AFInity: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

By Kim Hollis

July 31, 2009

That Washington, D.C. news sure is sexy!

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We're a list society. From Casey Kasem and the American Top 40 to 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die to BOP's very own Best Horror Films (one of our most popular features ever), people love to talk about lists. They love to debate the merits of the "winners" and bemoan the exclusions, and start the whole process again when a new list captures pop culture fancy.

Perhaps one of the best-known, most widely discussed lists is the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movies. A non-profit organization known for its efforts at film restoration and screen education, the AFI list of the 100 best American movies was chosen by 1,500 leaders in the movie industry and announced in its first version in 1998. Since then, the 100 Years... 100 Movies list has proven to be so popular that the AFI came forth with a 10th anniversary edition in 2007, along with other series such as 100 Heroes and Villains, 100 Musicals, 100 Laughs and 100 Thrills.

In addition to talking about which films are deserving of being on the list and bitterly shaking our fists because a beloved film was left out, we also love to brag about the number of movies we've seen. As I was looking over the 100 Years... 100 Movies list recently, I realized that I've seen 47 - less than half. As a lover of film and writer/editor for a movie site, this seemed like a wrong that needed to remedied. And so an idea was born. I would watch all 100 movies on the 2007 10th Anniversary list - some of them for the first time in as much as 20 or more years - and ponder their relevance, worthiness and influence on today's film industry. With luck, I'll even discover a few new favorites along the way.




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#26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

James Stewart has more movies on the AFI 100 Years... 100 Movies list than any other actor. Yet, despite thinking that he's one of the finest actors ever, I've only seen three of the five that appear on the list. I'd been a little wary of watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington since Frank Capra directed, as I've found some of his work to be annoyingly saccharine. Given that the film is a political drama that takes place primarily on the floor of the Senate, I was dreading it a little bit. I mean, there's a reason I don't watch C-SPAN. Still, it's regarded as one of Stewart's finest performances and has been the subject of parody on my beloved Simpsons not once, but twice. It clearly has a solid place in movie history, but does it really live up to the hype?

In fact, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington rather impressively feels topical even today, 70 years after it first appeared in theaters. Better yet, it's compelling viewing, with fine performances, an upbeat (though deeply cynical) story, exceptional dialogue, and laughs that are timed in all the right places. The movie isn't a comedy, but Capra is wise enough never to let it take itself too seriously, which allows some necessary levity in a story that could easily lead to real disillusionment if pondered too intensely.


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