One of the premium cable channels has been showing Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington more regularly than might be expected for a nearly 70 year old film. It has been wonderfully restored.
It ought to be required viewing for every American. Besides that a woman gets top-billing and that Stewart is in pre-WWII boyish form, there are numerous allusions to Christ (typical of Capra's early dramas), occasions of prayer, the ultimate triumph of moral good, and even a brief reading from the KJV Bible (1 Cor. 13:4c,13) - Stewart was a good Presbyterian. Along with It's a Wonderful Life, Meet John Doe and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, "Smith" is one of my favorites.
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Put on your best Jimmy Stewart impersonation as you read my favorite quotes from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington:
I always get a great kick out of that part of the Declaration of Independence. Now you're not gonna have a country that can make these kind of rules work if you haven't got men that have learned to tell human rights from a punch in the nose.
Because I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if behind them they didn't have a little bit o' plain, ordinary, everyday kindness. And a little lookin' out for the other fella, too.
Because of just one, plain, simple rule: Love thy neighbor. And in this world today, full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a great trust. You know that rule, Mr. Paine, and I loved you for it, just as my father did. And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any others. Yes, you even die for them, like a man we both knew ...
This dialogue, delivered between the grafting, political boss, James Taylor, and (I think) Chick, implicates Taylor in the murder of Jeff Smith's father:
"Find Hendricks?"
"They're looking for him."
(with disdain): "They're looking for him, an editor, why isn't he at his desk where he belongs?!"
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