The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Posted by Bryan H on July 19th, 2009
I wanted to highlight a recent comment on this site from Bill (thanks for writing in…).
“One of the best movies about World War 11 was “The Best Years of our Lives (1946). As a Veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, and 1969 to 1970 it said it all. War is a dirty rotten business the impact and the experience of War will forever change a Human Being.”
This movie is a favorite of mine as well, as it follows the personal stories of three WWII veterans who meet while traveling home to Boone City (in a B-19, no less). One man, Homer, is a double hand amputee and is played convincing by Harold Russell. From IMBD, we learn that Russell
was training paratroopers at Camp MacKall NC on June 6, 1944 when some TNT he was using exploded in his hands. He lost both hands. After receiving hooks, and training on them, he was chosen to make an Army training film called “Diary Of A Sergeant”. William Wyler saw the film and decided to change a character in his film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) from a spastic to a double amputee. Harold Russell played Homer Parish. For this role he received 2 Oscars, a Best Supporting and one for being an inspiration to all returning veterans.
The other two men, Al Stephenson (Fredric March) and Fred Derry (Dana Andrews) deal with other cultural shocks to the system, including integrating back into the work and relationship worlds. One memorable scene shows Homer and Fred at a soda fountain dealing with a man questioning the sacrifices of men like Homer, calling them “for nothing.” As you might guess, some “action” follows and it highlights the divide of war as an “idea” that is experienced second hand verses those who were there and understand.
If you click around in the related movies section on the youtube site, you can watch the whole thing online. The first ten minutes are here.