The Best Years of Our Lives Rating: Release Date: 18 December, 2001 Retail Price: $14.98 OUR Price: $10.99 You SAVE: $3.99! Cast: William Baldwin Dana Andrews Fredric March Teresa Wright Complete Cast (11 total)

The Best Years of Our Lives Reviews

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Never outdated and always brings hope to the viewer!
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) Director William Wyler's Oscar-winning story of WWII soldiers returning to civilian life is as relevant today as it was in 1946. Featuring superb performances from Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and real life vet Harold Russell as the returning vets. Andrews is the guy we all identify with. He hooks up with the wrong women, loses his job over defending his ideals, and is forced by March to stay away from lovely Teresa Wright, who has fallen for the married Andrews and truly cares for him. Don't miss the scene where Andrews' dad finally reads the letter his son kept avoiding. It will break your heart. Hoagy Carmichael provides a subtle touch as Russell's caring uncle.

Touching look at post-WWII America
Although a bit schmaltzy and hammy in places, TBYoOL conveys deep feelings of Americans about the heroism and debt of gratitude owed to the men who defeated Nazi Germany and the Japanese. Three perspectives are bundled together - the rich man who's come to know the working-class man as his brother in arms, the poor man whose army glory far outshines his pedestrian civilian life, and the disabled veteran who must come to grips with his limitations. Each man is given greatest respect, presented to the audience as a noble warrior returned home with a new perspective on who they are and what they want from their lives.

Idealistic, over-simplified? Sure. But what's being conveyed through the film isn't intended to be the harsh reality of soldiers and sailors adjusting to life after war. The purpose of the movie is to embody the nation's love for their fighting men, to say that times may be tough as they adjust, but that the American people recognized the fighting men as heroes to a generation.

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