Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

Only in an American movie can you have both a montage of all the highlights of America's great accomplishments and a story about the deep rooted corruption within its highest governmental offices. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is the very best that American cinema has to offer. Is it propoganda, or a scathing criticism of American politics? It was attacked at launch by the Washington press and politicians in the U.S. Congress as anti-American and pro-Communist for its portrayal of corruption in the American government. Senators attempted to retaliate for the damage they felt the film had done to the reputation of their institution by pushing the passage of the Neely Anti-Block Booking Bill, which eventually led to the breakup of the studio-owned theater chains in the late 1940s. Oh how they value freedom of speech.

Despite this it was still a massive box office success and launched James Stewart into stardom. Mr. Smith was nominated for eleven Oscars and won for Best Original Writing. It was initially going to be a sequel to Mr. Deeds, but Gary Cooper wasn't available so the role switched to Stewart. Many similarities can be noticed between the two, such as the plot revolving around an idealistic country kid attempting to take down a system greater than himself.

Goddamn if this isn't an amazing film. Stewart is incredible. Powerful and innocent all at the same time. The image of a single rogue country boy up against the enture U.S. government is the underdog story of all underdog stories. His charisma and fervor makes it impossible not to root for him. And on such a grand stage the stakes are dialed to eleven. Essentially, Capra took everything he learned from Mr. Deeds and made it grander and more intense. Squeezing out every bit of sympathy and good feeling he could get. If it were any year other than 1939 this would have won best picture.