Damn, why don't you get a friggin' life!
On Sep 21, 6:03 pm, the terrible infant
wrote:
> long long ago, when i was wittle, my pa used to say one of his fav
> mooies was Best Years of our Lives. i also done hear that it won
> oscars galore. and it was made by william wyler who also made ben hur
> and other such biggies.
>
> when i first saw it on VHS in late 80s or early 90s, i thought 'what a
> nice mooie' but i had reservations. but, i buried such reservations
> cuz it has big themes and positive messages. it was about the
> nobility of common man, community values, american individualism, hard
> work, stoicism, and such. and on that level, i still like it... or
> wanna like it.
>
> recently, i saw it again, and it still has alot of splendid things.
> but, i must say.... it's not really great. it's Great as a social
> docu-drama of its time. but, it aint great as art.
> it could have been great but wyler played it safe, soft, obvious,
> preachy, and such too often.
>
> the theme of men coming back from battle is an important, moving, and
> disturbing. and i wouldn't say one has to rub our noses in it to make
> it effective. you don't have to do it in the way of 'coming home' or
> 'deer hunter'. and Best Years starts perfectly with men waiting to
> come home. and it's really good when the three fellas are in the car
> and anxious about entering their homes. it's funny how they wanna go
> home but don't wanna go home. they hated the war but war made them
> feel important. it was gruesome but also exciting. it's like
> odysseus wants to go home but not really. he wants to be on-the-way-
> home than at home which means being stuck and dime-a-dozen.
>
> the movie slips when frederic march enters his fancy condo house and
> is greeted by a gay ass son. he's such a clean cut kid, rather like
> those kids you saw in those educational documentaries from the 50s.
> it would have been interesting to see some tension in the house.
> instead, the family is oh-so-loving, understanding, supportive, and
> etc. there isn't much for drama.
> as for the dude who loses his arms---perry--, we get nothing more than
> the most obvious. it's uh-shucks, he's a nice kid and he's trying to
> make it thru life. and his family is hurt and sorry but ever so
> supportive and loving. and his gal loves him just the same. she's a
> fine gal, really, like them dimwits you see on Oprah. now, i'm all
> for such values, but it's too idealistic, too norman rockwellish. it's
> too soothing, too comforting for truth and art.
>
> now, the third guy--the bombadier--comes home to a wife who's not so
> appreciative, and this could have been made interesting. instead,
> wyler simply reduces her to a materialistic bitch who doesn't care for
> her hubby's sacrifice. the one story that could have been tension-
> filled and interesting is turned into cops-and-robbers. wyler could
> have explored the other side of the wife's post-war attitude. sure,
> she's a materialistic tart but the war did open women's eyes and ears
> to new freedoms. WWII did have a kind of liberating effect on the
> ho's.
>
> dramatically, the only thing that really works is the tension between
> frederic march and the bombadier guy. the bombadier guy gets
> emotionally involved with march's daughter. march thinks such
> relationship is an affront to the bomber's wife and to his daughter.
> along conventional morality, march is right. but, there is real love
> between the bomber dude and the girl. and the wife is a rather shallow
> person. so, there is some complexity here but not much is done with
> this.
>
> to be sure, there are some very great scenes. i like how the three
> guys fly over their town in the beginning scenes of the movie. they
> are in a military uniform in a military plane but coming face to face
> with the limited world that is their home town.
> another great scene is near the end when the bomber guy walks amidst
> 100s of military aircraft destined to be dismantled. it's an eerie
> scene. on the one hand, the sight of all these killing machines is
> terrifying and dehumanizing. but, we know that during WWII, the dude
> gained a degree of adventure, nobility, courage, heroism, and
> heightened sense of humanity in one of these aircrafts. he found the
> human in the inhuman. it was a terrible period and he's haunted by
> nightmares and he wouldn't want to bomb cities again. but, he never
> felt more alive as when he was close to death for a Great Cause. back
> home as a fired sodajerking civilian, he feels like a nothing and
> nobody.
>
> unfortunately for the art of the mooie, WWII was a good war. as such,
> wyler felt obligated to make us feel that despite all the letdowns and
> nightmares, it was all worth it. as such, the mooie doesn't have the
> kind of gravitas that the ending of Deer Hunter has. now, deer hunter
> is no masterpiece and it's got alot of crappy stuff. but, there is a
> genuine sense of tragedy and damaged souls.
> such is only hinted at in most of Best Years. only the scene at the
> end in the scrapyard has a sense of epic sadness and tragic
> greatness.
> march's performance is very good as a rich privilege banker whose
> priorities and perspectives have been altered due to his war
> experience, but everything is bit too easily resolved with him making
> a swell speech which seems to win over the rich folks.
>
> in a way, Best Year seems dated in the same way that La Dolce Vita
> seems dated. they were mooies that were relevant and even necessary
> at the time. but, too much in Best seems designed and calculated to
> cater to the collective emotinal needs of the nation. as such, it is a
> splendid piece of national therapism, but it aint really a work of art.
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