Lee Plays Dottie West Role To Near Perfection

----------------------------------------------------------------- "Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story," "CBS Sunday Movie," 9 p.m., KIRO-TV. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Television movies come in all flavors this week from stalkers and abusive husbands to caring families and historical drama - but the liveliest is CBS' "Big Dreams & Broken Hearts," a film biography of the late country superstar, Dottie West.

Michele Lee produced the film, and West was obviously a role Lee was itching to play - and she plays it to the hilt. West was a colorful, larger-than-life character and Lee gives an all-stops-out performance, singing the songs, wearing the costumes, emotionally involved in the character and, incidentally, looking like a million.

West, who died in an automobile accident in 1991, had a long run as a performer. Some of the more interesting scenes in Theresa Rogerton's script come in the period covering West's early days when female country stars were basically counted on one finger - Patsy Cline. But West persisted and by the time her career ended, female country stars were as important as their male counterparts.

Rogerton's script uses brief appearances by some of today's biggest stars, including Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn, to comment on West's career. Larry Gatlin, Willie Nelson and Kenny Rogers play themselves, with Rogers being particularly important, since some of

West's biggest successes were her duets with him.

Basically, however, "Big Dreams & Broken Hearts" is your basic movie biopic, staunchly insisting that most stars lead unhappy off-stage lives - and the bigger your success, the more troubles you have to overcome. West had her share: a sexually-abusive father, three husbands (all of whom had roving eyes), and alcohol. West had an additional problem: she loved to shop, an addiction that was to be her undoing. The "big dream" the title refers to was a huge mansion, one which eventually bankrupted her and from which she was evicted.

But her problems never kept West from giving her audiences 110 percent of herself as an entertainer and some of the best moments in this generally entertaining movie feature Lee's impersonations of West's legendary performances.

More Sunday movies ----------------------------------------------------------------- "A Family Divided," "NBC Sunday Movie," 9 p.m., KING-TV. "The Avenging Angel,"TNT movie, 5, 7,9 p.m. Sunday, TNT. -----------------------------------------------------------------

"A Family Divided" explores the concepts of right and wrong and personal responsibility in a dramatic film based on a novel, "Mother Love," by Judith Wall. Stephen Collins and Faye Dunaway play Karen and Roger Billingsly, parents of Chad, played by Cameron Bancroft, a college student who gets involved in a gang rape at a fraternity party that leads to a terrible consequence.

But while that sounds racy, the movie is more interested in exploring the effect Chad's actions have upon all three members of the family than exploiting the rape. All three must come to some kind of terms about Chad's actions and in the course of that, viewers are also forced to examine their own responses to the situation.

All the performances are good, with Collins' understated characterization a good contrast to Dunaway's performance.

Bancroft is also notable as the young man who comes to realize there is no way to nullify what he has done. Being responsible for one's actions is almost a foreign concept these days. "A Family Divided" reminds us of its importance.

"The Avenging Angel," on the other hand, is almost unwatchable, a confused and boring mess. Tom Berenger stars as a man whose mission is to protect Brigham Young, leader of the Mormon Church. Berenger goes through the film with one expression, his face a bland, blank mask. He probably didn't know what was going on either.

The best performance is by Lisa Banes, who portrays Berenger's sister; Charlton Heston makes a brief appearance as Young and James Coburn plays somebody whose importance I never figured out.

Still more movies ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Escape from Terror: The Teresa Stamper Story," "NBC Monday Movie," 9 p.m., KING-TV.

"Tall, Dark and Deadly," USA movie, 9 p.m. Tuesday, USA Channel. -----------------------------------------------------------------

"Escape from Terror" is an attempt by NBC to recycle one of its "Unsolved Mysteries" cases - only, in this case, the mystery was solved. Maria Pitillo makes Teresa into a sympathetic victim, a naive girl who marries Paul Stamper, smoothly played by Adam Storke. Unfortunately Paul turns out to be a crook and a wife-abuser.

When Teresa tried to leave Paul, he became violent and attacked her and a companion. (Shades of O.J.!) Although Teresa kept moving from one supposedly safe haven to another, Paul kept finding her. Even though he eventually dropped from sight, she didn't feel safe and wanted him caught. Enter "Unsolved Mysteries," which did indeed find Paul Stamper, who went to prison. It was probably more engrossing as a half-hour dramatization on "Unsolved Mysteries."

"Tall, Dark and Deadly" begins just like that recent thriller in which Gregory Harrison was stalking Connie Selleca after she dumped him. In this film Kim Delaney plays a young woman bowled over by another smoothy, played by Jack Scalia. But when she realizes he's not all he pretends to be, she dumps him - and he turns nasty, stalking her.

Unlike the earlier movie, however, about half-way through this one there's a neat twist in the script by MaryAnne Kasica and Michael Scheff. Once Delaney learns that, she is in REAL trouble.

Unfortunately, the movie ends too conveniently without ever addressing the fact that Delaney is still in big trouble. Everyone opts for a kissy-kissy finale that begs a real solution.

Ginsberg visits ----------------------------------------------------------------- "Upon Reflection," 12:30 p.a.m. Sunday, KCTS-TV. -----------------------------------------------------------------

Allen Ginsberg has so assiduously cultivated the persona of the beat poet since his rise to fame and notoriety in the 1950s, one half expects an outrageous wild man when he appears with Marcia Alvar this Sunday.

Instead, he's almost courtly and consistently engrossing in a half-hour filled with interesting thoughts on poetry and life in general.