Al (Fredric March) is the oldest veteran, in his forties and long married to Milly (Myrna Loy). They have two children, Peggy (Teresa Wright), an earnest twentyish woman, and Rob (Michael Hall), a clean-cut high school student reminiscent of Wally from "Leave it to Beaver." Al is fortunate in that a well-paying bank job awaits him, courtesy of doting but practical bank executive Ray Collins. Nonetheless, he has a drinking problem that concerns Milly.
Fred (Dana Andrews) plays a dashing twenty-something who married party girl Marie (Virginia Mayo) in a whirlwind romance prior to his enlistment. Although a former Air Force officer, he has no marketable job skills, and is forced to take a demeaning job at a drug store to make ends meet.
Money is little problem for Homer (Harold Russell), who gets a monthly disability check. His kindly parents are glad to take him back. But Homer has low self esteem due to the loss of his hands while in the service. He believes he is now unworthy of Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell), the girl next door he was engaged to before his war injury.
Homer holds irregular reunions with Al and Fred at a tavern owned by Homer's mild-mannered Uncle Butch (songwriter Hoagy Carmichael). It is there that Fred meets Peggy, and a romance heats up between them despite Fred's marriage to the shallow and selfish Marie. Al tells Fred to end the affair pronto, but Fred's marriage founders anyway. Fred's bad luck continues, as he loses his job at the drug store after he defends Homer from obnoxious, opinionated, and unpatriotic Ray Teal.
How others will see it. The Best Years of Our Lives was released to massive critical and commercial acceptance. It became the biggest box office hit since Gone With the Wind, and it won a remarkable eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Screenplay. Harold Russell, who in real life had hooks for hands due to a wartime Japanese attack on his ship, won two Oscars, an honorary one and then another for Best Supporting Actor.
Time has been kind to the film. It was a charter member (1989) of the National Film Registry. In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked it #37 on its greatest film list. At imdb.com, it is #190 on the Top 250, an achievement since most movies on that list are from recent decades. The user ratings increase with age, from 4.8/10 from those under 18, who presumably prefer their explosions and eye candy in color, to a lofty 8.6/10 for viewers over 45.
How I felt about it. The score is intrusive and sometimes saccharine. Several key cast members were several years older than their characters. Wilma and Peggy are surprisingly forward in pursuit of the veteran objects of affection. Myrna Loy is too beautiful to be credible as the mother of Teresa Wright. We roll our eyes at the final reunion of Fred and Peggy, at the 'adorable' rehearsed children singing at the wedding party, and at Fred's grand, crowd-pleasing knockout punch of the government-hater know-it-all.
None of these criticisms are worth the sentences it took to list them. Here is a movie with the right script and the right cast under the right director. The experienced Hollywood machine is in top gear. The script is particularly amazing, credited to Robert E. Sherwood. And it's not even his greatest film, which was Rebecca (1940). In addition, Sherwood received four Pulitzer Prizes. They just don't make movies like this anymore. It's only a mild stretch to say that the film should have been titled The Best Movie of Our Lives.