Movie Review: "The Promise" (1986)

Synopsis: After the death of his mother, Bobby (James Garner) is obligated to fulfill a promise he made to her: to look after his brother, D.J. (James Woods).  The only problem is: D.J. suffers from schizophrenia, and is rather difficult to handle! Bobby tries and tries to help his brother out, but things keep getting out of hand.  Will he be able to get through to D.J.?
Part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame series of telefilms.

The Good: This film garnered serious critical acclaim upon its release, and the acting is superb, especially James Woods as a mentally challenged man.  Not since Tony Shalhoub's portrayal of "defective detective"Adrian Monk have I seen a psychological condition portrayed that well.  The other actors also do well, but, it's pretty much D.J.'s show here.  Also, the production values are great for an old-school telefilm.

The Bad: If only the moral content matched up to the rest of the movie.  Profanity abounds, ranging from at least six or so uses each of the d-word and h-word, plus a misuse of God's name or two, alongside euphemisms such as "gee" and "butt".  One scene shows Bobby engaging in sexual activity with a woman--he isn't married--which gets interrupted when D.J. walks in; the woman is later referred to as "a whore," though she really isn't one.  Plus, the emotional scenes, especially the fighting between D.J. and Bobby, can be hard to watch at times; then again, maybe that's the point.

Conclusion: Several Hallmark telefilms--The Love Letter, Follow the Stars Home, The Christmas Card, etc.--are among my mom's favorites.  Not only are they sweet romances, but they're very clean when it comes to content; the former one barely even earns its "PG" rating.  My mom believes in media discernment--she's the one who instilled that value in me--so, I thought that a classic Hallmark Hall of Fame TV movie like this would be right up my alley (and hers, too)...but, it wasn't.  You'd think that old-school media would be cleaner than the newer stuff; well, not in this case.  Though the performances were fabulous, the "PG-13" (even by modern standards) content ruined this for me.

Score: 2/5