The Best Years of Our Lives
Overview
The Best Years of Our Lives is a 1946 American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by William Wyler
William Wyler
William Wyler was a leading American motion picture director, producer, and screenwriter.Notable works included Ben-Hur , The Best Years of Our Lives , and Mrs. Miniver , all of which won Wyler Academy Awards for Best Director, and also won Best Picture...

, and starring Fredric March
Fredric March
Fredric March was an American stage and film actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1932 for Dr. Jekyll and Mr...

, Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy was an American actress. Trained as a dancer, she devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. Originally typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp or a woman of Asian descent, her career prospects improved following her portrayal of Nora Charles...

, Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...

, Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright
Teresa Wright was an American actress. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1942 for her performance in Mrs. Miniver. That same year, she received an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance in Pride of the Yankees opposite Gary Cooper...

, and Harold Russell
Harold Russell
Harold John Russell was a Canadian-American World War II veteran who became one of only two non-professional actors to win an Academy Award for acting...

, a United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 paratrooper who lost both hands in a military training accident. The film is about three United States servicemen trying to piece their lives back together after coming home from World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn
Samuel Goldwyn was an American film producer, and founding contributor executive of several motion picture studios.-Biography:...

 was inspired to produce a film about veterans after reading an August 7, 1944 article in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine about the difficulties experienced by men returning to civilian life.
Quotations

[about Homer] They [the Navy] couldn't train him to put his arms around his girl to stroke her hair.

[to Milly and Peggy] How 'bout we go celebrate the old man's homecoming...I want to do something, see something. I've been in jungles and around savages so long, I gotta find out I'm back in civilization again.

[to Mr. Novak] You'll get your loan...You look like a good risk to me. And when those tomato plants start producing, I'll come out for some free samples.

[to Peggy] I think they ought to put you in mass production.

[to Marie] I don't want to be right back where we started. We can never be back there again. We never want to be back there.

[to Homer, about Wilma] Take her in your arms, and kiss her. Ask her to marry you. Then marry her. Tomorrow if you can get a license that fast. If you want anybody to stand up for you at your wedding...

You know what it'll be, don't you, Peggy? It may take us years to get anywhere. We'll have no money, no decent place to live. We'll have to work - get kicked around.

Marie Derry: [to Fred] Oh, you're marveous. All those ribbons. You gotta tell me what they all mean.

 
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