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The Best Movie for Today
There’s no shortage of great war movies, but great films about veterans are a rarer breed. About three or four years ago, I was listening to the Ricochet podcast when Rob recommended The Best Years of Our Lives. I knew of it — “That’s the one with the guy who lost his hands, right?” — but had never seen it. I threw it on my Netflix queue and forgot about it for a few weeks before I decided to give it a whirl.
In short, the movie is a damn miracle; even more so, I’d say, than Casablanca. It went into production less than a year after VJ Day and follows three veterans as they attempt to return to — and, indeed, remake — their civilian lives. Each of their stories could suffice as a character study, but interweaving them as this film does gives one a sense of both how shared the existence of pain and trauma pain was, as well as how very much it varied in its particulars.
The acting and direction are first rate throughout. Dana Andrews, in particular, is excellent as a former bombardier who realizes that the war — for all its horror — may well be the high-point of his life, and sure beats working as a soda jerk and returning every night to a wife who’s clearly lost all interest in him. Myrna Loy’s performance is also remarkable and seems to, at least in a little way, to be a bit of a commentary on The Thin Man series’s attitude toward drink.
And then of course there’s Homer. Played by Harold Russell — who, like his character, lost his hands in the war — it’s a truly singular performance that nobody could have predicted and that will never be replicated. Despite some amazing skill with his prosthetics and an otherwise healthy attitude about his injuries, he’s convinced himself that he’s no longer good enough for his high school sweetheart and spends much of the movie encouraging her to leave him. It’s a simultaneously selfless and selfish thing to do and the actors play it perfectly. I’ve joked before that anyone who can get through the bedroom scene between them with a dry eye should be immediately diagnosed with psychopathy and forcibly admitted to an institution, but that’s just me trying to cover for the fact that I blubber-up every time I watch it.
Russell subsequently won not only the Oscar for best supporting actor, but also a special award for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans,” the only time in Academy history that an actor received two awards for a single performance. If all this sounds incredibly cheesy — as I confess it once did to me — then I suggest you watch the movie.
And, indeed, it is a hopeful movie. Toward the end, there’s a fantastic scene where Fred (Andrews) comes upon a scrapyard where row upon row of now-useless aircraft are being dissembled. I’ll stop the commentary and let you watch, but the scene perfectly encapsulates the idea that — as much as these men may have lost — they hadn’t lost everything.
You are right. It’s been ages since I’ve watched it and I will have to purchase it soon. By the way, is that Hoagie Carmichael at the piano with Harold Russell?
Another film that I really enjoy and strongly recommend is Preston Sturgess’s ” Hail The Conquering Hero”. Yes, it’s light hearted, very Capra-esque, but very moving. Entirely suitable for a day like today. Check it out.
It’s a terrific movie, Sam Goldwyn’s greatest success because it touched the hearts of so many people who were, in effect, living the story. In a way it’s the non-fantasy counterpart to “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
My wife worked at The Samuel Goldwyn Company for many years. One of the small, treasured moments there was discovering one of the production logs, kept in ink in an ordinary school notebook. For the year 1946, a handwritten title–“GLORY FOR ME”–is crossed out and replaced with the project’s new title, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES in neat block letters.
Yes, that’s Hoagy.
Watching that scene in the airplane graveyard, I just keep thinking how many millions and millions and millions of dollars those planes would be worth today…
Yeah, Tom, the moment Homer crashes his prosthetics through the window- if that does not provoke the horror and pity response from you, you may not be human and certainly are not an emotionally healthy one. Thanks for reminding me of the film.
The scene that chokes me up is point in the wedding where Homer and his bride exchange rings. When the minister instructs the bride to place the ring on the groom’s finger she places it on his hook. No on in the crows giggles or shrugs. The spiritual unity of the community is overwhelming. It blows me away.
The film is rightly considered one of the finest ever produced by Hollywood. Less well known is the screenwriter: Robert E Sherwood. Before writing The Best Years of Our Lives Sherwood was one of FDR top speechwriters. He is frequently credited with originating the phrase “arsenal of democracy.” To give you an idea of how much influence Sherwood had here is a link from his entry in Spartacus:
There are speechwriters and then there are speechwriters. Sherwood fell into the latter category. There are actually small left-wing touches in the film – mostly missed by modern audiences – that so enraged Ayn Rand she denounced it.
True art transcends both its time period and the ideological slant of its creator. The Best Years of Our Lives does that. But it leaves us with an interesting question: Would an Obama speechwriter turned screenwriter produce anything so unabashedly American?
It’s a great movie, one of the best 10 of all time. William Wyler did a great job with numerous scenes of incredible emotional depth. I’ll name two:
The scene from which the photo at the piano is taken. Fredric March has just told his fellow vet Dana Andrews that Andrews must break off his relationship with March’s daughter. March is listening in to Carmichael and Russell at the piano while repeatedly glancing behind him to the phone booth you can barely see where Andrews is making that call.
Toward the end of the movie Andrews’ father sits at the kitchen table and reads aloud to his wife their son’s battle commendation, the description of his boy’s heroism and gallantry. He finishes it and doesn’t say a word. He just sits there – 30 seconds of ineffable wordlessness.
Freesmith, that’s a wonderful retelling. Such a pithy and powerful summary of two scenes; few film school professors could have done better.
When I was younger, my favorite movies concerning wars had lots of battle scenes and action. But as I got older “The Best Years of Our Lives” seemed to get better. It touches on so many themes with sensitivity and maturity: How do soldiers returning from war readjust to civilian life? How do the civilians readjust to the soldiers coming home? How do couples re-engage after not seeing one another for years? Is it fair for men returning from war to expect their wives to return to being “just housewives” after these women have worked outside the home for years,and had some level of good income and independence while doing so? Who gets approved for a loan? Who gets a job,and what kind of job?
Those themes,and others,covered in this movie,are why “The Best Years of Our Lives” is now my favorite “war movie”,although “after war movie” would be the more correct characterization.
I highly recommend the book “Five Came Back: A Story of Five Filmmakers and the Second World War” by Mark Harris. It tells of William Wyler’s experience in the war that prepared him for making this great film. Amazing there was a time that Hollywood participated in the military and celebrated it rather than ridiculing it. (Here’s my Amazon review of the book.)
I liked that book; it’s a pretty good story about people worth remembering. I did not think the writer knew what the directors were about, though. There is something missing there, but he can sure tell a story.
As for the politics, America was far more tied to its military in that very short period than before or after. Think about how little American pride there is on display for anything before WWII!
(I’m not sure Civil War re-enactment really counts here, not least because it does not imply agreement that Lincoln had it right–there is agreement that FDR knew right from wrong, & how to conduct war, & led the country well…)
Of course, the book also goes on about how the gov’t got involved in Hollywood, & makes D.C. types seem retarded.
Also, it talks about the obnoxious glut of war films.
& about an obsession with actual war footage which strikes me at least as strange.
This movie is years ahead of it’s time. Most of the post-war flicks are shallow which gave the audiences what they wanted; escapism after the hardships of the war. The Best Years of Our Lives is the most honest, thoughtful and courageous film of its time.
Most of the war films were shallow, too, because it’s not easy to make films that are otherwise…