Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939  NR  COMEDY-DRAMA  2h 6min
CAST— James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, Harry Carey, H. B. Warner, Charles Lane, Porter Hall, Jack Carson
MUSIC— Dimitri Tiomkin  DIRECTOR— Frank Capra  BASED ON— The Gentleman from Montana (story), by Lewis R. Foster

     In this cinematic classic Jimmy Stewart plays a newly elected state senator who discovers that Washington D.C. may be the home of democracy in the United States, but the men behind such ideals can be as corrupt and power hungry as anyone. When he arrives in Washington, this naïve young man sees only the monuments and the history in the capital city. His immediate colleagues on the senate floor see only a simplistic patsy that seemingly will bend toward their every whim. They have plans to build a dam funded by a business mogul that lines the pockets of these corrupt senators. When Smith submits a bill that plans a large boy’s camp on the same ground as the proposed dam, they begin to slander and frame him on the senate floor; so Smith decides to get tough and execute a filibuster. With an outstanding performance by Stewart, this Oscar-winning film has become one of the all-time classics. Oscar-winner for best score (Dimitri Tiomkin). Later developed into a television series. Deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress National Film Registry.
OUR RATING— ***
REMADE AS— Billy Jack Goes to Washington (1977)