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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

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Information

Year: 1939
Runtime: 129 min.
Director: Frank Capra
Genres: Drama, Comedy
Rating *: 8.2
Votes *: 77,263
Checks: 18,084
Favs: 1,502
Dislikes: 87
Favs/checks: 8.3% (1:12)
Favs/dislikes: 17:1

* View IMDb information

Top comments

jktomas
It's not that the ending was bad, it's that it was too rushed. The film ended one minute after it reached it's culmination. There were no time left for everything to sink in. At least I think that that was the problem. Other than that, it's a very good and powerful movie. I almost wanted to be an american after watching it (you know, that free word and things like that sounds pretty awesome).
Oh, there was one more thing I didn't like - the way all the kids were portrayed in the film. Real children don't act and don't talk anything like that. Yes, that's common in older movies, but here they went too over the top. Like for example those kids sitting at the table in the beginning of the film. Or my favorite - black 10 year old shouting "Come on, bring on the paper!". It felt like some kind of commercial or a propaganda film. But hell do I know? Maybe in America children do work in senate instead of going to school... 13 years 1 month ago
Siskoid
I kind of expected Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to be something of a precursor to some of the aspirational political fictions I love (The West Wing, for example), and in many ways it was. But Jimmy Stewart's idealistic junior Senator is really the lone good man in a huge corrupt machine that almost destroys him, and so it really isn't one of those utopian stories where civil servants really want our best interests. Alas, the film's right-minded patriotic sentiment hasn't lost its relevance. I wish it had. But it seems more needed than ever. And so Mr. Smith must keep going to Washington to remind us of of what's right. Only the character tends to be naive and cheesy, the movie isn't. It actually does a good job of vulgarizing what the Senate does and how it works (or doesn't), acts as effective satire at times, and provides a killer political climax (though also a bit of an abrupt ending). Hasn't lost its teeth! 7 years 9 months ago
briafly27
I LOVE this film. It's your classic James Stewart character. You feel his pain, love him immediately, and you're pulling for him all the way through. 10 years 6 months ago

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In 16 official lists

This movie ranks #5 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers

AFI's 100 Years...100 Ch…
5
This movie ranks #9 in Library of Congress's National Film Registry

Library of Congress's Na…
9
This movie ranks #11 in IMDb's 1930s Top 50

IMDb's 1930s Top 50
11
This movie ranks #17 in iCheckMovies's 1930s Top 100

iCheckMovies's 1930s Top…
17
This movie ranks #26 in AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies

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This movie ranks #49 in IMDb's Comedy Top 50

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This movie ranks #75 in Halliwell's Top 1000: The Ultimate Movie Countdown

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This movie ranks #96 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films

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This movie ranks #98 in Academy Award - Best Picture Nominees

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This movie ranks #101 in Emma Beare's 501 Must-See Movies

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This movie ranks #125 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

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This movie ranks #210 in IMDb's Top 250

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This movie ranks #222 in David Thomson's Have You Seen?

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This movie ranks #576 in The New York Times's Book of Movies

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576
This movie ranks #679 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films

TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
679
This movie ranks #930 in UNESCO's Memory of the World

UNESCO's Memory of the W…
930