AND NEVER LET HER GO

AND NEVER LET HER GO (2001 telefilm/2 part, 4 hour mini-series). Director: Peter Levin.

Based on Queen Ghoul Ann Rule's true-crime book, this is the story of Thomas Capano (Mark Harmon) and his lover Anne Marie Fahey (Kathryn Morris of Cold Case), who disappeared one night after an argument with Capano. Rachel Ward of The Thornbirds and Night School plays a mistress that the married Capano had for twenty years; both she and Capano's wife were unaware at first of his involvement with Fahey. Olympia Dukakis is Capano's mother, who gets angrier at her other sons for telling on Capano than she is with the son who committed murder. Paul Michael Glaser is the detective on the case. Morris is excellent, Harmon is much better than usual, and the large supporting cast is mostly on the money. They probably didn't need four hours to tell this sad and sordid story, however.

Verdict: Reasonably absorbing true crime drama. ***.