1 Year, 100 Movies: #20 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

For 1 Year, 100 Movies, I will watch all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year- and will complete a goal on my 2013 Manifesto. Come along on the ride with me- oh, and please pass the popcorn!

“It’s a Wonderful Life” – the classic Christmas film that was never intended to be a Christmas film- although it begins and ends on Christmas Eve. This film is the tale of the power of a common hardworking man, whose self sacrifice helps others get out from under the control of the curmudgeonly control of a wealthy banker. I think it makes the perfect holiday classic because of the tie-in with the miracle that happens in the film- and thinking deeper, the miracle of our protagonists’ life an his impact on everyone he comes in contact with.

The film opens with a view of the heavens, where star angels discuss the fate of George Bailey (James Stewart). They discuss Bailey’s formative years, allowing for motivated narration when necessary. The narration is so conversational it doesn’t seem forced at all, and fits in seamlessly with the story. This is where we see George save his young brother, Harry (Todd Karns) from drowning- thus loosing hearing in one of his ears- also saving the local pharmacist he works for from accidentally poisoning a patient, and helping his father at the building and loan, which provides loans to at risk or low income clients. We have learned that he is a selfless soul, who will do anything for others at whatever the cost to himself.

George has finally saved up enough for college, working so long for his father, but first he goes to Harry’s high school graduation dance. There he meets up with Mary Hatch (Donna Reed), a young woman with a crush on him. We get a glimpse of the exciting and heartfelt romance before George discovers that his father has suffered a stroke. When his father passes, George must decide the fate of the building and loan. He defends his father’s character and also the building and loan, (which he resents) because it is an option for those who need it, other than the bank owned by the Scrooge-like Potter (Lionel Barrymore).

George Bailey is also a more complicated character. George wants to do the right thing, out of a sense of duty or conscience, but often his own personal desires come into conflict with this moral obligation. As this internal conflict builds, it causes him to lash out at the ones closest to him. Every time something comes up, George accepts his choice to stay in Bedford Falls, work at the building and loan, and marry Mary Hatch, but the internal conflict remains. It boils inside him, making him a real, multidimensional character.

When Uncle Billy (Thomas Mitchell), George’s partner at the building loan, looses an $8000 deposit at a time when the building and loan is undergoing an audit, George finally reaches his breaking point. Everything around him becomes a reminder of his perceived failures. Desperate to cover the shortage on the books, George crawls to Potter. Potter refuses him, and even plants the little seed in his head that the only thing of real value that George owns is his life insurance policy. There is real darkness in this film, noted in the beginning of the film when the Angels are talking about George being in trouble. George has decided to commit suicide, which is what brings his Guardian Angel Clarence (Henry Travers) into the story.

Clarence pulls a page from ‘A Christmas Carol’ and takes George to a world where he never existed to show him the impact he has on other’s lives. George is horrified. His brother died in the drowning incident – as did the servicemen his brother was not there to save, the pharmacist he worked for is the local bum after the poisoning incident, and without the building and loan, Potter has taken over Bedford Falls (which is now called Potterville), and there are all sorts of unsavory establishments on the main street. He has no wife- no children- and his old friends and his mother do not recognize him. George begs to live again, and finds himself back back in the present where he realizes how grateful he is for everything he has, and no longer cares about everything he gave up. His old dreams faded and his new dreams are his reality.

His friends come to the rescue with more than enough money to make up the misplaced amount. Harry arrives to support his brother, and gives a toast to  “The richest man in town.” Among the donated funds George finds a note from Clarence: “George: Remember no man is a failure who has friends. P.S. Thanks for the wings! Love, Clarence.” A bell on the Christmas tree rings, and his daughter Zuzu remembers aloud that it means an angel has earned his wings. George realizes that he truly has a wonderful life.

The film gives us the message that each of us, through our everyday interactions with others have the power to change lives and the community for the better. It is a must see- even a must own.

In my humble, non-professional, average movie-goer opinion this movie earns:

1 Year, 100 Movies: #26 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

For 1 Year, 100 Movies, I will watch all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year- and will complete a goal on my 2013 Manifesto. Come along on the ride with me- oh, and please pass the popcorn!

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” could have gotten long winded and exhausting. Instead it is dramatic, uplifting and full of life. The film starts with the death of a senator, which means that Governor Hubert Hopper (Guy Kibbee) must appoint a replacement. Senator Paine (Claude Rains) and Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold), a wealthy business and newspaper man, need the right man who will do as he is told and to keep quiet. They are nearly finished working on an inside deal that will provide the men huge kickbacks, and they are not about to let the appointment ruin their payday. When Hopper announces Miller as the replacement he gets opposition raining in from all sides- even from his children. Then his kids suggest that he appoint Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), a local boy’s club leader. Hopper flips a coin to let fate decide, and thus Smith will go to Washington.

Smith (who is played brilliantly by Stewart), is naive and unexperienced, and arrives in Washington D.C. wide eyed, and enthusiastic to the point of showing just how inexperienced he is. Instead of going to his office, he disappears and goes sightseeing on a tour bus. Smith’s secretary, Saunders (Jean Arthur) and her press friend, Diz Moore (Thomas Mitchell), await the junior senator’s arrival. Luckily Smith gets his knocks early and often, so he wises up pretty quickly. Jean Arthur is perfect as Saunders, giving her character enough edge to make her believable, and enough heart to make us want her to end up with Smith. She is arguably the smartest character in the film, and is the one responsible for guiding Smith and ultimately defeating Pain and Taylor. She is easily one of the best female characters on the list so far- made even more remarkable because she shows up in 1939.

Saunders takes us through a thrilling civic lesson to rival Schoolhouse Rock– her banter back and forth with Stewart is amazing. Smith is eager to make a difference, and comes up with a bill to authorize a federal loan to buy some land in his home state for a national boys’ camp, which would be paid back by youngsters across America. However, the proposed campsite is already part of the dam-building graft scheme included in an appropriations bill framed by the Taylor and supported by Senator Paine. Problems ahead. Saunders helps Smith craft his bill, distracts Smith from the Senate floor when Paine’s bill about the dam was being presented, and then reveals Paine and Taylor’s plan to Smith. Without Saunders there is no conflict and no story.

When Smith confronts Paine and Taylor- and tries to reveal their graft, they throw Smith under the metaphorical bus, and frame him for their crime. Paine brings a motion to remove Smith from the Senate, and it seems futile for Smith to fight. In steps good ole’ Saunders. She plans for Smith to filibuster the Senate- and he does so- holding the chambers captive while he waits for the opinions of the senators to shift in his favor. Back home the newspapers are even being skewed out of Smith’s favor- that darn Taylor. But they can’t keep Smith down, and we get a sincerely hopeful and romantic ending.

The director, Frank Capra wants us all to learn a lesson about how the government works, as well as the possibility of how it could work. Most of you have probably seen Smith, hoarse and completely exhausted on the floor of the Senate, berating the other senators for their complacency and willingness to accept the corruption around them. Capra shows his love of American democracy, while critiquing the problems that come with its practice.

In my humble, non-professional, average movie-goer opinion this movie earns:

1 Year, 100 Movies: #46 It Happened One Night (1934)

For 1 Year, 100 Movies, I will watch all of AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies list (compiled in 2007) in one year- and will complete a goal on my 2013 Manifesto. Come along on the ride with me- oh, and please pass the popcorn!

I had not even heard of ‘It Happened One Night‘ before starting this list, but I can say now it is one of my favorite romantic comedies. Directed by Frank Capra it stars Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. It was the first film to win all five major Academy Awards (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, and Screenplay), a feat unmatched until ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’, 41 years later. The film begins with our heroine, a rich heiress named Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) who is sequestered by her father on a yacht because he disapproves of her marriage to a famous aviator, King Westley. She escapes the yacht, swims away and buys a bus ticket to travel back to New York and her husband. On the bus she meets an out of work reporter named Peter Warne. He discovers her identity because of a newspaper article on her escape, and offers to help her to her destination in exchange for exclusive rights to her story. He secures her cooperation by threatening to turn her in to her father if she doesn’t agree. Along the trip they share hotel rooms, posing as husband and wife. Ellie puts up a blanket barrier each night, which Peter refers to as the ‘walls of Jericho.’

After a passenger recognizes Ellie and attempts to split the $10,000 award money with Peter, Peter scares him away and the pair decide to hitchhike from then on to avoid any others recognizing them on the bus. After a few nights left to their own devices – and during another blanket-partitioned evening, Ellie throws herself at Peter and proposes they be together. Peter seemingly rejects her and drives to New York after she falls asleep in the middle of the night to sell their love story to his old boss for $1000, so he wouldn’t propose to her while broke.

Thinking that Peter hates her Ellie calls her father and lets him know where she is. He picks her up with a police escort, passing by Peter- who realizes what has happened when he spots Ellie traveling back toward New York with the group. Angry, Peter approaches her father about the reward money. He agrees to go to their home to meet with him just before the real wedding is to take place between Ellie and the aviator. He only comes to collect his expenses from the trip- $39.60, and not the full $10,000 reward money and admits that he loves Ellie. Ellie’s father takes a liking to Peter and manages to convince Ellie that she should leave the aviator for Peter. Ellie’s father pays off the aviator to annul their marriage, and she and Peter get married. At the end of the film the ‘walls of Jericho’ come down.

Clarke and Colbert loathed making the film, and no one expected much of it, so it’s funny that it has turned into such a classic. It’s funny, witty, romantic, and has so many quotable moments. It’s the screwball romantic comedy that so many others have tried to recreate, but can’t come close to replicating. Who can resist a film where the heroine’s father provides his daughter with a getaway car from her own wedding?

In my humble, non-professional, average movie-goer opinion this movie earns: