Farley Granger was slated to play the part of Homer. He was going to play a shell shocked veteran.
Someone at the studio had read about Harold Russel, a real war vet, and they decided to cast him. A great decision! It made that story line much more memorable and I think it raised the level of this film to what it became.
The greatest movie ever made.
Russell's performance has often been criticised and while his inexperience does show at times, it was a casting coup which added some wonderful authenticity to the film. Rumour has it that Russell was voted an honorary Oscar because nobody ever believed he would win the competitive one -- and he ended up with both. While I'm not sure his performance is award-worthy, I am very fond of his moving portrayal.
I don't think it's the best movie ever made, or even the best of 1946, but it is a superb and moving classic all the same.
I love the film. It’s odd how much I have been able to get out of it when re-watching it over the years. You need to ignore some things. Like how Dana Andrew (Fred) and Teresa Wright (Peggy) are way too old for their roles.
But it is an amazing film that you can view on different levels. You could write a paper on how the film deals with any of the following topics
(1) politics
(2) Gender Roles (note how there is a scene with each woman putting her man to bed. Also there is a scene for each couple in which you don’t see the man’s face, but you see the woman embracing him with a look of total euphoria)
(3) Economics - Notes that the film is VERY specific as to the income of each of the men. Very few films actually mention income levels in that level of specificity. AL makes $12K a year— which back then was a friggin fortune. Homer gets a $200 monthly pension from the government due to his disability. Fred makes only $35 a week. All these things feed into how they are able to acclimate back into society
(4) Alcoholism - Fred’s father is a lovable drunkard. Al is a functional alcoholic. Fred’s first scene that reveals his torment happens when his sleeping off a bender. Homer gets home and the first thing he does is go to his uncle’s bar and ask for a whiskey as a sign of his new maturity.
$12,000 would $1,000/month per around $230/wk which would have been a huge yearly pay back then but the $200 pension would have been $2,400 for close to average yearly pay in 1946. Fred would have only been making $1,680 as a soda jerk. Had he gotten a job helping to make pre-fab housing? Am I wrong about that? If I am correct that about the pre-fab housing what would he have been making?
shareWow! I just saw your email from my post 2 years ago. Towards the end, yes, Fred gets a job in what he calls the junk business, but it really dismantling old war planes for housing. The thing that kills me again and again when I watch BYoOL is that Fred is such a self defeating person. He does NOTHING to sell himself. Considering he was an officer in the Army, it seems to have done nothing to boost his self confidence at all.
shareIs the that partly due to two things survivors guilt and PTSD as called now?
shareYes, you are probably right. Fred repeatedly had terrible nightmares about burning planes https://youtu.be/nCE6BeYJEtE
Here is also the scene where he visits the old planes: https://youtu.be/OpGNKO6wz10.
shareThis sounds great. I love movies from the 1940s
I found it on YouTube and will watch it
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1nOC_1vV1tY
How much of different pay is because of Al years of experience and possibly education between Al vs Fred vs the injured Homer? I am pretty sure or positive that neither Fred nor Homer had more then a High school education. Homer had played football and finished high probably right before being drafted while Fred had finished high school then worked as a soda jerk for before entering the Army Air Forces whereas Al had already been a banker for at least 20+ years.
shareYes, Al had a college degree—- maybe even a Masters Degree. But back then, it was possible to get a good job with a high school education. I have my doubts that Fred actually had a high school diploma. Homer probably did—- he came from a stable family and was even a varsity athlete. But Fred came from dirt poor beginnings (literally on the other side of the tracks).
shareDid he say he had gone to college? What actual job at bank before the war? I believe that the main he got the promotion to VP of VA Loans because of his long experience at the bank and he was a Veteran himself.
shareAl had worked at the Bank before the war. Remember when Fred and Al pull up to his fancy apartment building. Al says he is a banker. It’s kind of puzzling why a man his age with two kids was in the war, unless he was in the reserves and got called up.
share"but you see the woman embracing him with a look of total euphoria)"
Yeah imagine a woman being happy taking care of her husband. Shock horror.
Russell's acting was at times amateurish; nonetheless, he is endearing and occasionally very effective, and his real-life disability adds grim reality to the movie.
shareA real natural performance from a real person who had been injured ie lost two arms and therefore had deal with it in his life. Would his pension have stayed at $200 at least been adjusted for inflation?
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