Overlong, perhaps, but this tender and occasionally tough look at the plight of returning war veterans is one of Wyler's best films.
Comment
06/24/06
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
97
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:35
Fresh:34
Rotten:1
Average Rating:8.6/10
Consensus: An engrossing look at the triumphs and travails of war veterans, The Best Years of Our Lives is concerned specifically with the aftermath of World War II, but its messages speak to the overall American experience.
Runtime: 2 hrs 52 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Perhaps the most memorable film about the aftermath of World War II, THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES unfolds with the homecoming of three veterans to the same small town. The leads all touch emotional... [More]
Starring: Myrna Loy, Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright
Director: William Wyler
Reviews for The Best Years of Our Lives
Top CriticThis is intelligent, admirably unsentimental and utterly involving for its full three-hour running time.
07/07/04
Top CriticIt may be corny, but you'd have to be a real cynic not to be drawn in.
02/19/08
Top CriticI found it notable mainly because its massive 172 minutes are exclusively devoted to exploring characters, rather than showing any giant-sized, dazzling "epic" scenes.
01/29/09
The feeling of warmth and satisfaction that accompanies the conclusion is the hallmark of a great drama.
01/01/00
Wyler and Goldwyn have made a glorious 'intimate epic,' one worthy of every honor bestowed upon it.
02/10/05
It is seldom that there comes a motion picture which can be wholly and enthusiastically endorsed not only as superlative entertainment but as food for quiet and humanizing thought.
05/20/03
Top CriticThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is producer Samuel Goldwyn's classic, significant American film about the difficult adjustments of veterans
01/01/00
The Best Years Of Our Lives is a wonderful character study, and touches on points of humankind's psychiatric makeup that are so obvious they are rarely discussed in cinematic form.
10/01/03
Surprisingly modern: lean, direct, honest about issues that Hollywood then studiously avoided.
01/04/08
Top CriticOne of the best pictures of our lives.
02/19/08
Top CriticThe very best kind of soap opera, detailing the problems and heartaches of people we come instantly to care about.
01/01/00
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, who keep the human element afloat.
12/12/06
The film captured the mood of post-WWII America so well that even harsher critics like James Agee failed to see the film's dramatic flaws, instead stressing its realism and black-and-white deep focus photography by Gregg Toland.
07/22/05
A biting look at the devestation caused by war on returning soldiers.
10/24/06
Timeless.
03/30/02
One of the greatest Hollywood films ever produced.
06/14/03
I'd call this the best American movie about returning soldiers I've ever seen -- the most moving and the most deeply felt.
12/12/06
One of the few films that deserved all the awards heaped on it from the Oscars.
03/17/07
Although it contains moving passages, Best Years is not much more than a conventional drama on the problems of servicemen attempting to adjust to life in postwar America, well served by an all-star cast and Toland's ingenious deep-focus setups.
02/19/08
Latest News for The Best Years of Our Lives
June 22, 2007:
AFI Announces Top 100 Movies of All Time ... Again
Ten years ago the AFI gave us a list of the Top 100 American Films Ever Made -- and when that was done they churned out 15 other lists every few years. And then last night they... More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
RSS Feeds