Everyone in a country at war is impacted. Life goes on at home, but is drastically changed. Hollywood has done quite well with movies about the home front.
The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946) grabbed eight Oscars, including Best Picture. It features the often-difficult time when the boys come home and the war is over. Best Years is nearly 50 years old, but retains its power and relevance.
Since You Went Away (1943) is not nearly so famous, but is almost as good. It is concerned more with the home folks while the war is still raging, and their desperate attempts to hang on to routine, and to hope. Claudette Colbert, Jennifer Jones, Monty Wooley, Joseph Cotten and Shirley Temple lead a fine cast.
Sunday Dinner For A Soldier (1944) is much less ambitious. It is the simple story of a family, whose father is away at the war, entertaining a soldier they do not know for a Sunday dinner. Anne Baxter as the hostess and John Hodiak as the soldier are quite winning, in this very good “little” film.
The scene shifts to England for the wonderful Mrs. Miniver (1942). Greer Garson (Oscar, Best Actress) is just right as the title character, trying to hold her world together as bombs land at home and her husband is at the front. This film built lots of American support for our British allies. Another fine film about the British home front is the underrated Hope and Glory (1987).
There were several fine films about the American home front during the Vietnam War. First and foremost is The Deer Hunter (1978). This memorable movie garnered five Oscars, including Best Film. It follows some Pennsylvania steel workers before, during and after the war, with great effect. Christopher Walken with a pistol at his head, and our boys in tiger cages are images burned into our memories.
Other good films covering the Vietnam era include In Country (1989) with Bruce Willis as a shell-shocked vet, and Coming Home (1978) with Bruce Dern, Jane Fonda and Jon Voight as people damaged in different ways by the war.
All of the movies in this column are available on video. The WWII films are fine for eight and up; the Vietnam films are for adults only.
Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.
