The way you never see anyone get a job now. It's all about computer software and humans haven't got anything to do with it. No more looking someone in the eyes across the table and sizing them up. The software knows it all.
At 0:45 the actor Roman Bohnen begins reading the commendation. It's a very moving reading. However, watch the scene again, and this time focus on Gladys George as she's emotionaly overwhelmed, her eyes tear up at exactly the right moment. She gives a wonderful performance without saying a word.
I've seen this movie a dozen times. It's undoubtedly one of the best ever made. It was so groundbreaking and so far ahead of its time, examining such post-war subjects as ptsd, alcoholism, infidelity, unemployment, and disabled war veterans, as well as readjustment to civilian life by both vets and their families. It provides me with a glimpse into the increasingly-distant era of WWII and the life of my own deceased father, a WWII Navy vet himself. My hat is off to all WWII allied vets.
@Bomberguy - I love this film. Gone are the days of matinee idols like Dana Andrews, who should have received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as a "shell shocked" vet to complement Fredric March's Best Actor. While other little girls in the '70s were worshiping David Cassidy and Donny Osmond, I was in love with Dana Andrews (in this and "My Foolish Heart"). Thank you for paying homage to this important part of motion picture history.
It was explained to me once a long time ago that a lot of post war Hollywood movies had an anti-British sentiment because they were financed by Jewish bankers who resented the British U.N. mandate in Palestine in particular, and the British Empire in general. The Empire bit chimed with Americans of course, but a lot of American veterans knew that we really were all in this thing together whatever Hollywood presented as their idea how WW2 should be seen to posterity.
Dougalmak54:- the comments you made were as insulting as the ones that upset you. The Americans didn't win the war alone, us British had our backs against the war for a long time before we got your help. It wasn't our war, we didn't start it, but we couldn't stand by and watch the Nazis. Some of us are grateful for your countries help, stop insulting us.
@graygray67r1 I won't insult you. Yours is a great country. I believe both involved in the exchange you responded to are wrong. I was in the US Air Force for only 25 years, all of it in the Cold War and none of it in World War II. I know from history, we are descended from you -- different but still of the same roots. I believe all that existed amongst the Allies, particularly that which was forged between Churchill and Roosevelt, was great. You and your countrymen have my admiration.
@graygray67r1 you're right, I shouldn't lump all Brits in with an idiot like k80nya. I grew up with many men who fought in the 8th Air Force during WW2. They were to a man humble about their service, never taking credit for the job they did and reluctant to talk about their experiences, probably because they wanted to forget the horror they live through in combat. I came to appreciate these men because they just saw themselves as doing a job that had to be done, not for being "heroes."
Wyler's cinematographer, Gregg Toland, used effective boom-mounted shots of the War Assets Administration aircraft scrapyard adjacent to Ontario Army Airfield, Chino,
California. The 'buzz numbers' on the noses of the B-17s indicate that the planes had probably last been assigned to stateside crew training units. Some appear to be combat veterans. It made for a very poignant moment in a very great movie.
Thanks for posting this. One of the greatest movies ever made, IMO. Doesn't matter what you think of war, or "The War"--just a moving look at real people dealing with the aftermath. God bless Harold Russell and the rest of 'em.
@asdesas Harold Russell wanted to sell one of his 2 acedemy awards[ the only time an actor won 2 oscars for the same role ] for his retirement he got some flack from carl malden and the screen actors guild but he sold it so whats the beef he didnt get a million dollars just $35,000
@spacepatrolman I believe that Harold Russell sold that Oscar to help pay all the medical bills he got from his wife's treatment for Alzheimer's Disease. That's pretty noble to me. I think that is what i read. He loved his dear wife very much.
This is an extraordinarily powerful sequence, a testament to Wyler's skills as a director and bringing to bear all he experienced while flying with the crew of the Memphis Belle, which cost him the hearing in one ear. I always take note of the name "Round Trip?" on the plane. This was America at that moment of history...the great world conflict was over, and those who fought it were asking themselves, "Can I really come back?" Was there such a thing as a "round trip?" An American classic.
Thank you for this great clip. This film was one of my parents favorites..as they lived it. My father, Major Edward Driscoll. Army Air Corps., passed away this week at 93..a proud member of the Greatest Generation..whom were losing at 1200 a day. He served in the CBI Theater WW2 -- China-Burma-India, the forgotten war.
@k80nya Why don't you go sit on a running chain saw, you little limey twit? Every time you open your moron mouth you use up precious oxygen better used by an intelligent Brit.
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And the fucking Yanks still puring cannon fodder and shit all over the world at billions of dollars when the cities of America are skint and fucked. ARSEHOLES.
@k80nya If it wasn't for us "fucking Yanks", you limey turd, you're ass would be goosestepping through Piccadilly and you'd be speaking German right now. You should get down on your knees and kiss the ass of every American you see, because our grandfathers died by the thousands defending your piss-ant little island from the Nazi's, you ungrateful piece of shit.
@dougalmac54 Without wanting to defend k80nya's comments, I suggest you check a history book. Other than a handful of welcome American volunteers (who, at the time, were breaking US law by fighting with us) we defended our piss-ant little island from the Nazis pretty well in 1940, thanks without any help from the USA. That finished Hitler's invasion plans. What your forces came over here for was the liberation of the rest of Europe.
@thisisnev I in no way disregard or denigrate the ultimately brilliant and courageous defence of England by the RAF in the Battle of Britain. Those pilots faced impossible odds and performed above and beyond the call of duty. But I'll be damned if anyone will make the kind of stupid comments made by the idiot k80nya and not offence at his moronic comments.
@dougalmac54 And I hope we in Britain never forget that the 8th AF performed above and beyond the call of duty over here, too. For nearly a year it was a statistical impossibility for an airman to survive a tour of duty, but they still went into battle regardless of the odds. We could never have liberated Europe without America's help.
@dougalmac54 What a pathetic, disgusting retort by 'us f..king Yanks". Well, Mr Yank, you have a selective memory lapse. Ever heard of the Battle of Britain? Thought not.
Two great scenes. Dana Andrews as Fred Derry, is amazing in the scene in the plane. Roman Bohnen and Gladys George are equally moving in the scene before as Derry's father read's his son's citations for bravery. Extraordinary and powerful film. Wyler was a phenomenal director.
@lemaxmas Ina relatively minor scene steve cochran shows up at fred derrys apartment impling that he was fooling around with his wife [ steve cochran was found dead in a boat of a heart attack with 3 prostitutes what a way to go ] watch the bonanza episode with cochran playing a dual role of himself and his twin brother and his picture is on the back of leslie gores greatest hits with his hands on her a made for tv remake of the best years of our lives called returning home with tom selleck
@lemaxmas Play this particular scene back a second time. Have a listen to Hugo Friedhofer's inspired score. What it does for this scene is beyond compere.
Ya know, Hugo Friedhoffer was from San Francisco, where I hail from. Whatever. It's one of our greatest film scores. I know much about Wyler and more than that even, but did he really dislike Hugo for getting an Oscar?
@grabit1 "did he really dislike Hugo for getting an Oscar?" I never heard that. He just didn't like the score when it was completed for the film. I think he thought it too melodramatic for what he wanted in the film. This is not the only time I believe Wyler wasn't happy with a film score, nor the only time where a great director was not happy with a film score for a great film that was later oscar nominated. Elia Kazan wasn't happy at all with Bernstein's score for On the Waterfront.
@lemaxmas Wyler lost most of his hearing during WW II. He couldn't hear most tonalities, which is why Hugo's score was difficult for him to listen to. Wyler disliked Copland's score for 'The Heiress' and was responsible for the original main title being replaced. He tried to interfere with Miklos Rozsa's music in 'Ben-Hur'. The list goes on.
@grabit1 I personally knew Hugo. I produced the recording of the score from "Best Years". Absolute rubbish about Wyler disliking Hugo for getting the Oscar.
Maybe I need to be more clear since I know types like you are not self aware.
EHEM. The jews are a race (NOT a "religion") of effetes that live in goy cities exclusively(until '47); studious literate jobs at the top of civi too boot (ie not labor). SO THEREFORE if they --of all strains--grapple with the nature of the "warrior/vs civilized" poem then that is more deep than say just an aboriginal type grappling with it.
Do you think he was --the writer and director (both jewish cosmopolitan effetes I wager* were]-- able to grapple with the unfortunate truism that he fought to oust himself? ...That he fought to oust the the vestigial remnants of the _"warrior-ocracy"_ where men like him once ruled?\
["cosmo effetes"... ie that makes it even better. _High Art._]
(2nd note: great score, dig them funky trombones where it counts...)
My favorite movie of all. God bless these men for their sacrifice. God bless those who sacrifice now and will and have suffered the same injustices upon returning home.
i am probably the only 16 year old whose favorite movie is Best Years of Our Lives, but I don't care. its the best movie I've ever seen. Dana Andrews is the man.
This scene has been edited. Real WWII footage has been taken out. This scene does not play the way it should...suddenly he looks sweaty at about 4:07--that's where they cut to actual footage...the plane sprouts propellers etc...who remembers???
@jjthedj There is NO actual WWII footage in this film. All the shots were shot by Greg Toland, the director of photography, for the film. The film was edited to fit Hugo Friedhofer's superlative music score. I know this because I discussed the scene with Wyler and Friedhofer at the time.
Composer Lalo Schifrin informed me after he'd received a CD of the album that I produced of Hugo Friedhofer's score for 'The Best Years of Our Lives' that he considered the music for the aircraft graveyard scene to be one of the greatest ever in a Hollywood film.
@SandraWrites .... well, that is alot of times. i agree though, it was and still is.... a lasting movie. very well done showing the lives of returning world war II veterans.
Only 12 or 13 flyable as of Aug 2010. Total number including museum pieces I don't know. Unfortunatly not enough of the old birds. If you have ever seen one fly over it's a real treat. Four Wright radials humming along, it can't be duplicated!!. The air force were still flying these for one job or another when I was a kid in the fifties. I'll never forget it!!.
Never flew in a B-17 even thought my father did, but 20 years after the war, when many more were still around, he tossed me around through plenty of converted P-51s, but thankfully most still with the Merlin engine.
He always used to say that I would have never have been been born if it wasn't for the P-51. I don't think he was saying he was a bad flyer (I know better). I think he was saying that flying is not much different from sailing or soldiering. Nobody is solo.
what a waste. do any of you know what these are worth today? more of them could have been preserved. should have saved more of the planes and certainly more ALL of the parts. they are national treasures and tell the story of what these planes and men did. we are all in their debt.
each and every day b17 restoration is getting harder and more expensive because of the massive waste of our government. i understand that they couldn't all have been saved, but to destroy them all... terrible.
yeah well they are a significant part of history and for that fact more of them should have been preserved. imagine a formation of 30 b17's at an airshow today. wow, that would be something to see wouldn't it?
instead of destroying nearly all of them, more care should have been given to preserve the history of aerial warfare's greatest battles. if it was up to government there wouldn't be a single b17 left today. that would be really sad.
they could have saved more of those aircraft. today only 12-13 exist that can be flown. i know that not all of them could have been saved, but it wouldnt hurt to have saved 100 or so. they are a significant part of history and today muesums struggle to keep them flying. allot the parts could have been saved as well. today muesums are forced to hand make parts becuase not many are left today
You would have loved prefab housing in 1946 if you had nowhere else to live.
I grew up around these planes and I agree it would have been great if more had been preserved. But their duty wasn't in keeping these planes around for you or me to revel in them.
Their duty was to get home alive and safe, to make sure you and I would still be around to discuss them. And hopefully discuss other things.
A P.S to my previous post on this great clip. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Andrews in Houston, Texas in the late 1970's. Andrews, though not born in Texas, grew up in Texas, and always considered himself a Texan. He told me his favorite film roles were this great film and Laura. This clip has great relevance to the recent news of one of the 70,000+ WW2 MIAS coming home.
Robert Crane was in the CBI theater, as was my father. His body was recently returned home 65 years later-from Burma
Listen to Friedhofer's brilliant score. His music perfectly fits the scene. Lalo Schifrin told me a long time ago that he thought that Friedhofer's music for this film was one of the greatest ever for a Hollywood film.
These graveyards full off military planes or mothballed fleets of warships are a gigantic waste of capital. Scarce materials and manpower used to destroy other peoples and civilizations, making all normal people that much poorer. I hope we will never have to see a war on the scale of WW2 again. We are destroying this earth fast enough as it is...
An incredible scene. Using only camara angles and an evocative musical score, and without showing a single image of combat, Wyler captured the full effect that combat had on these men. The look on Dana Andrews' face as he sat in the nose of the B-17 said it all.
Oh... the tales " Round Trip " could tell. She looks like she had 60 or so bombing missions to her credit. So sad that so few of these birds are left today ! Of course, at the time, chopping them up for scrap just ment the war was over !!!
Excellent!! Very powerful and moving. I thank all those who served our country and those who continue to do so now. Thank you for the freedom you have given me!!
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Most people & almost 90% of G.I.s were illiterate in those days; it quite remarkable that they show an old man reading...he must have memorized some lines to make it LOOK like he was reading as it was almost impossible and implausible that an old man could read at this time. All these planes were made to be illiterate friendly for the thousand of pilots that couldn't read.
Are you kidding me? You must be thinking of the English Civil War or the Revolutionary War because last time I checked THIS war took place just a little over 60 year ago. The public school system had long been in place by this time. While it's certainly true the illiteracy rate was higher then than it is now, let's stop being rediculous- 90% of GI's and most civilians couldn't read or write? C'mon.
You strike me as more illiterate than any just for that ignorant comment.
My father was only one of 10%? Since he actually could read and write? And founded the Marin County Civil Air Patrol?
I suggest that you use your gift of being able to read and go use it. Then find your new-found gift of being able to write to come back here and apoligize for your ignorance and insults.
@grabit1 You should be very thankful your Pappy could read!.... I just report the facts as I see em'. I say illiterate G.I. make the best soldiers;... we don't want those who protect us to do any thinking or heaven forbid....reading. Peace dude!
Classic post Kenneth J. Most people and 100% of posters on this thread are seriously humor-challenged and your post went right by them. But I caught it bro I caught it. Cheers, a toast to you and those non-readin GI's.
I know these things are the stuff of war. The B-17's and the B-24's etc. Just weapons and all but like decommed ships they had personalities. A mystique. Sad.
It seems curious that a training plane would have all those mission markings on it, much less nose art. I think I've seen this plane somewhere else on a bomb group site.
some of these were as the four digit number on nose indicated a training ship I believe. They just painted the round trip? nose art on this one... great, great movie.. William Wyler was a major in the USAAF
@irish89055 wyler did an airforce documentary then a navigator in a bomber named ralph tangney who went on to become a documentary filmaker himself said wyler probably didnt do any high altitude flying
I first saw this movie after Vietnam. The scene where Fred March reunites with his wife is right out of my own experience with my husband.
34 years later, I watched it with my son who just came back from Iraq. It helped us both understand what we were going through. This movie is a treasure.
The scene with the dad is one of the best in the movie -- where is acting like that today? You can sense the pride and sadness simultaneously in his presentation. No special effects necessary for a great scene!
@CBFANOSU Gladys George as Fred's stepmother is wonderful in this scene, too. The way she listens and then gets up abruptly once Fred's father has finished reading the commendation is so moving. Fred has told them that all that "stuff," his awards, citations, etc. don't mean anything, and they don't to him because he is stubbornly proud and because he's seen that his success in the air doesn't translate to anything on the ground. All that's about to change, though...
The Best Years of Our Lives was one of the best moves about ww2. My uncle was a B-17 pilot and ful 36 missions over Germany. He was and always will be my HERO......Thanx again for this video.
Both my husband and I loved this movie; so pertinent no matter what war is going on at the time. Wish I could find more out about the "Lucy Belle"; very little available on Google.
My favorite part is when the sailor tells his girlfirend she probably won't want to marry him because he needs help to take his hooks off every night, and she says it doesn't matter.
Makes me sick to see them, knowing they will never fly again. If it makes any difference, I live next to an AirForce base and they still have a couple of C-47's that they use. Yes, I live in the USA and I have no idea what they do with them. They have P&W turbines now.
Hi my Dad , was C-47 pilot in 50´s, he loves that plane, was quiet surprised to know some are still operated by USAF ( may be ANG!!. Would be great if you could take a pic of them and send it to me!!
They aren't ANG. They fly in and out of Hurlburt Field, FL. They are painted white with no other major markings. The only time I see them is when they are landing or taking off. If you research Hurlburt, and see what they do there, it's even more intriguing!
Because of the GI bill many WWII vets, including my father, went on to get the college education that previously been denied to their class, and then went into public service. My father was an educator for 30 years, and his life after the war was full. Perhaps the war was the most intense experience of his life & it left some scares that never completely healed, but his life was far from over, in fact it really began when he returned from WWII/
That is the least we can offer a returning GI who survived all that - a new chance at opportunity. Now we return them to poverty and deny them even adequate medical care. "Support Our Troups" should mean more than a flag decal in our SUV windshield. If we can't "afford" a strong and meaningful GI bill, affordable home loans, and VA care, well, I guess we can't afford a war...and we certainly can't afford padding the profits of private war industries.
How dull and unheroic the whole two cars, three kids, 9-to-5, thirty year mortgage suburban routine must have been for these guys -- the vast majority living fifty, sixty years past the transcendent climax of their lives. In a way this movie foresaw this decades before it really set in, and in the movie itself, I've always thought the Fred Derry character most poignantly evokes it. A sequel showing Fred as a 1970s aluminum siding king would make an interesting (if depressing) film.
And what's so bad about being married to Theresa Wright and being the aluminum siding king????
He would probably had a nice house in the suburbs, belonged to a club where he could play golf and tennis or ping pong any time he wanted; he probably saw Merman and Martin, Drake and Harrison on Broadway, DiMaggio and Mantle at the ballpark, Berle and Gleason on TV...
Shit, I'll take that life right now.
"Transcendant climax of their lives"!?!?!? You haven't met many WWII vets have you?
my late father and several other family members served in world war 2...in the ETO...they all lost friends in that conflict...they never bothered with veterans day parades... but liked being in the company of other veterans of world war 2...i have always found this scene from the movie to be stunning and brilliant...thanks for putting the scene up on you tube
if you get lucky, find a copy of a book at a used bookstore(I found one on ebay) titled'victory in my hands'...written by Harold Russell(the actor who had the hooks in the film..Homer) his story of his rehabilitaion and so-forth ..he wrote it in the late 40s...
Another good book is "Everything But The Flak" I loved reading this in high school and it tells the story of ferrying three B-17s from Tucson, Arizona, to Gatwick, England, in 1961. The three B-17s were needed in England for use in the filming of a movie at a historic airfield. The author Martin Caidin flew as the copilot in the lead B-17.
This is how you make a movie. No flashbacks, no sound effects - it shows us, it doesn't tell us, but it also let's our imagination run wild as we see how it's affecting him. This might be the best war movie ever.
As a young boy in England during WW2, I often saw these B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 8th Air Force returning from their raids into the Hell of Germany. Some were trailing smoke, others had stopped and feathered engines, and many could not make it across the English Channel, and fell into its cold waters. Now mostly forgotten, God Bless them all, the men of the USAF and RAF.
@BerlinBunker1 Thank you for such a tribute to the brave men of the Eighth Air Force. I would add to that, the daring and gallant airmen of Bomber Command of Great Britain. They had the added dangers of flying night missions early on in the war and as a general rule, flew alone instead of in 1000 plane formations of the 8TH. I would add the RAF who stood alone against Germany early in the war.
On this night of the Election Eve.....I am saying a Hundred Hail Mary's......and so are the my friends who grew up believing in Our United States of American..God Help Us All.
Dana Andrew's friend (if I would have lived long enough to have known him) and the daughter of a man who was kin to him from, Mississippi
the music was never issued on record until the 1980s when the score was reconstructed and rerecorded there was an lp issued then a company named barckey crocker issued reel to reel tapes the sound on those tapes can blow the roof off your house
@spacepatrolman Thanks for your comments. I was the producer of the Entr'acte LP and, later on, the re-mastered CD. I still have the Barclay-Crocker reel-to-reel tapes. The recording will be re-mixed [again!] for 5.1 SACD in 2011.
@jslasher1 i still have the barcley croker tape too i didnt know it was on cd [before all this came out i taped the whole movie on audio cassete off the tv the same with spartacus and the fantastic voyage ] .
The way you never see anyone get a job now. It's all about computer software and humans haven't got anything to do with it. No more looking someone in the eyes across the table and sizing them up. The software knows it all.
mongoose636 2 weeks ago
This scene includes Hugo Friedhofer's magnificent score, which is one of the greatest ever composed for a Hollywood film.
jslasher1 1 month ago
This movie was full of communist propaganda, Ayn Rand wanted to denounce this movie in her HUAC testimoni as a friendly witness.
WarVideo 1 month ago
@WarVideo I have never read such a load of crap in my entire life.
jslasher1 1 month ago
@jslasher1 It's true but they would not let her talk about the movie becuase it was too popular so she was only able to talk about Song of Russia.
WarVideo 1 month ago
At 0:45 the actor Roman Bohnen begins reading the commendation. It's a very moving reading. However, watch the scene again, and this time focus on Gladys George as she's emotionaly overwhelmed, her eyes tear up at exactly the right moment. She gives a wonderful performance without saying a word.
logancody05 2 months ago
In the beginning of the film. There's a terrific plane ride back home scherzo that I wish was posted. I don't have the movie.
Glinkaism1 2 months ago
I love looking at the background of this movie, it show a time in the U.S. that will never be again.
rickydinnc 2 months ago
I've seen this movie a dozen times. It's undoubtedly one of the best ever made. It was so groundbreaking and so far ahead of its time, examining such post-war subjects as ptsd, alcoholism, infidelity, unemployment, and disabled war veterans, as well as readjustment to civilian life by both vets and their families. It provides me with a glimpse into the increasingly-distant era of WWII and the life of my own deceased father, a WWII Navy vet himself. My hat is off to all WWII allied vets.
7newworldman7 3 months ago
@Bomberguy - I love this film. Gone are the days of matinee idols like Dana Andrews, who should have received the Best Supporting Actor Oscar as a "shell shocked" vet to complement Fredric March's Best Actor. While other little girls in the '70s were worshiping David Cassidy and Donny Osmond, I was in love with Dana Andrews (in this and "My Foolish Heart"). Thank you for paying homage to this important part of motion picture history.
DickieAnginson 3 months ago
One of the greatest scenes in on of the greatest films ever made.
grabit1 3 months ago
thumbs up if you think this is sad
bobcatblue431 5 months ago
Thank you Dana Andrews for Fred Derry. It should have been an Oscar.
WC3POchannel10A 6 months ago in playlist WC3PO's Late, Late, Breakfast Theatre 2
@WC3POchannel10A
DEFINITELY ! - what were they thinking ?
melostmo 6 months ago
forget the planes ,what about all them .50 cal machine guns loads of fun to be had with them
hunterkiller45 6 months ago
It was explained to me once a long time ago that a lot of post war Hollywood movies had an anti-British sentiment because they were financed by Jewish bankers who resented the British U.N. mandate in Palestine in particular, and the British Empire in general. The Empire bit chimed with Americans of course, but a lot of American veterans knew that we really were all in this thing together whatever Hollywood presented as their idea how WW2 should be seen to posterity.
DigbyCaballero 7 months ago
ONE OF THE BEST SCENES FROM ONE OF THE BEST MOVIES EVER MADE,
THAT ERA WAS AMERICA'S FINEST HOURS!
bbbbbzzzzz 7 months ago
Dougalmak54:- the comments you made were as insulting as the ones that upset you. The Americans didn't win the war alone, us British had our backs against the war for a long time before we got your help. It wasn't our war, we didn't start it, but we couldn't stand by and watch the Nazis. Some of us are grateful for your countries help, stop insulting us.
graygray67r1 7 months ago
@graygray67r1 I won't insult you. Yours is a great country. I believe both involved in the exchange you responded to are wrong. I was in the US Air Force for only 25 years, all of it in the Cold War and none of it in World War II. I know from history, we are descended from you -- different but still of the same roots. I believe all that existed amongst the Allies, particularly that which was forged between Churchill and Roosevelt, was great. You and your countrymen have my admiration.
FylthyBeest 7 months ago
@graygray67r1 you're right, I shouldn't lump all Brits in with an idiot like k80nya. I grew up with many men who fought in the 8th Air Force during WW2. They were to a man humble about their service, never taking credit for the job they did and reluctant to talk about their experiences, probably because they wanted to forget the horror they live through in combat. I came to appreciate these men because they just saw themselves as doing a job that had to be done, not for being "heroes."
dougalmac54 6 months ago
Wyler's cinematographer, Gregg Toland, used effective boom-mounted shots of the War Assets Administration aircraft scrapyard adjacent to Ontario Army Airfield, Chino,
California. The 'buzz numbers' on the noses of the B-17s indicate that the planes had probably last been assigned to stateside crew training units. Some appear to be combat veterans. It made for a very poignant moment in a very great movie.
madcitymcflyer 8 months ago
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One of the best movies- ever.
NickRatnieks 8 months ago
Thanks for posting this. One of the greatest movies ever made, IMO. Doesn't matter what you think of war, or "The War"--just a moving look at real people dealing with the aftermath. God bless Harold Russell and the rest of 'em.
asdesas 8 months ago 4
@asdesas Harold Russell wanted to sell one of his 2 acedemy awards[ the only time an actor won 2 oscars for the same role ] for his retirement he got some flack from carl malden and the screen actors guild but he sold it so whats the beef he didnt get a million dollars just $35,000
spacepatrolman 7 months ago
@spacepatrolman I believe that Harold Russell sold that Oscar to help pay all the medical bills he got from his wife's treatment for Alzheimer's Disease. That's pretty noble to me. I think that is what i read. He loved his dear wife very much.
uscgccampbell 6 months ago
@uscgccampbell A true story. Very sad, indeed.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
@spacepatrolman Please learn how to punctuate.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
This is an extraordinarily powerful sequence, a testament to Wyler's skills as a director and bringing to bear all he experienced while flying with the crew of the Memphis Belle, which cost him the hearing in one ear. I always take note of the name "Round Trip?" on the plane. This was America at that moment of history...the great world conflict was over, and those who fought it were asking themselves, "Can I really come back?" Was there such a thing as a "round trip?" An American classic.
DaveLucas427 9 months ago 3
Thank you. What a debt we owe the men and women of WWII.
Flickchaser 9 months ago 2
One of the best scenes of the numerous terrific scenes in the movie.
woody1417 10 months ago 2
Thank you for this great clip. This film was one of my parents favorites..as they lived it. My father, Major Edward Driscoll. Army Air Corps., passed away this week at 93..a proud member of the Greatest Generation..whom were losing at 1200 a day. He served in the CBI Theater WW2 -- China-Burma-India, the forgotten war.
tallpaul521 10 months ago 2
If only jobs were that easy to get today!!
cezza57 10 months ago
So how it's connected with Kurt Lewin ???
Arvids409 10 months ago
I have watched the movie several times over the last 30 years. I still believe that it is one of the greatest movies ever made...
1rarefish 11 months ago 2
A very powerful scene.
JackFlemingFan 11 months ago
Say Fellar lets drop a nuke on the thick yanks and give the world a breather.
k80nya 11 months ago
@k80nya Why don't you go sit on a running chain saw, you little limey twit? Every time you open your moron mouth you use up precious oxygen better used by an intelligent Brit.
dougalmac54 9 months ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
And the fucking Yanks still puring cannon fodder and shit all over the world at billions of dollars when the cities of America are skint and fucked. ARSEHOLES.
k80nya 11 months ago
@k80nya If it wasn't for us "fucking Yanks", you limey turd, you're ass would be goosestepping through Piccadilly and you'd be speaking German right now. You should get down on your knees and kiss the ass of every American you see, because our grandfathers died by the thousands defending your piss-ant little island from the Nazi's, you ungrateful piece of shit.
dougalmac54 9 months ago
@dougalmac54 Without wanting to defend k80nya's comments, I suggest you check a history book. Other than a handful of welcome American volunteers (who, at the time, were breaking US law by fighting with us) we defended our piss-ant little island from the Nazis pretty well in 1940, thanks without any help from the USA. That finished Hitler's invasion plans. What your forces came over here for was the liberation of the rest of Europe.
thisisnev 6 months ago
@thisisnev I in no way disregard or denigrate the ultimately brilliant and courageous defence of England by the RAF in the Battle of Britain. Those pilots faced impossible odds and performed above and beyond the call of duty. But I'll be damned if anyone will make the kind of stupid comments made by the idiot k80nya and not offence at his moronic comments.
dougalmac54 6 months ago
@dougalmac54 And I hope we in Britain never forget that the 8th AF performed above and beyond the call of duty over here, too. For nearly a year it was a statistical impossibility for an airman to survive a tour of duty, but they still went into battle regardless of the odds. We could never have liberated Europe without America's help.
thisisnev 6 months ago
@dougalmac54 What a pathetic, disgusting retort by 'us f..king Yanks". Well, Mr Yank, you have a selective memory lapse. Ever heard of the Battle of Britain? Thought not.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
Nearly 70 years later and there still hasn't been a better film made.
rogerrodd 1 year ago 2
Wyler was a phenomenal director, but this is a wonderful story that stands the test of time.
Abbeysums 1 year ago 2
Two great scenes. Dana Andrews as Fred Derry, is amazing in the scene in the plane. Roman Bohnen and Gladys George are equally moving in the scene before as Derry's father read's his son's citations for bravery. Extraordinary and powerful film. Wyler was a phenomenal director.
lemaxmas 1 year ago
@lemaxmas simple people. Not like today. They are moved because they love Fred. Not themselves.
tenorismo 11 months ago
@tenorismo They were all great actors, playing simple people.
lemaxmas 5 months ago
@lemaxmas Ina relatively minor scene steve cochran shows up at fred derrys apartment impling that he was fooling around with his wife [ steve cochran was found dead in a boat of a heart attack with 3 prostitutes what a way to go ] watch the bonanza episode with cochran playing a dual role of himself and his twin brother and his picture is on the back of leslie gores greatest hits with his hands on her a made for tv remake of the best years of our lives called returning home with tom selleck
spacepatrolman 6 months ago
@spacepatrolman wasnt bad considering they were remaking one of the best films shown in movie theaters
spacepatrolman 6 months ago
@spacepatrolman Try learning how to spell and punctuate. The TV remake was simply a pathetic attempt at the real thing.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
@lemaxmas Play this particular scene back a second time. Have a listen to Hugo Friedhofer's inspired score. What it does for this scene is beyond compere.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
@FifthContinentMusic Yes, I agree. It's an amazing score. I have the cd of the complete film score.
You might be interested in knowing that the great director of the film, William Wyler hated this score. Amazing but true.
lemaxmas 5 months ago
@lemaxmas
Ya know, Hugo Friedhoffer was from San Francisco, where I hail from. Whatever. It's one of our greatest film scores. I know much about Wyler and more than that even, but did he really dislike Hugo for getting an Oscar?
Wyler was great, but not always right.
grabit1 3 months ago
@grabit1 "did he really dislike Hugo for getting an Oscar?" I never heard that. He just didn't like the score when it was completed for the film. I think he thought it too melodramatic for what he wanted in the film. This is not the only time I believe Wyler wasn't happy with a film score, nor the only time where a great director was not happy with a film score for a great film that was later oscar nominated. Elia Kazan wasn't happy at all with Bernstein's score for On the Waterfront.
lemaxmas 3 months ago
@lemaxmas Wyler lost most of his hearing during WW II. He couldn't hear most tonalities, which is why Hugo's score was difficult for him to listen to. Wyler disliked Copland's score for 'The Heiress' and was responsible for the original main title being replaced. He tried to interfere with Miklos Rozsa's music in 'Ben-Hur'. The list goes on.
jslasher1 1 month ago
@grabit1 I personally knew Hugo. I produced the recording of the score from "Best Years". Absolute rubbish about Wyler disliking Hugo for getting the Oscar.
jslasher1 1 month ago
@jslasher1 I don't doubt that. I was questioning another poster's comment that Wyler didn't like the score, but may not have been clear.
grabit1 1 month ago
I also like how they talked to each other back then. No "P.C." crap and nobody gets offended. Just a respect for each other.
1001erickp 1 year ago
Figures his wife was cheating on him.
1001erickp 1 year ago
@1001erickp virginia mayo played loose woman but she was never really like that in real life .
spacepatrolman 1 year ago
@spacepatrolman You might have taken the time to honour her by spelling her given and family names with capital letters.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
The first field of planes were P-39 Airacobras or P-63 Kingcobras fighters.
kirktalon 1 year ago
Maybe I need to be more clear since I know types like you are not self aware.
EHEM. The jews are a race (NOT a "religion") of effetes that live in goy cities exclusively(until '47); studious literate jobs at the top of civi too boot (ie not labor). SO THEREFORE if they --of all strains--grapple with the nature of the "warrior/vs civilized" poem then that is more deep than say just an aboriginal type grappling with it.
SeanMacCloud 1 year ago
@SeanMacCloud What language are you speaking, mate? Where's the punctuation and the type?
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
Do you think he was --the writer and director (both jewish cosmopolitan effetes I wager* were]-- able to grapple with the unfortunate truism that he fought to oust himself? ...That he fought to oust the the vestigial remnants of the _"warrior-ocracy"_ where men like him once ruled?\
["cosmo effetes"... ie that makes it even better. _High Art._]
(2nd note: great score, dig them funky trombones where it counts...)
SeanMacCloud 1 year ago
@SeanMacCloud So what if he was Jewish? You ass clown!!
1998disco72 1 year ago
@1998disco72
If jew cosmopolitan effets are grappling with the POEM of man as warrior vs man as urbanized baggage (of wimmin), then that is deep, you dope.
SeanMacCloud 1 year ago
@SeanMacCloud At least you got it correct about the great score.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
My favorite movie of all. God bless these men for their sacrifice. God bless those who sacrifice now and will and have suffered the same injustices upon returning home.
bobjfs 1 year ago 5
i am probably the only 16 year old whose favorite movie is Best Years of Our Lives, but I don't care. its the best movie I've ever seen. Dana Andrews is the man.
xomgt128 1 year ago
Jesus, the metaphor here is devastating. Bless you all, past, present and future.
pang5 1 year ago 2
From one of my favorite movies of all time "The Best Years Of Our Lives"....
mary71257 1 year ago
One of my favorite WWII movies. And these scenes are among the best. Thanks.
quincannon40 1 year ago 2
This scene has been edited. Real WWII footage has been taken out. This scene does not play the way it should...suddenly he looks sweaty at about 4:07--that's where they cut to actual footage...the plane sprouts propellers etc...who remembers???
jjthedj 1 year ago
@jjthedj There is NO actual WWII footage in this film. All the shots were shot by Greg Toland, the director of photography, for the film. The film was edited to fit Hugo Friedhofer's superlative music score. I know this because I discussed the scene with Wyler and Friedhofer at the time.
FifthContinentMusic 5 months ago
Composer Lalo Schifrin informed me after he'd received a CD of the album that I produced of Hugo Friedhofer's score for 'The Best Years of Our Lives' that he considered the music for the aircraft graveyard scene to be one of the greatest ever in a Hollywood film.
jslasher1 1 year ago
helluva movie,..one helluva movie....
jws54 1 year ago
My ultimate favorite film OF ALL TIME...have seen it probably 75 times at least.
SandraWrites 1 year ago
@SandraWrites .... well, that is alot of times. i agree though, it was and still is.... a lasting movie. very well done showing the lives of returning world war II veterans.
surferlaments 1 year ago
Only 12 or 13 flyable as of Aug 2010. Total number including museum pieces I don't know. Unfortunatly not enough of the old birds. If you have ever seen one fly over it's a real treat. Four Wright radials humming along, it can't be duplicated!!. The air force were still flying these for one job or another when I was a kid in the fifties. I'll never forget it!!.
leesherman100 1 year ago
@leesherman100
Never flew in a B-17 even thought my father did, but 20 years after the war, when many more were still around, he tossed me around through plenty of converted P-51s, but thankfully most still with the Merlin engine.
He always used to say that I would have never have been been born if it wasn't for the P-51. I don't think he was saying he was a bad flyer (I know better). I think he was saying that flying is not much different from sailing or soldiering. Nobody is solo.
grabit1 1 year ago
what a waste. do any of you know what these are worth today? more of them could have been preserved. should have saved more of the planes and certainly more ALL of the parts. they are national treasures and tell the story of what these planes and men did. we are all in their debt.
each and every day b17 restoration is getting harder and more expensive because of the massive waste of our government. i understand that they couldn't all have been saved, but to destroy them all... terrible.
ad356 1 year ago
@ad356 In their day, these aircraft were a dime a dozen. You couldnt give them away at the dawn of the jet age
weenyone 1 year ago
@weenyone
yeah well they are a significant part of history and for that fact more of them should have been preserved. imagine a formation of 30 b17's at an airshow today. wow, that would be something to see wouldn't it?
instead of destroying nearly all of them, more care should have been given to preserve the history of aerial warfare's greatest battles. if it was up to government there wouldn't be a single b17 left today. that would be really sad.
ad356 1 year ago
@ad356
Not destroyed. As he said, prefabricated housing. Not wasted.
My father flew one of those, too.
grabit1 1 year ago
@grabit1
prefab housing, lol. prefab housing sucks.
they could have saved more of those aircraft. today only 12-13 exist that can be flown. i know that not all of them could have been saved, but it wouldnt hurt to have saved 100 or so. they are a significant part of history and today muesums struggle to keep them flying. allot the parts could have been saved as well. today muesums are forced to hand make parts becuase not many are left today
ad356 1 year ago
@ad356
You would have loved prefab housing in 1946 if you had nowhere else to live.
I grew up around these planes and I agree it would have been great if more had been preserved. But their duty wasn't in keeping these planes around for you or me to revel in them.
Their duty was to get home alive and safe, to make sure you and I would still be around to discuss them. And hopefully discuss other things.
grabit1 1 year ago
A P.S to my previous post on this great clip. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Andrews in Houston, Texas in the late 1970's. Andrews, though not born in Texas, grew up in Texas, and always considered himself a Texan. He told me his favorite film roles were this great film and Laura. This clip has great relevance to the recent news of one of the 70,000+ WW2 MIAS coming home.
Robert Crane was in the CBI theater, as was my father. His body was recently returned home 65 years later-from Burma
tallpaul521 1 year ago
@tallpaul521
Dana Andrews was quite a thinking man, and quite brave for admitting his alcoholism years before other celebrities did.
grabit1 1 year ago 2
Listen to Friedhofer's brilliant score. His music perfectly fits the scene. Lalo Schifrin told me a long time ago that he thought that Friedhofer's music for this film was one of the greatest ever for a Hollywood film.
jslasher1 1 year ago
These graveyards full off military planes or mothballed fleets of warships are a gigantic waste of capital. Scarce materials and manpower used to destroy other peoples and civilizations, making all normal people that much poorer. I hope we will never have to see a war on the scale of WW2 again. We are destroying this earth fast enough as it is...
djewt1 1 year ago
An incredible scene. Using only camara angles and an evocative musical score, and without showing a single image of combat, Wyler captured the full effect that combat had on these men. The look on Dana Andrews' face as he sat in the nose of the B-17 said it all.
figsgrandpa 1 year ago
IMO the West was defeated in 1945., Look at flying today, most would rather drive or perhaps walk if was safe.
Nationsnotregimes 1 year ago
Thank you. One of the brilliant scenes from the film masterpiece and a wonderful tribute to the Greatest Generation
tallpaul521 1 year ago
Oh... the tales " Round Trip " could tell. She looks like she had 60 or so bombing missions to her credit. So sad that so few of these birds are left today ! Of course, at the time, chopping them up for scrap just ment the war was over !!!
mrstevehartman 1 year ago
Excellent!! Very powerful and moving. I thank all those who served our country and those who continue to do so now. Thank you for the freedom you have given me!!
JackFlemingFan 1 year ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Most people & almost 90% of G.I.s were illiterate in those days; it quite remarkable that they show an old man reading...he must have memorized some lines to make it LOOK like he was reading as it was almost impossible and implausible that an old man could read at this time. All these planes were made to be illiterate friendly for the thousand of pilots that couldn't read.
kennethj1956 1 year ago
Are you kidding me? You must be thinking of the English Civil War or the Revolutionary War because last time I checked THIS war took place just a little over 60 year ago. The public school system had long been in place by this time. While it's certainly true the illiteracy rate was higher then than it is now, let's stop being rediculous- 90% of GI's and most civilians couldn't read or write? C'mon.
xcalabur19 1 year ago
@kennethj1956, your ignorance is appalling.
djinconroe 1 year ago
What the hell are you talking about?
You strike me as more illiterate than any just for that ignorant comment.
My father was only one of 10%? Since he actually could read and write? And founded the Marin County Civil Air Patrol?
I suggest that you use your gift of being able to read and go use it. Then find your new-found gift of being able to write to come back here and apoligize for your ignorance and insults.
grabit1 1 year ago
@grabit1 You should be very thankful your Pappy could read!.... I just report the facts as I see em'. I say illiterate G.I. make the best soldiers;... we don't want those who protect us to do any thinking or heaven forbid....reading. Peace dude!
kennethj1956 1 year ago
Classic post Kenneth J. Most people and 100% of posters on this thread are seriously humor-challenged and your post went right by them. But I caught it bro I caught it. Cheers, a toast to you and those non-readin GI's.
btfmail 1 year ago
@kennethj1956
Subject has been examined by better minds than yours. Withhold your comments unless they can add to the discussion.
greenfuzz13 1 year ago
@greenfuzz13 I think my comments added great insights to the mindset of the era. ☺
kennethj1956 1 year ago
@kennethj1956 They add nothing.
greenfuzz13 1 year ago
I know these things are the stuff of war. The B-17's and the B-24's etc. Just weapons and all but like decommed ships they had personalities. A mystique. Sad.
Redheadedtroll68 1 year ago
It seems curious that a training plane would have all those mission markings on it, much less nose art. I think I've seen this plane somewhere else on a bomb group site.
gerrykersey 2 years ago
some of these were as the four digit number on nose indicated a training ship I believe. They just painted the round trip? nose art on this one... great, great movie.. William Wyler was a major in the USAAF
irish89055 2 years ago
@irish89055 wyler did an airforce documentary then a navigator in a bomber named ralph tangney who went on to become a documentary filmaker himself said wyler probably didnt do any high altitude flying
spacepatrolman 1 year ago
I first saw this movie after Vietnam. The scene where Fred March reunites with his wife is right out of my own experience with my husband.
34 years later, I watched it with my son who just came back from Iraq. It helped us both understand what we were going through. This movie is a treasure.
audiesgirl 2 years ago 7
@audiesgirl what a beautiful family tradition
fechi5 5 months ago
The scene with the dad is one of the best in the movie -- where is acting like that today? You can sense the pride and sadness simultaneously in his presentation. No special effects necessary for a great scene!
CBFANOSU 2 years ago
@CBFANOSU Gladys George as Fred's stepmother is wonderful in this scene, too. The way she listens and then gets up abruptly once Fred's father has finished reading the commendation is so moving. Fred has told them that all that "stuff," his awards, citations, etc. don't mean anything, and they don't to him because he is stubbornly proud and because he's seen that his success in the air doesn't translate to anything on the ground. All that's about to change, though...
LWOPP 1 year ago
they knew all about PTSD back then. great movie.
bulletman100 2 years ago
The Best Years of Our Lives was one of the best moves about ww2. My uncle was a B-17 pilot and ful 36 missions over Germany. He was and always will be my HERO......Thanx again for this video.
denbar 2 years ago
Comment removed
denbar 2 years ago
Both my husband and I loved this movie; so pertinent no matter what war is going on at the time. Wish I could find more out about the "Lucy Belle"; very little available on Google.
Debi107 2 years ago
unforgetable, 100% quality, movies nowadays are all about explotions, alliens and all sort of weird useless things.
mig15fan 2 years ago
that man now become old man now. some already dead of old age.
AuthoringStudio 2 years ago
My favorite part is when the sailor tells his girlfirend she probably won't want to marry him because he needs help to take his hooks off every night, and she says it doesn't matter.
GaijinBiker 2 years ago 2
this is the ULTIMATE WWII movie....I cry every time I watch it. The casting was perfect especially Dana Andrews. Loved the ending.
flagday45 2 years ago 3
5m50s exactamundo.
UberSecret 2 years ago
great movie !
astronut68 2 years ago 2
One of the best movies ever made!
SweepingTiger 2 years ago 18
Gives me goosebumps.
cochranexyz 2 years ago 6
dana andrews was so good in this wonderful movie!! great post!!
dlpine71 2 years ago 5
one of the best movies made after the war. this scene tells it all. Well done Wm Wyler.
s6u6r6f6 2 years ago 28
what a sad scene!
it's too bad more of those planes weren't saved
steers83bravo 2 years ago 6
Makes me sick to see them, knowing they will never fly again. If it makes any difference, I live next to an AirForce base and they still have a couple of C-47's that they use. Yes, I live in the USA and I have no idea what they do with them. They have P&W turbines now.
KKolchak 2 years ago
Hi my Dad , was C-47 pilot in 50´s, he loves that plane, was quiet surprised to know some are still operated by USAF ( may be ANG!!. Would be great if you could take a pic of them and send it to me!!
thxs
Al
mig15fan 2 years ago 2
They aren't ANG. They fly in and out of Hurlburt Field, FL. They are painted white with no other major markings. The only time I see them is when they are landing or taking off. If you research Hurlburt, and see what they do there, it's even more intriguing!
KKolchak 2 years ago
@KKolchak I´ll try to send a private message.
mig15fan 2 years ago
Is this the Davis-Monthan graveyard?
WakeUpDummies 2 years ago
Because of the GI bill many WWII vets, including my father, went on to get the college education that previously been denied to their class, and then went into public service. My father was an educator for 30 years, and his life after the war was full. Perhaps the war was the most intense experience of his life & it left some scares that never completely healed, but his life was far from over, in fact it really began when he returned from WWII/
waterswheel 2 years ago 3
That is the least we can offer a returning GI who survived all that - a new chance at opportunity. Now we return them to poverty and deny them even adequate medical care. "Support Our Troups" should mean more than a flag decal in our SUV windshield. If we can't "afford" a strong and meaningful GI bill, affordable home loans, and VA care, well, I guess we can't afford a war...and we certainly can't afford padding the profits of private war industries.
hollywoodartchick 2 years ago 4
They DID the job...It's never over!!!!
1949man 2 years ago
they did a job
now its over
the plane he climes in to is named
" round trip ? "
ART13autotune 2 years ago
How dull and unheroic the whole two cars, three kids, 9-to-5, thirty year mortgage suburban routine must have been for these guys -- the vast majority living fifty, sixty years past the transcendent climax of their lives. In a way this movie foresaw this decades before it really set in, and in the movie itself, I've always thought the Fred Derry character most poignantly evokes it. A sequel showing Fred as a 1970s aluminum siding king would make an interesting (if depressing) film.
ChopstickBrando 2 years ago 3
I think James Jones kept writing about for almost 30 years.
grabit1 2 years ago
And what's so bad about being married to Theresa Wright and being the aluminum siding king????
He would probably had a nice house in the suburbs, belonged to a club where he could play golf and tennis or ping pong any time he wanted; he probably saw Merman and Martin, Drake and Harrison on Broadway, DiMaggio and Mantle at the ballpark, Berle and Gleason on TV...
Shit, I'll take that life right now.
"Transcendant climax of their lives"!?!?!? You haven't met many WWII vets have you?
LazlosPlane 2 years ago 2
Further to above...
Not ALL vets came out of the war and turned into "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit."
Many had lived through the horrors of the depression, and the post-war boom was like paradise.
Stop looking at everything through the eyes of the knee-jerk post 1960's liberal revisionists.
God Bless America.
LazlosPlane 2 years ago 5
she did a bonanza episode
spacepatrolman 2 years ago
The Airacobras are right where they shoulda been from the beginning -- in the scrapyard!
God knows how many poor fighter jocks would've survived their war if they'd had better aircraft than that piece of junk.
ChopstickBrando 2 years ago
Great Sequence from a beautiful film, thanks for the upload. Wonderful Score as well.
DMaustrap 2 years ago 3
@DMaustrap Thanks for your comment on the music. I appreciate that, believe me.
jslasher1 1 year ago
It's sad to know that many other famous WW2 machines ended up like that including the famous U.S. aircraft carrier USS Enterprise.
captain5104 2 years ago 2
I would have loved to walk the Arizona boneyard back in '46. Wow. I saw a B-17 and B-24 take off from a local airport here. It was amazing.
XB70Playboy 2 years ago
my late father and several other family members served in world war 2...in the ETO...they all lost friends in that conflict...they never bothered with veterans day parades... but liked being in the company of other veterans of world war 2...i have always found this scene from the movie to be stunning and brilliant...thanks for putting the scene up on you tube
ffej980 2 years ago 2
The withering finger of war wastes everything it touches.
flatblackrose 2 years ago
Yup, even when you're on the "winning" side.
Quotation marks, with emphasis.
grabit1 2 years ago
5***** from Germany
megatwingo 2 years ago
Thank you!!!!
iowa61 2 years ago
all those P-39's and P-63's ..very sad
kellylodi 2 years ago
Check out a book called "The Lucky Bastard Club"...tells all about the 8th Air Force & B-17's...
A smell, a sound, even a piece of fabric can take you back ...for those of us who served.
NamVetBuck 3 years ago
The smell of hydraulic fluid.......
matt75hooper 2 years ago 3
The smell of paint, diesel, anti skid on the deck, jet fuel, and the sea...all impregnated in your towels, sheets, uniform.
NamVetBuck 2 years ago 3
This is perhaps the best scene from my all-time favorite film. The nose art nickname of the B-17 Fred walks up to, "Round Trip?", says it all.
WC3POchannel10A 3 years ago 5
if you get lucky, find a copy of a book at a used bookstore(I found one on ebay) titled'victory in my hands'...written by Harold Russell(the actor who had the hooks in the film..Homer) his story of his rehabilitaion and so-forth ..he wrote it in the late 40s...
genuineirishcelt 3 years ago
Another good book is "Everything But The Flak" I loved reading this in high school and it tells the story of ferrying three B-17s from Tucson, Arizona, to Gatwick, England, in 1961. The three B-17s were needed in England for use in the filming of a movie at a historic airfield. The author Martin Caidin flew as the copilot in the lead B-17.
1027sterling 3 years ago
This is how you make a movie. No flashbacks, no sound effects - it shows us, it doesn't tell us, but it also let's our imagination run wild as we see how it's affecting him. This might be the best war movie ever.
tonyx3 3 years ago 9
As a young boy in England during WW2, I often saw these B-17 Flying Fortress bombers of the 8th Air Force returning from their raids into the Hell of Germany. Some were trailing smoke, others had stopped and feathered engines, and many could not make it across the English Channel, and fell into its cold waters. Now mostly forgotten, God Bless them all, the men of the USAF and RAF.
BerlinBunker1 3 years ago 20
@BerlinBunker1 Thank you for such a tribute to the brave men of the Eighth Air Force. I would add to that, the daring and gallant airmen of Bomber Command of Great Britain. They had the added dangers of flying night missions early on in the war and as a general rule, flew alone instead of in 1000 plane formations of the 8TH. I would add the RAF who stood alone against Germany early in the war.
uscgccampbell 1 year ago 3
@BerlinBunker1 You are not forgotten sir!!
1998disco72 1 year ago
I get choked up every time I see this scene. Incredibly powerful and moving.
khatru1972 3 years ago 4
One of my all time favourite movies, fantastic acting, brillian cast and terrific story line. I treasure my copy, thanks for posting the clips!
rigaflr 3 years ago
My favorite scene in a movie full of great scenes.
RocketShark 3 years ago 3
On this night of the Election Eve.....I am saying a Hundred Hail Mary's......and so are the my friends who grew up believing in Our United States of American..God Help Us All.
Dana Andrew's friend (if I would have lived long enough to have known him) and the daughter of a man who was kin to him from, Mississippi
Nite30889 3 years ago
Hugo Friedhofer's music score...BRILLIANT
ECG3485 3 years ago 4
the music was never issued on record until the 1980s when the score was reconstructed and rerecorded there was an lp issued then a company named barckey crocker issued reel to reel tapes the sound on those tapes can blow the roof off your house
spacepatrolman 3 years ago 3
@spacepatrolman Thanks for your comments. I was the producer of the Entr'acte LP and, later on, the re-mastered CD. I still have the Barclay-Crocker reel-to-reel tapes. The recording will be re-mixed [again!] for 5.1 SACD in 2011.
jslasher1 1 year ago
@jslasher1 i still have the barcley croker tape too i didnt know it was on cd [before all this came out i taped the whole movie on audio cassete off the tv the same with spartacus and the fantastic voyage ] .
spacepatrolman 1 year ago
@ECG3485 How very correct you are. You have a good ear for music.
jslasher1 1 year ago