Voting + Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
I voted last week, because I knew I would be at work all day today (and also because voting early meant we had time to go to a cupcake place afterward, A++ would cupcake again), and indeed, all morning long we had a stream of stressed and cranky customers either coming from or going to the polls. Long lines, lots of stress about who's going to win, I haven't checked the news because I know once I check I'm going to keep checking and I'd really rather just find out once it's over. Hopefully with Hilary Clinton winning in a landslide.
I went to Bloomington yesterday and discovered that some of my friends are planning to spend the day watching election coverage on purpose, which honestly sounds like something that would happen to me in a horrible fever dream, but to each her own I suppose.
Anyway! I was in Bloomington to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on the big screen, which was just as delightful as I hoped! Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of my favorite movies of all time - I must have seen it at least three times, which is actually quite impressive for me, as I rarely rewatch anything - and, I mean, where do I even start with the glory of this movie?
There is of course Saunders, the cynical secretary at the senatorial office who shows Jefferson Smith the ropes when he arrives in Washington - and of course falls in love with him, because that's what always happens in classic Hollywood (classic Hollywood? Modern Hollywood too!). The rules of screen-writing make it inevitable, but Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart's performances totally sell it to me: how could Saunders fail to fall for that bundle of enthusiasm? And how could Smith fail to fall for the girl with the know-how to make his dreams a reality, and enough witty lines and fast comebacks to match his own sense of humor?
(There's a really lovely scene where Jefferson Smith is trying to guess Saunders' first name, which could easily come across as creepy but instead is sweet and funny: they're goofing around, having a good time joshing each other.)
And then of course there's the senior senator from Smith's state, Joseph Paine (played by Claude Rains, who also plays Renault in Casablanca, another one of my all-time favorite movies). Smith looks up to Paine not only as a well-respected senator, but as a friend of his father's, and Paine comes to look upon Smith with something of the affection of a father - but that's not enough to stop him from helping the political machine steamroll Smith when Smith gets in the way of their graft scheme.
And by God it steamrolls him. Every time I see this movie, I'm impressed yet again by just how brutally efficient the political machine is, and for what a petty cause: they set out to destroy Smith's reputation and his life for just a few thousand dollars worth of graft. A lot of so-called dark political dramas could learn a lot from watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
And Paine's part in it is brutal. He has a starring role in the scheme to hide the machine's graft by making Smith look like a crook who set out to steal the money that boys sent in to build a boys' camp that Smith proposed Congress should fund. The perfidy of this character assassination always takes my breath away.
But most of all I love Jefferson Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart in the best role of his career - well, okay, he had some other pretty great roles. He's great in The Philadelphia Story too. And Harvey. And Vertigo, for something completely different. OKAY FINE, Jimmy Stewart is just amazing in everything he did.
But Jefferson Smith is probably my favorite one of his many roles: Jefferson Smith, starry-eyed patriot who just doesn’t know when to quit. The entire political machine of his home state is hopelessly corrupt? FINE THEN, Jefferson Smith will take on the whole damn machine! Someone’s gotta do it! He’ll filibuster till he faints on the senate floor! “You all think I’m licked,” he says, weaving on his feet because he’s been filibustering 23 hours straight. “Well, I’m not licked. And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause.”
He also has a sly sense of humor, a penchant for punching people (that scene where he walks around town punching reporters in the nose for making up stories that make him look like a goofball!), and hilarious awkward manners around beautiful women. Also the world’s most amazing eyelashes, which are showcased in a scene where he cries on the Lincoln Memorial. A++ crying, Jimmy Stewart.
What a great movie.
I went to Bloomington yesterday and discovered that some of my friends are planning to spend the day watching election coverage on purpose, which honestly sounds like something that would happen to me in a horrible fever dream, but to each her own I suppose.
Anyway! I was in Bloomington to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on the big screen, which was just as delightful as I hoped! Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is one of my favorite movies of all time - I must have seen it at least three times, which is actually quite impressive for me, as I rarely rewatch anything - and, I mean, where do I even start with the glory of this movie?
There is of course Saunders, the cynical secretary at the senatorial office who shows Jefferson Smith the ropes when he arrives in Washington - and of course falls in love with him, because that's what always happens in classic Hollywood (classic Hollywood? Modern Hollywood too!). The rules of screen-writing make it inevitable, but Jean Arthur and Jimmy Stewart's performances totally sell it to me: how could Saunders fail to fall for that bundle of enthusiasm? And how could Smith fail to fall for the girl with the know-how to make his dreams a reality, and enough witty lines and fast comebacks to match his own sense of humor?
(There's a really lovely scene where Jefferson Smith is trying to guess Saunders' first name, which could easily come across as creepy but instead is sweet and funny: they're goofing around, having a good time joshing each other.)
And then of course there's the senior senator from Smith's state, Joseph Paine (played by Claude Rains, who also plays Renault in Casablanca, another one of my all-time favorite movies). Smith looks up to Paine not only as a well-respected senator, but as a friend of his father's, and Paine comes to look upon Smith with something of the affection of a father - but that's not enough to stop him from helping the political machine steamroll Smith when Smith gets in the way of their graft scheme.
And by God it steamrolls him. Every time I see this movie, I'm impressed yet again by just how brutally efficient the political machine is, and for what a petty cause: they set out to destroy Smith's reputation and his life for just a few thousand dollars worth of graft. A lot of so-called dark political dramas could learn a lot from watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
And Paine's part in it is brutal. He has a starring role in the scheme to hide the machine's graft by making Smith look like a crook who set out to steal the money that boys sent in to build a boys' camp that Smith proposed Congress should fund. The perfidy of this character assassination always takes my breath away.
But most of all I love Jefferson Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart in the best role of his career - well, okay, he had some other pretty great roles. He's great in The Philadelphia Story too. And Harvey. And Vertigo, for something completely different. OKAY FINE, Jimmy Stewart is just amazing in everything he did.
But Jefferson Smith is probably my favorite one of his many roles: Jefferson Smith, starry-eyed patriot who just doesn’t know when to quit. The entire political machine of his home state is hopelessly corrupt? FINE THEN, Jefferson Smith will take on the whole damn machine! Someone’s gotta do it! He’ll filibuster till he faints on the senate floor! “You all think I’m licked,” he says, weaving on his feet because he’s been filibustering 23 hours straight. “Well, I’m not licked. And I’m going to stay right here and fight for this lost cause.”
He also has a sly sense of humor, a penchant for punching people (that scene where he walks around town punching reporters in the nose for making up stories that make him look like a goofball!), and hilarious awkward manners around beautiful women. Also the world’s most amazing eyelashes, which are showcased in a scene where he cries on the Lincoln Memorial. A++ crying, Jimmy Stewart.
What a great movie.