TV Reviews : Hallmark ‘Hall of Fame’ Presents a Special ‘Decoration Day’ on NBC

“Hallmark Hall of Fame,” despite the stuffiness of the name, has been doing something right for a long time (since 1952, in fact). When holidays are in the air, you can usually count on a “Hallmark” drama for strong characterization and a plot that will not, for example, hit you over the head.

“Decoration Day” (Sunday night at 9 on Channels 4, 36 and 39) stars a curmudgeonly, lonely James Garner as a retired and widowed Georgia judge who helps an estranged childhood friend, a black man, preserve his dignity when the man refuses to accept a Medal of Honor for his actions in World War II. Forget that the medal is offered 30 years late. He still doesn’t want it.

The teleplay by Robert W. Lenski, adapted from a novella by the late Southern writer John William Corrington, is dovetailed with layers of personal love stories affecting all the principal players. And it deftly exposes the residue of racism on the home front and the battlefront.

The journey here is indirect and explores several ruts and trails that spring from the judge’s determination to “settle up” his troubled relationship with his old black friend (a strong performance by Bill Cobbs).

The show’s flaw is its scattered structure, its subtle lack of narrative momentum. There’s plenty of emotional momentum. Garner, in a teary scene, falls in love with a woman half his age (Judith Ivey), and his reconciliation with his black boyhood friend on a rural road is a burnished moment touchingly rendered by director Robert Markowitz. The impressive score, notable for its use of the French horn, is by composer Patrick Williams, and the lakeside locations in northern Georgia are right off a greeting card.

The production (the eighth “Hallmark” drama from executive producer Marian Rees) certainly unfurls the “Hallmark” banner: an intelligent script, a measured rather than aggressive tone, and the affirmation of loyalty, heroism and, in this case, the restorative powers of memory (fluidly captured in flashbacks, including German war scenes).

In support are two yeasty performances: by the irascible Ruby Dee as Garner’s housekeeper and by Norm Skaggs as a bedeviled young husband whose yearning in his eyes capture some of actor James Dean’s old magic.