I had hopes that "The Flamingo Rising" would be a "black comedy" of outrageous eccentrics trying to out annoy each other along the lines of Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi in "Neighbors". The added interest of a gigantic drive in theater and a funeral parlor replacing two adjacent houses, only made the ground more fertile for dark comedy. Unfortunately my expectations were not met, because "The Flamingo Rising" has a severe identity crisis, and is a real mixed bag of underdeveloped characters and concepts. The bag includes feuding neighbors, teenage romance, marital drama, 50s nostalgia, religious guilt, and tragedy. This total mish-mash leads to a fatal identity crisis, and certainly a missed opportunity for the "black comedy" I was anticipating. - MERK

Nothing to Bragg about here to goofy to be really good but still OK watch. James Welch Henderson 9-10/21.

The movie is the story of Abraham Jakob Lee, an adopted Korean child. His father, Hubert T. Lee, owns and operates the largest drive-in theater, The Flamingo, located on the eastern shores of North Florida. It sits next to Turner Knight's funeral parlor/house. Hubert and Turner feud over the Flamingo, while Abraham falls for Turner's daughter, Grace. Brian Benben (as Hubet),received third billing, yet carries the film with his humor.

As goes with most movies based on novels, the book was better. The author, Larry Baker, admitted that he was not pleased with the screenplay. The screenplay certainly lacked depth, but what's new with TV movies?

Some of the characters names were changed. The author was not happy, but he said the writers couldn't get permission from people of the same names. The Knights names were changed from the Wests. Abraham's middle name in the book was Isaac.

The movie was also cleaned up since it was a Hallmark production. There was plenty of sexual interaction between the kids who worked at the movie theater which also would have provided a better understanding of why Abe and Alice were close. There was also NO smoking on the set, which is ironic since it was 1968.

The movie was shot on location in Marineland and St. Augustine. (Marineland is a city in Flagler County, FL, and has a park of the same name.)