Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a 1939 American political comedy-drama film directed by Frank Capra, starring Jean Arthur and James Stewart, and featuring Claude Rains and Edward Arnold. The film is about a naive, newly appointed United States senator who fights against government corruption, and was written by Sidney Buchman, based on Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story "The Gentleman from Montana". It was loosely based on the life of Montana U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler, who underwent a similar experience when he was investigating the Warren G. Harding administration's Teapot Dome scandal.
The film was controversial in the United States when it was first released, with attacks from many politicians claiming that it brought Washington into disrepute, but it was very successful at both the domestic and international box offices, and it made Stewart a major star.Brenner, Paul. "Overview". Allmovie. Retrieved: June 26, 2009.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor, winning Best Original Story.Nugent, Frank (October 20, 1939) "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)". The New York Times. Retrieved: June 26, 2009. Considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, the film was selected by the Library of Congress as one of the first 25 films for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1989, for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot In the late 1930s, the governor of an unnamed western state, Hubert "Happy" Hopper, appoints Jefferson Smith to replace deceased U.S. Senator Sam Foley. Smith is head of the Boy Rangers, and his appointment is supported by the governor's children. Corrupt political boss Jim Taylor sought the appointment of his handpicked stooge, while popular committees wanted another candidate. Smith, however, was chosen because his naivety about politics was expected to make him easy to manipulate.
Smith is taken under the wing of the publicly esteemed, but secretly crooked, Senator Joseph Paine, who was Smith's late father's friend. Smith develops an immediate attraction to the senator's daughter, Susan. At Senator Paine's home, Smith has a conversation with Susan, fidgeting and bumbling, entranced by the young socialite. Smith's naïve and honest nature allows the unforgiving Washington press to take advantage of him, quickly tarnishing Smith's reputation with ridiculous front-page pictures and headlines branding him a yokel.
To keep Smith busy, Paine suggests he propose a bill. With the help of his secretary, Clarissa Saunders, who was the aide to Smith's predecessor and had been around Washington and politics for years, Smith comes up with a bill to authorize a federal government loan to buy some land in his home state for a national boys' camp, to be paid back by youngsters across America. Donations pour in immediately. However, the proposed campsite is already part of a dam-building graft scheme included in an appropriations bill framed by the Taylor political machine and supported by Senator Paine.
Unwilling to crucify the worshipful Smith so that their graft plan will go through, Paine tells Taylor he wants out, but Taylor reminds him that Paine is in power primarily through Taylor's influence. Paine then advises Smith to keep silent about the matter. The following day, when Smith speaks out about the bill in the Senate, the machine in his state — through Paine — accuses Smith of trying to profit from his bill by producing fraudulent evidence that Smith already owns the land in question. Smith is too shocked and angry by Paine's betrayal to defend himself and runs away.
Saunders, who looked down on Smith at first, but has come to believe in him, convinces him to launch a filibuster to postpone the appropriations bill and argue his innocence on the Senate floor just before the vote to expel him. With coaching from the gallery by Saunders, Smith deflects several attempts to defeat his filibuster, and talks non-stop for hours, reaffirming the American ideals of freedom and disclosing the dam scheme's true motives. None of the senators are convinced.
Constituents try to rally around Smith, but the entrenched opposition is too powerful, and all attempts are crushed. Owing to the influence of Taylor's machine, newspapers and radio stations in Smith's home state, on Taylor's orders, refuse to report what Smith has to say and even distort the facts against the senator. The Boy Rangers' effort to spread the news in support of Smith results in vicious attacks on the children by Taylor's gangsters.
Although Smith's efforts appear to be in vain and his stamina is fading, the senators slowly begin to pay attention. Paine has one last card up his sleeve: he brings in bins of letters and telegrams from Smith's home state, purportedly from average people demanding his expulsion. Nearly broken by the news, Smith finds a small ray of hope in a friendly smile from the President of the Senate. Smith vows to press on until people believe him but immediately collapses in a faint. Overcome with the pangs of remorse, Paine leaves the Senate chamber and attempts to shoot himself, but is stopped by onlooking senators. He then bursts back into the Senate chamber, shouting a confession to the whole scheme, proclaiming Smith's innocence, and insisting that he must be expelled from the Senate instead of Smith, to Clarissa's delight.
Cast
In addition, uncredited appearances include: Dick Jones as Dickie, the Senate page boy who helps Smith; Milton Kibbee, who has a bit as a reporter; Lafe McKee; and Matt McHugh of the McHugh acting family.
Production Columbia Pictures originally purchased Lewis R. Foster's unpublished story, variously called "The Gentleman from Montana" and "The Gentleman from Wyoming", as a vehicle for Ralph Bellamy, but once Frank Capra came on board as director – after Rouben Mamoulian had expressed interest – the film was to be a sequel to his Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, called Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington, with Gary Cooper reprising his role as Longfellow Deeds. Because Cooper was unavailable, Capra then "saw it immediately as a vehicle for Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur",Sennett 1989, p. 173. and Stewart was borrowed from MGM. Capra said of Stewart: "I knew he would make a hell of a Mr. Smith ... He looked like the country kid, the idealist. It was very close to him."Tatara, Paul. "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington". Turner Classic Movies. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
Although a youth group is featured in the story, the Boy Scouts of America refused to allow their name to be used in the film and instead the fanciful "Boy Rangers" was used.
In January 1938, both Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Paramount Pictures submitted Foster's story to the censors at the Hays Office, likely indicating that both studios had an interest in the project before Columbia purchased it. Joseph Breen, the head of that office, warned the studios: "[W]e would urge most earnestly that you take serious counsel before embarking on the production of any motion picture based on this story. It looks to us like one that might well be loaded with dynamite, both for the motion picture industry, and for the country at large." Breen specifically objected to "the generally unflattering portrayal of our system of Government, which might well lead to such a picture being considered, both here, and more particularly abroad, as a covert attack on the Democratic form of government", and warned that the film should make clear that "the Senate is made up of a group of fine, upstanding citizens, who labor long and tirelessly for the best interests of the nation."
Later, after the screenplay had been written and submitted, Breen reversed course, saying of the film, "It is a grand yarn that will do a great deal of good for all those who see it and, in my judgment, it is particularly fortunate that this kind of story is to be made at this time. Out of all Senator Jeff's difficulties there has been evolved the importance of a democracy and there is splendidly emphasized the rich and glorious heritage which is ours and which comes when you have a government 'of the people, by the people, and for the people.
The film was in production from April 3, 1939, to July 7 of that year."Overview". TCM. Retrieved June 26, 2009. Some location shooting took place in Washington, D.C., at Washington Union Station, the United States Capitol, and other locations for background use.Rosales 2003, pp. 102, 117, 124.
Following Capra's usual habits, working with people he knew well, he brought together again three of the leading actors from his previous film production for Columbia Pictures in 1938, You Can't Take It with You, with Arthur, Stewart, and Arnold in lead roles again.
In the studio, to ensure authenticity, an elaborate set was created, consisting of Senate committee rooms, cloak rooms, and hotel suites, as well as specific Washington, D.C., monuments, all based on a trip Capra and his crew made to the capital. Even the Press Club of Washington was reproduced in minute detail,Sennett 1989, p. 175. but the major effort went into a faithful reproduction of the Senate Chamber on the Columbia lot. James D. Preston, a former superintendent of the Senate gallery, acted as technical director for the Senate set, as well as advising on political protocol. The production also used the "New York street set" on the Warner Bros. lot, using 1,000 extras when that scene was shot.
The ending of the film was apparently changed at some point, as the original program describes Stewart and Arthur returning to Smith's hometown, where they are met by a big parade, with the implication that they are married and starting a family. In addition, the Taylor political machine is shown being crushed; Smith, riding a motorcycle, visits Senator Paine and forgives him; and a visit to Smith's mother is included. Some of this footage can be seen in the film's trailer."Trivia". TCM. Retrieved June 26, 2009.
Impact The film premiered in Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., on October 17, 1939, sponsored by the National Press Club, an event to which 4,000 guests were invited, including 45 senators. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was attacked by the Washington press, and politicians in the U.S. Congress, as anti-American and pro-Communist/Socialist for its portrayal of corruption in the American government.Capra 1971, pp. 254–266. Frederic William Wile of The Washington Star wrote that the film showed "the democratic system and our vaunted free press in exactly the colors Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin like to paint them." While Capra claims in his autobiography that some senators walked out of the premiere, contemporary press accounts are unclear about whether this occurred or not, or whether senators yelled back at the screen during the film.McBride 1992, pp. 419–420.
However, it is known that Alben W. Barkley, a Democrat and the Senate Majority Leader, called the film "silly and stupid", and said it "makes the Senate look like a bunch of crooks". He also remarked that the film was "a grotesque distortion" of the Senate, "as grotesque as anything ever seen! Imagine the Vice President of the United States winking at a pretty girl in the gallery in order to encourage a filibuster!" (Ironically Barkley would serve as Vice President between 1949 and 1953.) Barkley thought the film "showed the Senate as the biggest aggregation of nincompoops on record!"Capra 1971, p. 287.