The Caveman's Valentine, Free to Watch on Hulu

For the past few weeks we've featured free mystery movies available to view online.

This week's title: The Caveman's Valentine, currently available to watch for free on Hulu.

In 1994, George Dawes Green's debut crime thriller was published. Titled The Caveman's Valentine, it features a most unusual protagonist, Romulus Ledbetter, a delusional music prodigy, now homeless and living in a cave in Manhattan's Inwood Park. The following year the book was honored with an Edgar Award for Best First Novel.

In 2001 the film adaptation of the book was released, starring Samuel L. Jackson in the role of Romulus Ledbetter.

On Valentine's Day, Romulus discovers the frozen body of a young man, Scotty Gates (Sean MacMahon), left in a tree outside his cave. The police, including Romulus's daughter Lulu (Aunjanue Ellis), dismiss the man's death as accident however, a homeless ex-lover of Scotty tells Romulus that he was murdered by the famous photographer David Leppenraub (Colm Feore). Determined to discover the truth behind Scotty's death and prove his worth to his daughter, Romulus manages to get an invitation through a former friend to perform one of his compositions at Leppenraub's farm. What unfolds is a twisted tale of mystery, deception, and one man's struggle against his own mind.

In our review of the film, we called Samuel L. Jackson's performance "brilliant" though we faulted the screenwriter — and maybe the director — with spending a little too much time on the character's state of mind and not enough on developing the mystery plot.

The Caveman's Valentine is rated R for for language, some violence and sexuality. The film is also available on DVD.