Reviewing Movies

Picket Fences may not have the Blue Ridge Mountains setting of The Waltons but it has the same small town sensibilities and caring attitude that is accepting of eccentricity. The law is dispensed here with decency, respect, and humour without resorting to the cornball of a Boss Hog. Weird and screwball things happen in Rome, Wisconsin but it is the fact that the actors play it straight that adds to the humour. Tom Skerritt plays the straight man with aplomb; the hulking Costas Mandylor comes just short of being the dumb oaf to Lauren Holly’s smart Deputy. Making My Favourite Martian the town judge is inspired casting and he’s the perfect foil for the ambulance chasing lawyer.

Where else would Rusty the Tin Man die of heart failure, a child bring a severed hand to show and tell or a dwarf show up in town riding an elephant? What other Sheriff would bring the elephant home to stay in his garage? Picket Fences is crime without victims, menace without intimidation, and embarrassment without humiliation. The officers here care about people and it shows. Sheriff Brock runs the town the same way he cares for his family.