Greed, envy, pride. Gentle as it is, the Showtime drama Horton Foote’s Alone takes a scalpel to the deadly sins of family dysfunction. But then playwright screenwriter Horton Foote (Old Man, Tender Mercies, To Kill a Mockingbird) is a master of cunning understatement.
With Alone, premiering at 8 tonight, Foote returns to his favorite setting – Texas. Hume Cronyn stars as a cotton farmer and lonely widower John Webb, who needs comfort from his grown daughters and nephews. Instead he gets selfish grappling over oil money when an oil company starts drilling on his farm. Ultimately he finds sustenance in friends.
– KINNEY LITTLEFIELD
A boy and his horse
In Flash, tonight a t 7 on ABX, Lucas Black (Sling Blade) plays a 14-year-old Southern boy who travels from a small Southern town to New York City on horseback to reunite with his father. Times are tough and money is scarce for the Strong family. Young Connor’s mom is dead and his father, David (Brian Kerwin), reluctantly takes a five-month job as a merchant seamann to earn a large paycheck.
Connor is left behind with his grandmother, Laura (Ellen Burnstyn). Tragedy strikes and Connor is forced to sell his beloved colt flash for money to help make ends meet. When the horse is mistreated by its new owner, Connor takes Flash and flees.
Traveling via back roads and through small towns, Connor and Flash set off for New York City, where he plans to meet his father’s ship on the day it docks. Shawn Toovey (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman) also stars in this Wonderful World of Disney presentation. Simon Wincer (Free Willy, Lonesome Dove) directs.
– DONNA J. PLESH
Christmas in ’34
Patty Duke heads the cast of A Christmas Memory (9 tonight on CBS), a new holiday drama about a young boys’ special friendship with his much older cousin. Based on a short story by Truman Capote, the tale is set in a small Southern town at Christmastime in 1934. Eric Lloyd, Piper Laurie, Anita Gillette and Jeffrey DeMunn also star. Please see review in today’s TV Book.
– DONNA J. PLESH
