Racism Tears at a Family in ‘Summer’s End’

With the thoughtful and well-acted drama “Summer’s End,” which airs Sunday, Showtime caps a month of programming carried in celebration of Black History Month.

An engrossing tale of family, friendship and racism, “Summer’s End” begins in a calm and deceptively benign manner that belies the hatred at the heart of the story.

The setting is a lakeside home in Georgia where young Jamie (Jake LeDoux) and his teenage brother Hunter (Brendan Fletcher) spend the summer of 1984 after the recent death of their father.

Tentative but willing to try new experiences, Jamie chooses to hang with the big boys, namely the protective Hunter and his raucous friends.

Nothing, it seems, can come between the siblings, until Jamie befriends Bill (James Earl Jones), a principled black doctor whose unexpected arrival is greeted with cold shoulders and derision by bigoted locals familiar with his past connection to the community.

A key element of Bill’s background is revealed in a series of painful flashbacks to a traumatic childhood incident involving the murder of a family member. Beyond that, the drama deals with tragedy, vandalism and cowardice of the worst kind as the bond between the brothers is put to a genuine test when Hunter sides with his cruel, ignorant peers.

In her feature film debut as director, longtime actress Helen Shaver draws fine performances from a very capable cast that includes Wendy Crewson as the boys’ mother and Al Waxman as chief antagonist. Newcomer LeDoux also makes a good impression with his natural, unaffected portrayal, which plays nicely opposite the intensity supplied by the ever-imposing Jones.

Grant Scharbo and Jim Thompson wrote the moody teleplay, which is punctuated with emotional outbursts and confrontations. The script establishes a credible rapport between Bill and Jamie while effectively exploring the ties that bind as well as the foul forces of racial discord that can shatter them.

* “Summer’s End” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on Showtime. The network has rated it TV-14 (may be unsuitable for children under 14).