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Vinegar Hill

 (Movie -- CBS, Sat. May 24, 8 p.m.)

By BRIAN LOWRY

Filmed in Winnipeg by von Zerneck-Sertner Films. Executive producers, Frank von Zerneck, Robert Sertner, Ira Pincus; co-executive producers, Peter Werner, Randy Sutter; producer, Peter Sadowski; director, Werner; writer, Suzette Couture; based on the book by A. Manette Ansay;
 
Ellen - Mary-Louise Parker
Jake - Tim Guinee
Fritz - Tom Skerritt
Mary-Margaret - Betty Buckley
Amy-Eleven - Clare Stone
Bert - Ty Wood
Salome - Hollis McLaren
Tom - Colin Ferguson
 

Given the scheduling -- as low-viewing windows go, Saturday of Memorial Day weekend could hardly be more barren -- CBS clearly doesn't care if anybody watches this long-on-the-shelf movie. That's a shame until roughly the last 20 minutes, when the project -- which features a pedigreed cast headed by Mary-Louise Parker and is based on A. Manette Ansay's Oprah book club selection -- veers into over-the-top melodrama. Dark and tense at first, "Vinegar Hill" has its merits, but it's an arduous final leg to the top.

Parker and Tim Guinee play Ellen and Jake, who are forced to move in with Jake's parents after he loses his job. Fritz (Tom Skerritt) and Mary-Margaret (Betty Buckley) still reside on the family farm of his childhood, and it's a cold, loveless marriage: He's surly bordering on abusive, and she comes off like a feather-headed Blanche DuBois, though Ellen initially dismisses them as "strange, but they're harmless."

Both are still suffering from the death of their other son, Mitch, the circumstances of which remain vague. Increasingly, however, Fritz's behavior seems dangerous, and Jake begins falling apart -- behaving like a cowering little boy. The strain wears on Jake and Ellen's relationship, as she reconnects with an old beau ("Eureka's" Colin Ferguson) still carrying a torch for her from their high-school days. Throw in a family secret buried in the woods and, well, let's just say matters are going to get worse before anything gets better.

Writer Suzette Couture and director Peter Werner obviously had plenty of ground to cover in adapting Ansay's novel, so cut them some slack for a degree of shorthand capturing the characters. Notably, religion -- a significant element in the book -- also appears to have been downplayed.

Even so, it's hard to buy that Ellen would be so cavalier at first about Fritz and Mary Margaret's eccentricities (he barks orders and snaps his fingers when he wants something) when her own children are exposed to them in such close quarters. Pic really loses its bearings, though, in the final act, racing through more family baggage than a week's worth of "Jerry Springer" episodes.

Produced back when CBS still programmed a regular Sunday movie, "Vinegar Hill" reflects some of the failings that beset the network's franchise; nevertheless, the airdate (with a new version of "Sybil," starring Jessica Lange, also earmarked for a Saturday in June) stands out as an ignominious kiss-off to the genre, especially in light of the talent involved.

Camera, Ousama Rawi; production designer, Rejean Labrie; editor, Anita Brandt Burgoyne; music, Richard Marvin; casting, Susan Glicksman, Alex Wald. 120 MIN.