Film Review: Mr. Smith Goes To Washington

The main plot of the movie, Mr. Smith goes to Washington is a conflict between Jeff Smith, Senator Paine, and Jim Taylor. A senator of a state passed away causing a new senator needing to be appointed. Jim Taylor a local publicist who had pull around the Senate, pressured the governor to select Jefferson Smith. He was appointed as the new Senator of the State, because everyone thought that he was incompetent, naive, and would not get in their way. However when Smith passed a clever bill that got in the way of Jim Taylor’s scandal, Jim and Senator Paine tried to do whatever they could to get Jeffrey expelled from the Senate.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is a film about an average man’s journey and experience in Congress as Senator of Mississippi.

“Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” Mr. Smith was too naive to survive as a senator during the time the movie “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” took place. Mr. Smith’s naiveté was most evident in his ambitious proposal to start a national boys camp. However, when false allegations regarding Mr. Smith’s motives for starting the camp surfaced, Smith was too idealistic to defend himself from the political machine that accused him of acting in self-interest. Making matters worse, Senator Smith was a genuinely honest and simple-minded man, making it difficult for him to survive among his scheming colleagues.

In June of 1950, Margaret Chase Smith gave a speech addressed to the president and to the senate, about the exploitation and dishonesty within the latter. She pointed out how through focusing on the “winning” and “losing” of politics and less of the greater good made the Senate to be more corrupt and paranoid than functional. The writing style she used to deliver this speech were subtle yet effective, and included ethos/logos/pathos literary devices as well as repetition, contrast, allusion, and imagery. The tone she used as well, critical but patriotic, kind but firm, offers a sense of juxtaposition that works effectively and mirrors the contrast in her word choice. In these ways and more, the Declaration of Conscious is written in an extremely intelligent and artful manner.

George Washington Plunkitt was a complicated politician from New York in the 1900’s. He had his own questionable way of seeing what’s right and what’s wrong. Plunkitt’s Ideas of right a wrong sometimes seemed to be off. However, some of his ideas about things that needed to be reformed were as true then as they are now. Plunkitt seemed to be a man that knew how to get what he wanted out of people with very little effort. From the perspective of an outsider this could make him hard to trust, but to people then this wasn’t a problem.

However, to condemn those in positions of power for their actions is to misinterpret the volatile climate of the Cold War Era in which they operated. The polarized political thought and the turbulent domestic events that shadowed everyday life had a profound impact on American thought and culture and the lives of public figures who dominate the story. To truly understand the impact of these characters and the climate of the American Cold War theatre, the complexity of the dynamics within society must be understood from the point of view and the

Alexander Hamilton, John Laurens, Marquis de Lafayette and Hercules Mulligan are both considered being significant figures in American history. Being close friends to each other, they cooperated, encouraged and supported each other throughout political life. All of them have made considerable contribution in different aspects to the development of the nation. During the time of American Revolution, Hamilton and his friends were ambitious to establish a new free nation and appeal more people to revolution. Furthermore, these young people were eager to won the glory on the battlefield and became impressive to the world.

The plot of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington spins, obviously, around the delay. In that time period, the Senate couldn't move onto different business if the delay was not determined - that is to say, the filibusters needed to really be talking keeping in mind the end goal to keep up the delay. This changed when Robert Byrd was Senate Majority Leader. Byrd (and his gathering) founded a "two-track" framework, changing the standards so that the Senate could desert the delayed movement and proceed onward to different business. This change was made in light of the fact that delays were seen as valuable, however excessively obstructionist, and Byrd felt the Senate required the adaptability to have the capacity to proceed onward to different things. In an unintended outcome, minorities of late have found that Byrd basically made it allowed to delay. In the event that

In 1910, Cannon was Speaker of the House as well as Head of the Rules Committee, giving him incomparable power in the House. However, George Norris, backed by the Progressives in Congress, called for a vote to give the power of electing the Rules Committee to the House, to avoid the monopoly of power. This example, of recognizing power and dispersing it away from one individual, furthered American ideology of avoiding dictatorial rule (Burns, 1988). During the film Charles MacDowell, a newspaperman, states, “The Congress is where we speak, the Congress is where we are. The Congress is where ordinary mortals go about the business of compromise; compromise that gets us through the day” (MacDowell, 1988). This statement is relevant, for me, as it imposes the necessity of compromise in Congress. The way that Mr. MacDowell states the functionality of Congress, makes it apparent that in this country the power truly lies with people of all beliefs. Therefore, to maintain fairness, compromise must ensue. Another statement that challenged my personal belief of how Congress operates, was made by Barbara Fields, a historian, stating “I wonder whether the ideal of democracy lives, in real sense, in our

When protagonist Jefferson Smith very suddenly becomes a US Senator, he is portrayed as the perfect example of nominal patriotism. He has several speeches by Washington and Lincoln memorized, is the leader of a group of what are basically Boy Scouts, and spends his first day in Washington DC in awe of the monuments.

Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington develops the themes of idealism, realism, and cynicism. Idealism is the way of looking for the best in everything and not really seeing the bad. Realism is the way of looking at things the way they are in the real world. Cynicism is the way of thinking that no one has any good in them and that the whole world is horrible. Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington brings out the themes of idealism, realism, and cynicism through the main characters, Clarissa Saunders, Senator Joseph Paine, and Jefferson Smith.

A good depiction of the interaction between the president and interest groups was seen in The American President. In this movie a special interest group, the GDC, sent a lobbyist, Sydney, to get a bill introduced into the senate. The process they went through, convincing the president to introduce the bill if they got enough support from congressmen and then seeing them gain support from the congressmen, was very informative. This movie also helped set a complete picture of the way the president works in the political system.

Tom Hanks once said, “Sometimes a man just wants the impossible.” In his lifetime, most would agree that Hanks achieved the impossible through his acting career; he personalized many influential movie parts from a gay lawyer with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia to a dumb man who experienced many important events throughout history in Forrest Gump. This shift in the acting world happened on July 9, 1956 when a star was born. Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California; his parents names are Janet Marylyn Frager and Amos Mefford Hanks. Tom Hanks lived with his father after his parents got divorced at the age of five. His two older siblings also stayed with him and his father while his younger sibling stayed with his mother; their names were Jim Hanks, Sandra Hanks, and Larry Hanks (Biography.com). Hanks’ father moved their family from state to state until they finally settled in Oakland, California where Tom attended high school. After graduating in 1974, Tom Hanks attended a junior college in Hayward California called Chabot Community College. During his time at Hayward, he read and watched a play called the Iceman Cometh by Eugene O 'Neill; this sparked his interest in acting. He decided to pursue a career in acting and transferred in the theater program at California State University in Sacramento (Biography.com). Tom Hanks’ humble beginning led to the rise of the famous actor within him who has won multiple awards for his acting and changed the world with the

In The Independent Review, article Money and Politics in the Land of Oz written by Quentin P. Taylor, who discusses the possible theories of hidden political meanings within the well loved classic of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It all started with the idea of populism, which was a short lived movement that was occurring when The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written, and therefore could’ve influences the author, Frank Baum, who was known by his friends to be satirical along with having an unclear political stance. Although many dissected the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, many lay unsure of the true meaning of this cult classic, however Taylor discusses the relationship of the novel to the reality of the 1900’s, where many references were made that revolved around the events occurring at that time. Initially, Baum’s story was made to entertain children until there were some inquiries about the tale being an allegory, or a story that pertains hidden political meanings. In the end, this quintessential tale may hold more meanings than one many assume it first did.

First, the American President depicts Washington D.C. as a city where a politician's time is heavily structured and scheduled. From the beginning of the movie, President Shepard is constantly interacting with his staff aides and the movie shows how every hour of the day is scheduled out for him. Throughout the movie, President Shepard is constantly informed about his upcoming meetings for the day and about meetings for the next day. He uses this information to plan and strategize his scheduled meetings. For example, President Shepard lays out his game-plan on how to interact with lobbyists who are persuading him to pass substantive bills, when told about his upcoming meeting with the environmental lobbying group.