I will admit that my love of classic movies is rooted in swashbuckling pirate movies, westerns and war films.  As a child, I remember watching movies starring actors like Errol Flynn and John Wayne.  Dramas were not high on my list.  It took me a long time to sit down and watch The Best Years of Our Lives but my interest was piqued when I saw it placed at #37 on the AFI’s Top 100 list, right between two of my favorites, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).  Waiting so long to watch this movie was a mistake on my part.  The Best Years of Our Lives is a very compelling drama with interesting characters and stellar performances.  Set seventy-five years ago, it still feels relevant today.

The story begins with three veterans returning home on a soon to be decommissioned bomber.  The three did not serve together and did not know each other previously but discover they are from the same small town.  Prior to the war, the three came from very different social circles but their return home sparks a friendship and creates a bond that ties them together. 

In a performance that earned him a Best Actor Oscar, Frederic March plays Al Stephenson, a banker.  He returns to his old job and a promotion.  Unfortunately, his new position puts him in a position of having to deny loans to fellow veterans, a task he would have found easy before the war but now finds very difficult.  He also finds that he has returned to two children who have grown up while he was away.

Dana Andrews plays Fred Derry.  Derry’s war service saw him rise to the rank of Captain in the Army Air Corps but he finds that his service means relatively little when he returns home.  He struggles to find work and eventually returns to his old job working the soda counter at the local drug store.  He also finds that is wife, who he married in haste before he went off to serve, was perfectly happy being married to an officer but has little interest in being married to a soda counter attendee.  Early on, it becomes apparent that he has fallen in love with Al Stephenson’s daughter Peggy. 

Harold Russell plays Homer Parrish in a role that won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as well as a special honorary Oscar for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans.  He returns with two hooks in place of the hands he lost during the war.  Unlike Fred Derry, he did not rush into marriage before he left for the war.  Now he wonders if his pre-war fiancée will want to marry a man with a disability.  Russell’s casting in this film is one of the great stories of Hollywood history.  He had lost his hands in an explosive accident while training and later starred in an Army training film.  William Wyler saw a documentary about Russell and sought him out for the role of Homer Parrish.

The Best Years of Our Lives is also a directorial masterpiece.  William Wyler was very conscious of how the film might impact real veterans.  For this reason, he sought to avoid too many plot contrivances that, in his words, “would only work for a character in a movie.”  He avoided glamourous close-up shots and used deep-focused photography.  A perfect example of this technique is the bar scene in which Fred Derry is in the background making a phone call and Al Stephenson stands near the piano being played by Homer Parrish and Hoagy Carmichael.  The camera never really moves but, at any time, the viewer’s eye might shift to any of the three characters.  Wyler allows the viewer to make the choice, and, on repeated viewings, you will find your eye drawn to different parts of the scene every time. 

The challenges faced by these three veterans could be faced by veterans of any war in any era and The Best Years of Our Lives explores a wide range of emotions.  The characters experience everything from grief, anxiety, abandonment, alienation and disillusionment.  However, in the end, it is the love of those they returned to that conquers all.  Al Stephenson rekindles his marriage and his relationship with his now grown children.  Fred Derry finds a new love and a new life.  Homer Parrish finds love, happiness and acceptance from his fiancée.  This is a film that anyone who loves movies should watch and certainly those who love classic films should place near the top of their list.