"Greatest Generation", indeed

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2008)

I remember seeing this movie perhaps a couple of decades ago and marveling that a movie with such honest, realistic characters was made in 1946. I made a point of viewing it again recently to see if my first impression held up.
The bad news is that the actual plot of BEST YEARS veers a bit into soap opera territory. The story is a little mechanical in its attempts to cover as much of the post-WWII experience as possible (and somehow work Hoagy Carmichael into the mix). The good news is that the characters are so damn good that the semi-hokey plot doesn't matter.
This is a great American movie, remarkable for its realism and lack of sentimentality. Particularly remarkable was Harold Russell, whose portrayal of double-amputee Homer Parrish was believable and very moving. One of my favorite scenes in this movie is the one where Homer is headed to bed, and needs his father to help take off his prosthetic hands and button his pajama top. There is almost no dialogue, and no dramatic swell of the music, just a quiet, honest, matter-of-fact scene.
Some of the details intrigued me. The Stephensons slept together in a double bed--a big no-no in those Hayes-code days--but you never actually saw Mrs. Stephenson there. Other commenters have mentioned here the themes of divorce and domestic discord that were all-but-unheard of at the time.
I love that Myrna Loy played a great supporting role in this drama as Millie Stephenson, AND had played Nora Charles in THE THIN MAN, among my favorite comedies. Clearly, a versatile talent.
Other films have tried to capture the experience of the returning American veteran, but this is probably still the best.