A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries... Read allA naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.A naive youth leader is appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate. His idealistic plans promptly collide with corruption at home and subterfuge from his hero in Washington, but he tries to forge ahead despite attacks on his character.
- Won 1 Oscar
- 5 wins & 12 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- Sidney Buchman
- Lewis R. Foster
- Myles Connolly(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scenes where James Stewart wanders around in amazement at the Washington monuments were "stolen", since the US Parks Service had denied the studio permission to film near them.
- GoofsUnder the Standing Rules of the Senate governing debate, Senator Paine would not technically have been allowed to attack Senator Smith's character and accuse him of graft. The rule states: "No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a Senator."
- Quotes
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. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say: I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't, I can, and my children will. Boys ought to grow up remembering that.
- ConnectionsEdited into High Hopes: The Capra Years (1981)
- SoundtracksColumbia, the Gem of the Ocean
(1843) (uncredited)
Written by David T. Shaw
Played during the opening credits and often in the score
In an unnamed state - because if Capra had named it they would have sued - a sitting senator dies. The corrupt state political machine ends up appointing babe-in-the-woods Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) to fill the seat because they see him as so naive that they can control him. His dad, a newspaper editor, was murdered when he was fighting for a lost cause. Smith's dad's lifelong friend happens to be his state's senior senator, Joseph Paine (Claude Rains).
It so happens that Paine is in on the plan to put forth a bill that will build an unneeded damn on land that has been bought up by state machine puppet master Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) so that he can get a big payout from the federal government. Paine has justified this and a hundred other corrupt acts over the years by the thousand ways he has served his state honestly. Selling oneself to the devil is seldom done in a single transaction. The problem is that Smith wants to use the same land to build a summer camp for boys, and in the process he learns of the corrupt land deal he was never supposed to know about. Complications that involve famous cinematic history ensue.
Today, post Watergate, it's hard to believe that somebody such as Jefferson Smith could exist as an adult who knows so much about American history but nothing about corruption in government to the point he is flabbergasted by it. Lots has been said about Stewart's performance, with him rising from playing in all kinds of inane and minor MGM films to a leading man in an American classic in just a couple of years. But consider Claude Rains's performance. Rains portrays a complex character who struggles with his conscience and past choices and it is killing him that he has to betray the son of his best friend the way that he does. He is an essential gray character in a bunch of black and white ones.
Apparently this received lots of backlash during its release for portraying US Senators as folks capable of being corrupted through money. Maybe that was unrealistic for the 1930's, but in 2023, this film is practically a documentary.
- AlsExGal
- Sep 1, 2023
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,900,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $144,738
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $83,205
- Oct 14, 2018
- Gross worldwide
- $146,123
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1