The Best Years of Our Lives

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Template:Infobox Film The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 movie about three servicemen (an airman, a soldier, and a sailor) trying to piece their lives back together after coming back home from WWII. It is based on a novel by MacKinlay Kantor, Glory for Me. The large cast includes Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Hoagy Carmichael.

Directed by William Wyler and with cinematography by Gregg Toland, the film received seven Academy Awards. Harold Russell, who lost both hands in the war and played an amputee, received an honorary award "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance" in the movie. Despite his touching Oscar-nominated performance, he was not a professional actor and the Board of Governors assessed Russell's chances of winning a competitive award as a long shot. About an hour later, Russell was named Best Supporting Actor to a tumultuous reception. He is the only actor to receive two Academy Awards for the same performance.

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Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Image:Best Years of Our Lives 01 bar.jpg The movie begins with Fred, Homer, and Al having hitched a ride in a bomber returning home to what appears to be a Midwestern city like Des Moines or Omaha. Fred was an Air Corp Captain and a bombardier in Europe. Homer had been in the Navy and lost his hands because of burns when his ship was hit. Al had been an Army Sergeant in the Pacific.

Before the war Fred had been a soda jerk at a drug store. He goes from being an Air Corps Captain to the prospect of returning to the drug store and he naturally wants more. Fred met Marie while in basic training and married her shortly after meeting her. Marie, who took a job as a night club waitress while Fred was overseas, clearly does not want to be married to a soda jerk. Peggy, who works at a Veterans Hospital, meets Fred and feels sorry for his situation while at the same time falls in love with him.

Al had been a loan officer for the Corn Belt Bank. Al, who is shown as having a drinking problem, has the fewest issues returning home. In fact, he receives a promotion from the bank upon his return home. However, having seen the horrors of war, Al is a changed man.

Homer appears to have been inducted after graduating from high school and mentions having been a high school quarterback. Homer is engaged to Wilma. However he doesn't believe he should subject her to a life with a handicapped man. Uncle Butch is Homer's uncle and owns a bar where the principal characters meet from time to time.

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Cast

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Awards and nominations

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Quotes

  • Milly Stephenson: "We never had any trouble." How many times did I tell you I hated you and believed it in my heart? How many times did you tell me you were tired of me; that we were all washed up? How many times did we have to fall in love all over again?
  • Al Stephenson: I've seen nothing, I should have stayed at home and found out what was really going on.
  • Fred Derry: You know what it'll be, don't you, Peggy? It may take us years to get anywhere. We'll have no money, no decent place to live. We'll have to work, get kicked around.
  • Peggy Stephenson: I've made up my mind. Al Stephenson: Good girl. Milly Stephenson: To do what? Peggy Stephenson: I'm going to break that marriage up!
  • Butch Engle: Give 'em time, Kid. They'll catch on. You know, your folks'll get used to you and you'll get used to them. Then everything'll settle down nicely--unless we have another war. Then none of us have to worry 'cause we'll all be blown to bits the first day. So cheer up, huh?
  • Al Stephenson: Fine people, the Merrills. Strictly T.C.R. . . . Top Credit Rating.
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Taglines

  • Filled with all the love and warmth and joy . . .the human heart can hold!
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Trivia

  • Filming locations: Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden - 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia; Ontario International Airport, Ontario, California; Raleigh Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California; and the Samuel Goldwyn/Warner Hollywood Studios, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
  • Hedda Hopper called the Best Years of Our Lives, "The best film of the year." The quote was used in one of the film's posters.
  • The Hugo Friedhofer score was the subject of a thorough analysis in Musical America, the foremost musicological publication of the time, by Dr Frederick Sternfield, in its March 1956 edition.
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External links

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