The Best Years of Our Lives: An Honest and Groundbreaking Tribute to Veterans
By Alan Herrmann
MOVIE CRITIC
Veterans Day has always seemed like a solemn holiday, and rightly so. After all, it began as Armistice Day when World War I ended. A war so devastating and horrific that it was considered the “war to end all wars.”
Sadly, we know this was not the case, and Armistice Day became Remembrance Day and, eventually, Veterans Day. Now we honor all who sacrificed their lives for us – for our freedom. Many veterans did not return from their respective wars and many who survived did not come back whole, either physically or mentally.
For decades, filmmakers have made war movies, often action-packed, showing the fear inflicted by the enemy who are eventually defeated by the “good guys.” This was certainly the case with Hollywood films during World War II. The movies tended to be about actual combat and eventual victory.
War movies during the era were not only entertainment, but morale-boosters for the public as well, as evidenced by the fact that movie trailers encouraged people to buy war bonds. But as the war began to wind down, some filmmakers felt that the stories of veterans returning from combat must be told as well. How veterans were going to adjust to returning home needed to be addressed.
In 1946 producer Samuel Goldwyn and director William Wyler made what many consider to be the best film to present a clear, honest look at servicemen returning from war: The Best Years of Our Lives.
Unlike many other films at the time, there were no combat scenes. Every scene takes place at home in the U. S. From a Time magazine article in 1944, to a novel, and finally a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Robert Sherwood, The Best Years of Our Lives evolved into a film that earned seven Oscars. For director Wyler, who served as a Lt. Colonel in the Army Air Force during the war, this project was personal, and he wanted some of the best Hollywood had to offer to turn his vision into reality.
Cinematographer Greg Toland was brought on board, who was known for his deep focus photography technique – where the audience could clearly see figures in the distance as well as objects in the foreground. Goldwyn and Wyler enlisted the aid of high-power stars like Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Frederic March, Teresa Wright, and Virginia Mayo. But it was the choice to cast unknown military veteran Harold Russell, who lost his hands in combat, to play Homer Parrish, that lends the story its authenticity.
The former high school athlete is returning to his family and his fiancé – literally the girl next door – who are aware of his injury but have not seen the hooks that have replaced his hands.
Joining Homer in returning to Boone City via air transport and a shared cab, are Sgt. Al Stephenson and Army Air Force Captain Fred Derring. Each man represents a different socio-economic class. Al, the well-to-do banker; Homer the young, middleclass football hero; and Fred, the soda jerk from the other side of the tracks.
They are glad to survive the war but fear returning home to face their families and a different world than the one they left three years ago. All three characters have a compelling tale to tell and, besides facing socio-economic hardships, each one faces a different form of disability.
Homer has the most obvious disability. He’s lost his hands and, even though he is quite adept at using his mechanical hooks, he is aware of the assistance he needs to accomplish certain everyday tasks – tasks that he believes his girlfriend, Wilma, will not be able to undertake. In one of the film’s most poignant scenes, we see Homer showing Wilma the difficulty he has getting ready for bed where not only Wilma, but the audience witness the unstrapping of the hooks from Homer’s amputated hands.
This was a shocking scene for the time but is immediately followed by Wilma’s calm demeanor and determined desire to help Homer by setting his hooks aside and buttoning up his pajama top. She tenderly tucks him in and kisses him goodnight while reassuring him she will always be there for him. He and Wilma eventually marry, in one of the most joyous and tender moments of the film, yet we don’t know the ongoing challenges he will face with his new “hands.”
On the surface, Al Stephenson is a successful banker. He lives in an impressive high rise apartment building with his lovely wife and two kids, who have grown to adulthood in his absence. He’s in his early forties and one would assume he was an officer during the war. In actuality, he was an infantry sergeant who was in the thick of combat fighting Japanese troops.
Al is a heavy drinker. He was probably one before the war, but after his experience seeing death all around him, and his anxiety of readjusting to civilian life, he has increased his alcohol consumption substantially. Al is not an abusive drunk and the film treats his disability in mostly a comic manner, with scenes throughout where he is either drinking or nursing a hangover. We see him out with his wife, Milly, and daughter, Peggy, on his first night back home where they put up with him in a good-natured way as they bar hop across Boone City.
Even in his most heroic scene where he is the speaker at a bank dinner and declares that the bank should be giving loans to veterans without collateral – to the chagrin of his boss – he is very drunk. He will continue to use his position at the bank to help G.I.s get back on their feet, but still must adapt to his changing family and world around him.
Fred Derry, the soda jerk from humble origins, rose above his station to become a bombardier captain during the war. He returns a bonified hero with several medals only to find his attractive wife, Marie, who he married after a whirlwind romance shortly before going overseas, is neither faithful nor what he perceived her to be.
Fred has recuring nightmares about his combat missions over Germany, which the film handles beautifully. Where Marie simply sees the nightmares as a nuisance and something Fred just needs to get over, Peggy, Al’s daughter, recognizes the trauma he is going through and treats him gently and with compassion.
Today we recognize Fred’s disability as a form of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but in 1946 little was known or accepted about this potentially debilitating disorder. Fred eventually divorces, finds love with Peggy, and obtains work in a salvage yard recycling metal from the very type of aircraft he flew in the war. It’s an optimistic view but there is a long road ahead, and it’s uncertain if his nightmares will cease.
The Best Years of Our Lives is a film rich in content and characterization that includes a happy ending but doesn’t wrap everything up in a tidy package. There are far too many things in this film to unpack here, it is a nesting doll of wonderful scene after scene, but I encourage you to watch this film if you haven’t already or watch it again if you have. It’s often shown on TCM and is available on various streaming services.
To all our veterans, thank you for your service and sacrifice, and I sincerely hope you have found the peace and happiness you so richly deserve.
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