A Family Reunited in ‘Little John’

Family ties can have a mysterious way of binding, even after being broken. Judge Natalie Britain, an achiever haunted by a secret from her past, learns that the hard way in “Little John,” a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie (Sunday, 9 p.m., CBS).

As a family court judge in Los Angeles, Britain (Gloria Reuben) routinely makes rulings affecting children and their families, but it was a personal decision she made 12 years ago that has changed the course of three particular lives, including her own. She always assumed her unacknowledged child was adopted by strangers, but he wasn’t: Little John (Robert Bailey Jr.), as he came to be known, was raised on a Texas farm by Natalie’s father, John (Ving Rhames), from whom Natalie has been estranged since her pregnancy caused a rift between them.

Now John, in failing health, takes the boy on a road trip to California for a surprise reunion with Natalie, and Little John reenters her well-ordered life.

It’s not exactly a Hallmark moment, at least at first: The driven but detached Natalie is tepid to the idea of any kind of relationship with Little John, and the boy reacts with righteous resentment.

This well-crafted weeper, written by Temma Kramer and H. Haden Yelin and directed by Dick Lowry, is elevated by a fine cast that includes Patty Duke as Natalie’s feisty, nurturing aide.

Reuben, a former “ER” co-star, portrays the transition from hurt to healing as a painful and thoroughly plausible struggle. As a man with a chance to set things right, Rhames has a weary and soft-spoken charm that is a far cry from his roles in “Pulp Fiction” and “Don King: Only in America,” and he has an easy rapport with young Bailey.

It’s hard not to root for these folks. After all, they’re family.