TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

In celebration of Veteran’s Day, the next film from Flicks_withNick  is the 1946 classic The Best Years of Our lives.  I know what you’re thinking, an old movie in black and white? Hard pass. But hear me out, and hopefully this review will convince you to check this out, and maybe check out more movies from the Golden Age. The movie stars Fredric March as Al Stephenson, Dana Andrews as Fred Derry, and Harold Russell as Homer Parrish. The movie also stars Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright, and Virgina Mayo.

The movie is about three Veterans; Al, Fred and Homer returning to their home after World War Two. They meet on a flight to their hometown in Boone city. One by one they are dropped off,  and are being reintroduced to society after the war.

Each Veteran struggles being integrated into civilian life again. Al returns to his job at the bank, but makes questionable decisions, and develops a drinking problem. Fred returns back to his job as a soda jerk after struggling finding work, and dealing with his wife at home, but falling in love with another woman. Homer has to adjust to his life without his hands. Each character has their story beautifully fleshed out. As the movie progresses, you realize that not only do the men have to readjust, the family of the Veterans have to adjust as well. 

The most compelling storyline is Homer’s adjustment back to society. You realize what he has to deal with his disability. His daily life has changed, but also has to deal with people staring at him, and people treating him differently. Ultimately he just wants to be treated like everyone else. In real life the actor Harold Russell lost his hands after a defective fuse of TNT explosives exploded while he handled it. At the Academy Awards he was given an honorary Oscar for bringing hope and courage to his fellow Veterans. They gave him the honorary award thinking he was not going to win any awards, since he wasn’t a trained actor. But when watching this movie, the Academy had to recognize him for a supporting actor award, and he deservingly won!

The best scene in the movie for me is towards the end of the movie when Fred is walking through the aircraft boneyard. One by one he walks down aisles of abandoned aircrafts and parts. The score in the background is stunning. He climbs into a B-17 Bomber, while the score has a faster pace to create tension.

While he’s sitting in the seat he gets flashbacks of his time at the war, with the most terrified look on his face. If you’re very skeptical about watching this movie, at least watch this scene, I think it’ll hook you into wanting to watch the rest of the movie. 

If you’re ever interested in trying to strengthen your movie library, and start watching older movies, I always suggest to people to start with the AFI top 100 list. As of right now, AFI has this movie #37. If you have any other suggestions for movies from the AFI list, please reach out! This movie won 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. I honestly think this is the best movie to depict Veterans coming home after a war.

Is this movie 3 hours long? Yes. Is this movie in black and white? Yes. Is this movie almost 80 years old? Yes. But don’t let these things discourage you. This is still a beautifully acted, written, and directed movie. You won’t even notice these things, as you’re going to be distracted by the characters, and their stories. I would suggest this movie for everyone to at least watch once. I highly encourage everyone to watch this movie if you think you’re an avid movie fan, or love any movies dealing with the War, and its after effects. Do you know where you can find this movie? It’s free on Youtube right now! So everyone has the chance to watch this. Let me know if you gave it a try, and what did you think? Thank you for hearing me out on this amazing movie. Happy Veterans Day,  and thank you to all our veterans for their service. 

The Best Years of Our Lives gets a score of 4.8 out of 5 from Flicks_withNick.

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