Look For Classic Romance In ‘Old Man’
With Valentine’s Day just five days away, the Hallmark Hall of Fame honors the holiday with a sophisticated love story, CBS Sunday at 9.
“William Faulkner’s ‘Old Man,”’ based on a novella by Faulkner, is a bit reminiscent of the famous Humphrey Bogart-Katharine Hepburn love tale “The African Queen” (1951). Two opposites find love and companionship while battling the elements in a small boat.
“Man” may not be as spicy or incendiary as “Queen,” but it’s peppered with atmosphere and is equally as hypnotic.
The Hallmark movie takes you into Faulkner’s world of the Mississippi River, full of deep Southern drawls, slow pacing and long, lengthy sentences filled with metaphors.
The tale, set in the late 1920s, revolves around convict J.J. Taylor (Arliss Howard), sent up river during a rainstorm to rescue a woman named Addie (Jeanne Tripplehorn, “Waterworld”). She’s pregnant and stranded in a tree.
Taylor and Addie become hopelessly lost as the storm rages. Floods nearly drown them. Their adventure takes them through a very rustic childbirth experience, to the Bayou and eventually New Orleans.
Howard defines Taylor. He’s the strong silent type, a proud man of few words. He manages to say a lot with a stare and a look. Tripplehorn’s Addie is loquacious, expressing the hardships of rural life with her lectures.
This tale of mutual respect and love will tug at your heartstrings. At times, it’s exceedingly slow. Other times, it’s wonderfully romantic and refreshingly different from usual rank-and-file TV fare.
Highlights
“The Firm” (1993), ABC tonight at 8: John Grisham’s best seller is filled with tension and intrigue, but does it go on forever. Tom Cruise stars as a young lawyer who finds dirty little secrets in the Memphis, Tenn., firm he joins right out of Harvard. Gene Hackman, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Hal Holbrook head a fine supporting cast. But like the Energizer rabbit, it keeps going and going and. …
“The 47th Annual NBA All-Star Game,” NBC Sunday at 3: The hoop spectacular is telecast from Cleveland. Basketball fans, this is your night. “R.S.V.P.: The World’s Funniest Party Disasters 2,” FOX Sunday at 7: This is the sequel to last January’s hilarity about mishaps at social occasions. The blunders packed into this hour would keep Miss Manners busy for 10 years. Dave Thomas hosts.
“Masterpiece Theatre: ‘Prime Suspect 5: Errors of Judgment,”’ KSPS Sunday at 8: Move over “NYPD Blue.” PBS is back with its top cop, and it has a dandy of a twopart thriller. (Part 2 airs next week.) Helen Mirren returns to her Emmy-winning role of police detective Jane Tennison. In Manchester, Tennison’s investigation of a murder turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with an evil drug lord called “The Street” (Steven Mackintosh). (He has his dogs perform his hits.) Similar to the other “Prime Suspect” tales, this one has grit, grime and intelligently written characters.
“Seduction in a Small Town” (1997), ABC Sunday at 9: This movie taps into every decent parent’s worst fears that he or she might be wrongly charged with child abuse. Once charged, the system (social workers, police and judges) beats the parent up emotionally by refusing to listen to the truth.
That’s what happens to perfect parents played by Melissa Gilbert and Brian McNamara. They live in a small town where circumstantial evidence and a few lies by a deceitful neighbor (Joely Fisher) make them look suspicious.
Cable Calls
“Tina Turner: Wildest Dreams,” SHOW tonight at 8: Tina Turner turns it on for an audience in Amsterdam. She’s as energetic as ever as she performs songs from her “Wildest Dreams” album.
She also delivers rousing renditions of favorites such as “Hero,” “Addicted to Love” and “What’s Love Got to Do With It.”
“Their Second Chance” (1997), LIFE Sunday at 8: Here’s a contemporary love story set by the sea in Massachusetts. “Chance” is full of romantic New England sunrises and brisk walks on the beach.