Review of My Sweet Charlie

Melodramatic and contrived though it may be, this acclaimed television drama about the budding friendship between a temporarily homeless, pregnant white girl and a black man running from the law attempts to do a real service in examining race relations in the late-'60s south. Richard Levinson and William Link adapted David Westheimer's novel (and failed Broadway play) with great care and sensitivity, and the dialogue between these two disparate, desperate characters is often raw and ultimately rewarding. The central situation, however--two luckless people in a resort town closed for the off-season, taking refuge in a lighthouse cottage--is pure hokum. Patty Duke won the Emmy for Outstanding Leading Actress, though her affectation in the early scenes shows her insecurity, not the character's; Al Freeman, Jr.'s angry black lawyer from the north is also tough to swallow, however both performers do improve as the tale unfolds, and the finale is quietly affecting.