Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 6, 1995 TAG: 9508040084
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RON MILLER KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Still, he's visibly bothered when two federal investigators approach him with the idea of helping them set up a sting operation to catch the corrupt judge in the act of taking a bribe.
``Every judge in that courthouse is either a friend of my father's or someone I grew up with,'' he complains to his mentor, his former law school professor.
But, ultimately, Judge Nash reluctantly agrees to cooperate in the federal sting - setting off a nightmarish chain of events that leads from one tragedy to another.
That's the central situation in ``Broken Trust,'' tonight's first-run movie on the TNT cable network, which serves as the vehicle for Tom Selleck's long-awaited return to television after a lengthy flirtation with movie stardom. The movie airs at 8 p.m., 10 p.m. and midnight.
Adapted from William P. Wood's novel, ``Broken Trust'' is a suspenseful film that gives Selleck his best dramatic role since the TV movie ``Divorce Wars'' more than a decade ago.
That movie featured veteran TV actor-director Charles Haid in a supporting role. Haid plays the target of the sting in ``Broken Trust,'' so perhaps he's Selleck's special good-luck charm.
The film is also bound to appeal to viewers who believe the legal profession is loaded with scoundrels and the government with treacherous types who will use any means to get people to take part in their investigations.
Judge Nash at first quotes, with wry humor, his dad's favorite saying: ``No lawyer will ever go to heaven as long as there's room for one more in hell.'' Later, he begins to suspect that's not as funny as it used to be.
Selleck's performance is strong and self-assured in a film much darker than his fans have come to expect after his big movie comedy hit, ``Three Men and A Baby'' and its popular sequel.
He's also miles away from the macho goings-on of ``Magnum, P.I.,'' the detective series that made him a star, and ``Quigley Down Under,'' the best of his action feature films to date.
Producer Lois Bonfiglio and director Geoffrey Sax have given Selleck every break in fashioning his TV comeback, including a screenplay by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, and a superb supporting cast including Marsha Mason as the presiding judge at the courthouse, Elizabeth McGovern as the federal agent who begins a romance with Selleck's character, William Atherton as the mean-spirited fed who shows him no mercy, Fritz Weaver as his father, Nicholas Pryor as his professorial mentor, and Haid as the judge who seems incapable of falling into the traps they've set for him.
The standout is Mason, playing a judge who's obsessed with her fading beauty and inability to attract men, including Judge Nash. It's a stirring, sad, poignant performance that's Emmy-worthy. Mason also plays the film's most shocking scene, a gut-wrencher that will lift you out of your seat in the final reel.
What really upsets Judge Nash is the ends to which the government is willing to go to force his cooperation. The deeper he gets into the sting operation, the wider the circle of corruption spreads and the more people become threatened with career-destroying exposure.
There's even the awesome possibility that a scabrous criminal defendant may go free because the court's integrity may be compromised.
Framed as a mystery of sorts, ``Broken Trust'' is an examination of contemporary ethics in our system of justice. It comes at a time when public distrust of lawyers, judges and government officials seems to be at an all-time high.
Selleck's return to television isn't permanent. He has completed another film for Showtime this fall, but still has a deal for feature films with Disney studios. He has said he won't consider any offers for TV series - but ``Broken Trust'' suggests there may be better things for him to do on the home screen.
by CNB