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The Best Years of Our Lives

Oscar™ Best Picture - Winning Movies

8.2

8,484

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Original title: The Best Years of Our Lives
Year: 1946
Running time: 170 min.
Country: United States
Director: William Wyler
Screenwriter: Robert E. Sherwood. Novel: MacKinlay Kantor
Music: Hugo Friedhofer
Cinematography: Gregg Toland (B&W)
Cast: Dana Andrews, Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Harold Russell, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Donnell, Hoagy Carmichael, Roman Bohnen, Minna Gombell, Don Beddoe, Steve Cochran, Ray Collins, Ray Teal, Walter Baldwin, Gladys George, Dean White, Victor Cutler, Charles Halton, Howland Chamberlain, Dorothy Adams, Erskine SanfordSee 9 More
Producer: Samuel Goldwyn Company. Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures
Genre: Drama | Family Relationships. Disability. II World War. Melodrama
Synopsis: After the Second World War, the soldiers who survived, some of them with physical problems, came back to the United States. Initially, they were treated as heroes, but afterwards they became marginalized.

Rankings Position

#9 Best Movies and TV Series about the Second World War
#51 Best US Movies of all time
#59 Best Drama Movies
#81 Best Movies in the history of film

Awards: 1946: 7 Academy Awards, including Movie, Director and Actor (March)

1946: Golden Globes: Best Movie: Drama

1947: BAFTA Awards: Best Film

1946: New York Film Critics Circle: Best Film and Best Director. 3 Nominations

1948: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Best Director

Critics' reviews

"The best American movie about returning soldiers I've ever seen -- the most moving and the most deeply felt"

Jonathan Rosenbaum: Chicago Reader
"Seen more than six decades later, it feels surprisingly modern: lean, direct, honest about issues that Hollywood then studiously avoided (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"A motion picture which can be wholly and enthusiastically endorsed not only as superlative entertainment but as food for quiet and humanizing thought."

Bosley Crowther: The New York Times
"One of the best pictures of our lives"

Abel Green: Variety
"You'd have to be blind not to recognize its unflinching achievements (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"

Eric Henderson: Slant
"The film is very proud of itself, exuding a stifling piety at times, but it works as well as this sort of thing can, thanks to accomplished performances by Fredric March, Myrna Loy, and Dana Andrews"

Dave Kehr: Chicago Reader
"A satisfying, heart-warming, deeply moving picture."

New York Daily News

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