A mawkish and fairly ludicrous drama set during World War II and its immediate aftermath, scripted by producer Anna Thomas and director Gregory Nava (who teamed up on El Norte). It has the novelty of allowing us to see William Hurt do his damnedest at playing a psychothe rejected son of an Italian immigrant family with a lot of grudges on his mind; Timothy Hutton plays the fellow soldier he’s after (who had the temerity to marry his sister). Nava’s direction strains after fancy effects without ever suspending our sense of incredulity at these contrived goings-on; the photography is nice, but can’t really do much more than gild a rather desiccated lily. With Stockard Channing, Francisco Rabal, and Melissa Leo. (JR)