Can Hallmark Hall of Fame produce a movie that a viewer can disagree with and be angered by? Little John is a movie that may divide viewers into two camps: Many people will be touched by themes of forgiveness, healing, and reunification in a family that has come apart. They will also appreciate the excellent acting by Ving Rhames and Gloria Reuben, and in a smaller but essential role, Patty Duke. Other viewers will not be able to applaud those high-quality aspects of Little John because they can’t get past the story’s apparent disapproval of adoption. This attitude is not helpful in a time when unwed mothers may think of abortion or keeping the baby as their only options, when giving up a child for adoption, while difficult, maybe the best solution for mother and baby. And so many couples are waiting to adopt children into stable, two-parent homes. Little John begins with a phone call to John Morgan, the widowed father of Natalie Britain, a single college student. She’s had a baby and apparently father and daughter are now estranged—-he has treated her pregnancy as a betrayal of her potential and his investment in her future. But he drives down to a “home” and is told that the baby (unknown to Natalie) has not been placed for adoption and that he can have the child, because “if the baby is adopted he’ll be lost to you and your daughter forever.” Without any discussion about Natalie’s wishes or any notice to her, John takes the baby home with him. Fast forward about 11 years. John has done a terrific job of rearing L.J. (Little John), who is polite and smart and works hard on his grandfather’s farm, with annual visits from John’s sister Etta (Adilah Barnes), who lives with her husband, Lou, in Los Angeles. L.J.’s been told his mother left him with his grandfather because she had things to do, but L.J. tells his friends that his mother is dead. L.J. tentatively asks John about the possibility of a father, but that idea is quickly quashed. Unfortunately, John is in bad health (we later learn that he has a heart condition). After Etta shows him a newspaper clipping, which L.J. sees too, reporting that Natalie has been appointed to serve as judge of the Family Court in Los Angeles (complete with photo), John and L.J. get in the pick-up and begin the trip from Texas to Los Angeles. None of the actors has the slightest trace of a Texas accent, but that’s easy to forgive. The trip is eventful—John is taken ill while driving in southeastern California and L.J., now 12, has to drive the truck back to a diner, get help, and see John briefly hospitalized. After John and L.J. get to Etta and Lou’s, John is hospitalized again and must have a pacemaker implanted. L.J. takes the bus and subway from Burbank to downtown Los Angeles without any problems, thanks to uniformly pleasant adults that are, perhaps, an unrealistic presentation of adults relating to a lone child in a large city. Things drag out a little as L.J. has trouble getting to meet Judge Britain and gathers the courage to tell her who he is. Meanwhile, we’ve seen that Natalie’s life hasn’t been easy since she gave up her baby and cut off relations with her father. This is portrayed through her strict treatment of people who harm children and then come before her court. Also, she seems ambiguous about a closer relationship with another judge (Ruben Santiago-Hudson), a good man whom she’s been dating for a while. Natalie is furious when John shows up as a spectator, with L.J., in her court. John’s not pleased with Natalie either, but he believes that the family fences must be mended before his time runs out. Without revealing the ultimate resolution, this paragraph is going to give away a surprise (or something meant to be a surprise that some viewers will intuit), so skip it, unless your kids are going to watch the show—in that case, you’ll need to think about how to discuss it. When Natalie is alone with her father, she reveals that one reason for her anger at her thwarted adoption plans is that her pregnancy with L.J. was the result of rape. The rape is not presented, but the moments leading up to it are. She did not tell her father at the time because he was so angry and assumed she’d conceived L.J. in a consensual relationship. John is devastated about his own behavior. He asks Natalie to tell L.J. the circumstances of the pregnancy so L.J. will know why Natalie “didn’t want him.” Natalie asks L.J., at a reasonably good moment, if he knows what rape is and he nods—and it doesn’t take much for him to understand why she asked. She explains that she gave him up for adoption so he would “never have to know.” He begins to cry and asks if that means he’ll be a rapist, too. To the scriptwriter’s credit, Natalie and Etta do a good job of telling him that the man he will grow to be like is his beloved grandfather. Matters progress toward the good themes of healing and reconciliation. The ideas that a woman might give up her baby for adoption because adoption will be the best and most loving thing for the baby and often for the mother should have received “equal time” in the script with the outrageous assumptions that blood ties take precedence or that only mothers who don’t “want” their babies give them up for adoption. Robert Bailey, Jr., who plays L.J., has appeared in several TV shows and a couple of movies and has won a Young Artist Award. His somewhat emotionless performance (after the trauma and upheaval he experiences in a short time) must be attributed to a script or director who would allow him to be a “good kid in control” and not much else.
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