Television Reviews : Gless Goes Renegade in ‘The Outside Woman’

“Cagney & Lacey” cop Sharon Gless goes renegade--with a Southern accent--in “The Outside Woman” (at 9 p.m. Sunday on Channels 2 and 8). The melodrama may brew nostalgia for the days when Gless was on the right side of the law, but the cliches are mitigated by humor and a dash of the unexpected.

Gless plays Joyce, a dreamy Louisiana good-ol’-gal millworker (“Men have been talkin’ me in and out of things most of mah life”) who engineers a prison escape and is party to grand theft and kidnaping, all because she falls for a convict named Jesse (Scott Glenn).

Jesse is in for armed robbery and assault, and he’s married, but Joyce doesn’t ask him to explain; her philosophy is “When things get real, talkin’ ain’t worth spit.”

Fellow cons Billy (Max Gail) and Jimmy (Kyle Secor) hitch a ride on the escape vehicle--a helicopter commandeered by Joyce. Freedom is a few days of stolen cars, motel rooms and police pursuit.

The film is based on a true story; the woman was sentenced to a 40-year prison term. But screenwriter William Blinn, director Lou Antonio and the likable cast mostly skim the motivational surface, taking viewers on an ingenuous, easy ride. There are a few quiet, telling moments, however, and Gless, soft-eyed and wistful, makes the most of them.