The phrase of life giving you lemons is a real parallel to the circumstances surrounding thus family's troubles. It's a slice of lemon mixed into the slice of life, and this family needs more than lemonade to survive. Stephen Lang is the third generation owner of this lemon grove farm, and it seems that the love of this life skips generations. His father walked out on that life years before, preferring life as a professional fisherman over raising citrus fruit. On the very day Lang finds out that the grove may contain diseased trees, his oldest son walks away from that life, and his estranged father (Ralph Waite) returns to it. Jobeth Williams, as Lang's strong willed wife, must pull all the strength she can muster to pull the family back together, an almost impossible task considering Lang's bitterness and self created distance.
The diagnostics of the family structure has many aspects, with parents supposed to know everything or expected to follow someone else's idea of what their life should be. Some families are strong on tradition, and to break away from that is considered by family elders or those trying to keep those traditions as a mortal sin. This film tries to deal with some of those issues, almost succeeding, in one way getting it right that some issues have aspects that can't be resolved. You wouldn't expect Ralph Waite's patriarch from "The Waltons" to ever run out on his family, but his character here is easily identifiable and very likable. His intro to daughter in law Williams is very moving, and the joy the youngest grandson has when they meet will be identifiable to anybody who considered their grandfather a mentor or hero while having a contemptible relationship with their father. Lang is intense as the hard to like husband and father who has more growing up to do than his sons.
This is an easy to take but flawed TV movie that has many unbelievable moments of family interactions. But it really succeeds in those quiet moments where Williams uses her motherly wisdom to try and pick up the pieces of the broken family tree and glue it back together. I don't think it was necessary to have her face a temptation with inspector Steven Meadows. The plot is strong enough to avoid standard plot developments like that. I'm not sure that the methods of curing family issues can be found within this film, but it provokes different ideas on generational differences and the morality that not every family business or livelihood will be right for every member. I must say that the fishing trip the male members of the family takes is thrilling. I bet what they caught tasted delicious with squeezed lemon from one of the healthy trees over it.
The diagnostics of the family structure has many aspects, with parents supposed to know everything or expected to follow someone else's idea of what their life should be. Some families are strong on tradition, and to break away from that is considered by family elders or those trying to keep those traditions as a mortal sin. This film tries to deal with some of those issues, almost succeeding, in one way getting it right that some issues have aspects that can't be resolved. You wouldn't expect Ralph Waite's patriarch from "The Waltons" to ever run out on his family, but his character here is easily identifiable and very likable. His intro to daughter in law Williams is very moving, and the joy the youngest grandson has when they meet will be identifiable to anybody who considered their grandfather a mentor or hero while having a contemptible relationship with their father. Lang is intense as the hard to like husband and father who has more growing up to do than his sons.
This is an easy to take but flawed TV movie that has many unbelievable moments of family interactions. But it really succeeds in those quiet moments where Williams uses her motherly wisdom to try and pick up the pieces of the broken family tree and glue it back together. I don't think it was necessary to have her face a temptation with inspector Steven Meadows. The plot is strong enough to avoid standard plot developments like that. I'm not sure that the methods of curing family issues can be found within this film, but it provokes different ideas on generational differences and the morality that not every family business or livelihood will be right for every member. I must say that the fishing trip the male members of the family takes is thrilling. I bet what they caught tasted delicious with squeezed lemon from one of the healthy trees over it.
