Academy award winning 1946 film “The Best Years of Our Lives” was directed by William Wyler, with the script being adapted from a novella “Glory for Me” by MacKinlay Kantor. The films story focuses on the World War II veterans and their troubles with readjusting to the civilian life.
Flying back home to the fictional city of Boone, three World War II veterans meet and start a friendship. Fred is a decorated war pilot now relegated to the duty of a soda jerk, a profession his young wife visibly disdains. Al is a former infantry platoon sergeant, now a bank loans officer in his civilian life. Homer, who used to be a promising quarterback, has lost both his hands in combat and now wears prosthetic hooks, which he and his family have problems dealing with. All three struggle to sustain their friendship and their family lives, each one of them facing different problems. While Homer tries to push his fiancée away because he doesn’t want to confine her to the life with a cripple, Fred is unable to keep his wife who decides to divorce him, and he struggles with his feelings for Al’s daughter Peggy, which deteriorates the friendship between the two men.
“The Best Years of Our Lives” is one of the greatest commercial and critical successes in the history of American cinema, winning seven Academy Awards. It is commonly featured on many lists of “100 best films ever made”.