TV REVIEWS : ‘Son’s Promise’: Touching Saga of Brothers’ Survival

“A Son’s Promise” is a family survival story with a Dickensian twist: the mother dies, the boozing father hits the road and their kids--seven brothers, to be exact--are left to fend for themselves (at 9 tonight on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).

Their saga, a fact-based drama that touched the public pulse when it made headlines four years ago, is directed without pretension or gushy sentimentality by John Korty. The teleplay by Bill Stratton and Robert Inman is a telling commentary on the legal and social system’s stumbling inadequacy to do the right thing.

The production gives Rick Schroder a gritty role as the courageous, oldest son (15 at the time), fighting to keep a promise to his dying mom to keep the family together. Solid portrayals are rendered in the form of Donald Moffat’s grandpa, David Andrews’ ne’er-do-well father and Stephen Dorff and Andrew Lowery as two rebellious brothers.

But it’s Schroder’s show. Under relentless pressure as the boy who has no time to be a kid, who quits school to work and whips his reluctant brood into shape, Schroder is genuine and convincing. Here’s an adolescent role model so alien it looks fresh.

The brothers--”the seven dwarfs,” as someone calls them--are indeed finally split apart by the courts. Their house burns down, they have to depend on the kindness of strangers (a warm Veronica Cartwright and overly zealous businessman Boyd Gains), and they endure taunts from other kids.