LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - American television network CBS may be courting a political firestorm with its TV mini-series "The Reagans," a dramatised portrait of the former president that has drawn complaints from conservatives a month before it airs.

The New York Times, which said it obtained a copy of the final script, reported on Tuesday that the four-hour, two part film depicts both Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, in a largely unflattering light while omitting much of what supporters regard as his key achievements.

Adding insult to injury -- as far as Republicans are concerned -- the Gipper himself is played by James Brolin, husband of Democratic activist Barbra Streisand, while Nancy Reagan is portrayed by Judy Davis. Both are self-described liberals.

A spokeswoman for the Reagans, Joanne Drake, told Reuters the former first couple had no comment on the movie. But the ex-president's eldest son, Michael Reagan, said he was braced for the worst.

"I fully expect this mini-series will be largely unfavourable to my dad," the conservative radio talk show host said a column recently posted on the Web. "Hollywood has been hijacked by the liberal left."

Likewise, Mike Wintemute, spokesman for the California Republican Party, said he had not seen the script but gathered that it "gives short shrift to Mr. Reagan's accomplishments."

"People who were not around in that era, or who haven't taken the time to study it themselves, will be left with the impression that this is a bumbling, fumbling, dimwitted man who lucked into all of his accomplishments. And that certainly is not the case," Wintemute said.

According to the Times, the movie dwells on Reagan's shortcomings, such as his moments of forgetfulness, painting him as contemptuous of gays and AIDS victims and as a collaborator in Hollywood's anti-communist witch hunts during his acting days.

Nancy Reagan, meanwhile, is cast as a control freak with considerable sway over White House policies, even setting her husband's schedule according to the advice of astrologers.

CBS said the film, airing November 16 and 18, is fair and well-documented, based in part on Reagan's authorised biography, the former first lady's own memoir, and books written by his supporters.

"The miniseries is a compelling and historical account of Mr. and Mrs. Reagan's remarkable relationship set against the backdrop of the former president's political career," the Viacom-owned network said in a statement. "The film has been meticulously researched and offers a respectful and balanced portrayal of the Reagans."

According to the Times, the movie's depiction of the Reagans is not totally unfavourable. Besides giving Reagan much credit for ending the Cold War, the film shows him as a morally upright, politically gifted man of his convictions.

Still, supporters of the ailing former president have expressed suspicions that the movie is a hatchet job that reflects Hollywood's traditional left-leaning agenda.

Former Reagan White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater was quoted by the Times as asking rhetorically: "Does it show he had the longest and strongest recovery in post-war history? That the economy, stimulated by the tax cuts, was creating something like 200,000 jobs a month, for years?"

Among the lines sure to generate cries of foul from Reagan supporters is a bit of dialogue in which Nancy Reagan urges her husband to help victims of AIDS and he responds, "They that live in sin shall die in sin."

Caspar Weinberger, Reagan's defence secretary, said such a statement simply does not ring true. "That does not sound like the President Reagan I know," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. "I can't imagine him saying anything like that. He was not given to pronouncements of that kind or that pomposity."

He added: "I suspect that kind of thing is the basis for the concern that's being expressed by Prescient Reagan's friends as to the sponsorship and participation of the particular people who are in this alleged drama."

As for casting, Michael Reagan said it didn't bother him that Streisand's husband was cast as his father. "I'm glad that Brolin has found a job. It gets him out of the house and gives him something to do," he wrote. "Once again, Ronald Reagan has found work for someone in Hollywood."