Southworth and later his daughter never wanted an oil drill to touch the Southfork Ranch.