A Soldier Who Wears a Medal of Silence

By Jay Bobbin

Nov. 30, 2003 12 AM PT

Special to The Times

Playing cocky police detectives is his television forte, but Don Johnson enjoys an acting challenge.

The former “Miami Vice” and “Nash Bridges” star has one in “Word of Honor,” a new TNT movie about a belated military trial. Based on the bestseller by Nelson DeMille and airing Saturday, the intense drama casts Johnson as a corporate executive whose past resurfaces to possibly destroy his personal and professional lives.

As an Army lieutenant in Vietnam, Ben Tyson (Johnson) was party to a massacre about which he swore never to talk. He maintains that vow 30 years later when a cancer-stricken fellow veteran (John Heard) goes public about the killings and names Tyson as a participant. The media storm and the investigation by a military attorney (Jeanne Tripplehorn) test Tyson’s relationships with his wife and son (Sharon Lawrence, James Kirk) and with the men who served under him.

Arliss Howard costars as the folksy lawyer who defends Tyson. And Johnson’s oldest son, Jesse, mirrors his father’s looks and famously raspy voice as he plays the younger Tyson in flashback sequences.

“I wasn’t really looking to work,” Johnson says of receiving the “Word of Honor” offer. “I was just kind of hanging out with my wife and kids after doing 500 hours of movies and television. I figured it was time to get reacquainted with my family -- then this script came along, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind. It seemed to have so much relevance to what’s going on today, with a main character who’s kind of a throwback to roles played by Henry Fonda and James Stewart, a guy who knows what keeping one’s word is all about.”

“Word of Honor” references the current U.S. military activity in Iraq, as some characters worry about the public relations crisis that could result from the story’s trial.

“All of those things resonated with me,” Johnson says. “I am a strong supporter of our men and women in uniform, and a dyed-in-the-wool patriot. Because I love this country so much, I don’t think we can have too much dialogue about who we are and what we’re doing. This movie is about the reasons we go to war, what war is really about and what our values as a nation are.”

Through movies as diverse as “Sweet Hearts Dance,” “Paradise” and the HBO feature “In Pursuit of Honor,” Johnson has shown his willingness to take career gambles.

“I have to say that it takes a lot of courage to step out of the mold and do other things,” Johnson professes. “It hasn’t served me well in terms of furthering my image within the [Hollywood] machine, but when I started out, I just wanted to be a working actor with just enough income to make a good living. I’ve been so fortunate to have had two long-running series, made a lot of movies and played many different characters.”

Even within the framework of “Nash Bridges,” Johnson felt able to shake things up.

“That was by design,” he says. “I was very involved in the genesis of that show, along with my good friend Hunter S. Thompson. We came up with the concept, and the mandate from the beginning was to never let the show stand still. Anything could happen.”

Including a surprise cancellation, which left many viewers hungry for their “Nash” fix. “You can’t imagine how many people tell me that, just in my daily life,” Johnson claims.

Not surprisingly, the 1980s-defining “Miami Vice” remains a major point of conversation between Johnson and his fans.

“I’m proud to have been associated with it and to have contributed whatever I could to it at the time,” he says. “Once or maybe twice in a career, you get the opportunity to do something that iconic. That was some ride, let me tell you -- and it was hard to navigate, because the show was so white-hot at the time. I had been working for 15 years before that and had some notoriety, but [the ‘Miami Vice’] kind of fame is something no one can prepare you for.”

Another series may not be on the horizon for Johnson, but he says making “Word of Honor” “lit a fire under me. I’m looking forward to doing some more films and some good television. I’d work with TNT again in a second. I like the material they choose. It’s about something.”

Jay Bobbin writes for Tribune Media Services.

“Word of Honor” airs at 8 p.m. Saturday on TNT.

Cover photograph by Nigel Parry.