‘Heaven’ Struggles Against Script in Civil Rights Drama

The CBS movie “The Price of Heaven” charts the growth of a young man’s conscience as his country struggles to do the same. It’s the sort of understated movie we’d like to see more of on television. Yet even in its best moments, it’s merely bland; in its worst, it’s grossly formulaic.

Peter Bogdanovich, of “The Last Picture Show” fame, directs this story of a soldier returning to his small Southern town after the Korean War. Dreaming of a life beyond the one his parents knew in the cotton mills, he attempts door-to-door sales, including a job selling funeral insurance to African Americans.

Realizing the policies are meant to bilk these customers as soon as they miss a couple of payments, the young man is torn between compassion and his dreams of riches. What’s more, he realizes that, as much as America has taken advantage of poor people like his parents, it has done far worse to its nonwhite citizens.

Though hampered by a cheesy Southern drawl, Grant Show, one of the resident hunks at “Melrose Place,” conveys a square-jawed honesty that falls just shy of being entirely effective and, as the client who most touches his heart, Cicely Tyson attempts another of those heavily aged roles (here, she’s toothless, hunch-shouldered, frail-looking and, alas, not quite convincing) that earned her raves for “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”

Based on a novella by Allan Gurganus (also author of the source material for CBS’ miniseries “The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All”), the story contains some vivid details. For instance, the black clients call Show’s character “Assurance,” a twist on “insurance” that poignantly underscores their misplaced trust in a corrupt system.

But, oh, the creaky lines these actors are forced to deliver in Joyce Eliason’s teleplay: Attempting to convey his dreams to his hometown girlfriend, Show is forced to say, “There’s so much out there. So much. There’s whole different ways of living, full of grace and beauty and money . . . and stuff like that,” while icky-sweet piano music tinkles on the soundtrack.

Bogdanovich is frightfully ham-fisted at times, but for the most part, he gently underscores what’s going on here. Though it’s never directly addressed, a civil rights awareness is blossoming in certain of these characters. Yet despite its good intentions, “The Price of Heaven” fizzles into just another tale of a handsome, promising young man who’s trying to choose between his sweet longtime girlfriend (Lori Loughlin) and a rich, obnoxious bombshell (Cari Shayne)--as though, in the middle of production, everyone began acting from a discarded “Melrose Place” script.

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“The Price of Heaven” airs Sunday at 9 p.m. on CBS (Channel 2). It has been rated TV-PG (may not be appropriate for young children).