Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

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Douglas G It has great actors and cinematography. It is also Frank Capra at his most optimistic best. It should be mandatory for all new congressional members to view it every six years. Of course, today, it is not “local/state bosses” but lobbyists. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 05/11/25 Full Review Rare T Mr. Smith takes Washington back to school. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 12/03/24 Full Review Jeffrey B Jimmy Stewart doing what he does best: playing the "everyman" who just wants to do the right thing in the face of a bunch of corrupt politicians. Only in a movie such as this is idealism rewarded. Is it realistic? Probably not; but it is a feelgood movie about how our government should remember who it represents. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/10/24 Full Review harwee h Yes it passed the time. That's what this movie is. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/22/23 Full Review Greg H The greatest American politics based movie of all time. It's a movie so shockingly relevant that you realize the fight against the corrupt political machine had been and will be fought endlessly. Jimmy Stewart is the honest everyman we all need and root for while seeing all too familiar political tactics used against him. If you want an example of a classic movie that is relevant today then Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a great start. People forget what their Country means just reading history books. Getting older you forget even more. Liberty's too precious so please watch this important film. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/18/23 Full Review Matthew B There are a number of ways of looking at Frank Capra's political comedy drama, Mr Smith Goes to Washington. From the perspective of audiences viewing it just over eighty years later, the film may seem a little corny. From the opening credits played out over patriotic tunes to the final unlikely denouement, there may seem something naïve and sentimental in its ideas. Sentimentality is not necessarily bad, and Capra's style has a strangely enduring quality. The films of Capra's contemporaries Ernst Lubitsch and Preston Sturges seem more dated to audiences nowadays, which is a pity as they are still funny and endearing. However Capra's movies are still loved by a wider audience. Perhaps it is the fact that Capra appeals to the Everyman quality in all of us. Capra's most famous movies (Mr Smith, It's a Wonderful Life, Meet John Doe etc) choose a simple man and make a hero out of him They reaffirm the belief that one man can make a difference and that lost causes can sometimes be won. They retain the mythology of an America created by its founding fathers on principles of freedom and liberty which will prevail in the end. After making Mr Smith Goes to Washington, Capra said that he often received letters from people who were inspired by the movie to enter politics. Curiously this view of Capra's movies hides the more cynical and pessimistic side of the stories that he tells. An individual can make a difference, Capra says, and perhaps the individual is the only thing that does. The innocent idealism of Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) may seem to show us all that is best in the American ideal of freedom and democracy, but we should note that he is an exception in the film, and not the rule. apra's portrayal of a corrupt political system that is in hock with big business may have seemed shocking in 1939, but it perfectly reflects how most people see the world today. Now that I have provided that preamble, perhaps you will be less surprised when I tell you how the movie was received in the 1930s. Mr Smith Goes to Washington was considered to be a controversial movie on its release. Far from seeing it as a celebration of American democracy, the press and Congress complained that the film was anti-American and pro-Communist. They were not too happy to see a movie that made politicians look like a bunch of crooks. This depiction of corruption in high places might well seem anti-democratic or pro-communist if you fail to understand it correctly, but Capra is making a statement in favour of genuine democracy and liberty in the face of the powerful interests that threaten it. Capra is not attacking the principles of democracy. His target is the politicians and businessmen who try to bury bad news and smear enemies, and who will stop at nothing when it gets in the way of their own interests, even hurting children. Capra and Stewart were both Republicans, and far from enemies of the existing system. As Clarissa remarks at one point, "They aren't all Taylors and Paines in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows, that's all." He is not saying that all politicians are crooks, even if it sometimes looks like he is. Capra admired the ideal of democracy and its founding fathers, even if he did not always admire the people who got elected. For the film, he lovingly recreated Washington – the main floor of the Senate, the committee rooms, the monuments, and even the Press Club. Capra believed in those earnest principles every bit as much as Jefferson Smith did, but he was aware of the pitfalls in democracy. In the film's famous conclusion, Jefferson tries to make his voice heard by refusing to stop speaking in the Senate. The film may well be said to have popularised the concept of the filibuster. For those who are unfamiliar with the word, the Oxford English Dictionary defines filibustering as to "act in an obstructive manner in a legislative assembly, especially by speaking at inordinate length." This is precisely what Jefferson does. To stave off his arrest, he protests his innocence and attacks the whole system by holding the Senate to ransom as he refuses to stand down or stop speaking for as many hours as he is capable. The scene is justly famous, though I doubt many people can quote a single word that Jefferson actually says in favour of democracy. Given its subject matter and the potential for rhetoric, the script is curiously un-quoteable. There is a certain irony in this final stand by Jefferson. While filibustering is a legitimate democratic tool, it is also a means of obstructing democracy, and that is how it is often used in practice. In order to reaffirm what is good in democracy, Jefferson must cause the wheels of government to grind to a halt. Indeed the leading films of Frank Capra often set up a similar paradox. The man whose films seem most often to express the beauty of the American dream and the value of the ordinary American citizen also serve to show up the entire degenerate system on which the country is founded, perhaps offering a more subversive message than Capra intended. I wrote a longer appreciation of Mr Smith Goes to Washington on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2020/04/20/mr-smith-goes-to-washington-1939/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

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