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Decoration Day

1990, Movie, PG, 100 mins

Decoration Day: Review

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Though rather stolid, this made-for-TV message movie features superb performances. Former judge Albert Finch (James Garner) is thoroughly enjoying his retirement, fishing at his Georgia retreat and letting the rest of the world go by. But housekeeper Rowena (Ruby Dee) feeds him gossip about their neighbors' doings. For example, Albert's nephew Billy Wendell (Norm Skaggs) has written the United States Government a letter at the behest of Albert's childhood friend, Gaspard "Gee" Pennywell (Bill Cobb), an African-American veteran of the second world war who flatly refuses to accept the Congressional Medal of Honor. Federal official named Michael Waring (Laurence Fishburne) storms into town, wrongly assuming that Billy and Albert, who's been drawn reluctantly into the affair, are bigots with an anti-black agenda. The more Albert tries to wrap things up, the further he's pulled into the debate. The married Billy, who's having an affair with legal secretary Terry Novis (Judith Ivey), also asks Albert for advice about his situation; he and Terry both have cancer and feel they need to make the most of every day. Albert hires Terry to assist in the Gee matter, and Albert uncovers some disturbing facts about Gee's heroic wartime service. Gee claims that after he single-handedly defeated a German platoon, he was shot by a racist American lieutenant who couldn't accept that a black man had shown up his Wwite soldiers. Neither Waring nor Albert can assuage Gee's bitterness, but Albert throws himself into a campaign to persuade Gee to accept the tribute he deserves, despite his mixed feelings. Director Robert Markowitz and screenwriter Robert Wilenski (who adapted the book by John William Corrington) allow the various problems of the white folks to overshadow the film's central subject matter, wartime intolerance towards African-American soldiers. But ultimately its examination of the deterioration of Gee and Albert's interracial friendship is ultimately far more gripping than terminal illnesses, infidelity or Albert's budding September-December romance with Terry. leave a comment --Robert Pardi
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