Watch The Best Years of Our Lives For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Sadly Over-hyped

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Painting an authentic, distressing & heartbreaking portrait of post traumatic stress disorder and expertly led by riveting performances from its outstanding ensemble, The Best Years of Our Lives is a work of restrained craftsmanship that narrates its drama with deft composure and has a thorough understanding of its subject matter.The story concerns three United States servicemen who get acquainted while on their way back home after the end of World War II but face trouble in readjusting to civilian life. The plot follows their lives as each one of them struggles in their own way and has difficulties coping with the horrors of the past and living in the present.Directed by William Wyler (best known for Ben-Hur), it's astonishing just how much the film gets right in its depiction of the hardships faced by soldiers when they return home after serving in the battlefield and being changed by the horrors of it to such an extent that their very own home starts feeling like a place they can't recognise anymore.Through the crisis of our trio of characters, the film offers an interesting glimpse into the experiences of countless others who were affected by war and the struggle they faced with social readjustment. The way it captures the minute details only points to the extensive research & observation that went into the script, for the characters are fully fleshed & well-defined.The post-war era is illustrated in fine detail and the black & white images are sharp & crisply photographed. Clocking at nearly 3 hours, its runtime seems daunting at first but for the most part, the film is a smooth ride. Its length is felt only during the second half when the interest starts dwindling but the relaxed pace does allow our characters enough space to breathe.Coming to the performances, The Best Years of Our Lives features a terrific cast in Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell, Myrna Loy, Teresa Wright & others, and nearly all of them are at the top of their game. March, Andrews & Russell play the trio of characters whose post-war journey is what this film is about. They are all excellent in their roles but the ladies aren't far behind and chip in with strong inputs of their own.On an overall scale, The Best Years of Our Lives is crafted with care, narrated with flair and is incessantly human in its approach. An essential viewing that handles its content with respect, its silent, thoughtful contemplation on PTSD is still as relevant today as it was at its time of release. Firmly grounded in realism & having stood the test of time all these years, The Best Years of Our Lives is one of the best offerings of its kind that's definitely worth your time & money. Thoroughly recommended.

This is a gripping story about three men returning from WWII. They meet up as they are desperately trying to get a lift home from the air force. "Do you have an order?" asks the desk clerk of air man Fred (Burt Lancaster), expecting a chit. He quietly points at the medals on his chest. He quickly joins up with two others going to Boone, a little town in the midwest: army sergeant Al (Fredric March), and disabled navy man Homer, who gets by with hooks for hands (veteran Harold Russell).They sit in the nose of the plane looking at the landscape - they're flying low. Homer is thrilled by his first plane ride. He's just worried about how his girl will react. The others assure him he'll be fine. Back on the ground, they get a taxi and drop Homer off - he's nervous, but the others order him to get going. Al is dropped off at a fancy apartment block and is reunited with his son, daughter Peggy and too-understanding wife Milly (Myrna Loy). Fred, the officer, goes to his parents' house - a shack near a railroad, and sets out to look for his wife.They all reunite in the evening at Butch's bar (Hoagy Carmichael), drink too much and get a bit riotous (I fast-forwarded, I don't like drunk scenes). The trio have trouble settling in: Fred's wife turns out to have a taste for the good life he can't afford, he gets his old job back but loses it, he falls in love with Al's daughter Peggy...Homer just wants people to treat him as an ordinary person, and won't set a wedding date. He is a naturally happy soul, and if he loses his temper he quickly apologises, but he is suffering.Al goes back to work at the bank but his status is precarious - his jovial employer drops heavy warnings about lending to ex-servicemen without collateral. But of course it all ends happily. Al gives the bank board a drink-fuelled boot up the rear about lending to the right people (couldn't watch this bit either). Best bits: Fred trying to fit in back at the drug store. He's fine at serving chocolate sundaes, especially to his old mate Homer. But then Homer gets a lecture from some busybody who thinks you guys were on the wrong side in the war, and Fred decks him.Homer's scenes at home with his dad (who is a lovely man) and Wilma.Fred's scenes with his wife, excellently played by Virginia Mayo.Frederic March is good, but he's the Big Star, and the camera lingers on him too long. As I said, I didn't like his drunk scenes. Milly does her best, but she should send him to AA. Their scenes, and their heartfelt talks with their daughter Peggy, take too long.I once knew someone who stole his dialogue from this film...

Given that this is a movie very much of its time - the end of World War II and the problems of adjusting to civilian life faced by ex- servicemen - it holds up remarkably well and boasts many positive notices on this site. It would have little or no meaning for anyone born after say 1960 yet viewed this week I found it both moving and entertaining. It's clear that screenwriter Robert E. Sherwood intended the three returning vets - Fredric March, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell - to represent vets from all walks of life returning to homes in the four corners of the USA (or, for that matter, anywhere in Europe) and the actors are exceptional as are their wives, sweethearts and families. Personally I could have done with more of Hoagy Carmichael but this is a minor caveat about a minor masterpiece.

This was one of the first films to explore what happened to those soldiers after the war, mainly because it was made the year after WWII was over. Plus it is one of the best of those films. Here we first meet three soldiers returning home, to the same hometown actually, and there their mutual history begins and ends. But even that trip back forms a kind of camaraderie where they want to keep in touch. There is banker Al Stephenson (Fredric March), a middle aged officer, sailor Homer Parrish (Harold Russell, a real amputee) who was the all American boy who excelled at sports and is engaged to the girl next door but now is missing both hands, and Dana Andrews as Fred Derry, a pilot who was just working in a drugstore before the war made him a temporary hero. This role for sure allowed Andrews to turn his stoic tight lipped image on its ear to a degree, as he was allowed to show the emotional wounds that can lie beneath the surface of a "war hero" returning home.Their stories all intertwine, especially the story of Fred and Al. The thing that they have in common? Al's daughter, Peggy (Theresa Wright), who falls for Fred. The problem is Fred is married. A bigger problem is Fred was married during the war when he was a pilot with all of the glamour that comes with it to Marie (Virginia Mayo), who doesn't really know Fred at all, and for sure doesn't know him as the pre-war soda jerk who doesn't make enough post-War for her to enjoy the nightlife that she loves so much. As Marie holds Fred more and more in open contempt, Fred finds him turning more to Peggy.Meanwhile, Homer is trying to face facts. He cannot survive without the help of others. He cannot even get dressed and undressed without somebody's help. How can he marry the girl next door or anybody else without being a terrible burden? It doesn't help that the girl next door doesn't care about any of this, but Homer thinks she'll care later.March's character is probably the most fortunate and the least explained of the three returning soldiers. He was a banker when he left, and he goes back to that job, however, this time he is evaluating the loans of returning soldiers as the bank thinks he has their perspective given his time at war himself. Al seems to have a drinking problem which his wife (Myrna Loy) tries to hide, and it is never really said where that drinking is coming from, or if it was there before the war. When Al and his wife see each other, for the first time in years, you can see they don't know quite how to act around one another. Loy and March do a great job - without any dialogue - of acting like they feel like honeymooners, which they probably both feel is ridiculous since they have been married for twenty years and have a grown daughter.There is one scene that I found as quite a surprise, seeing I was born 13 years after the war. A guy at a drugstore diner counter basically says the war was all trumped up for corporate profits, and that it's a shame a guy like Homer paid the price. His remark is met by a punch by Fred. Although that attitude was more common during and after WWI, apparently it was held by a few people in regards to WWII in spite of the overwhelming evidence that our nation was at stake.I'd highly recommend this one. Even though some of the social attitudes have long passed on, it gives you some things to think about that are relevant to today. A spouse can change their attitude towards the other spouse due to a job loss, you never know if a marriage is really a bad one and on the rocks unless you are in that marriage or if it is over, and people are still judged by "what have you done for me lately".