The Summer of Ben Tyler (1996)

Storyline : A man who acts upon his conscience opens a Pandora's box of racism and intolerance. Temple Rayburn is an attorney who li...

Storyline : A man who acts upon his conscience opens a Pandora's box of racism and intolerance. Temple Rayburn is an attorney who lives and works in a small Southern community in the 1940s. When Rayburn and his wife Celia encounter a young man named Ben Tyler--a mentally-challenged African-American youth with nowhere to go--they take pity on him and let him stay in their home. However, in a time and place when black and white citizens were not allowed to use the same drinking fountain, Temple's decision raises more than a few eyebrows, and the Rayburn household soon becomes the center of a local political firestorm. {full_page}

Cast : James Woodsi, Elizabeth McGovern, Len Cariou, Julia McIlvaine, Kevin Isola, Clifton James, Anita Gillette, Charles Mattocks, Millie Perkins