Boy am I glad I chose to watch this one tonight. Jimmy Stewart once again gets to show off that he's one of the greatest actors we've ever seen. I noticed recently that I've only seen one movie from the 1930s and I wanted to rectify that. I'd heard good things about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, so I put it on. Jimmy Stewart's Jefferson Smith embodies everything that's right in this country and some specifics that I truly believe in. When this country was founded, there wasn't supposed to be politicians, there was supposed to be men who went and served in the government to do their civic duty, and then went back home to do their real jobs. Now everyone in politics is a career politician who is only in it to line their pockets and get reelected. No one has any backbone to take a stand and say no to the obvious corruption brought on by the political parties and their failure to do what's best for the American people. Smith is exactly that, he was a boy scout leader who got gifted the position and wanted to do his best to help his state and accidently ran into the businessman backing some of the other senators. Smith never backed down because he truly believed that he was right and also in what this country is supposed to stand for. I think this movie should be mandatory viewing for everyone in Congress, or government in general, every year to remind them of what they're supposed to be doing there.
Anyways, the whole cast is great. I think I mentioned this in one of my recent reviews, but one of my favorite parts of watching older movies is that the more I watch them, the more actors I start to recognize. I've now seen Jean Arthur in this and The More The Merrier. She's great in both. Claude Rains has been showing up a bunch too in Casablanca, Notorious, Lawrence of Arabia, and now this. We already have a few friends from It's a Wonderful Life, also directed by Frank Kapra: Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, H. B. Warner, and probably others I'm missing. Just a great movie all around that gives me a little hope for the country.
Boy am I glad I chose to watch this one tonight. Jimmy Stewart once again gets to show off that he's one of the greatest actors we've ever seen. I noticed recently that I've only seen one movie from the 1930s and I wanted to rectify that. I'd heard good things about Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, so I put it on. Jimmy Stewart's Jefferson Smith embodies everything that's right in this country and some specifics that I truly believe in. When this country was founded, there wasn't supposed to be politicians, there was supposed to be men who went and served in the government to do their civic duty, and then went back home to do their real jobs. Now everyone in politics is a career politician who is only in it to line their pockets and get reelected. No one has any backbone to take a stand and say no to the obvious corruption brought on by the political parties and their failure to do what's best for the American people. Smith is exactly that, he was a boy scout leader who got gifted the position and wanted to do his best to help his state and accidently ran into the businessman backing some of the other senators. Smith never backed down because he truly believed that he was right and also in what this country is supposed to stand for. I think this movie should be mandatory viewing for everyone in Congress, or government in general, every year to remind them of what they're supposed to be doing there.
Anyways, the whole cast is great. I think I mentioned this in one of my recent reviews, but one of my favorite parts of watching older movies is that the more I watch them, the more actors I start to recognize. I've now seen Jean Arthur in this and The More The Merrier. She's great in both. Claude Rains has been showing up a bunch too in Casablanca, Notorious, Lawrence of Arabia, and now this. We already have a few friends from It's a Wonderful Life, also directed by Frank Kapra: Thomas Mitchell, Beulah Bondi, H. B. Warner, and probably others I'm missing. Just a great movie all around that gives me a little hope for the country.
