Drive-in movie is stale treat in Hallmark's hallowed canon

"Hallmark Hall of Fame" begins a remarkable 50th season at 8 tonight on CBS (Channel 5) by adapting an Iowa author's first novel. "The Flamingo Rising," based on the book by Larry Baker, is a story about a drive-in theater in the 1960s and all the crazy, off-beat characters who work there. It's also a story about a Korean-American coming of age in his adopted land, a story about real estate and a story about the way we used to go to the movies. In other words, "The Flamingo Rising" is the kind of sprawling great American novel that would take days to tell using pictures and narrative. Give credit to the screenwriter, Richard Russo, for trying valiantly to shoehorn in as much detail from the book as possible. But in the resulting chaos, too many characters flit in and out of the picture, and story lines drift off for long siestas. The only thing that makes a strong impression here is the nostalgia - a "Hall of Fame" hallmark. It doesn't help that William Hurt gets top billing in "The Flamingo Rising" but barely factors into the story. Except for a couple of poignant scenes at the end, Hurt spends most of this movie reacting, usually with a constipated face, to the antics of his next-door neighbor, played by Brian Benben. For those of you now asking yourself Brian Who, he was the star of an HBO series called "Dream On" in the early 1990s and, for about a week and a half, his own sitcom on CBS. One senses in "The Flamingo Rising" that CBS is making good on an ill-fated contract. Good for Benben and his agent; bad for us. In the opening scene we see Benben at the wheel of a red convertible, his pretty wife at his side (played by Elizabeth McGovern), two children in the back seat. In a voice-over, Christopher Larkin, who plays the boy, explains that his father is Hubert T. Lee, a war veteran who brought him and his sister back from Korea. The year is 1960-something, and the family is singing along with the radio hits of that era, as happy families always do in TV movies. Soon their paths cross with Hurt, whose funeral home is adjacent to 200 acres of primo real estate Hubert is fixing to buy. For reasons that are never fully explained, the sight of a mortician instantly hardens his heart. Hubert must have the land and he must build a movie theater on it, for he knows that will make Hurt's life miserable. He erects a five-story screen and starts booking triple features with titles like "Night of the Living Dead" and "The Body Grinders." The ghoulish images light up his neighbor's front yard and the blood-curdling screams destroy his solace - just the way Hubert wants it. Before we can ponder this odd vendetta, we are introduced to the real star of the show, the drive-in theater. The scenes at the drive-in are as much fun to watch as they probably were to make. There's one especially gorgeous visual, taken from above, of two or three dozen automobiles parked neatly in rows, all bubble tops and tailfins, all washed and glowing in the moonlight, their headlights pointed at the big screen, transfixed, as if the cars - not their restless occupants - have come to see a movie. Working the drive-in, Hubert is allowed to indulge his Walter Mitty side. He dons a pirate costume and stages sword fights atop the concession stand. But much of "The Flamingo Rising" is about Hubert's inner struggle, about being a caring dad while keeping his personal demons at bay. Benben can't convey any of this. In many scenes he doesn't even try, putting on a frown or a grin, whatever seems best. That leaves McGovern, Hubert's saintly wife, to move the story along. She tells her son that his daddy is a good man, a loving man, but one who "sometimes needs to be saved from himself." That's true, and at times McGovern saves Benben from his limits as an actor. In recent years "Hallmark Hall of Fame" has become a well-oiled machine, with many of the same directors, writers and crew returning year after year. Aside from the rare clinker like "The Flamingo Rising," their formula of Oscar Winner plus A More Innocent Time plus Tragedy plus Redemption has served them well. Still - if I may be nostalgic for a moment - the "Hall of Fame" I remember used to take more chances. It would be nice to see a stage play again, or even something like "Old Man," the meditative Faulkner story that Hallmark filmed a few years ago. After all, if you can't do something special on your anniversary, when can you? You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com @ART CAPTION:William Hurt (left), Elizabeth McGovern and Brian Benben star in Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of "The Flamingo Rising." Olivia Oguma and Christopher Larkin also are featured. @ART CREDIT:E.J. CAMP @ART:Photo (color) >>>