BY LEE PFEIFFER
The 1937 short story "Noon Wine" by Katherine Anne Porter was instrumental in salvaging director Sam Peckinpah's career in the mid-1960s after he alienated studio brass with his over-budgeted western "Major Dundee". Peckinpah's spirited defense of his preferred cut of the film ended badly. Columbia Pictures butchered the movie and had Peckinpah virtually blacklisted from feature films. He found salvation by winning acclaim for his 1966 TV adaptation of "Noon Wine" starring Jason Robards. In 1985, the PBS series "American Playhouse" telecast a new adaptation of Porter's work, this time starring Fred Ward. The little-remembered production has been released on DVD by Kino Lorber.
The story opens on a farm in Texas in the 1890s. Here, Royal Earl Thompson (Fred Ward) endures a backbreaking amount of daily work to provide for his wife Ellie (Lise Hilboldt) and their two young sons. Royal is a good man with an admirable work ethic. He loves his wife and children but, like so many farmers of the era, nature and fate seem destined to keep him from being successful. Ellie suffers from undefined bouts of ill health and seems frustrated with her lot in life. She is devoted to Royal, as he is to her, but she is clearly the intellectual superior in the relationship. One day, a stranger stops by the farm. He's a hulking Swedish immigrant named Olaf Helton (Stellan Skargard) and he clearly is an odd duck. Helton seeks work and Royal hires him, though he has some understandable misgivings. Helton is almost robotic. He never smiles and speaks only when necessary and even then in only a few words. Nevertheless, he proves to be an outstanding worker and the family comes to regard him as one of their own, even if his lack of reciprocal emotion remains bizarre. He has no vices aside from monotonously playing the same tune on a harmonica. The story shifts to nine years later. Everything is going well for the Thompsons. With Helton's invaluable assistance, Royal has made the farm a success and for the first time his family has some trappings of luxury. However, fate is about to intervene again with the arrival of another mysterious stranger. This time it's Homer T. Hatch (Pat Hingle), a gregarious, overly chatty man who turns out to be a bounty hunter looking for Helton. He informs Royal that Helton is actually an escaped murderer and tells him fantastic details relating to his alleged criminal past. Royal is left with a clear dilemma. What if Hatch is lying or exaggerating? Should he send his trusted friend off to a possibly terrible fate? What if Hatch is telling the truth? Is he allowing his wife and now teenage sons to coexist with a mentally ill man who at any moment might be tempted to do them harm? The situation results in a dramatic event that will have profound consequences for all involved.
This adaptation of "Noon Wine" was the first film directed by Michael Fields, who has gone on to a very successful career as a TV director. The talent was evident in this teleplay, as Fields handles the unusual story and talented cast with the precision of a very experienced filmmaker. The cast is uniformly outstanding, with even the small roles played with precision. (Young Jon Cryer appears as one of the teenage boys.) However, this production is defined by Fred Ward's truly remarkable performance that was Emmy worthy. In watching Ward on screen, I became aware of the fact that his talents have never been fully utilized in television or films. He should be a much bigger star.
The Kino Lorber DVD has a transfer that is adequate but nothing to rave about. There is a most welcome commentary track by director Michael Fields in which he provides interesting anecdotes about the production, which was executive produced by the estimable team of James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. The film's rather shocking climax may not appeal to all viewers and they may ponder (as I did) the relevance of the title's meaning. However, anyone will relish the merits of this excellent achievement by one and all associated with it.
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