Lists
- ranked 15 in BBC 100 Greatest American Films
- ranked 37 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies
- ranked 44 in WGA 101 Greatest Screenplays
- ranked 83 in Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movies of All Time
- ranked 86 in Chicago Tribune 100 Best Films of the Century
- ranked 103 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (August 2005)
- ranked 109 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (March 2006)
- ranked 114 in They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? 1000 Greatest Films (December 2006)
- ranked 123 in The IMDb Top 250
- ranked 302 in Empire 500 Greatest Movies (2008)
- one of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
- one of 101^w102 Movies You Must See Before...
- one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies Nominees
- one of BAFTA Best Film Winners
- one of Best Director Academy Award Winners
- one of Best Picture Academy Award Winners
- one of Leonard Maltin's 100 "Must See" Films of the 20th Century
- one of New York Film Critics Circle Best Film Winners
- one of The New York Times Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made
- one of AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies, 10th Anniversary Edition
The intertwined stories of three returned servicemen struggling to reintegrate into a society that had learned to get along without them: Fred (Dana Andrews), a bomber captain with no marketable skills; Al (Fredric March), an older, wealthier man returning to a white collar job; and double amputee Homer (Harold Russell, the first non-professional actor to win an Oscar).
It's sad how modern most of it feels, from Fred's PTSD to Homer's alienation: we keep telling the same stories about different wars. Where it has aged less well is in its lack of sympathy for those left at home -- there's no professional woman here forced to go back into the kitchen when the menfolk get home, for example, just unsympathetic managers; Fred's wife Marie (Virginia Mayo) is practically a caricature of harridan-whore.
But taken on its own terms it's a wonderful study of the characters it cares about and a masterclass in the Hollywood style. And whether it's realistic or not, in true old Hollywood style it even has a happy ending.