A walk in the clouds

Year of release : 1995

Run time : 1h42m

Genre : Drama / Romance

Cast : Keanu Reeves, Debra Messing, Anthony Quinn

The movie is an English remake of the 1942 Italian movie " Four steps in the clouds".

The year is 1945, and World War II US army sergeant Paul Sutton is leaving the ship which brought him back to San Francisco. He confesses to his friend, he misses his wife, whom he married right before he was drafted, and didn't see in 4 years.

To his surprise, she doesn't wait for him like the other soldiers' wives, on the dock. When he gets home, he finds her there, totally oblivious to his arrival, as she says she didn't read his many letters, as war depresses her.

He just got home, but she sends him on his new job, as she managed to get him back his old job as a chocolate salesman (while he says he doesn't want to do that anymore).

He leaves, probably, the next day to Sacramento, and on the train, he meets Victoria, who goes home to Napa Valley, where her Mexican American family owns a vineyard. She vomits on his coat, and they exchange tickets without realizing.

This makes Paul have to leave the train, as her ticket was for a shorter trip. They meet again on the bus, from which Paul is thrown out of, as he gets into a fight with 2 men who were picking on Victoria.

After walking for a while he meets Victoria again, who is crying for she is scared to confront her father, as she had an affair with her teacher who got her pregnant, and now wants nothing to do with her.

Paul offers to pretend to be her husband for one evening, after which he will leave for Sacramento.

Victoria's father is not impressed with his daughter getting married without his permission, without her family's knowledge, and keeps on treating Paul badly. Her grandfather, on the other hand, likes him.

Paul wants to leave in the morning, as he has his own problems to deal with, but he is stopped by Victoria's grandfather. And this keeps on happening, whenever he wants to leave. The whole movie Paul is getting his bags, and ends up talking to the grandfather all evening, or all night.

I personally didn't like the movie. There's a scene with frost - in Napa Valley- where they have to heat the vineyards, but they are, especially Victoria, in her sheer nightgown (she doesn't feel the frost, I guess!)!

Paul falls for Victoria, and the other way around, while he is married!

I didn't like her father, as he was always angry, like a Grinch! When he finally becomes nice, and accepts Paul, they have to ruin his mood, by telling him the truth, so he gets even angrier, to the point, when Paul comes back with the marriage annulment (his wife did it behind his back, how convenient!), he tries to burn Paul, I guess, and burns his whole vineyard down instead!

I didn't like the acting. Keanu doesn't have much range. When he talks about love he tells you how he feels, he doesn't show you, he doesn't make you feel it. He was nominated for a Razzie award for Worst Actor for this role (he got another Worst Actor Razzie award nomination for his performance in Johnny Mnemonic that same year).

The other actors, like his leading lady and her father have the same problem. I don't know if it was the language barrier, as they spoke with a thick accent, and it looked like it truly was their second language, as they were struggling to speak English,but I didn't like their acting.

Debra Messing plays a small role, as Keanu's wife. This was apparently her first film role.

I didn't like the soundtrack, which won the Golden Globe! Just like in Sweet November, Keanu serenades the woman, although his character is married to someone else!

The movie received mixed reviews, but grossed 91 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 20 million!

You can watch the full movie for free, if you follow this link :

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9ry3qe

Rating : Could have been a contender !