Movie Review: Good Guys Wear Black (1978)

Genre: Action  

Director: Ted Post  

Starring: Chuck Norris, Anne Archer, Dana Andrews, James Franciscus  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: In 1973, Senator Conrad Morgan (James Franciscus) is leading negotiations to end the Vietnam War. A CIA special forces unit known as the Black Tigers, led by Major John T. Booker (Chuck Norris), is ambushed while on a covert mission to rescue American prisoners in the Vietnam jungle. Five years later in Los Angeles, Booker is approached by the mysterious Margaret (Anne Archer), who is asking questions about the botched mission. Booker learns that other Tiger veterans are being murdered, and uncovers a conspiracy.

What Works Well: This lower-budget effort provides Chuck Norris with a career boost away from pure martial arts movies (although he does chop his way through a few action scenes). The plot has decent ambitions to combine mistrust of government agendas with regular bursts of action, and director Ted Post occasionally threatens to breach not-bad levels. Dan Andrews enlivens a couple of scenes with seen-it-all cynicism.

What Does Not Work As Well: The sequence in the Vietnam jungle is too dark to discern what is going on. All the characters lack depth, and despite a decent cast, the acting is strictly monotonal. Norris displays a remarkable inability to display any emotion, and so making love to Margaret or reacting to the death of colleagues all come and go with the same cold detachment. Loose ends and logic gaps prevail, and in the jumbled rush to find an ending, plenty of conspiracy specifics go missing in action.

Key Quote:

John Booker (realizing the mission is compromised): Everything went wrong by the numbers. And that takes planning.

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Movie Review: The Iron Curtain (1948)

Genre: Cold War Biographical Espionage Drama  

Director: William A. Wellman  

Starring: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, June Havoc  

Running Time: 87 minutes  

Synopsis: During World War Two, Soviet military cipher expert Igor Gouzenko (Dana Andrews) is assigned to the Soviet embassy in Ottawa. He is soon joined by his pregnant wife Anna (Gene Tierney), and witnesses the expansion of a spy network under the leadership of "Paul" (Berry Kroeger), a Soviet agent who has infiltrated Canada's parliament. Several Canadian atomic weapons program employees are turned into spies, but the birth of Igor's son changes his perspective. 

What Works Well: Based on actual events that became known as the Gouzenko Affair, this is a straightforward story about the hardening of the Cold War's early front lines. Director William A. Wellman balances spy machinations deep in the embassy bowels with public-facing efforts to exert influence, spread communist ideas, and attract traitors to the cause. The exterior scenes are filmed on location in Ottawa, while the soundtrack is rich with Russian classical music.

What Does Not Work As Well: Despite the short running length, the pacing in the first two thirds is lumbering, Igor an uninteresting and mostly passive observer of the Soviet spy machine kicking into gear. His transition from faithful soldier to defector is handled with clumsy suddenness, while the bumpy storytelling leans on inelegant narration.

Conclusion: The curtain is patchy.



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Movie Review: Assignment - Paris (1952)

Also Known As: Assignment: Paris; Assignment - Paris!  

Genre: Cold War Espionage Drama  

Director: Robert Parrish  

Starring: Dana Andrews, Marta Toren, George Sanders, Audrey Totter  

Running Time: 84 minutes  

Synopsis: Nick Strang (George Sanders) runs the Paris desk of the Herald Tribune newspaper. His reporters Jimmy Race (Dana Andrews) and Jeanne Moray (Marta Toren) start a romance while covering the story of an American imprisoned in Budapest on spying charges. With Jeanne on the trail of an even bigger story about the Hungarian Prime Minister plotting a break from Russia, Jimmy is assigned to Budapest, while Hungarian communist officials eager to root out dissidents keep a close eye on both reporters.

What Works Well: This Cold War drama peeks behind the Iron Curtain and is unafraid to cram a complex plot within a short running time. Romance, ambassadorial machinations, spies, dissidents, investigative reporters, and prime ministerial secret plots all find a niche in William Bowers' screenplay (adapting a book by Paul and Pauline Gallico). Director Robert Parrish rounds the intrigue by affording many scenes to the Hungarian communist antagonists, and finds some innovative camera angles to supplement the tension.

What Does Not Work As Well: Too much is going on for the 84 minutes of running time, and some storylines (including the romance and the initial American imprisoned in Hungary) are all but abandoned despite considerable early investment. The need to hustle the plot along forces plenty of logic shortcuts.

Conclusion: An effective but over-ambitious assignment.

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Movie Review: Fallen Angel (1945)

Genre: Noir Crime Romance Drama  
Director: Otto Preminger  
Starring: Dana Andrews, Linda Darnell, Alice Faye, Anne Revere, Charles Bickford, John Carradine  

Running Time: 97 minutes  

Synopsis: In California, penniless drifter Eric Stanton (Dana Andrews) is thrown off the bus in the small town of Walton. At the local cheap diner, he finds server Stella (Linda Darnell) alluring, but she is tired of men who don't commit and demands marriage and a house. Eric makes some money promoting a show for traveling spirit medium Professor Madley (John Carradine), and in the process meets unmarried wealthy sisters Clara and June Mills (Anne Revere and Alice Faye). To secure the funds needed to satisfy Stella, Eric plots to separate June from her money through seduction, but unexpected twists await. 

What Works Well: Director Otto Preminger and star Dana Andrews re-team after the success of Laura and land within a seedy milieu of drifters, hucksters, and desperates. Eric Stanton fits right in, and Andrews nails the dubious protagonist as a survivor susceptible to troubled charms. The second half transitions into a tough whodunnit with unconventional interrogation tactics, Stanton's convoluted plotting sucking him into a murder case with ex-New York cop Judd (Charles Bickford), love rival Atkins (Bruce Cabot), and even barkeep Pop (Percy Kilbride). Linda Darnell as Stella carries the weight of wasted years behind her eyes, a contrast with Alice Faye's June, whose so-far sheltered existence is an easy target.

What Does Not Work As Well: On the seemingly perpetually dark streets of Walton, most characters are singularly obsessed with self-interest, depriving the drama of a sympathetic core.

Conclusion: This town welcomes the scammers, the scammed, and the soon-to-be-scammed.



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Movie Review: Tobacco Road (1941)

A comedy with some dramatic elements about abject poverty, Tobacco Road never gets the balance right and is a mostly ghastly exercise in overacting.

It's the early 1930s, and the South is in the midst of the Great Depression. Elderly farmer Jeeter Lester (Charley Grapewin), his wife Ada (Elizabeth Patterson), daughter Ellie May (Gene Tierney) and son Dude (William Tracy) are squatting on the estate of Jeeter's now deceased former boss. Dirt poor and lazy, Jeeter barely scrapes together a living, and has no hesitation stealing from his son-in-law Lov Bensey (Ward Bond).

Jeeter is given a few days notice to come up with $100 in annual rent or else move off the land. Prospects look grim until neighbour Sister Bessie Rice (Marjorie Rambeau), a devout lover of religious singing, decides to marry the much younger Dude. Bessie has some insurance money squirreled away, but quickly spends it all on a new car. This does not stop Lester from scheming to fleece his new daughter-in-law.

An adaptation of a popular play from the era, Tobacco Road is an uncomfortably bumpy cinematic experience. The intent of the Nunnally Johnson script must have been to elicit sympathy for the plight of the poor through a mixture of humour and poignancy. But unfortunately director John Ford never sets the right tone. All the characters are portrayed as dimwits deserving their fate, and Jeeter's antics of joyfully taking advantage of family members erode any sense of empathy.

Humour derived from abject stupidity is always fraught with peril, and Tobacco Road often misses the target by astounding margins. Dude, an insanely intolerable and constantly shrieking moron, proceeds to wreck a brand new car within a few hours. Bensey plays a whiny victim while describing the stream of physical abuse he doles out to his wife Pearl (never seen).

Bessie is occasionally funny as she breaks into song at every opportunity, and Ford does frame a few magnificent landscapes in gloomy black and white, and at least wraps up the misery in 84 minutes. But with Gene Tierney and Dana Andrews (in a small role as the son of Jeeter's former boss) wasted, Tobacco Road is more spit than chew.

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Movie Review: Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950)

A film noir focusing on a flawed detective, Where The Sidewalk Ends hits many of the right dark notes but falls just short of perfect sharpness.

In New York City, police detective Mark Dixon (Dana Andrews) is warned about his violent methods. Too quick with his fists, Dixon's hatred of hoodlums stems from wanting to distance himself from the memory of his father, an infamous thief. Dixon and his partner Klein (Bert Freed) investigate the murder of Texas businessman Morrison, stabbed to death by abusive low life Ken Paine at an illegal gambling joint run by notorious criminal Tommy Scalise (Gary Merrill).

Dixon tracks down Paine and accidentally kills him with a punch. In a cold panic, Dixon decides to cover up his role in Paine's death, and works to implicate Scalise for the murders of both Morrison and Paine. In the meantime Dixon also starts to fall in love with Paine's estranged wife Morgan (Gene Tierney). But when Morgan's father Jiggs (Tom Tully) becomes the chief suspect in Paine's murder, Dixon finds his troubles multiplying.

Where The Sidewalk Ends reunites director Otto Preminger with stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney, the talent trio responsible for 1944's Laura. And with a script by Ben Hecht, Where The Sidewalk Ends gets many things right. The black and white photography is rich with bright light sources cutting through imposing shadows, heavy coats, glistening streets, neon signs and an abundance of hooligans. Mark Dixon as the central protagonist is a deeply damaged man, fighting internal demons with a career rumbling in reverse gear. And the plot is filled with just enough complexity and coincidence to highlight the ironies of life without slipping into irrational territory.

The film's texture is enhanced by several nice touches. Mobster Scalise is smooth as silk, Gary Merrill perfecting a condescending smarm and augmenting it with constant sniffing of an unknown substance to keep his airways clean and his brain in overdrive. Dixon's partner Klein is also hard headed but has it under control, and gets a moment to shine with his wife when Dixon comes calling for financial help. And an assortment of secondary characters including a taxi driver, a dotty neighbour, a caustic diner waitress, an ex-convict on parole and numerous hissing musclemen add animation at every turn. Karl Malden shows up as the newly minted Lieutenant at Dixon's precinct.

While Dana Andrews does well and has plenty to bite into as the emotionally distressed Dixon, the character of Morgan is less successful. Gene Tierney is generally unable to do much with the underwritten role of a too-good woman with poor judgement in men. And while Hecht's writing is sturdy, it lacks a cutting edge in dialogue exchanges that sound appropriately belligerent but lack in wit.

Where The Sidewalk Ends is a worthwhile place to visit, one detective finally running out of fist room in the confrontation with the ghost of his father's legacy.

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Movie Review: The North Star (1943)

A pro-Soviet propaganda film intended to whip up sympathy for the war effort against Germany, The North Star (also known as Armored Attack) is a cringe-inducing dud.

It's 1941, and the Nazis are about to invade the idyllic farming village of North Star in western Ukraine, part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Before the shooting starts, five youth from the village embark on a trip to the capital Kiev, including Marina (Anne Baxter), her would-be lover Kolya (Farley Granger), Clavdia (Jane Withers) and Kolya's older brother and conscripted soldier Damian (Dana Andrews).

The travellers don't make it very far: the Nazi's attack with bombing raids, tanks and troops. The village is occupied before it can be burned down. In the face of Nazi atrocities including forcing local children to donate blood, the villagers have to scatter to join the nascent resistance movement.

Produced by Samuel Goldwyn, directed by Lewis Milestone and written by Lillian Hellman, The North Star is unabashed agitprop. Despite the high budget and respected cast, Milestone delivers a painfully bad cinematic experience devoid of any artistic merit.

The first half is preoccupied with portraying Ukrainian villagers living under the Soviet boot as happy simple folks, and it's punctuated by ghastly singing and dancing interludes straight out of amateur high school plays. The fingers-on-the-chalkboard level of irritation is enhanced by inane nationalistic dialogue, ham-fisted delivery and enough over-sugared sentiment to kill a horse.

Once the Nazis make an appearance, the music mercifully stops and the fighting starts. The second half improves, but it's a really low bar to step over. As a story of guerilla warfare and peasants taking up arms, The North Star lacks anything resembling thoughtfulness, nuance or genuine emotion. This is an in-your-face sophomoric effort intended to rally the home front, and Milestone can't even get the basics right: the battle scenes, tactics and consequences are asinine.

Everyone from the children to the old geezers lustily and blindly buys into the die-for-your-country hokum. Given the general level of near unwatchable incompetence, the film boasts a remarkable cast collectively performing at their worst, consumed by Hellman's fatuous prose. Anne Baxter leads the way with one of the many overwrought eyes-dreamily-to-the-stars performances on display. Walter Huston is a local doctor tangling with Erich von Stroheim's Nazi surgeon, while Walter Brennan is a stereotypical crusty farmer-on-a-wagon.

The North Star is not bad because it's propaganda; it's bad because it's a wretchedly awful film.

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Movie Review: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

A sharp Western with ominous overtones The Ox-Bow Incident is unapologetic in its bleak assessment of the enticing mentality to apply simple solutions to complex problems.

Nevada, 1885. Gil Carter (Henry Fonda) and Art Croft (Harry Morgan) ride into the small town of Bridger's Wells. Although not exactly strangers, Carter and Croft have been away long enough to be treated with some suspicion by the men at Darby's Saloon, where the talk of the town is about cattle rustlers. Carter is disappointed to hear that his girl Rose (Mary Beth Hughes) has left town during his absence. The townsfolk are enraged when word arrives that Kincaid, a local cattleman, has been shot dead by the rustlers.

A bloodthirsty posse is formed despite the absence of the local sheriff. The elderly Davies (Harry Davenport) and the local judge try to talk sense into the men, but the self-styled Major Tetley (Frank Conroy) appoints himself as posse leader. Gil and Art reluctantly join in. Soon the posse catches up with three men traveling together: rancher Donald Martin (Dana Andrews), Mexican Juan Martínez (Anthony Quinn) and a confused old man (Francis Ford). With Tetley leading the on-the-spot interrogation, the trio are accused of being the rustlers and Kincaid's murderers, despite Donald's well-reasoned protestations. Carter and Croft have to decide where they stand as an instantaneous triple hanging looms.

An adaptation of the novel by Walter Van Tilburg Clark directed by William A. Wellman, The Ox-Bow Incident is a kick in the gut. A searing commentary on the human condition, the film is limited to about 4 sets and 75 minutes of running time, but packs a profound impact in its grim portrayal of group think, blind lust for revenge, and justice shortcuts exercised for convenience.

Wellman signals early that this is no ordinary Western. In the opening scene Gil Carter enters Darby's Saloon and is immediately captivated by the large painting above the bar, showing a dippy man emerging from behind a curtain, approaching an attractive woman reclining in the foreground. That guy'’s awful slow getting there, comments Gil, followed by I feel sorry for him. Always in reach and never able to do anything about it.” and then I got a feeling she could do better. Gil's not done: later he adds “Ain'’t that guy got there yet?”

Rarely has a seemingly incidental painting attracted so much attention in a film script, but of course the painting is about much more than a man and a woman. It's about reaching a better state of evolution where men find their status of civility, and in this dusty little town on the western edge of civilization, it ain't happening any quicker than the painted man is moving towards the woman. As soon as word reaches the Saloon that Kincaid is dead a lynch mob is assembled, and most of the men plus the gun-happy "Ma" Jenny Grier (Jane Darwell) are eager to ride and carve out a rudimentary version of justice. The old timers who protest are shouted down, while Gil and Art go along, not through any sense of conviction but because it is the expected thing to do.

When the mob comes face to face with Donald Martin's group, there is an attempt at due process. After all, the man is halfway emerging from the curtain. But by dawn the posse is restless. The delay tactics have run their course and the business of revenge needs to be looked after.

Despite the efficient duration and seemingly simple story, Wellman bundles an enormous amount into the film, with a theme of injustice feeding on egotistical quests. Major Tetley perceives his son Gerald (William Eythe) to be weak, and part of Tetley's motivation in leading the posse is to create a test environment for his offspring. Ironically, Gerald's unease with violence emerges as one of the few bright spots for a better future. Meanwhile, the deputy sheriff is also motivated by his desire to exert unearned authority, and oversteps his powers to deputize all the men.

Donald, Juan and the old coot in their company are not exactly squeaky clean. Their story keeps changing, Juan carries mischievous tendencies and the old man is quick to sell his soul for cheap. And finally Gil is on his own journey to better understand his destiny: on a teetering trail edge he will bump into Rose, once his future and now his past, but never to be his present: again, the lady is beyond reach, this time more literally. The multiple character-driven plot threads give The Ox-Bow Incident plenty of somber avenues to explore.

Fourteen years later Fonda would find himself in a similar on-screen situation, as The Ox-Bow Incident pairs remarkably well with 1957's Twelve Angry Men. In both cases men rush to justice for all the wrong reasons, lives hang in the balance, and Fonda is the outsider wielding some influence. The Ox-Bow Incident is darker and more visceral, the human desire for vengeance and retribution a powerful force on the bitterly cold nights of the frontier.

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Movie Review: Crash Dive (1943)

A serviceable World War Two submarine action drama and romance with a propaganda bent, Crash Dive spends equal time on land at the sea, but is better wet than dry.

Lieutenant Ward Stewart (Tyrone Power) is a veteran of the Navy, most recently enjoying the nimble speed of Patrol Torpedo (PT) boats. Reporting to the navy base in New London, Connecticut, Stewart reluctantly agrees to join the crew of the submarine USS Corsair as Executive Officer, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Dewey Connors (Dana Andrews). Before the Corsair sets sail, Stewart meets schoolteacher Jean Hewlett (Anne Baxter) and is immediately smitten. He pursues her with great determination, and although she initially fends him off, eventually they fall in love.

Stewart does not know that Jean is Connors' fiancée, a man she admires but does not quite love. Meanwhile, out in the North Atlantic sea, the Corsair tangles with a German mine boat, and discovers evidence of a secret enemy base. Stewart and Connors make an effective commanding team, with Stewart more of a risk taker and Connors more strategic in his approach. With the romantic triangle reaching a climax, the Corsair is sent on a dangerous mission to uncover and destroy the hidden German naval station.

For a war film designed to boost recruitment in the US Navy, Crash Dive spends a lot of time on the shore, delving into the romance between Ward and Jean. Tyrone Power and Anne Baxter make for an attractive couple and the Technicolor production captures them both at their most resplendent. But Stewart's relentless pursuit and Jean's coy hard-to-get act consume plenty of screen time, and it's often difficult to remember that there is a war going on.

In the scenes back on the sub, director Archie Mayo switches gears and mounts a credible thriller. Although many of the submarine tactics and actions portrayed are pure Hollywood, Mayo does manage to portray the camaraderie and tension inherent in life underwater, from the hours of abject boredom to suddenly engaging in deadly hide and seek with the enemy. There are plenty of scenes with the requisite depth charges, subterfuge, silent pursuit, and torpedo attacks on enemy vessels. Upon returning from one mission, Stewart and Connors demand a massive meal made exclusively of fresh fruits, vegetables and milk, in a rare acknowledgement of the deficient nutrition served up on a sub.

The character dynamics are above average, with Stewart and Connors melding their leadership styles to good effect and with just a trace of competitive juice. The script by W.R. Burnett and Jo Swerling also deserves a lot of credit for featuring the black crew member Oliver Cromwell Jones (Ben Carter) in a prominent and sympathetic role. Oliver befriends fellow submariner Mike "Mac" McDonnell (James Gleason), who is suffering from a heart condition, and their relationship evolves throughout the film and culminates in the final battle.

And that final climax is not half bad. Despite all sorts of questionable tactics and unrealistic dullness from the Germans, Mayo delivers a solid 20 minutes of commando-style Grade B action to enliven events and stir the blood.

Crash Dive will never be mistaken for a classic war film or an emotion-packed romance. It's an honest war time romp promoting the war effort on a limited budget and in a decent package. Already enlisted in the Marine Corps, star Tyrone Power headed off to recruit training for the real war soon after filming wrapped, a rare case of an actor staying true to the message of his own film.

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The Movies Of Dana Andrews

All movies starring Dana Andrews and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

The Westerner (1940)

Tobacco Road (1941)

Ball Of Fire (1941)

Crash Dive (1943)

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)

The North Star (1943)

Laura (1944)

Fallen Angel (1945)

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

The Iron Curtain (1948)

Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Assignment - Paris (1952)

Battle Of The Bulge (1965)

Airport 1975 (1974)

Good Guys Wear Black (1978)

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Movie Review: Laura (1944)

A classic film noir, Laura is a murder whodunnit filled with style, suspects, infatuation, and characters ready to deeply and truly betray each other.

Marketing executive Laura Hunt (Gene Tierney) has been shot dead in her swanky New York City apartment. Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) is called in to investigate, and quickly turns his attention to flamboyant newspaper columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb). Although much older than her, Waldo was Laura's protective mentor, vetting her lovers and showering her with gifts. In flashback Waldo introduces Mark to Laura's story, from which other murder suspects emerge.

Womanizing playboy Shelby Carpenter (Vincent Price) was Laura's fiancé, and indeed she had just agreed to marry him, despite Waldo's dire warnings, before she was killed. Ann Treadwell (Judith Anderson) was Laura's icy aunt, and she was carrying on her own relationship with Shelby. And Bessie Clary (Dorothy Adams) was Laura's loyal house servant. Now fully immersed in Laura's world, Mark finds himself falling in love with the image of the murder victim, as her haunting portrait looms large over him at her apartment.

Directed by Otto Preminger, Laura is a succulent mystery, a small film that comes together in just the right proportions to form a sparkling package. This is an investigation driven by complex emotions, entangled by love, lust and greed, a minefield of relationships that quickly entraps the detective.

About halfway through, Laura introduces the major plot twist, knocking the mystery on its head and steering the investigation in a new direction, with new evidence and a shocking new suspect suddenly entering the fray. The screenplay, by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein, and Betty Reinhardt (adapting the Vera Caspary novel) builds up to that moment, introducing the characters in Laura's world, and then does not miss a beat as all previous assumptions are reset and Mark has to grapple with new realities.

At Laura's core are themes of agonizing, unreciprocated infatuation. Waldo is clearly obsessed and deeply possessive about Laura. She sees him as just a kind uncle figure. He wants a lot more, but is unlikely to ever get it. Laura's aunt Ann recognizes in the sleazy Shelby her ideal partner and perhaps her one last hope for a man of her own. Shelby perceives Ann as an easy victim to string along as a source of money, and has his eyes set on the younger and more glamorous Laura.

Mark is sucked into this world and gradually Laura starts to consume him. His investigation becomes about more than just finding a murderer; it is personal, as he succumbs to Laura's mysterious beauty while she dominates him from the high vantage point of her portrait. And Laura's character is a lingering enigma. A woman confident enough to hang a large self-portrait in her own apartment, and yet harbouring fundamental human weaknesses: she is incapable of pushing back against Waldo's domination, and unable to resist the dangerous charms of Shelby.

The mostly B+ cast members deliver functional performances, with Gene Tierney mesmeric in her most famous role. Laura benefits from the absence of star names, allowing Preminger to focus on the story and shift attention among the characters as required to follow the knotted threads of suspicion and doubt. And at the centre of the puzzle is Laura herself, a victim who nevertheless casts a spell with a cryptic sense of presence.

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Movie Review: The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

A sprawling life-after-combat drama, The Best Years Of Our Lives is an engrossing and surprisingly clear-eyed examination of a formidable topic.

It's the end of the Second World War, and three servicemen share a plane ride back to their fictional hometown of Boone City. Fred (Dana Andrews) was an airman specializing in dropping bombs; Al (Fredric March) served in the infantry in the Pacific; and Homer (Harold Russell) was in the navy and lost both hands when his aircraft carrier was destroyed by the Japanese, but he has learned to capably use his prosthetic hooks.

Homer's family welcome him back but with his disability he feels uneasy, unsure if he is surrounded by love or pity, and he finds it difficult to reconnect with pre-war fiancée Wilma (Cathy O'Donnell), although she is still eager to marry him. Al is surprised by how much his two children have grown, particularly daughter Peggy (Teresa Wright). Al's wife Milly (Myrna Loy) tries to help him readjust, and despite an emerging drinking problem, Al is eventually hired as a Vice President at the bank where he used to work before the war, with a mandate to manage loans for returning servicemen. Fred has difficulty finding Marie (Virginia Mayo), the woman he married just before the war, and ends up spending his first evening as a civilian with Al and his family, discovering an instant and shared attraction with Peggy.

As the men struggle to re-adapt to their new old lives, Al runs afoul of the bank's bottom-line oriented procedures and his drinking worsens. Fred cannot find a decent job and ends up as a lowly floor salesperson at the local department store, an income that does not satisfy Marie, allowing Fred's relationship with Peggy to deepen. And Homer withdraws from everyone, embarrassed by his disability and unable to imagine what life with Wilma will be like when he cannot even hug her.

Producer Samuel Goldwyn recognized the importance of a topic that remains relevant generations later, and commissioned a screenplay. Robert Sherwood eventually adapted MacKinlay Kantor's resulting novella, and the script confronts head-on the difficulties of integration back into civilian life. The Best Years Of Our Lives contains no sugarcoating. It's a movie filled with small awkward moments that ring true, men fighting to find their role in a now foreign environment and having nowhere to turn for help, their women equally ill-prepared and clumsily trying to prop-up their returning heroes.

The performances are more stoic than nuanced. Fredric March and Dana Andrews carry most of the load with broad-shouldered resignation and recognition that integration is a battle without a plan. March authentically finds refuge in a bottle and the camaraderie of bar-hopping, quickly forgetting his surroundings and defaulting to the military's definition of relaxation. And once Al is back at his banking job, March effectively conveys the unease of a man used to instinctive decisions having to conform to the discipline of the corporate world.

Andrews as Fred represents the other end of the scale, unable despite his best efforts to find any meaningful job to satisfy the rich tastes of his opportunistic wife. Andrews is able to mix a realistic military attitude with an underlying questioning of everything that was once important, Fred's evolving but difficult relationship with Peggy presenting tantalizing opportunities to rediscover happiness in post-war life.

Non-actor and real-life Army amputee Harold Russell delivers a most natural performance as Homer, bringing to the role the deep discomfort of a man who just wants to get on with life, but is paralyzed by the acute awareness that the world is watching his every move with pity. The physical nature of his struggle renders Homer the most visible victim of the war, but Russell makes it clear that the bigger battle even for him is the mental discomfort.

The ladies provide good support and a refreshingly expansive representation of the home front. Most interesting is Teresa Wright's Peggy, among the vanguard of young women released into the workforce due to the war, and now equipped with the confidence to chart their own path. Myrna Loy as her mother and Al's wife is the more traditional woman, the wife willing to support, tolerate and help her husband's difficult return.

Virginia Mayo as Marie has no patience for integration or anything else. Fred must have had an off-day when he married her just before heading off to war, and now she is only interested in the good life. Peggy offers a much better match, a fact that eventually both Fred and Marie will recognize. Finally Cathy O'Donnell as Wilma offers the innocence of the young woman fully in love with the troubled Homer, but clueless as to how she can help.

At almost three hours in length, director William Wyler maintains excellent pacing and interest in the stories of the three men. The film is rich in relevant details, creating realistic surroundings and taking the time to allow the stories to unfold in a relaxed manner. The result is a movie that avoids over-dramatizations and gains strength from a sense of authenticity.

Despite ending on the high note of a marriage, The Best Years Of Our Lives purposefully leaves all its stories open ended, with the men aware there is more work to be done. It's a realistic conclusion for an endeavour that could last a lifetime.

Celebrated with seven Academy Awards, The Best Years Of Our Lives is a film both of its time and ahead of its time, a deglamourization of the battle after the battle, when hard-earned victories can yet yield shattered lives and collateral family damage.

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