Word of Honor

In the aftermath of sensationalistic TV movies that have come down the pike since this one, a bit of the sting has worn off and it comes across as rather simple now. Still, some good acting and a solid moral viewpoint help make it worthwhile entertainment. Malden plays a reporter who receives an anonymous tip about the whereabouts of a missing teen girl. The tip leads him and the police to a prominent citizen who has been kidnapping, raping and sometimes killing various stray girls. Problem is, the only way to make the charges stick is for Malden to reveal his source to the judge, but he gave his word that he would never do so. Thus, he becomes a town pariah and his wife and three daughters find themselves paying a price for his silence. Malden gives a typically strong, effective performance. The movie is pretty much a showcase of his considerable talents. McClanahan, however, as the wife, gets in a couple of good licks as well. Silver gives weight to his minor role of a visiting reporter covering the brouhaha and Malkovich makes his screen debut as the fiancee of one of Malden's daughters. What's contrived is how there just happen to be events, desires and so on of the family which are cruelly stomped out as a result of this issue (loan refusals, rejected auditions, wedding snubs, etc...) It gets to be a little unbelievable, but thanks to a cast that is mostly rooted in reality, it comes across pretty well and winds up being a moving film. (It, thankfully, has no sign of the hyper-kinetic violence, faux-terror, rain-soaked revenge aspects which have overrun virtually all TV movies since the late-80's!)