The Best Years of Our Lives

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The Best Years of Our Lives

1946,

2h 52m,

Drama

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97%

106 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

97%

Tomatometer

106 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Fred, Al and Homer are three World War II veterans facing difficulties as they re-enter civilian life. Fred (Dana Andrews) is a war hero who, unable to compete with more highly skilled workers, has to return to his low-wage soda jerk job. Bank executive Al (Fredric March) gets into trouble for offering favorable loans to veterans. After losing both hands in the war, Homer (Harold Russell) returns to his loving fiancée, but must struggle to adjust.

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Critics Consensus

An engrossing look at the triumphs and travails of war veterans, The Best Years of Our Lives is concerned specifically with the aftermath of World War II, but its messages speak to the overall American experience.

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Paul Jones

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Feb 3, 2026

It is warm and human, almost to the extent of being documentary.

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Roly Young

Globe and Mail

Feb 3, 2026

Best Years is a long picture that never hurries itself, goes into a great deal of extraneous detail, but never allows your interest to lag.

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Manny Farber

The New Republic

Feb 3, 2026

This is one of those rare films in which a pose or a gesture stands out so significantly that you feel that the cameraman had as much to do with the story as the director and writer.

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Carson Timar

ClapperCast

May 16, 2026

The Best Years of Our Lives is exceptional. Deeply emotional and daring, this is one of the overlooked greats of American Cinema.

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Buffalo News Staff

Buffalo News

Feb 3, 2026

Problems of the returning war veteran are depicted sympathetically and intelligently.

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Mercury Staff

The Mercury (Australia)

Feb 3, 2026

4/4

Harold Russell's work is superb and will gain the sympathy of any audience.

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Finn S

Feb 12, 2019

Classic post-WW II coming home to reality story couldn't be done better. The actors were all superb and were cast perfectly.

Hagrid M

Feb 11, 2019

A memorable film about the aftermath of World War II in the United States., this film opens with the homecoming of three veterans to the same small town. The movie exposes the reality of altered lives and the inability to communicate the experience of war on the front lines or the home front. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of the most timely and immediate Best Picture winners in Academy history. Profoundly and sensitively balances the private demons of scarred veterans and the press of public policies that leave their mark on daily life.This movie is a masterpiece. The writing, the acting, the blending of several stories without being even the least bit choppy, everything about this movie is exceptional. Seven Academy Awards. No wonder, it certainly deserved them. The all star cast Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy , Virginia Mayo , Teresa Wright , Cathy O'Donnell . Director William Wyler's heartbreaking postwar ballad seems even more radical today than it did in its Oscar-thick heyday. It's as non-propagandistic as an unemployment line. It's a masterpiece, a combination of a genuinely felt emotional narrative and a microcosm of a country recovering from war.

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Jan 26, 2019

The best, GREATEST inspiring movie ever made! With the best movie character ever portrayed: Harold Russell as Homer Parrish! And the best movie score ever composed!

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Oct 14, 2018

quite a few WW II vets in our small town that I grew up around..

Anakin S

Sep 7, 2018

Tells a moral story with surprisingly good performances from Frederic March, Dana Andrews and Teresa Wright. Skip the melodrama, this is the electromagnet of wartime and what happens when the current is turned off.

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Hermione W

Aug 26, 2018

The film mostly delivers with a minimally-entertaining post-WWII storytelling that was thoroughly represented with well-performed soulful characterization within enough substance to put up with worthwhile length. (A-) (Full review TBD)

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William Wyler

Director

Fredric March

Al Stephenson

Myrna Loy

Milly Stephenson

Dana Andrews

Fred Derry

Teresa Wright

Peggy Stephenson

Virginia Mayo

Marie Derry

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Synopsis

Fred, Al and Homer are three World War II veterans facing difficulties as they re-enter civilian life. Fred (Dana Andrews) is a war hero who, unable to compete with more highly skilled workers, has to return to his low-wage soda jerk job. Bank executive Al (Fredric March) gets into trouble for offering favorable loans to veterans. After losing both hands in the war, Homer (Harold Russell) returns to his loving fiancée, but must struggle to adjust.

Director: William Wyler
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn
Screenwriter: MacKinlay Kantor, Robert E. Sherwood
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Production Co: Samuel Goldwyn Company
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 21, 1946, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 1, 2012
Runtime: 2h 52m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.37:1)

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