Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

I had to watch this film for a class I'm taking. I've seen it twice before so this was a third viewing, but it is a good film with a fine performance from James Stewart, who should have won his Oscar for this film, not the following year's The Philadelphia Story.
Here, a senator from an unnamed state dies suddenly and the governor needs to immediately fill the spot. Governor Hopper (Guy Kibbee) wonders who to pick but he is told to pick a puppet but his sons insist that he pick Jefferson Smith (James Stewart), an everyman who formed a Boys Club and is much loved. So Smith is selected and journeys to Washington D.C. He is struck with wonder upon arriving in the city and wanders off and roams the city. He is found only because he showed up at his office and the secretary, Clarissa Saunders (a great Jean Arthur) was there waiting for him. Unlike Jefferson, Saunders has been working for the Senate for some time, and knows the tricks of the trade. She explains to him the inner workings of Congress. He is naive and innocent, unaware for some time that he is only a pawn in the other senator's plan. Joseph Harrison Paine (Claude Rains) wants to run for president in the next election and he has a deal that will help the machine, who helped him get elected, James Taylor (Edward Arnold).
But Smith is not dumb, he eventually figures everything out and is devastated, but he also insists on fighting back, despite pleas for him to just go home. He tries to stand up for himself and get his park for the boys through, but Paine stabs him in the back, betraying him and branding him a liar.
Jefferson is in despair but Saunders manages to talk him out of it. The next day, he filibusters. But the plan to get the real story out there is thwarted by the nasty Taylor who controls all the newspapers in the state. Though the boys club prints out the truth, they are literally run off the road by Taylor's minions. Yes, that's right, children are being run off the road, something that is absolutely despicable. In the end, Paine cracks, and nearly attempts commits suicide, revealing that he is the liar, going nearly as crazy as many people believed that Smith was. Oh, and Jefferson and Saunders fall in love. Of course, it's Hollywood.
There are many fine performances in this film, mainly Stewart and Arthur, but Thomas Mitchell is brilliant as a drunken reporter who nearly marries Saunders. Even Harry Carey gives life to the bland role of the senate president, though he certainly did not deserve that Oscar nomination.
The film makes a wonderful point and is still timely, though the message is a nasty one, proving that a common man cannot function properly in the nasty world of Washington, that all the guys we vote for are corrupt and evil, bought and paid for by someone with an ulterior motive. Still, a great movie, though horribly dated. Nevertheless, the grade is an A.