[2] It stars Louis Gossett Jr. as Walter Osgood, the only black farmer in the highly-prejudiced town of High Lonesome in the Ozarks, at the height of the Great Depression in 1932.
Despite the racist abuse he endures from the townspeople and the Ku Klux Klan, Walter forms an unlikely friendship with Charlie, the 10-year-old son of his white tenant farmer.
[2] Marion Garmel of The Indianapolis Star gave the film a favorable review, writing that it has "a wonderful spunkiness that makes you cheer for the human spirit.
"[5] Variety's Alan Rich found the film highly unoriginal, but noted that "[t]he very predictability lends the viewers a comforting caress.
"[4] A Father for Charlie earned a 14.8 national Nielsen rating, equalling 14.1 million households, making it the eighth highest-rated prime time program for the week of December 26, 1994 to January 1, 1995.