The Twilight Zone Recap: A Quality of Mercy
Albert Salmi (Execution from Season 1) plays Causarano, a war-weary sergeant who just found out he has a new officer to replace the last one. This new one is a young buck, too, eager to head into battle and kill some of the enemy, only he doesn't seem to realize that those are men over there, too, and that they are wounded and tired, just like the men under his command. That's all about to change.
When the new officer bends to pick up his binoculars, he stands back up and all of a sudden he's transported back in time and he's switched sides. Now he's looking at the same cave, but now it's full of wounded American soldiers and he's trying to convince his officer not to go in and kill them, and that's all it takes. When he finally does pick up those binoculars, he is jerked back to the present and that momentary lapse is what is required for the call to come in that the bomb has been dropped and he's not supposed to charge the cave after all.
Keep an eye out for Leonard Nimoy in a small role as one of the soliders.
