Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

A naive man is appointed to fill a vacancy in the US Senate. His plans promptly collide with political corruption, but he doesn't back down.

Director:

Frank Capra

Writers:

Sidney Buchman (screenplay), Lewis R. Foster (story),

Stars:

Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains

Top 250 #112 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 4 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jean Arthur	...	Clarissa Saunders
James Stewart	...	Jefferson Smith
Claude Rains	...	Sen. Joseph Harrison Paine
Edward Arnold	...	Jim Taylor
Guy Kibbee	...	Gov. Hubert Hopper
Thomas Mitchell	...	Diz Moore
Eugene Pallette	...	Chick McGann
Beulah Bondi	...	Ma Smith
H.B. Warner	...	Senate Majority Leader - Agnew
Harry Carey	...	President of the Senate - Henry
Astrid Allwyn	...	Susan Paine
Ruth Donnelly	...	Mrs. Emma Hopper
Grant Mitchell	...	Sen. MacPherson
Porter Hall	...	Sen. Martin Monroe
Pierre Watkin	...	Senate Minority Leader, Barnes

Storyline

Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed on a lark by the spineless governor of his state. He is reunited with the state's senior senator--presidential hopeful and childhood hero, Senator Joseph Paine. In Washington, however, Smith discovers many of the shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss, Jim Taylor. Taylor first tries to corrupt Smith and then later attempts to destroy Smith through a scandal.

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Plot Keywords:

political corruption | senate | governor | camp | corruption | 

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Taglines:

Romance, drama, laughter and heartbreak ... created out of the very heart and soil of America ... by a great director and cast!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 October 1939 (USA)

Also Known As:

Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Filming Locations:

Columbia/Sunset Gower Studios - 1438 N. Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min 120 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Washington press corps were highly indignant at the way they were portrayed in the film. Consequently a great deal of the initial reviews from the capitol were very negative. One of their chief objections was that the film made them all out to be drinking too much.

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Goofs

Twice, Saunders says that Jefferson Smith is going to go "up" to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington. Mt. Vernon is approximately 15 miles south of the Capitol in Washington [you can check that using Google maps], and is right on the Potomac River downstream from Washington, so it is not "up" in a north-south sense nor in the sense of elevation. The script should have had Saunders saying that Smith was going "down" to Mt. Vernon, which is how anyone living or working in Washington would have put it.

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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.

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Connections

Referenced in Mr. Firth Goes to Washington (2008)

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Soundtracks

"(Oh My Darling) Clementine"
(1884) (uncredited)
Music by Percy Montrose
In the score towards the end

User Reviews

Want to Get Your View Across? Why Not Filibuster?

The media and those in Washington, D.C. cringed in 1939 when Frank Capra (Oscar-nominated for directing) come out with "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Capra, fresh off amazing successes like "Lady for a Day", "It Happened One Night", "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town", "Lost Horizon" and "You Can't Take It With You", used his power to slap some bigwigs in the face with a powerful medium---the motion picture. The result was an immediate backlash by publications and politicians, but cheers from critics and the audience. As with society, the critics and the masses won out as the movie is a masterpiece in every way. A U.S. Senate vacancy leads to a dilemma. Who should be put in office? Everyone believes the apparently naive and gullible James Stewart (Oscar-nominated) is the logical choice because he will be easy to manipulate and he won't rock the boat. Stewart, the leader of the Boy Rangers (a local camp association for youngsters), gets blind-sided by many high-ranking officials who have alterior motives (Oscar nominees Harry Carey and Claude Rains in particular) when his idea for a national boys' camp goes by the wayside. Thus the only thing left for Stewart is to beat those in charge by beating them at their own game---creating a filibuster (a never-ending governmental argument for his cause). Stewart is solid as always here and the supporters (love interest/reporter Jean Arthur and drunk newspaper man Thomas Mitchell included with the aforementioned players) are all terrific throughout. The Oscar-winning screenplay is deceptively intelligent and Capra just had the uncanny ability to mix comedy, drama and interpersonal characterizations together to make consistently wonderful American film experiences. 5 stars out of 5.