Good movie but grossly overrated

Best movie ever!

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The story is essential for a democracy: some of our representants are not that worthy thus corrupted and saying it is a healthy and moral duty and not a crime against homeland! However here this simple reality is lost in a slow, passive 2 hours speech and i finished it like Stewart, totally exhausted and tired! This dam project is not that gripping but the deal, is like in early Tintin, easily understood: Tycoons pays politicians to be allowed to do what they want and they hold medias to tell their lies! So i suppose an enlightened citizen doesn't believe any of them! There a few good moments, especially when Stewart visits historical places of Washingtown and the Senate chamber is well done. But Capra has not the same inspiration and energy from Wonderful Life, it's for sure. The last thing i noticed is that black people are just for singing and taking care of luggages, like once again in the old Tintin! So the idea that just confederate states were racist is once more time just a myth: this Wasp democracy was played all over the country from Washingtown to Hollywood!

For a film 88 years old and 14 presidents later, this film represents what is best about the United States and also a reminder what is wrong with it. I do find it difficult to pick out the best film out of the dozens of classics released in 1939, but of those 50 or 60, "Mr. Smith" remains the most prestigious with a message that resonates today. Like the dozens of classics in 1939, this has dozens of moments that are considered among the great scenes in film history. As good as best actor winner Robert Donat was as "Mr. Chips", James Stewart is simply far better, going from naive country bumpkin handed a senate seat, his slow education to the corruption, his determination to accomplish something, the crooked obstacles he faces, and the explosion that opens his eyes to the evils standing in his way. Stewart displays many different sides to his character, but one thing is clear: he isn't going to fall down and go boom without fighting. This features an ensemble that rivals 1939's best picture winner, "Gone With the Wind", starting with Jean Arthur as his initially cynical assistant, Claude Rains as his long time mentor, Edward Arnold as the power hungry money man (identical to his powerful Nazi like autocrat in "Meet John Doe", Guy Kibbee as the governor of Stewart's home state, and Beulah Bondi (in a role she would play many times) as Stewart's mother. Ruth Donnelly as Kibbee's no nonsense wife, Charles Lane as a nosy reporter and Thomas Mitchell as Arthur's confidante are also quite good. The surprise for me is Harry Carey as the speaker of the house who says more with a bang of his gavel and all knowing grin than the rest of the cast does with Robert Riskin's brilliant words. Director Frank Capra has been nicknamed the inventor of "Capra Corn", a description of the stories of Cinderella men who rose above their naivete to fight injustice. Rains is described as a villain in this, but he's a villain with a soul, one who forgot why he got into public service in the first place, allowing himself to be manipulated and controlled at the expense of his soul. Stewart's desire to have a boy's camp funded blocks pending bills of Rains and several others, and this results in some violently shocking actions, culminating in the famous filibuster sequence.I believe in fighting for lost causes, so this film means a lot for me. This film means more to me now than it did upon my first viewing of it some 30 years ago. Memories of a family trip to Washington D.C. when I was a boy and a return for a march for a supposed lost cause make the big eyed grins of the young pages and visiting boy scouts all the more emotional. Seeing this film in a chaotic time makes it all the more memorable, and even with simple, supposedly dated, American values, shows that modern values are as corrupt as the most sinister of political bigwigs that control the government behind the scenes.

Produced and directed by Frank Capra, with a story by Lewis R. Foster and a screenplay by Sidney Buchman, this essential political comedy drama features James Stewart in the title role, as Jefferson Smith (AFI's #11 hero), who's appointed to the Senate by his state's Governor Hubert 'Happy' Hopper (Guy Kibbee), on the advice of his children (the Watson brothers), when one of their Senators dies. The state's senior Senator Joseph Harrison Paine is played by Claude Rains.Stewart's character is a young, idealistic boys' club (like the Boy Scouts) leader and a patriot, who's far too naive to fair very well among the alligators in Washington, D.C.. This fact is quickly recognized by everyone, especially the former Senator's streetwise secretary Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur), who helps Smith navigate the treacherous waters of our nation's capital (and capitol building) and eventually (and obviously) falls in love with him.Edward Arnold plays media magnate Jim Taylor, who controls the state's political party and "owns" several (if not all) of its politicians. At the time of Smith's appointment, Taylor is in the midst of having his civil servants put through some pork barrel legislation (a dam project) for his own financial real estate benefit. Once the junior Senator catches wind of what's going on, Taylor utilizes Paine et al against Smith, who famously incorporates a one man filibuster, in a symbolic fight against the other politicians' corruption.Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Palette, Beulah Bondi as Ma Smith, H.B. Warner as the Senate Majority Leader, Harry Carey as the Vice President, Grant Mitchell and Porter Hall as senators, Charles Lane as a newsman named Nosey, William Demarest, and Dick Elliott are among those also in the cast.Capra earned two Academy Award nominations, Best Picture and Best Director; Foster won the film's only statuette for his original story, and Buchman's screenplay was Oscar nominated. Stewart received his first Best Actor nomination; supporting actors Rains (his first) and Carey (his only) were also nominated, as was Lionel Banks' Art Direction, Dimitri Tiomkin's Score, John Livadary's Sound, and its Editing (Gene Havlick's last nomination, Al Clark's second). The film was added to the National Film Registry in 1989. #29 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies list. #5 on AFI's 100 Most Inspiring Movies list.

Undoubtedly one of the most beloved American films of all time, Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of the great directors most cynical portraits of the U.S., revealing an infestation of corruption all the way to the top of the Senate in the city where the Capitol Dome and the Lincoln Memorial sit uneasily as symbols of idealism. The film is also one of his most optimistic, and this blend of attitudes have led to many other Hollywood movies being labelled in his honour as 'Capraesque', one of the most misunderstood and overused labels in cinema.'Capraesque' is commonly lumped upon movies with an overbearing sense of positivity, with the little man, or woman, ultimately overcoming overwhelming odds to triumph over whatever conglomerate or institution trying to stamp all over them. But what the labellers forget is the skill required to convincingly build up the struggle of the hero, making the climax all the more poignant and satisfying in the process. When Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), the small-town head of the Boy Rangers, is invited to join the U.S. Senate, he accepts the role with humility and a determination to prove himself worthy. What he doesn't know is that fellow senator Joseph Paine (Claude Rains) intends for Smith to be a stooge while he and his boss Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) go about their dodgy business.Initially, his "aw, shucks!" persona is met with ridicule by the press, and is seen as a naive idiot by his secretary Clarissa Saunders (Jean Arthur). However, his patriotism soon endears him to Saunders, who witnesses his peers and superiors begin to tear him to shreds as he uncovers a scheme to buy up land. As Smith, Stewart is perfect, embodying the kind of American ideals that the country prides itself upon but rarely follows, stubbornly holding court while he fights for his reputation in a riveting climax. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) is commonly labelled as Capra's finest moment but, in my humble opinion, Mr. Smith is his crowning achievement, a movie of such substance and social insight that it more than transcends its now-routine formula and reaffirms a belief in good overcoming evil.