EDITOR’S NOTE: Family Sins was on the CBS Late Movie on April 21, 1988.
Directed by Jerrold Freedman (who used the Alan Smithee alias to direct The O.J. Simpson Story; he also directed the Bronson movie Borderline and Kansas City Bomber), written by George Rubino (Rage!, The Last Tenant) and originally broadcast on October 25, 1987, on CBS, this piece of dramatic art explores the toxic underbelly of domestic life, parental pressure and the desperate yearning for a father’s approval.
Gordon Williams (James Farentino) and his wife, Kate (Jill Eikenberry), live the quintessential suburban California life with their two sons, Bryan (Thomas Wilson Brown) and Keith (Andrew Bednarski). But beneath the sun-drenched exterior, the household is a pressure cooker. Keith is the golden-child extrovert: sporty, chipper and eager to mirror his father. Bryan, on the other hand, is quiet, bookish and sensitive, traits that draw the ire of Gordon. While Bryan finds solace in the kindness of a supportive science teacher, Ken McMahon (Brent Spiner), things at home quickly spiral out of control.
After a chaotic chain of events sparked by a lost classroom pet and simmering sibling resentment, the family tries to retreat to a summer lake cottage. On the edge of brotherly rivalry and Bryan’s deep-seated fear of water after a near-death experience, a tragic afternoon on the lake unfolds when a taunting game goes horribly wrong. With Keith drowning, Bryan’s desperate inaction sets off a police investigation, juvenile detention and a shattering confrontation with suburban guilt. The fallout forces the family into agonizing counseling, where Gordon must finally confront the generational abuse and harsh reality of his own upbringing.
Sure, Family Sins is the home game edition of Ordinary People, but it’s not all that bad. In fact, the film’s depiction of abusive domestic dynamics earned it a stamp of approval in later years, even being cited as a recommended viewing in self-help literature like Bernie Siegel and Holly Kelley’s Recovering the Self: A Journal of Hope and Healing.
You can watch this on YouTube.
