The Best Years of Our Lives

Rating:
Summary: Inconspicuous
Review: t's hard to believe that this soap opera was ever considered meaningful; shallow, even after considering the circumstances at the time of its release. May be the most overrated film of all time. And to think that this film beat out "It's a Wonderful Life" for best picture!

Rating:
Summary: Worth the Oscar
Review: I grew up in the Vietnam era and though I was too young to serve, all of the press regarding the problems faced by returning vets impressed itself on me. This movie serves to remind me that such problems existed in WWII and actually, such problems are timeless. People haven't changed over the centuries. This is an excellent, well- acted movie.

Rating:
Summary: WWII Era not all roses
Review: This film should be required viewing for all students of WWII. With the recent celebrations of 50-year anniversaries for the major events of WWII, American society has had a tendency to view this era of post-war success through rose-colored glasses. Moving portrayals by Frederic March and especially real-life veteran Harold Russell make this film unforgettable and realistic. Wyler doesn't duck any issues the returning soldier and his family faced and also, in several scenes, addresses some predominant feelings of your "everyman" America at the time. Worth several viewings to pick up on all the cultural and historical references.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece
Review: This is one of many films I could watch at least 3 times a year. This movie is a towering achievement for all involved and tells what is was like for returning home vets and their families, jobs, etc. Excellent!!! END

Rating:
Summary: Excellent screenplay, fabulous music and great performances.
Review: This is just about a perfect film! With honesty and warmth, it shows us the adjustments three World War II veterans must make upon their return to an America that obviously thrived without them for four years. This film captures the returning vets' weariness, hopefulness and sudden insecurity in the face of peacetime. It presents us with characters who courageously deal with physical disability, alcoholism, joblessness, and marital discord. Every word of dialogue propels the plot. Camera shots are cleverly used to emphasize the times when there is dissonance between what characters are saying and what they really think and feel. Both the established Hollywood stars and the newcomers give absolutely convincing performances. All this is supported and uplifted by a musical score as fine as any ever composed. I'd highly recommend this movie to anyone who was too young to have lived through the post-WWII years. (The people who did live through those years most assuredly! ! have already seen this fabulous film!) END

Rating:
Summary: A movie ahead of its time.
Review: I was home from work, sick in bed, but not sick enough to refrain from watching TV. It was sometime in the 80s and I was in my 20s. There were a few Vietnam movies out at the time. The media was hyping them as the first movies to deal with war in a way that was different than the WWII "keep up moral on the home front" movies. The Best Years of Our Lives came on TV. I watched it and I couldn't believe that this movie was made in 1946. My father, A WWII veteran, told me how Harold Russell was a hero to many veterans. You have to wonder how much his role is true to his own life (the hooks he wears for hands are no special effect, he lost them in the war). Although I like all three charcters, Dana Andrews character is the deepest for me. One of my favorite movies. END

Rating:
Summary: An Amazing Film.
Review: I was fortunate enough to see this movie on TV a few nights ago, and I must say that it is one of the best films I've seen for YEARS. It's hard to believe that I've never heard of this movie. Even though I was born more than 30 years after this movie's release, it melted my heart unlike any film I've seen. I was very surprised by some of the material in the movie. It seemed way ahead of its time, with topics like alcohol addictions, the questionable results of WWII, etc. It's definately a movie that I'll be adding to my DVD collection.

Rating:
Summary: Superb (and Still Relevant)
Review: I'm usually reluctant to watch old movies no matter how good they're supposed to be. I'm thankful that for some reason I decided to at least watch the beginning and see if it held my attention. This movie will break your heart, all of the characters are sympathetic, and although it is almost 60 years old it is extremely relevant right now, since the US is now in the middle of a war and a new generation of veterans is coming home. It is moving, touching, disturbing, thought-provoking, and inspiring, and for someone too young to have known any family members who remembered WWII or post-war America, highly informative. I suspect, from the number of awards this movie won in the 1940s, that it was well-received, but if this movie were released today it would be denounced as anti-American and unpatriotic.

Rating:
Summary: 'The Best Years of Our Lives' & Friedhofer's Landmark Score
Review:
Hugo W Friedhofer's landmark score for Wyler's film has often been lauded as 'the finest American film score' in any mumber of scholarly publications; moreover, it is the most discussed score of the sound era.

Perhaps, I am being a bit biased, having known the late composer, as well as having produced the LP and 2 CD versions of the original score, recorded by the London Philharmonic in 1978.

Friedhofer's music is such an integral part of this film that it is not possible to imagine 'BYOOL' without it. Listen, for example, as to how the composer treats several disperate scenes with his bittersweet 'Americana'-imbued score [influences of Copland (naturally), Gershwin, and the second-movement of Elliott Carter's First Symphony (1942), the latter of which was known to Friedhofer].

If this great score does not move you, then absolutely nothing will. John Lasher, producer, Fifth Continent Australia P/L.

Rating:
Summary: What life was really like....
Review: For everyone who wasn't alive during and after WWII this moive gives you the best possible look at the lives of different Americans after WWII in a moiving and entertaining way.

This moive deals with real passions, dreams, fears, and general problems. Even someone without an understanding or liking of the 1940's will find something that they can relate to in this moive.

Fred (an officer) is a common man from the wrong side of the tracks drealing with a rushed marrage and the pressure of finding work.

Homer (a sailor) is a young man who looses his hands in the war and has to deal with looking at life in an entriely different way all the while having to deal with the way his life was before the war.

Al (a sergent/banker) deals with the revival of his 20 year marrage and the growing up of his children.

Peggy (Al's daughter) dealing with first love and questioning her morals for that love.

Its a movie that will move you in a special way, by the end of it you feel as thought you know these people. The presence of that feeling, "I just have to make it." is there from the very start of the movie, the determination practically oozes out of the screen because of the power of the players. Each character is believeable.