‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’
The other night I had the pleasure of catching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on TCM, a fantastic Jimmy Stewart and Frank Capra movie that feels particularly apt right now. Steward stars as Jeff Smith, a bumbling Boy Scout leader who ends up in the U.S. Congress as a temporary replacement senator. Smith is a proud American who reveres the politicians who fight the good fight—so he’s devasted when he learns that Washington is rife with corruption. Like many of Capra and Stewart’s films (most famously, It’s a Wonderful Life) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington takes a cynical view of the establishment at a time when that wasn’t such a popular thing to do. The 1939 film was denounced by politicians and the Washington press as Communist propaganda and was even banned in Nazi Germany. But it ends on a hopeful note: In a scene that shows off just how great an actor Stewart was, Smith filibusters on the Senate floor, preaching American values, until the corrupt politician responsible (Claude Rains) confesses. If only.