Terrific performances and subtle scripting make "The Fling", a simple little story, pack an emotional story. It's a solid exemplar of what Richard Boone was driving at with his innovative repertory theater series for television.
It opens by showing us the codependency of Boone's marriage to Bethel Leslie. Eight years ago she took ill, and he gave up everything to move them to a little shack in the desert where he cares for her. With "Blue Moon" creeping in and out on the soundtrack, we see their simple life with simple pleasures, and a loving relationship.
But Harry Morgan as Boone's old war buddy who was Leslie's boyfriend long ago, we have an unstated, completely repressed triangle established. It's refreshing to see Morgan, so much identified with low-key, no-nonsense roles, here as an ebullient, hale & hearty fellow nicknamed Sailor, often a little bit drunk as he runs a diner sv4erl miles from the couple's home. Completing the central cast is Laura Devon, perfect in a classic Homewrecker role, tempting Boone toward sin from the moment he lays eyes upon her.
Boone gives a tightly-wound performance, always seeming on the verge of bursting out of his holding-everything-inside facade, leading to a very strong confrontation between the two men. The program's denouement is at first heart-breaking but then ending on a more positive, heartwarming note.
I really enjoyed this little play, not a bombastic 4-character drama like
"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? But in its own insinuating way comes to quite a different, viable conclusion.