Guests:
Sarah Duncan - Sister of Tom, Daughter of Dana
@thenomadicarchaeologist on IG
Previous Episodes: Zodiac, My Fair Lady, The Artist, Inglourious Basterds, The Great Dictator, and Forrest Gump
Brian Skutle - Film critic, podcaster, composer, host of Sonic Cinema, projector fixer
@gafilmcritics member, @ATLFilmCritics member
@skutlelemur on Twitter, @bmskutle on IG, @brianskutlesc on Letterboxd
Cast:
Frank Capra, Director
Sidney Buchman and Myles Connelly, Writers
Dmitri Tiomkin, Music
Jean Arthur as Saunders
James Stewart as Jefferson Smith
Claude Rains as Senator Joseph Paine
Edward Arnold as Jim Taylor
Guy Kibbee as Governor Hopper
Thomas Mitchell as Diz Moore
Eugene Pallette as Chick McGann
Beulah Bondi as Ma Smith
H. B. Warner as Senate Majority Leader Agnew
Harry Carey as President of the Senate
Astrid Allwyn as Susan Paine
*Recognition:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premiered on October 17, 1939.
It became the second-highest-grossing film of 1939 and was also the third highest-grossing film of the 1930s decade, only behind Gone with the Wind and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
The film was nominated for 11 Oscars for Best Picture, Director (Capra), Actor (Stewart), Screenplay (Buchman), Supporting Actor (Harry Carey and Claude Rains), Art Direction, Film Editing, Score, and Sound Recording winning for Original Story for Lewis R. Foster.
American Film Institute recognition:
In 1989, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was added to the United States National Film Registry as one of the initial 25 inductees.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington currently holds a 97% among critics on RT, a 73 score on Metacritic, and a 4.1/5 on Letterboxd.
Plot Summary: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a classic tale of idealism clashing with the gritty realities of political power. Jimmy Stewart stars as Jefferson Smith, a naive but well-intentioned small-town man thrust into the unforgiving world of Washington politics after being unexpectedly appointed to the U.S. Senate. Smith, with his earnest love for American principles, soon finds himself entangled in a web of corruption and power-play, where his sincere belief in doing the right thing is dismissed as foolish by hardened senators.
What follows is a story of resilience, where Stewart’s character battles not only for a cause but for his very soul. Director Frank Capra lets his protagonist shine during a famous filibuster scene, in which Stewart's quivering intensity speaks volumes about the weight of standing up to corruption. While Capra’s romanticized view of democracy is apparent, he tempers it with a frankness about the ugliness of the political machine—a balance that resonates even decades later. It’s a movie as much about Smith’s journey as it is about a society’s idealism and its power to confront, and perhaps even mend itself.
Did You Know:
The screenplay was originally purchased by Columbia as a vehicle for Ralph Bellamy, with Harold Wilson slated to produce. Once Frank Capra became the director, the project, planned as a sequel to Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), was entitled "Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington", and was to star Gary Cooper, reprising his role as Longfellow Deeds. Cooper was unavailable for the role, however, and James Stewart was borrowed from MGM. "I knew he would make a hell of a Mr. Smith," Capra said. "He looked like the country kid, the idealist. It was very close to him."
In 1942, when a ban on American films was imposed in German-occupied France, the title theaters chose Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) for their last movie before the ban went into effect. One Paris theater reportedly screened the film nonstop for 30 days prior to the ban.
According to the New York Times, "the Boy Scouts of America objected to having any part in Mr. Capra's reform movement," and Frank Capra therefore had to use the fictitious name of the Boy Rangers.
The Washington press corps was highly indignant at the way it was portrayed in the film. Consequently, a great deal of the initial reviews from the capitol were very negative. One of their chief objections was that the film made them all out to be drinking too much.
To make his voice hoarse for the filibuster scene, James Stewart dried out his throat with bicarbonate of soda. However, both Frank Capra and Stewart revealed in interviews that his throat was periodically swabbed with mercuric chloride.
The first film to earn two Best Supporting Actor Oscar nominations. Claude Rains and Harry Carey were both nominated. Both of them lost to co-star Thomas Mitchell for his role in Stagecoach (1939).
Ask Dana Anything:
Brian Skutle (Sonic Cinema podcast)
What are your favorite movies about politics?
Sarah Duncan
What is your favorite memory of Tom as a child?
What was your favorite family vacation?
Best Performance: Frank Capra (Director)/James Stewart (Jeff)/Jean Arthur (Saunders)/Claude Rains (Paine)
Best Secondary Performance: James Stewart (Jeff)/Claude Rains (Paine)/Harry Carey (President of the Senate)/Jean Arthur (Saunders)
Most Charismatic Award: Jean Arthur (Saunders)/Harry Carey (President of the Senate)/James Stewart (Jeff)
Best Scene:
Nominating Jeff
Arriving in Washington
Drafting a Bill
The Fix is In
Senate Walkout
Starting the Filibuster
Paine Takes the Rap
Favorite Scene: Nominating Jeff/Smith Meets the Press/The Fix is In/Drafting a Bill
Most Indelible Moment: Paine Takes the Rap/Starting the Filibuster
In Memorium:
Tom Jarriel, 89, American journalist (20/20, ABC World News Tonight)
David Harris, 75, American actor (The Warriors, Brubaker, Quicksilver, A Soldier's Story)
Michael Newman, 68, American actor and lifeguard (Baywatch)
Jeri Taylor, 86, American television writer and producer (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Quincy, M.E.)
Phil Lesh, 84, American Hall of Fame musician (Grateful Dead) and songwriter ("Box of Rain", "Truckin'")
Myra McFadyen, 68, Scottish actress (Maid of Honor, Mamma Mia!, Emma)
Alan Sacks, 81, American television writer and producer (Chico and the Man, Welcome Back, Kotter)
Jack Jones, 86, American singer ("Wives and Lovers", "Love Boat") and actor (Over the Garden Wall)
Best Lines/Funniest Lines:
Jefferson Smith: I guess this is just another lost cause Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for and he fought for them once. For the only reason any man ever fights for them. Because of just one plain simple rule. Love thy neighbor.
Jefferson Smith: Oh, I'm just gonna sit around and listen.
Pageboy Richard Jones: That's the way to get reelected!
Jefferson Smith: I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little looking out for the other fella, too.
Jefferson Smith: I'm sorry, gentlemen. I know I'm being disrespectful to this honorable body. A guy like me should never be allowed here in the first place! I hate to stand here and try your patience but... EITHER I'M DEAD RIGHT OR I'M CRAZY!
Senate Minority Leader, Barnes: You wouldn't care to put that to a vote, would you, Senator?
Clarissa Saunders: Your friend, Mr. Lincoln had his Taylors and Paines. So did every other man who ever tried to lift his thought up off the ground. Odds against them didn't stop those men. They were fools that way. All the good that ever came into this world came from fools with faith like that. You know that, Jeff. You can't quit now. Not you. They aren't all Taylors and Paines in Washington. That kind just throw big shadows, that's all. You didn't just have faith in Paine or any other living man. You had faith in something bigger than that. You had plain, decent, everyday, common rightness, and this country could use some of that. Yeah, so could the whole cockeyed world, a lot of it.
Governor Hopper: I won't let you stand there callously and perhaps wreck my whole political future!
James Taylor: Your political future? Why, I bought it for you. I gave it to you as a present and I can grab it back so fast it'll make your head swim! You've got a nerve to sit there and worry about your political future, when we're in a spot like this!
Jefferson Smith: [Pointing at his new desk at the Senate with great enthusiasm] This is Daniel Webster's desk. Did you know that?
Senator Joseph Paine: Mhm! He wouldn't mind.
Bill Griffith: Welcome, Senator. The wildlife around here is a little different from what you're used to - they wear high heels.
Jefferson Smith: You see, boys forget what their country means by just reading The Land of the Free in history books. Then they get to be men they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders.
The Stanley Rubric:
Legacy: 7.5
Impact/Significance: 8.81
Novelty: 8.88
Classic-ness: 9.13
Rewatchability: 7.13
Audience Score: 9.25 (89% Google, 94% RT)
Total: 50.7
Remaining Questions:
Why was the British national anthem played as the last song of the movie?
Could you do this movie today? How? Would it be believable?
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