#26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Title: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

A.F.I. Ranking: 26

Director: Frank Capra

Starring: James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains

Release Year: 1939

Brief Synopsis: When a seat in the U.S. Senate becomes vacant due to a sudden death, Jefferson Smith is appointed. Smith is young and inexperienced, so it is thought that he will sit quietly and not try to rock the boat. The Senate gets the exact opposite. Smith, who is trying to continue from where Abraham Lincoln left off, see the corruption that fills the senate and will not sit idly by and watch it happen. He will do whatever it takes to get his point across.

My Thoughts: Frank Capra and James Stewart, who also did It’s a Wonderful Life together, make a great pair. Just like It’s a Wonderful Life, this movie is very powerful and has a lot of heart. This movie is a true underdog story and is acted wonderfully by Stewart. His performance makes anybody who sees it want to be a better person. He will give you chills. Take Stewarts already fantastic performance in It’s a Wonderful Life, multiply it by ten on the powerfully moving scale and you have Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Are you sensing how much I like this movie? LOL

“I guess this is just another lost cause, Mr. Paine. All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for. And he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them; because of just one plain simple rule: 'Love thy neighbor.'... And you know that you fight for the lost causes harder than for any other. Yes, you even die for them.”

Rating: Top of the List!