The Best Years of Our Lives fingerprintBig heart, strong craft, a touch of humor.
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply moving and cathartic
Much of it is about family.
A little humor
Not a comedy at heart.
Everyday modern life, history, and war
Lived-in and easy to get lost in. Holds up on a rewatch.
Standout performances, characters, and direction
Layered plot that rewards full attention.
Standout cinematography and score
Tense
Builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
The Best Years of Our Lives is tense. The story builds slowly, so the intensity comes in waves.
Deeply moving and cathartic
Much of it is about family.
Emotionally, it's deeply moving, cathartic, and melancholic. Much of it is about family.
A little humor
Not a comedy at heart.
Expect a little humor.
Everyday modern life, history, and war
Lived-in and easy to get lost in. Holds up on a rewatch.
Its world is built around everyday modern life, history, and war. The setting feels lived-in and easy to get lost in. It holds up on a rewatch.
Standout performances, characters, and direction
Layered plot that rewards full attention.
The performances, characters, and direction stand out. The plot is layered and rewards full attention.
Standout cinematography and score
Look and sound: the cinematography and score stand out.
Based on the GoodWatch fingerprint: our scores for 70+ attributes of every movie. Select a row to see all of them.
Three wonderful loves in the best picture of the year!
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The Best Years of Our Lives1946
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Quick answers from GoodWatch data.
The Best Years of Our Lives is included with a subscription to Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, and Amazon Prime Video with Ads in the United States. You can watch it free with ads on Kanopy, Hoopla, and Pluto TV. You can also rent or buy it from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, and YouTube. All links in Where to Watch go to these licensed services.
Yes. It's widely acclaimed, with a GoodWatch score of 89/100 (IMDb 8.1, Rotten Tomatoes 97%, and Metacritic 93). The GoodWatch score combines critic and audience ratings.
It's rated NR in the United States. Content advisories: violence.
2 h 51 min
The Best Years of Our Lives runs 2 h 51 min.
Not quite. Critics rate The Best Years of Our Lives higher (95) than audiences (86). It may be more rewarding than it is crowd-pleasing.
Yes, a big one. It cost about $2 million to make and earned $24 million worldwide, 11.3 times its budget.
It was made in English. Produced in United States.
GoodWatch finds legal streaming, rental, or purchase options for The Best Years of Our Lives in 9 countries. Pick any of them in Where to Watch to see the local services.
TV Tropes lists 52 storytelling tropes for The Best Years of Our Lives, including The Alcoholic, Morally Bankrupt Banker, Gentlemen Rankers.
8.1
