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1939's "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" made James Stewart a star. And it's a good thing, too, considering how committed the actor was to the role of Senator Jefferson Smith. No further example is needed than the Filibuster scene, which necessitated a doctor be on-hand after Stewart requested a physician give him mercury dichloride to induce a sore throat and make his protracted speech and the resulting exhaustion more believable.

But if realistic exhaustion was what Stewart was after, he need only have turned to the film's director. Frank Capra was arguably the biggest filmmaker in Hollywood in the late 1930s, and had established a solid reputation as something of a perfectionist. Gregory Peck would later call Capra, "a very strong, determined, hands-on director," which was, in reality, putting it mildly. According to TCM, the Oscar-winning director paid fastidious attention to recreating the US Senate chamber on Columbia's soundstages — making a trip to Washington D.

Frank Capra made James Stewart into the heart of Hollywood. In their second movie together, "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington," Stewart played Jefferson Smith, a "Boy Ranger" leader in an unnamed Western state. Smith is appointed to fill one of the state's Senate seats after its holder dies. When he arrives in DC, his naïveté and kindness turn him into a reformer. After he's framed for corruption, he embarks on a 24-hour filibuster (a speech on the Senate Floor that cannot be interrupted so long as a Senator has something to say), attempting to rally the people's attention and sway the Senate's conscience.

Smith grows more and more exhausted as the scene goes on, so Stewart's performance had to reflect this. In particular, Capra wanted Stewart's voice to be as hoarse as Smith's should be after speaking for 24 hours straight. To make the voice right, Stewart recruited a doctor -- not to safeguard his health,...

With certain cinematic performances, we could not possibly fathom another actor in the same part. Only Bette Davis could have played Margot Channing in "All About Eve." Only Bruce Willis could have played John McClane in "Die Hard." Only Samuel L. Jackson could have played Jules in "Pulp Fiction." Of course, the reality is this isn't true. Countless actors audition and lose out on parts they would be perfect for all the time because of a variety of random reasons completely out of their control, yet when see a transcendent performance, we still believe the actor has performed magic in front of us. The filmmakers got the one person in the entire world made to play this particular character.

For me and many others, one such performance is James Stewart's Oscar-nominated turn as the titular character in Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." The notion of Stewart as a folksy,...

It bears repeating that Frank Capra's classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" is a fundamentally important film in the annals of American politics. The 1939 production tells the story of an optimistic Boy Scout leader named Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) who, following the death of a local senator, is recruited to be his replacement. The corrupt DC locals (represented by an excellent Claude Rains) assume that Smith — dazzled by his own natural patriotism and overwhelmed by his new position — will serve as a handy, clueless figurehead while they go about their business of bilking people and passing untoward...

The post Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Ending Explained: I Guess This is Just Another Lost Cause appeared first on /Film.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-w. Va.) seemingly dashed any hopes of Democrats abolishing the filibuster anytime soon when he wrote last week that the legislative maneuver was a “critical tool” to protecting “our democratic form of government.” That’s a far different view than that of former President Barack Obama, who called it a “Jim Crow relic,” along with a slew of other critics. But an idealized view of the filibuster as a force for good isn’t an outlier; it’s the way that many students, of past generations and even today, are first exposed to it, via the 1939 Frank Capra classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. As much of a relic as the movie is, the climatic scene, in which Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) stages a nearly 24- hour filibuster against corruption and back-room dealing among his colleagues, has endured. It’s still used as a teaching tool and,...

Here’s the story of one of those fellas you pass by almost everyday, if you live in one of the big cities. And if your city has a bustling business district (like Wall Street in NYC, La Salle Street in Chicago, etc.), the chances are much greater. They shuffles about, slightly disheveled, in a suit that’s definitely seen better days. Though the suit is in better shape than the shoes, which they try to save by avoiding taxis and taking public transit only when the weather turns especially nasty. These men facing middle age (and often past) aren’t homeless, but barely head there for just a few hours of rest, You could call them investment hustlers. “schmoozers”, or, as this story’s lead character’s dusty sleeve of cards proclaim, “business consultant”. Inside their worn overcoat is a bulging frayed address book along with a legal pad to connect their , um,...

The retrospective Frank Capra, The American Dreamer is showing April 10 - May 31, 2017 in the United Kingdom.Frank CapraFrank Capra has fallen badly out of fashion in recent decades. While still well-known for the extraordinary Depression-era purple patch that produced It Happened One Night (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), the critics have rarely been kind. His work is routinely derided as “Capra-corn” for its perceived sentimentality and “fairy tale” idealism while the man himself is written off in favour of contemporaries Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch.Elliot Stein, writing in Sight & Sound in 1972, attacked Capra’s “fantasies of good will, which at no point conflict with middle-class American status quo values”, arguing that his “shrewdly commercial manipulative tracts” consist of little more than “philistine-populist notions and greeting-card sentiments”. Pauline Kael found him “softheaded,” Derek Malcolm a huckster hawking “cosily absurd fables.” To an extent,...

Miss Sloane EuropaCorp Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: John Madden Written by: Jonathan Perera Cast: Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alison Pill, Jake Lacy Screened at: Park Avenue, NYC, 11/14/16 Opens: December 9, 2016 We in the audience presumably like to cheer the good guys, whether in politics or family relations, but we’ve come a long way from the great but naïve movies like “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” In that 1939 picture, director Frank Capra positions James Stewart’s character, Jefferson Smith, an innocent gent, to fill a Senate vacancy with the thought by corrupt politicians that he can easily be manipulated. Smith turns [ Read More ]

The post Miss Sloane Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Constance Cummings in 'Night After Night.' Constance Cummings: Working with Frank Capra and Mae West (See previous post: “Constance Cummings: Actress Went from Harold Lloyd to Eugene O'Neill.”) Back at Columbia, Harry Cohn didn't do a very good job at making Constance Cummings feel important. By the end of 1932, Columbia and its sweet ingenue found themselves in court, fighting bitterly over stipulations in her contract. According to the actress and lawyer's daughter, Columbia had failed to notify her that they were picking up her option. Therefore, she was a free agent, able to offer her services wherever she pleased. Harry Cohn felt otherwise, claiming that his contract player had waived such a notice. The battle would spill over into 1933. On the positive side, in addition to Movie Crazy 1932 provided Cummings with three other notable Hollywood movies: Washington Merry-Go-Round, American Madness, and Night After Night. 'Washington Merry-Go-Round...

It’s that last scene in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington that gives even the most jaded person hope. With his voice hoarse, his lank hair falling into his eyes, senator Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart) croaks, “Somebody will listen to me!” before fainting to the floor of the U.S. Senate chamber. Director

Frank Capra’s 1939 film casts Stewart as a naïve Boy Scout leader who’s chosen by his state’s corrupt leaders to fill a vacant Senate seat. But when the idealistic Mr. Smith learns he’s been set up to not just fail, but to be drummed out of office, he engages in a 23-hour filibuster, giving an impassioned speech about the power of honesty, decency and loving thy neighbour.

Yes it’s a hokey and awfully sentimental movie, but it’s also hugely entertaining and sends the message that the men and women who’ve been...

40. Beauty and the Beast (1991)

Lost to: Silence of the Lambs 1991 was the first time an animated film ever grabbed a nomination for Best Picture with Disney’s version of “Beauty and the Beast.” The film also picked up nominations for sound, Original Score (for which it won) and three – count ‘em Three – for Best Original Song, the Oscar going to the title song. The film never really had a chance of winning (though this was one rare year where the Academy went exceedingly dark with their winner), but its inclusion was the first step toward a wider range of films getting a chance and the creation of the eventual Best Animated Film category.

39. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Lost to: How Green Was My Valley

1941 would one day become one of the most notorious Oscar upsets, but not because of this film, however brilliant it is (the other film is much higher...

Sometimes calculated, diplomatic, well-thought-out speech is the best way for someone to get a point across. Other moments, however, require yelling, finger-pointing, spittle-projecting and the type of language that would get you 50 Hail Marys in Sunday school.

Indeed, movie history has provided us with hundreds of instances where a character's unstoppable flood of emotions got the best of them. Luckily for you, we've narrowed them down to the fifteen best.

Warning: Most of these rants contain Nsfw language, as you might imagine.

15. John Goodman as Walter Sobchak in 'The Big Lebowski' (1998)

The gist: Donnie was a good bowler, and Vietnam was a bitch.

It's hard to pick just one Walter Sobchak rant from "The Big Lebowski," considering almost every time he speaks is a rant and almost every one of his rants is memorable. But we'll go with the scattering of Donnie's ashes, which starts off as a...

 

July has always been a favorite month for me. June kicks the summer off, but in July you realize you have an entire month of swimming, cookouts, milkshakes and (if you're me) watching summer flicks. It is also the birthday month of our lovely country, which leads me into our theme for this month.

I considered going the route of the "American Hero." I love a good action-hero flick as much as the next person, but I then considered what we really celebrate on the Fourth of July: everyday heroes. We celebrate the working American, those men and women who might not have had the best education but are fighting to earn their living. We think of those who stand for good, not because a job requires them to, but because they believe in what is right. Those who went from rags to riches, who saved every penny they earned,...

One of the most famous films that Jimmy Stewart ever had to stand to the point of exhaustion in was Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Made almost a decade before his even more famous yet less senatorial It’s a Wonderful Life, the film tells the story of a small-town man who is appointed as a U.S. Senator to replace one that has suddenly died. Stewart stars as Jefferson Smith, an idealistic man who takes his new job almost too seriously. However, Smith’s wide-eyed wonder at the seat of government is soon rocked by political corruption and dirty dealings. Smith tries to arrange the use of public land for boy rangers in his home state, causing a problem for the building of a dam in the same area — a dam that’s a critical part of a bill being pursued by local tycoon and political heavy Jim Taylor (Edward Arnold) who has...

Gone is the naïve idealism of Jefferson Smith (one doubts in today.s climate that he.d actually make it to Washington and if so it would be doubtful if he would make it out alive) and it is replaced with a thriller cloaked in political theater. You wonder how anyone of worth is elected anymore. Certainly idealism is beaten down by spin. Gov. Mike Norris (George Clooney) is trying to secure the nomination in the democrat primary to lock in his run for president. That isn.t turning out to be easy as he is facing stiff competition for the nomination, led by rival campaign manager Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). Norris. manager Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and deputy campaign...

With the release of George Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March," "Extra" collected a list of 20 great quotes for some stellar movies about matters of state.

20 Political Movie Quotes'The Candidate' (1972)

Bill McKay (Robert Redford): [after winning the election] "What do we do now?"

'Syriana' (2005)

Danny Dalton (Tim Blake Nelson): "Corruption? Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations. That's Milton Friedman. He got a goddamn Nobel Prize.

Movies can be awesome sources of motivation, whether you're storming the gates of Mordor or walking onto the field in the second half of a pee-wee football game. The great energizing speeches in film make us feel like we could do either and come out on top, and the actors on screen, from Rick Moranis to Kenneth Branagh, know how to makes an audience feel good.

So whether you need to take down the greatest ice hockey team in the world or just feel battered and beaten by repeated printer jams at work, here are our ten favorite movie pep talks, guaranteed to make you get up in the morning and fear no enemy in your path.

Some words of warning, though. Whether they involve wars, sports or rooms filled with Muppets, these scenes may cause excessive fist-pumping.

[#25-21]   [#20-16]   [#15-11]   [#10-6]   [#5-1]   [Index]

25. The success speech, "Heavy Weights" (1995)

Tony Perkins (Ben Stiller) may not win...

Monday Rewind is on hiatus today. Sure, I could tell you that Larry Crowne got his ass handed to him by Transformers, Cars 2 and Bad Teacher this weekend, barely getting one over on Monte Carlo. But that’s just depressing. (Why the hatin’ on Larry? Look up “character based story”, people. Then get back to me.) Instead? Since it’s one of my favorite holidays — the day when you can blow up stuff and be called a True American — I’ve decided to whip out a top ten list. This is a list of all things good, fine and true, movies that you can point to and say yep, that right there? America. Speaking of whipping things out, let’s get started:

10) Blazing Saddles: More schnitzengruben? Yes, please! If you haven’t seen this movie yet, unhook yourself from your internet IV and watch it Right Now. Don’t worry,...

It's A Wonderful Life is a Christmas tradition – and the film that has preserved Frank Capra's popularity. It is too easy to dismiss his work as sentimental, prudish and politically naive, argues Michael Newton. Many of his movies are still magical

Of all Hollywood directors, Frank Capra is the most loved and the least respected. From the early 1930s to the mid 40s, as the maker of such classic movies as It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), he achieved fame, won Oscars and found huge audiences. Yet for every film-fan who warms to his work, there's a hard-nosed critic eager to pounce on this purveyor of "Capra-corn". He offers a personal vision, but it's one that has been judged suspect, offering up a sentimental and duplicitous Americanism. To those on the left, he has seemed a fascist; to those on the right,...

It's Election Day, and U.S. citizens are heading to the polls! In celebration of our blessed freedom, "Extra" has put together a list of some of the best political movie quotes. Check em' out! And get out there and vote!

Top 20 Political Movie Quotes'Man of the Year' (2004)

"Politicians are a lot like diapers. They should be changed frequently, and for the same reasons." —Tom Dobbs (Robin Williams)

'Swing Vote' (2008)

"All the world's...