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Epic Choice: The Best Years of our Lives (1946) (Patreon)

Published:
2023-08-30 16:00:06
Imported:
2023-12
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I absolutely loved this movie. A true masterpiece that feels incredibly modern for a film made in the 40s. My favorite of all the classic films I’ve watched.

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Ryan

Boy, getting to this one right after finishing Band of Brothers is some real kismet. I’ve said a couple times that John Huston is one of my favorite directors, and William Wyler is the other one. And it really helps that every single thing I’ve read about him indicates he was not only one of the great film artists of all time, but a genuinely good person. At a time when just about everyone needs to get some “it was a different time” to excuse saying some -ist or -phobic thing, he had absolutely no prejudice in his heart, and also wouldn’t stand for it from anyone else on his sets, by physical force if necessary (the scene of Fred kicking a Nazi sympathizer out of the cafe is directly based on something Wyler actually did, BEFORE the war). And despite being a notorious perfectionist nicknamed “Thirty Take Willie,” unlike others with the reputation like Kubrick who were monsters to their actors, just about everyone who worked with him was left raving about what a fantastic experience it was. Before America entered the war, he made the Allied propaganda film Mrs. Miniver, and once they did, he was one of several filmmakers (and Huston was another) who put their career on hold to create documentaries with the troops. And he paid a steep price for his enthusiasm for the job when an ill-advised trip in a prototype plane with no sound protection permanently destroyed much of his hearing. This film was his first after recovering and having time to adjust to his partial deafness, and immediately became hailed as his greatest work, with current discussion of his magnum opus being either this or Ben Hur. The rest of his career was widely noted as featuring far more dynamic imagery than his pre-war films, which is naturally considered to be his effort to stick with a side of the art he could easily judge for himself now that leaning on it sounding good wasn’t an option. Despite his name inexplicably not being that well known compared to other great directors of the time, he has the record for directing the most Best Picture nominees with thirteen (Dodsworth, Dead End, Jezebel, Wuthering Heights, The Letter, The Little Foxes, Mrs. Miniver, Best Years of Our Lives, The Heiress, Roman Holiday, Friendly Persuasion, Ben Hur, Funny Girl), though Steven Spielberg, a massive fan of his, matched it just this year and at age 77 has a good chance of beating it if his remaining career keeps going like it has been. This was one of the winners on the list, along with six other awards, though one of them was the score, which Wyler himself didn’t like as he thought it was too melodramatic for a movie he wanted to feel as real as possible. Two of the others were for Harold Russell for playing Homer, a drill sergeant who’d lost his hands in a training accident and had never acted before, with Best Supporting Actor plus a special award for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans” which had been set up because he was doubted to get the acting award. He’s still the only person to get two Oscars for the same performance.

Red Dwarf

Just got done watching with you! Yes, that scene with Homer and Wilma always stuck with me. This has been in my top 5 since I have seen it. This is maybe my 5th time seeing it. It is an amazing movie. And I love the strong women in it. I love Peggy so much. Sorry, but I was so happy Fred's wife was so awful and left him lol. Peggy is the best!

Ryan
>>116400296

It’s especially impressive that the whole story hangs together so well because there had to be serious rewrites during production. Homer was originally written with severe PTSD as his major issue from the war, but then Wyler found out about Harold Russell and was so struck by his story that he decided to put him in the role, rewritten to have lost his hands instead. Then the actor for Al’s son had his contract run out and the studio refused to pay to re-up it, so he just disappears halfway through the film with any role he was intended to play apparently spread among other characters.

casualnerdreactions
>>116385258

Fantastic post full of good information! Love hearing all of that about the director. It really makes all the difference in my desire to see more of his work. Very cool.