"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington"*** 1\2 (out of ****)
As Americans went to the polls on election day, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" (1939).
Frank Capra's political drama is filled with a lot of wishful thinking. Oh, its smart, in its own way. It understands some of the ways of the world. But, at the end of the day, for entertainment sake, it gives us the usual happy, Hollywood ending. As long as we don't think about it, we're happy watching it and feel satisfied.
I suppose that was the genius of Frank Capra. He gave us something to believe in and made us feel good. Capra, because of movies like this one, has been described as making American movies. There are those however that say his movies were simplistic. For the sake of argument, lets say they were. Now what? Does that take away from their entertainment value because they don't offer a "worldly perspective"? I don't think so. I happily watch Frank Capra movies. You'd be doing yourself a favor if you did too.
You know, we often think, in our modern, sophisticated world, that back in the "old days" they were pretty naive. They didn't understand as much as we do today. Even our phones are smart. Yeah, back than they didn't get the whole story about their government and about how things were really being run. They didn't have access to the internet. How smart could they have really been?
You can think that way but then you watch a movie like "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". Here is a movie that tells us the whole political system is rotten to its core. If good men (or women) actually make it to Washington they will become submerged in corruption. Some force will attempt to muddy their name. Politics is dirty business. Ladies and gentlemen, this movie was made in 1939. You could say the same thing today in 2018 and I'm gonna take a guess and say 2019 too. So, tell me again how naive they were in the "old days". We've all pretty much known the score about politics but nothing changes. And we know nothing changes but we vote (well, some of us anyway). Why? Because no matter what, we have the delusion there's a "Mr. Smith" out there. "Mr. Smith" for some people was Barack Obama. For others Bernie Sanders. And still others Donald Trump. A voice that will unify us and truly act in the interest of the people. On election day you may have found a new "Mr. Smith".
The Mr. Smith here is Jeffrey Smith (James Stewart), he is nominated to replace a recently deceased U.S. Senator of an unnamed state. He is the head of a Boy Rangers group and admired by children, including the governor's (Guy Kibbee) children.
Smith could be the answer to the governor's problem, who is getting pressure from a political boss, Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), to nominate a hack of his choosing. The hack politician is not a popular choice and will allow journalist to report the governor is a lackey of Taylor. With Smith as the nominee he may prove to be a popular choice and may prove to be easy to manipulate because of his inexperience.
Here of course we are getting a political commentary. Politicians are figure heads for those that really run the country. Politicians don't need to please the voters only their bosses.
To really play up the schmaltz, Capra makes Smith a naive, opportunistic, patriotic young man. When he arrives in Washington, D.C. he lights up with enthusiasm at the sight of the Capitol Building. We hear a small boy reading the constitution, which is suppose to make us swell up with pride. Capra has patriotic music play in the background as we see a statute of Abraham Lincoln, that Smith adoringly looks at. What a great country, with a rich history, we live in. That is what Capra wants us to think. And boy is he lying it on thick!
The senior senator from the state, serving with Smith, turns out to be an old friend of his deceased father. In their youth, the two men were idealistic dreamers, no doubt where Smith gets it from. Smith's father died for his beliefs and it is assumed, now as a senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) is fighting the good fight. Paine wants to take Smith under his wing and will even tell him how to vote (how thoughful). At this point however we know Paine is also under the thumb of Taylor.
"Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" wants to draw a parallel between Smith and Sen. Paine. We start out in the world as Smith, ridiculously hopeful that we can make change happen in the world but we end up like Paine. We not only swallow the pill of compromise, we allow ourselves to give in to corruption. We make a deal with the devil (or political boss) and delude ourselves into thinking it is a "necessary evil". We can still achieve good things even if now and than we have to "play ball".
Frank Capra and his movie make some good points and outside of its hokey nature it can feel somewhat modern and relateable but eventually "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" loses some of its bite.
The powers that be conspire against Smith and he learns the truth about politics and how it all works. He also learns about Sen. Paine and who he really is. To retaliate, Smith will take to the senate floor and filibuster. He will reveal the truth to voters. Unfortunately, there are times when we hear Smith speak he isn't saying anything threatening to the status quo. This would have been a wonderful opportunity for Smith to really speak truth to power. The movie's screenplay holds back a bit.
We also get a rushed ending. The movie dares to imply a politician has a conscience. Audiences can only endure so much suspension of disbelief. This feeds into Capra's "happy, Hollywood ending". This wouldn't happen in real life though we may wish it would. The actions of one character in particular is just so overly dramatic.
These gripes aside "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" is a fine movie featuring a great performance from Stewart, one of the most iconic of his career. Praise should also be given to Claude Rains as well, who may be overlooked because of Stewart. The movie is smart and naive at the same time.
Over the years some have found it fun trying to decode what party Mr. Smith belongs to. Some have suggested because Capra and Stewart were Republicans, Mr. Smith must be one as way. You'll notice no party identification is ever given. Most likely because that would split audiences on their feelings toward the character. Smith is a generic name and the character is supposed to represent everyone.
The movie, released in that historic and famed year of 1939, earned 11 Academy Award nominations including best picture, best director, best actor (Stewart), two for supporting actors (Rains and Harry Carey),and won one for best writing, original story (Lewis R. Foster).
Here is a movie that is a nice reminder that even when our politicians aren't inspiring at least our movies are.
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