Family Sins

Family Sins is a 1987 American crime drama made-for-television film, starring James Farentino as a father whose troubled son, Bryan, is arrested for voluntary manslaughter after the drowning of his spoiled younger brother, Keith. Accompanied by Jill Eikenberry, Thomas Wilson Brown, Andrew Bednarski and Richard Venture in other character roles, the film was released by London Films and received mixed reviews from critics. It was released on DVD in the early 2000s. Plot Gordon Williams and his wife, Kate Williams, are suburban Californian parents with two sons, Bryan and Keith. While Keith is more of a chipper, sporty extrovert who looks up to his father, Bryan is quiet, shy, nerdy and bookish, leaving him at odds with his father, who openly expresses favouritism towards Keith. Bryan looks up to Gordon as well, but has trouble expressing this; in the absence of his father's love, he finds solace in the praise of a kind-hearted male science teacher who stands up for him after he twists his ankle while playing baseball as the other players taunt him, including Keith, who is on the team. At home after losing the game, Bryan angrily tosses a baseball at Keith, who fails to catch the ball and then tattles on Bryan for "hitting" him. Bryan is punished without question. Keith openly berates Bryan for failing to win the baseball game, and mocks him for his failure to fit in with the family. Bryan offers to take home the class pet, a rabbit, even without parental permission. He confides in Keith despite his better judgment, and the two brothers play with the rabbit while their parents are out at a restaurant. During a lightning storm, the rabbit gets loose, and the brothers frantically search the house, knocking over a decorative lamp and smashing it by mistake. Gordon and Kate are angry upon returning home and finding the house in a mess, and when Gordon inevitably discovers the rabbit in the house, Keith declares that Bryan forced him to keep it a secret. Gordon demands that Bryan take the rabbit back to his science teacher, which would be hugely embarrassing for him; he subsequently runs away from home but fails to get very far and returns home, only to discover that his parents have called the police. Gordon does not comfort Bryan, but instead shouts at him, hits him in the face and offers to help him pack a suitcase so he can live on the street.