Posted on Mar 13, 2019
THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES, William Wyler, 1946 - Homer Goes to Sleep
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On March 13, 1947, "The Best Years of Our Lives" won the Oscar for best picture. Here is the most poignant scene from the film. This is probably one of the first movies to dramatize PTSD. Harold Russell actually lost his hands from a demolition accident while in the Army.
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Edited 6 y ago
Posted 6 y ago
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I've seen this movie a number of times, SGT (Join to see), and it's a hard movie to watch. First of all, the movie lasts almost three hours! Secondly, serious post war emotional and physical trauma issues are revealed and the movie can be quite painful at times. It's doing exactly what Wyler intended.
Many WWII movies of that era weren't much more than propaganda films, made to keep the public patriotically pumped up. However this film was made in 1946, the war was "over" and this movie was one of the first to deal with serious issues facing the returning servicemen.
There were a number of seemingly ironic twists in the movie. Frederic March plays a returning senior non-commissioned officer [platoon sergeant, 25th ID (Electric Strawberry)], yet he is a bank officer and appears to be almost wealthy. Dana Andrews plays a captain and decorated bombardier, but his parents are penniless and he's a drugstore soda jerk. Harold Russell was simply magnificent in his role as handless Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish. Interesting that although he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, he's not even shown or listed on the movie poster!
Lt Col Charlie Brown SCPO Morris Ramsey PVT Mark Zehner SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth COL Mikel J. Burroughs
Many WWII movies of that era weren't much more than propaganda films, made to keep the public patriotically pumped up. However this film was made in 1946, the war was "over" and this movie was one of the first to deal with serious issues facing the returning servicemen.
There were a number of seemingly ironic twists in the movie. Frederic March plays a returning senior non-commissioned officer [platoon sergeant, 25th ID (Electric Strawberry)], yet he is a bank officer and appears to be almost wealthy. Dana Andrews plays a captain and decorated bombardier, but his parents are penniless and he's a drugstore soda jerk. Harold Russell was simply magnificent in his role as handless Petty Officer 2nd Class Homer Parrish. Interesting that although he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, he's not even shown or listed on the movie poster!
Lt Col Charlie Brown SCPO Morris Ramsey PVT Mark Zehner SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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I do not recall ever seeing this movie. I have heard about it, but never seen it. Thank you for sharing.
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