`Gambler V' Isn't A Good Bet, Even With Kenny Rogers

"Gambler V: Playing for Keeps," CBS miniseries, 9 p.m. Sunday and Tuesday, KIRO-TV.

"Jack Reed: A Search for Justice,' "NBC Sunday Movie," 9 p.m., KING TV.

"For the Love of Nancy," "ABC Sunday Movie," 9 p.m., KOMO-TV. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Just as the new prime-time series this season look pretty much like ones we've already seen, Sunday night's crop of TV movies indicates we needn't expect too much originality from that quarter, either: two sequels and a disease-of-the-week.

The "biggie," if one can call it that, is CBS' two-part "Gambler V: Playing for Keeps." which begins Sundaynight and concludes Tuesday night. Once again Kenny Rogers revives Brady Hawkes, the character he sang about in his hit record (and continues to sing about in this movie's soundtrack).

And in seeking new adventures for the character Rogers played in the previous four films, the filmmakers seem to have taken a page from Forrest Gump's book. Just as he continually turns up in the company of all manner of important figures, Hawkes gets tangled up with Butch Cassidy, the Sundance Kid, Etta Place and showbiz legend Lilly Langtry.

And how is this accomplished? Well, it seems Brady has a son, Jeremiah, who is supposed to be in college but is, instead, on the "Wanted" list with Butch and Sundance, part of the "Wild Bunch." When Brady sees his son's picture with the "Wild Bunch" in a Fort Worth newspaper (the time is roughly turn of the century), Brady sets out to find Jeremiah, nicknamed "Fingers" by Butch and Sundance because he's in charge of explosives in their bank and train-robbing exploits.

Once this premise is established, the film turns into a collection of old Western movie cliches - train robbing, bank robbing, shootouts, range riding and the like. There is a chase in the Fort Worth Opera House, where Langtry (played by Dixie Carter) is performing, that seems borrowed from a Keystone Cops movie. And in Part II, the film goes to Bolivia for the final days of the two outlaws and seems borrowed from the 1969 "Butch Cassidy" movie.

This film is more about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid than it is The Gambler. Butch is played by Scott Paulin, Sundance by Brett Cullen. Believe me, these two are not Robert Redford and Paul Newman. Mariska Hargitay plays Etta Place - no Katharine Ross - nor is director Jack Bender comparable to George Roy Hill or Sam Peckinpah. Kriss Kamm plays Jeremiah - but I have no one to compare him with because I don't remember such a character from the earlier film.

The chief problem with "Gambler V" is not in its performances, which are serviceable enough, but with the fact that this is another of those two-hour movies padded to four. "Gambler V" pokes along when it should be lively, forever stopping for extraneous scenes meant to be funny but which are usually only tedious. At two hours, "Gambler V" could have been fun; at four hours it seems interminable.

Dennehy is cop

Brian Dennehy is playing Chicago policeman Jack Reed for the third time in NBC's "A Search for Justice."

While I have immense respect for Dennehy as an actor, the character of Jack Reed, a straight-arrow cop, doesn't really require an actor of Dennehy's abilities. (He also contributed to the script, based on an actual case, as well as making his directorial debut.)

It's your standard tale of the businessman with illegal projects on the side, including murder. Miguel Ferrer plays the bad guy - his performance is becoming so stylized he should patent it - and the best performance is given by Charles Dutton as a policeman being advanced because of affirmative action - but who turns out not to be the malleable individual his superiors assume he will be.

Just as I don't want to see any more "Gambler" movies, it is time to put Jack Reed to rest and let Dennehy move on to roles more worthy of him.

While we all know anorexia is a real disease - we've already been exposed to it in other movies, talk shows and specials - the case for curing it isn't advanced much by ABC's "For the Love of Nancy," at 9 tonight on ABC. The most interesting thing about the film is that it stars Tracey Gold, who battled anorexia in real life so she gives her performance a decidedly realistic edge.

But mostly it's a one-note movie with Gold as Nancy Walsh, starving herself to death, to the consternation of her overwrought parents, played by Jill Clayburgh and William Devane. One should be concerned - but it's a long, long bout with unhappiness and misery.

Check it out ----------------------------------------------------------------- "The Blue Boy," PBS' "Masterpiece Theatre", 9 p.m. Sunday, KCTS-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

There's misery in this presentation, too, but it's a part of a ghost story that is almost as spooky as an episode of "The X-Files." It stars Oscar-winner Emma Thompson and Adrian Dunbar as Marie and Joe Bonnar, a thirtysomething couple who go on a brief trip to Scotland. We learn, before Marie does, that Joe has stayed at this secluded hotel on the edge of a lake before - with a woman with whom he was having an affair.

The plot

Marie accidentally learns about the affair - at the same time a hotel employee, wonderfully played by Eleanor Bron, tells Marie about the untimely death of the "Blue Boy" who is said to haunt the hotel.

"The Blue Boy" is all mood and mystery, sharply written and tautly directed by Paul Murton, who has turned out a one-hour gem. What a contrast to the bloated four hours of "Gambler V!"

Good start ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Directed By," Anthology film series, 10 p.m. Sunday, Showtime. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Even shorter - a half-hour - are the films in Showtime's new "Directed By" series, which gives well-known actors a chance to direct little mini-movies. The series gets under way with "Texan," directed by Treat Williams, and "On Hope," directed by JoBeth Williams. David Mamet wrote the former, Lynn Mamet the latter.

"Texan" is a nice little story in which Dabney Coleman plays a former fighter pilot who thinks his wife may be cheating on him - and which has a delightful O.Henry-style ending.

"On Hope" is better, mostly because of performances by Annette O'Toole and Mercedes Ruehl as two vastly different woman who form a strong friendship. It, too, has a surprise ending, although not nearly as pleasant a surprise as in "Texan."

Actors make it ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Someone She Knows," "NBC Monday Night Movie," 9 p.m., KING-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

While the stars' direction doesn't seem very evident in the Showtime films, it's very much in evidence in this NBC movie. It was directed by former actor Eric Laneuville in a way as to make you forget we've seen all this before.

"Someone She Knows" is the familiar story of the child that suddenly disappears, is found murdered, and the grieving mother's determination to find and bring the killer to justice.

Energizes film

But Laneuville gives this little film such energy and suspense, such a sense of reality, and gets such good performances out of Markie Post and Jeff Nordling as the parents, that it emerges a gripping and involving little "B" movie. The scene where Post discovers her child has disappeared is very powerful.

Also contributing are Sharon Lawrence (from "NYPD Blue") as Post's sister, Spencer Garrett as a particularly snotty investigator and Harold Sylvester as one of the good guys.

"Someone She Knows" shows how familiar material can be transformed if competent actors are given a tight script (Carol Monpere) and an imaginative director.