Television Reviews : ‘April Morning’ Wages a Bland Revolution on CBS

There was a time when a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” was nearly bankable as a highlight of any TV season. No more, as evidenced by “April Morning,” a pleasant but somewhat bland drama airing at 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).

Based on a novel by Howard Fast, it’s a battle in search of a focused story, a personalization of the famed April 19, 1775 clash between hundreds of British troops and 70 armed local militiamen in Lexington, Mass., that touched off the Revolutionary War.

James Lee Barrett’s script has the Colonies reaching revolution and 15-year-old Adam Cooper (Chad Lowe) reaching manhood simultaneously, a maturation accelerated by despair and personal tragedy.

Adam and his charismatic father (Tommy Lee Jones) have been estranged. But on this morning they stand together among the ragtag farmers and tradesmen gathered on the Lexington green to symbolically block British regulars from marching to Concord and destroying a Colonial arms depot.

The militia’s plan is to ultimately give way, not fight. But a mysterious unordered shot triggers wild gunfire, resulting in eight Colonials being killed, others wounded and the panicked flight of their comrades before the onslaught of Redcoats. On their return, however, the British are harassed, ambushed and picked off by increasing numbers of colonists, including Adam, family friend Joseph Simmons (Robert Urich) and the colorful Soloman Chandler (Rip Torn).

The performances are credible. And credit director Delbert Mann with avoiding schmaltz and bringing a tense realism to the fateful clash on the green, as the vastly outnumbered militiamen stand nervously before the thundering drums and approaching line of British muskets and bayonets, before finally breaking. It’s a fine sequence, leading to hit-and-run counterattacks in which Adam at once kills and is repulsed by killing.

The pace meanders a bit as we look in on Adam’s girlfriend (Meredith Salenger) and mother (Susan Blakely) and tramp through the woods in search of Redcoats. What “April Morning” lacks most, however, is incisiveness, a definable purpose beyond portraying a narrow segment of revolution through young eyes.

The bloody skirmishes and Adam’s personal awakening are nicely executed. But there isn’t much point, except to state the obvious: that we are sometimes forced by circumstances into doing what is unpleasant and that warfare ages everyone.