A Time of Destiny

Sadly, though this sweeping World War II melodrama reunites Gregory Nava and producer/co-writer Anna Thomas from El Norte, the emotions here are not so much exquisitely overwrought as wildly over-pitched. Prevented from marrying her soldier lover (Hutton) by her domineering father (Rabal), Melissa Leo elopes on the eve of his departure. Her father pursues her, the car runs off the road into a river, and he drowns. Enter Hurt, black sheep of the Californian immigrant Basque family, who swears revenge for his father's death. Since Hutton has never met him, he transfers to Hutton's frontline regiment in Italy, scheming to kill him under cover of battle. From this point on, implausibility begins to stretch suspension of disbelief to breaking point. After each in turn saves the other's life, they become best pals, and the scene is set for confrontation when the war ends. The showdown turns out to be a reworking of the climax of Hitchcock's Vertigo.