User Reviews

Though we had a plethora of films about troops returning from the Vietnam war and trying to re-integrate back into their societies, most of which were hard-hitting, angry voices against War, here is arguably the original - and best.

Definitely a family orientated movie (Cert U) this will appeal to and find favour with all ages, but don't start thinking that this is all gooey, slushy nonsense. There's some quite hard-hitting topics covered, even by today's standards and of course, with our minds on our current troops in Iraq/Afghanistan, equally relevant.

Multi-stranded, which each of the three G.I.'s immediate and extended families and friends being examined, it's about them coping, with varying degrees of success, with home life and getting jobs, now that the War is ended. It's the little observations and stories around them that are so fascinating, as the Heroes of yesterday are now anything but when it comes finding new purpose in a changed world.

The cast is exemplary, not necessarily the biggest stars of the day but the most believable and natural for their roles. Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy and Fredric Marsh are the ones most easily recognisable and their appearances convey a sort of reassuring familiarity and normality. They're all excellent, of course.

Though long, at nearly 3 hours, William Wyler's easy going but assured and tight direction keeps things flowing nicely and it never drags. This, my second viewing, is an enjoyable one as the first and if anything I'm more at ease with it.

Though obviously not as exciting or dramatic as other 'normal' war films, it's a tragedy that it's not more well known. I've never seen it to ever have been on TV, or to my recollection, even Sky Movies, for that matter. Any movie that won 7 Oscars and is currently no. 180 in the top 250 IMDb's films of all time, voted by its voters (us, the public) is hardly one of minority interest.

A friend I lent my DVD to watched it with his family and normally they only go for current films, or ones they know, but they not only enjoyed it, but felt enormously moved by it, too.

If you haven't seen The Best Years... yet, make a mental note to do so. Your life won't change by doing so, but it really is worth the 3 hours of it that it will take. You certainly can't say the same about every film out there....

Returning to life at home for our overseas fighting men was not as easy as we here at home may have assumed,and McKinlay Kantor thought it important to write about this fact.The novel caught the attention of Hollywood and soon we were seeing it well illustrated on the big screen.War changes a man to one degree or another,either physically or emotionally or perhaps both.The passage of time doesn't help either,and things at home change a little.Their children grow,and they were unable to be there to witness it firsthand.Again,this makes the adjustment harder.For 4 years,all they knew was war,and they find themselves faced with the impossible task of picking up where they had left off.It's a worthwhile story to engross yourself in.While much of what you see here represents a world that does not exist anymore,the difficulties of adjusting to life at home after war ring true still today.

I first saw this film (one of my top ten favorites) in 1995 on the big screen, as part of the commemorations for the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII. It had an impact that was so strong that it's never left me--I've seen it many times since, and with each viewing the film seems to reveal new artistic richness and spiritual depth.

William Wyler's direction is breathtaking. One of the most moving scenes occurs early on in the film, when Homer, the young disabled Navy veteran, arrives at his family home and stands for a moment on the front lawn. For that one second there is an exquisite stillness that communicates a depth of emotion that can't be expressed physically. Then, just as the tension becomes almost unbearable, Homer's little sister Louella comes to the front door and runs out to greet him. In a similar way, the scene where Al Stephenson comes home to his wife and children is so finely directed you can almost feel that you're in the apartment with them--that it's your husband or father come home to you from the war--and you're experiencing the sheer elation of their physical nearness.

This aspect of the film--its portrayal of the joys and hardships of post-war readjustment and the veterans' experience--is what makes it so enlightening, honest and powerful. As a young woman, I have never experienced wartime or had my father, brothers or friends go off to fight. The film moves swiftly but seamlessly from the initial joy of homecoming and reunion to the problems, anxieties and humiliations that the three veterans encounter as they attempt to build a new life for themselves and their families.

I found it interesting how the film tries to give a picture of the different socio-economic backgrounds of the three men, and show the emergence of an affluent, market-driven economy. While this in itself is not bad, different episodes in the film show how this economic approach can conflict sharply at times with enduring human values such as integrity and justice. Al's dealings with the young veteran Mr Novak, who comes to him for a service loan to buy a farm, and his later (slightly tipsy) speech to a business gathering show this. Al declares at the end of his speech that when the bank lends money to poor veterans it will be a financial gamble but "we'll be gambling on the future of this country".

The film's interweaving of the characters and their struggles never falters and is deeply satisfying. Even as Al and Milly, Homer and Wilma gradually move towards a happy resolution of their difficulties this positive strand of the film is counter-balanced by the focus on Fred, the courageous Air Force captain who, in the eyes of the commercial world is "unqualified", suitable only for a job at a soda fountain, and in the eyes of his war bride, Marie, is only wonderful when he's dressed up in his officer's uniform. Fred's situation seems only to deteriorate and at one point in the film, after he farewells his elderly father to leave town and look for work, the father finds the citations for Fred's medals and sits down to read them. As he reads the words describing Fred's bravery and dedication to duty while he was terribly wounded in his aircraft, Pat Derry's voice nearly breaks with pride and love for his son. The film beautifully juxtaposes Fred's unselfish conduct and willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice with the cold indifference of a country in peacetime that does not want him and seemingly has no place for him.

The actors are uniformly impressive and really make their characters come alive. Dana Andrews is especially outstanding together with two young actors making their debut, Harold Russell and Cathy O'Donnell, as Homer and Wilma. Personally, I loved Homer and Wilma's story the best among those of all the characters,and the resolution is a simple, sensitively shot scene that lifts the whole film to a new point of happiness, gratitude and release. Both Cathy O'Donnell and Teresa Wright are lovely, gifted actresses with a slightly understated style, that is perfectly suited to the film's restrained but powerful tenor. This is demonstrated especially well in the tense scene where Wilma tries to talk to Homer in the shed, and in the scene where Peggy confides her heartache to her parents.

One feature that adds significantly to the film's quality is Hugo Friedhofer's score. The music is remarkably fresh and undated, has a strong, classic sound, and is poignant without being too romantic or sentimental (a flaw often found in other 1940s film scores).

The producer, Samuel Goldwyn, reportedly said of this film: "I don't care if it doesn't make a nickel...I just want every man, woman and child in America to see it". Although I'm not American (I am Australian) I found this film, with its universal human themes and its portrayal of post-war readjustment, speaks to anyone who shares in this heritage of WWII. Tell others about this film--it is breathtaking, beautiful and brave. See it and remember.

One of the great things about The Best Years of Our Lives that even though it dates itself rather firmly in the post World War II era, the issues it talks about are as real today as they were on V-E or V-J day of 1945. The problem of how to assimilate returning war veterans is as old as the written history of our planet.

And while we don't often learn from history, we can be thankful that for once the United States of America did learn from what happened with its veterans after the previous World War. The GI Bill of Rights is mentioned in passing in The Best Years of Our Lives was possibly the greatest piece of social legislation from the last century. So many veterans did take advantage of it as do the veterans like Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and Harold Russell who you see here.

All three of those actors played archetypal veterans, characters that every corner of the USA could identify with. They all meet on an army transport plane flying to the home town of all of them, Boone City, Iowa.

War is a great leveler of class and distinction. Bank employee March, soda jerk Andrews, and high school football star Russell probably would never meet in real life even in a small town like Boone City. But they do meet and war forges indestructible bonds that can never be broken.

March is the oldest, a man with two children and Hollywood's perfect wife Myrna Loy. He settles in the first and the best. He has some wonderful scenes, getting cockeyed drunk on his return and later with a little bit of liquor in him, tells the bank officials at a banquet off in no uncertain terms.

I also love his scene where another returning veteran, a sharecropper wants to get a bank loan for his own piece of land. Watch March's expressions as he listens to the man's pitch for money. You can feel him read the man's soul. It's what got him his Second Best Actor Oscar for this film.

Harold Russell was a real veteran who lost both his hands during service in the Pacific. He got a special recognition Oscar for his performance. Because of that it was probably unfair to nominate him in the Supporting Actor category which he also won in. His performance, especially his scenes with Cathy O'Donnell as his sweetheart who loves him with or without his hands, is beyond anything that could be described as acting.

Dana Andrews is the only officer of the three, a bombardier in the Army Air Corps. Of the group of them, maybe he should have stayed in. He also comes from the poorest background of the group and he was an officer and a gentleman in that uniform. That uniform and those monthly allotment checks are what got Virginia Mayo interested enough to marry him. The problem is that he's considerably less in her eyes as a civilian.

While Mayo is fooling around with Steve Cochran, Andrews has the great good fortune to have March's daughter Teresa Wright take an interest in him. They're the main story of the film, Andrews adjustment to civilian life and adjusting to the fact he married the wrong woman. Not all veteran's problems were solved with GI Bill.

Myrna Loy gets little recognition for The Best Years of Our Lives. My guess is that it's because her role as wife was too much like the stereotypical wife roles she had patented over at MGM. Still as wife to March and mother to Wright she really is the glue that holds that family together.

The Best Years of Our Lives won for Best Picture for Sam Goldwyn, Best Director for William Wyler and a few others besides the two acting Oscars it got. It was a critical and popular success, possibly the best film Sam Goldwyn ever produced. It remains to this day an endearing and enduring classic and will be so for centuries. It's almost three hours in length, but never once will your interest wane.

The best tribute this film received came from Frank Capra who had a film of his own in the Oscar sweepstakes that year in several categories. In his memoirs he said that he was disappointed to be skunked at the Oscars that year, but that his friend and colleague William Wyler had created such a masterpiece he deserved every award he could get for it.

By the way, the film Capra had hopes for was It's A Wonderful Life. The Beat Years of Our Lives can't get better praise than that.

In 2004, I wrote the following statements on an IMDb message board when a user wondered if The Best Years of Our Lives was a forgotten movie:

***** To me watching this movie is like opening up a time capsule. I think in many ways "The Best Years of Our Lives" is probably one of the more fascinating character studies and it holds up extremely well as a look at life in the US in the mid-1940s after WWII. I believe "Coming Home" and "The Deer Hunter", both released in 1978, were the most recent films that were closest in capturing the numerous issues of military men returning from war that were brought up in "The Best Years of Our Lives".

What really impressed me was watching the movie in its entirety when I was in college around 1980-81 and many if not all of the college students applauded at the end of the movie.

This movie still packs a wallop and I'm very happy to read in other posts other users feeling of a movie that will definitely stand the test of time. *****

I'm very happy to see the movie ranked near the top 100 movies on IMDb and AFI. Also, though it was in competition with what eventually became a Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life, arguably, The Best Years of Our Lives' Oscar wins, including Best Picture, were very well-deserved.

I've just seen the film again in 2005 and after almost 60 years, The Best Years of Our Lives is still a powerful, beautifully acted and well-crafted motion picture.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

The whole point of this film when it was released still makes perfect sense today, though I'm sure it doesn't have the same impact it did in those first years after World War II ended. Returning servicemen, with all kinds of backgrounds before and during the war, hit a wall coming home: wives who no longer loved them, jobs that had dried up, a culture that was foreign to them and that found them, these men, to be foreign themselves.

It wasn't a crisis to take lightly. These were the guys who were drafted to fight the enemy, and in going overseas they lost some of the best years of their lives, if not their lives. The country knew its debt in the abstract, but it also knew it in sons and husbands who really did come home and who had to face it all. This movie was both a reckoning for the sake of national healing and a brilliant drama that would be beautifully pertinent and therefore successful. And what a success, then and now.

The consummate Hollywood director William Wyler shows in this fast, long movie just what a master he is at working the medium. With Gregg Toland at the camera, Wyler makes a highly fluid movie, visual and dramatic and weirdly highly efficient. With the three main plots interweaving and depending on each other, the drama (and melodrama) build but never beyond plausibility. Wyler knew his audience wouldn't put up with pandering or cheap mistakes. Casting Harold Russell as Homer, knowing the audience would hear about how Russell really was a soldier who lost both hands in the war, was a huge step toward creating both empathy and credibility. It even practices a key theme in the move--to go beyond your bounds to make a difference, to give these guys a break and help them assimilate.

It's interesting how singular this movie is, trying to show the truth in these kinds of situations. The other post-war films about army and navy men fall into two large and dominating categories--war films and film noir. And it is film noir that comes closest to getting at the problem of the G.I. not reintegrating well, making it a whole style, brooding and spilling over with violence. "The Best Years of Our Lives" has a highly controlled and even contrived plot structure, but it aims to be honest and representative.

That it's remarkable formally--the way it is shot and edited and acted, top to bottom--is not surprise, given the heights that Hollywood had reached by then, and given that Wyler is easily the slickest of them all, in the best sense. That the movie makes such beautiful sense and really works as a story, a moving and heartwarming story without undue sappiness, is a whole other kind of achievement. A terrific, rich, full-blooded, uncompromised movie.

This is one of the important movies.

It was when it was first released in 1946, addressing as it did the issue of veterans returning from WW2, and the affect it had on them and their families. It focused on three men, all psychologically scarred, and one who has lost both arms. They return to a small city in the U.S., but the themes of the film were universal.

That was 70 years ago, and over the years, the movie has tended to move into the background - there have been more wars and more veterans returning with their own issues.

However, I think the importance of this movie can't be underestimated now that the WW2 generation is fading away.

WW2 was well covered; we have millions of feet of newsreel film as well as towering stacks of history books. However, movies from the era do something quite unique; they get inside the emotions and the feelings - they represent the mindset of the time. Audiences identified with the issues through the stars in a way that was very personal. Hollywood did this job best - it was entertainment, but it was also a commitment to a generation.

At the end of the war and into the 50's, Hollywood addressed the aftermath - "Till the End of Time", "The Men", "My Foolish Heart", "The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit" and others, but "The Best Years of Our Lives" towers above them all.

The film could never really be remade. It was created by people who had experienced the war either in combat or on the home front. Many behind the camera had served including director William Wyler who had flown dangerous missions making documentaries about the U.S. Air Force; he was left nearly deaf from the experience.

The film tackled tough issues and attitudes. Sergeant Al Stephenson (Frederick March) returns from the Philippines, but he hasn't seen his kids for years and he seems out of step with them. Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) returns to an unfaithful wife and an uncertain future, he was good at war but what now? Real-life amputee Harold Russell plays Homer Parrish. He has much to overcome, but his girlfriend remains loyal, and he emerges as possibly the best adjusted of them all; he accepts what he can't change, and just gets on with it.

The film has a powerful score by Hugo Friedhofer. Friedhofer was not as famous as Newman, Korngold or Steiner but he was as good. He surpassed himself here; his music helped express the unspoken thoughts of the actors - there are sections of this score that bring a lump to the throat.

This was my parent's generation; my father was in the Australian army and fought in the war. And although this movie was about Americans, the story resonated far wider.

Of course you could argue that some issues were not tackled - and that also gives an insight into an era, but with that said, this film is a window on the ideas and forces that were shaping society at a critical time in modern history.

Seen that way, it's a movie that may never lose its relevance.

Beautiful, brilliant film about three WWII veterans and their families struggling to adjust to changes in their lives after the war. Frederic March and Dana Andrews give exceptional performances; possibly their best. Real-life veteran Harold Russell, who lost his hands in the war, steals the show in probably the best acting I've ever seen from a novice. He's really amazing. The supporting cast includes wonderful actresses Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Gladys George, and Cathy O'Donnell. There isn't a bad performance in the film. It's director William Wyler's best. It won seven Oscars plus received two honorary ones. This is definitely a must-see film. One of the all-time greats.

Sometimes, but very rarely, a movie tells a story so well that it almost becomes difficult. This movie tells several stories so well simultaneously that it was the first few times a movie I could not watch to completion. It was too real....and the characters SO STRONG that watching it became a personal struggle. Seeing these three men and their families deal with their hardships, one in particular, often hit me too hard. Now, I have watched in its entirety without interruption several times, and I realize what I always suspected. This movie is a masterpiece. The writing, the acting, the blending of several stories without being even the least bit choppy, everything about this movie is exceptional. Seven Academy Awards? No wonder, it certainly must have deserved them.

TBYOOL is a courageous, valiant and unostentatious attempt at presenting the aftermath of the Second World War from the viewpoint of three war veterans – an bombardier general, a Naval crew member and an infantry platoon sergeant as they re-acclimatize with their old surroundings that they were deprived of during the War period. The three men's lives interconnect after they ride on the same plane back home; the rewarded bombardier named Fred Derry (Dana Andrews), who received almost four times the income that he used to as a soda jerk before the war, returns to his ordinary life and toils to make a respectable living, while Homer Parish (Harold Russell), an ex-footballer loses his hands and has to rely on mechanical hook prostheses; his defect makes him embarrassed and conscious about how his family and friends would perceive him. He also worries that his childhood fiancé would reject him because of his condition. Al Stevenson (Fredric Marsh), a banker in his late 40s deployed as an infantry platoon officer returns to his family, but finds difficulty in retaining his old self to connect with those around him. His wife Milly (Myrna Loy) seems bemused by his changed behavior, and his strange craving for alcohol.

The three men, coming from different backgrounds, develop a closeness that spreads to their families and forms new relationships. Fred Derry, who had just spent some days with his newlywed Marie (Virginia Mayo), begins to realize her changed attitude towards him and position. The moment he enters, she comments about not being dressed appropriately for the occasion, and then admires the epaulets on his chest. She quits her job at the nightclub and now completely depends on her husband for their living without understanding that her husband can't fetch the income he used to while at war. During one of their exchanges, she comments rather offhandedly about how her husband had bad dreams about war at night. "Forget about it!" she says casually, while continuing to act as a spendthrift. Fred receives more empathy from Al Stephenson's daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright), and they eventually become close. Al Stephenson rekindles the paused relations with his wife and children by taking them to various entertainments. At bank, he becomes humane towards his clients, and judges them intuitively. Homer becomes reclusive and distraught, but is more open when he meets his two chums.

When these men return from war, they abandon their new family – their fellow soldiers. Just imagine the breadth of anticipation in these people – leaving their families for war, and returning to their families by leaving another family during war. There is a chill, a sense of fervor when this happens - when you leave your families for a short holiday, you start thinking of them and getting homesick. These people would've had the sensations for a while, and then they would have to form new relations with the ones around them now. This atmosphere is lusciously felt among the three actors as they take their flight back home. Their journey is very well written and acted, especially by Russell. When they land, they go home one by one and the reactions from the family are deeply touching, especially when the Homer's mother lets out a stifling cry; I was deeply moved.

I have to say the direction here is very different and modern compared to other films of the same period – there is not a moment of showiness and everything remains grounded to reality. There is an abundance of casual talk and the flow of the dialogs and scenes is never turbulent. You can hear a very dulcet music played during the scenes (which I did not favor though) and the only truly tense moment is at Butch's place later in the film. Now, I shall actually tell how I felt about the movie or rather how I perceive the movie's popularity:

TBYOOL was made in 1946, a crucial moment in world history. The growth of post-modernism during the period gave rise to films depicting war moments and the aftermath of it. Therefore, I feel that this movie is culturally and historically relevant in the sense that America needed such a film to be made at that time. It was reflective of the political, commercial and human conditions in those times – look at Dana's face when his character enters the supermarket only to find it taken over by some other company. Observe how the camera never gets too close to the actors – it wants to document life through film and it succeeded in that way. William Wyler himself stated that Mrs. Miniver depicted war in a subdued way and after his own war experience; he made this film which never over-sentimentalizes. At times we feel these weren't actors and were real people being documented; only the romantic angle gives it a movie-like feeling. For me, an Indian teenager, it was somehow difficult to truly love the film as it was made for an age that I haven't witnessed – Mrs. Miniver, which had more dramatic elements, was more liked by me because I expected drama. Here I got the unexpected – an effort to show truth.

The ensemble did a fine job of carrying the story. I think William Wyler wanted to highlight the importance of the story more than the performances of the actors – which though imperfect was honest. It could have been better acted with a better cast, but that may rob the credit of the story. Hence, I won't grumble much about the stiltedness in the performances at times. But I do bring attention to the mysterious disappearance of Al's son, who left to school forever perhaps!

TBYOOL would've made a great and long mini-series had it been released now. The passing of time in the plot requires some more real-time to connect both with the story and the characters. But bravo to it's groundbreaking attempt at mirroring lives!

What a mixbag. This film is full of interesting ideas whom all are underdeveloped. It could've been a great film about PTSD or falling out of current times, but by the middle of the film they threw those great concepts out for the crappy love stories. The whole third act is mostly cliche and very cheesy.

I saw the movie again recently. I always love it. It's touching, has great music, scope and complexity. The film is alive in its human details. But what especially stood out to me this time was how amazing Dana Andrew's performance is. His wife has cheated on him, he's suffering post-war trauma, and can't find a job--but he's still charming and funny. Even though his opinion of himself is pretty low, he keeps going ahead. I love how self-denigrating the character is, how he suspects he's pretty worthless, while his parents, friends and Peggy (but not his wife) see him as extraordinary. And Andrews does it all while being understated and real. Yeah, Dana!

Very glad to see that this excellent film gets such high marks from the users of IMDB. The Best Years of Their Lives remains the finest cinematic statement about veterans returning from war that I have come across. Easily the finest performance by the often overlooked Frederick March. In fact the entire cast shines, including music legend Hoagy Carmichael who treats us all with a subtle version of his classic Lazy River. I would recommend this excellent film to anyone who loves movies.

I watch this movie every time it plays on TV. A simply brilliant film. Three men return home from war and try to return to civilian life with great difficulty. All three led opposite lives during the war (Executive Banker became an army corporal, a soda jerk became an Air Force Captain and the High School Football hero loses both his arms in battle)and now each must reconstruct his life and connect with a new reality. The homes they return to, with grown children and independent, working women along with a depressed economy, only add to the strife. It's the scenes just off camera and the unspoken dialog which resonates the most loudly, however. The awkward intimacy of Frederich March and Myrna Loy and his struggle to return to his place as leader (both at home and at work) are heartbreaking.

Dana Andrews is riveting as the handsome, decorated Captain who struggles to keep his life together without the uniform.

The film is filled with honest characters and each is portrayed by a gifted actor.

This film, however, took on a whole other level after seeing, "Saving Private Ryan." The reality and magnitude of what these men lived through for love and country......and obviously it didn't end on the battlefield.

This is an essential for any collection.

Three WWII veterans return home to small-town America to discover that they and their families have been irreparably changed.

Such a powerful film. At first the new lives of the soldiers seem to be facing small adjustments, such as their children's interest in "atomic energy" and "scientific efficiency". But soon we find that jobs are hard to find, and the wives and girlfriends sometimes met new people while the battles were fought.

Although a serious topic, the film has the right balance of entertainment and drama. It never gets outright depressing, and things like depression and suicide are overlooked. But it still remains a valuable lesson: as bad as dying in the war is, sometimes the transition back to normalcy can be just as damaging.

Although not one of the better known movies today (2014), "The Best Years of Our Lives" won seven Academy Awards in 1946, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Film Editing (Daniel Mandell), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert Sherwood), and Best Original Score (Hugo Friedhofer). It still sits on the IMDb Top 250, just as it should.

There are several thoughtful reviews of this movie here already - most all of which I concur with.

I'll try to add a couple of unique comments about this most wonderful of films.

It occurred to me that some of this films greatest and most touching moments are told without dialogue:

The scene so many readers here have already mentioned - when Fred visits the boneyard for all those bombers waiting for the scrap heap. Through the camera work and Mr. Andrews' acting, we too are transported back to his harrowing missions aboard one of these planes. The urgency, the fear, the terror, the danger are all palpable at once as though we're in the cockpit too, flying over Europe against great enemy resistance, even though it's a sunny day somewhere in America in a lot for surplus aircraft. When I watched that scene, I felt like I really knew what tremendous ordeals he had endured. I felt for Fred now that this plane, that had been so decisively important, just as he himself had been so important, risking his life in service to his country as part of the plane's crew suddenly no longer served any useful purpose.

The scene where Homer is just about to go to his girlfriend's, Wilma's, house as planned - but he stops and he watches her through the window as she works in the kitchen, and plainly, we see that she is dear to him. But instead of going in to see her, with great struggle he changes his mind and he goes home and to his room. What a sweet room it is! It's the room he left - just out of high school - to join the navy. It's a high school student's room, a boy's room in his parent's house, with his trophies and pennants on the wall. He looks around at his boyhood triumphs and - we see through the camera - he stops and looks at his posed portrait in his football uniform, his right arm cocked back holding the football, his left arm pointing towards the imaginary receiver his head up, proud, and his gaze confident and purposeful. And then he looks at an action shot of himself dribbling the basketball past defenders. I can't begin to assess what Homer could be feeling at that moment - feelings of loss? of uselessness? Is he thinking that he'll be forever a boy - dependent on his parents and that he'll never be able to be his own man? That sequence - all without dialogue - speaks volumes!

The kicker for me though, is the reminder that this is not merely a character in a story that has moved me, but this is also a real person who lost both his hands in service to his country. Those photographs of him holding the football and dribbling the basketball sure look to me like they are real pictures of the real person, Mr. Harold Russell, who plays Homer. What kind of courage did he have to look those things in the face for millions of viewers to witness? And how hard was it for Mr. Russell the person to make light of his character's and his own real life disability by playing Chopsticks on the piano with his "hooks" for everyone's amusement?

Those two scenes stick in my mind as the most powerful to me - but there are so many more in this movie. It's worth noting that they were so effective without any dialogue at all. An actor shares a soul stirring revelation and it is carefully captured and revealed for us with sensitive and skillful film making.

This is one of those movies that would go on a very short list of all time favorites. It's not perfect - when I can detach myself emotionally from the people in this story I can say that it could possibly be just a little heavy handed with it's message, but to watch this movie with all it's masterful performances from so many in the cast all assembled so lovingly and with great such great care by a great director - I have to think that it is very near perfect.

I read here on IMDB under Harold Russell's (plays Homer) bio that he sold his Oscar in order to pay for surgery for his wife!! He is still living, retired on Cape Cod. Someone, somehow should get his Oscar back to him. It seems so wrong!! He paid very dearly with flesh and blood and bone and then had to, while on display, stare his loss in the face for the benefit of the movie going public. Someone should return his Oscar to him - the Academy? Steven Spielberg? Tom Hanks? William Wyler's heirs? I don't know who, but someone should really do that for him. It seems like a small price to pay for what he gave.

This is a home-coming tale of three WWII veterans, returning to the same small town. One was a bank clerk who rose through the military ranks (Fredric March, who got the Best Actor Oscar for this, well-deserved) with an understanding wife (Myrna Loy, excellent) and daughter (Teresa Wright). One has lost his hands (Harold Russell, real-life veteran, putting in a touching performance) and struggles to cope with this and with his relationship with his girlfriend (Cathy O'Donnell). The other was a soda jerk but has flown bomber planes throughout the conflict (Dana Andrews, in one of his best roles) and is now heading back to his pin-up wife (Virginia Mayo, a small role but an interesting one).

We follow them on their respective journeys, often meeting up in Butch's bar (run by Hoagy Carmichael, who gets the chance to play piano, etc.) and often finding their paths cross. The film comes in at around 3 hours, but it is time well spent. 'The Best Years' is not only perceptive and clever, with some great scenes, but also is innovative in some of its cinematography, thanks to the great Gregg Toland, master of the deep focus.

It will not be difficult for me to describe my feelings and thoughts about this film. It is simply the best I have ever seen. Fredric March(the most overlooked of great actors) gives the greatest performance by a leading man ever, as the returning sergeant who was previously a banker. In real life, March was indeed a banker for a short while. Maybe that is part of the reason his performance is so elegant. This movie reaches so many areas of human behavior, by exploring the families reactions to the returning veterans and the later relationships between the men themselves, that it's apparent complexity is in reality the simplicity of the continued struggle for survival. Of course the rest of the cast is wonderful. Including the colorful Hoagy Carmichal as Butch, the local tavern owner, who also happens to play piano. Here's an interesting twist. In one scene Homer (the disabled vet) asks Butch if he remembers how to play " Up A Lazy River". After nodding, Butch starts to play the song and while he plays he questions Homer about why he's not at home with his family. Now in 1946, Homer's musical request must have been humorous to the viewing audience because Hoagy Carmichael wrote that song, and the audience must have known it. Carmichael was at the time a big musical star and wrote many famous songs, including "Stardust" and "Georgia On My Mind" (which was later recorded by Ray Charles) among many others. I have seen this movie many times and only came to the aforementioned conclusion during my last viewing about two months ago. That also brings me to a very important part of this film: the music. It is simply wonderful. I was under the impression (until I recently viewed it) that the music was written by Aaron Copland. Now please exuse me for being a bit tutorial, but Aaron Copland for those of you who are not familiar with the name is considered the first great American Symphonic Composer. Leornard Bernstein, the composer of West Side Story, studied with Mr.Copland. The music for the film was composed by Hugo Friedhoffer, a familiar name in many movie credits of the era. What's interesting here is that the similarity between Mr. Friedhoffer's score and Copland is deliberate. Now whether they couldn't get Copland to write the music and told Friedhoffer to make it sound that way on purpose or whether Freidhoffer did it on his own I know not. Either way the unique sound is typically (by now) and primarily American and this is a story about America. It is what we would now call "Americana" This movie is full of emotion. There is great tragedy, humor in abundance, moving music, disappointment, longing for love, peace and security, and even confrontation and violence. It is human in every way. It is the human story. It is wonderful and it is the best, (should I ? oh! why not) "movie of our lives".

It's easy to see why this film was the best picture winner of 1946. It is meaningful, epic, and heartwarming. The Best Years of Our Lives tells the moving story of three World War II veterans who return home from the war and realize that life has drastically changed since they left. They are forced to cope with the new lifestyle that they have been so far from, and resituate themselves in unfamiliar territory. The film paints a striking picture of post-war life for veterans. It is critical but remains patriotic and triumphant towards the issues it presents. I wouldn't call this a dark film, but it's no picnic either. It's a human film that brings to light the realism of the situation as best it can.

The Best Years of Our Lives starts strong and then sort of goes downhill for me. It begins with tearful reunions as the three main characters return to their families who haven't seen them in so long. Changes in their lives are immediately noticed and addressed and one theme of post-war change is introduced after another. The beginning of the film does a fantastic job addressing these subtle things without outright saying them. There is a lot of room for interpretation in the beginning of the film that sets the stage for a deeply powerful film. The whole first hour of this three hour film wonderfully set up an intriguing set of ideals the film would address. It was all done with a plentiful helping of eloquence that struck me as very unique for a film from its time.

But as the film went on it morphed more and more into just a typical romance. The post-war elements still lingered and were still borough up from to time to time, but the overall focus of the film really started to switch to romances between the characters. I couldn't bring myself to enjoy this nearly as much and so the film ultimately grew dull and boring in my eyes. The story presented was well thought out and well executed, but didn't go the direction I had hoped it would. I was disappointed to see some great elements raised in the first half of the film all but go down the drain in the second half when The Best Years of Our Lives transforms itself into a tale of romance that we've all seen too many times.

Overall I wasn't crushed by the films change of pace and I can really say that I liked the film. It is very well made and deserved its best picture Oscar. It isn't exactly my cup of tea so I didn't enjoy it as much as someone who loves old romance films would. I can respect the film for its integrity and talent, but it's not something I would sit through again.

I have never seen another movie that takes as much time to show the characters in normal, day to day ordinary circumstances, so that we get to know them slowly. Nowadays movies so often show the "good" characters early on put in certain circumstances (threatened, attacked, betrayed) in order to coerce us to respond to them. By contrast, this movie shows returning man going about his business, and each of the returning characters make the kind of small mistakes that make them more human, more approachable. More than in any other movie I felt I was meeting new friends rather than following a story. Yet the stories themselves are good. This movie is in my top 5. I found it similar to Its a Wonderful Life, which I love too, but less obvious and less overly dramatic. Other good things about the film -- you can learn about the 1940s dress, manner of speaking, sense of humor; the movie has more thoughtful dialogue than two average current movies; the cinematography is excellent, with especially thoughtful character positioning in group scenes; there's a cameo by Hoagy Carmichael.

I expected something way better with all these 8, 9, & 10 star ratings. It was just average to me. I would have liked it more if it wasn't so dated. This doesn't apply to today. It shows 3 different men coming home from the war. They've been gone for years, & are comfortable in the armed service. They are not sure what to expect back home. It shows how they readjust to being back home again. They go through trials & tribulations while they look for work. They lose jobs due to post traumatic stress. They rekindle old romances, lose girlfriends, handle prejudice attitudes & snotty remarks from the public. One man deals with his feelings of inadequacy by drinking too much. They each have their own issues.

My parents were of that generation, and the movie was cathartic for returning veterans and their families and friends; it's small wonder that it eclipsed <i>It's A Wonderful Life</i>, which arguably is a better picture. But at the time, the movie had some shocking elements to it. In fact, my mother (roughly the character Peggy's age then) saw it against her parents' wishes.

Back in 1946, it was a jaw-dropper to have a character in a movie utter the word "divorce" or to aver an intent to break up a marriage -- such ideas just weren't voiced in films then. To modern audiences, they come across as melodramatic, but I'm told they elcited genuine gasps from audiences then.

Even more astonishing was William Wyler's decision to cast real-life amputee Harold Russell in the key role of a returning Navy veteran. Until <i>The Battle of Britain</i>, in which an actual, disfigured RAF veteran made a cameo appearance, directors didn't make those sorts of courageous gestures. The intimate yet innocent scene in which Homer Parrish (Russell) demonstrates his helplessness to his fiancé Wilma Cameron (Cathy O'Donnell) is beautiful, heartbreaking and uplifting; later, during the wedding scene, Russell stumbled over a line in saying the vows, and Wyler left the humanizing mistake in, God bless him for it.