Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

I'm not one for politics. It has been my experience that all politicians are self centered rich kids with nothing better to do than make posters that either rip off the slogan of a major company, or make puns on their names such as:

1) Vote for Jason Wright. It's the Wright choice.
2) No.2 pencil-$.32, Eraser-$.25, Voting for Jack Lelaine-priceless.
3) Don't be a Commie, vote for Tommy.
4) Danny "Indiana" Jones for V.P.
5) Vote for Hanson. We'll go dancin'.
6) With me it's always Summer. Vote for Summer Wheatly.
7) The choice is easy, vote for Tim Parcheesi.
8) Count on someone who can count. Emily for Treasurer.

It's just so hard to get elected. Not only is it difficult to make posters, but it's difficult to write campaign speeches:



If you decide to run for office, and somehow you can make it past all these difficulties you will soon find that you have a whole new set of difficulties after you get elected. Suddenly you have to deal with corrupt politicians, wake up every morning on time, and for some reason everyone expects you to know how a bill becomes a law:



In my opinion, it's just not worth it. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is about a politician and all the problems he faced after being put into office.

Jefferson Smith is the leader of a group of boys similar to the Boy Scouts. When a Senator dies Jim Taylor, a rich business man, and all of his corrupt politicians work to replace the Senator with Mr. Smith. Why? They have a plan to pass a bill for personal gain, and need a patsy to not ask any questions. Little do they know Jefferson is an extreme idealist that believes in America. With the help of his street wise secretary Jefferson makes a bill to help troubled boys by setting up a government funded camp. The problem is that the camp's location is right where Jim Taylor wants to build a dam. What follows is politics at it's best as Mr. Taylor tries to undo the damage that Mr. Smith has made to his money making scheme.

This movie is actually quite funny. I was very surprised because I expected it to be boring. Don't misunderstand me: It was not as funny as Dumb and Dumber, but it certainly wasn't as boring as Gone with the Wind. Not only that but I identified, and sympathized, with the characters. I even reached the point of swearing every time Jim Taylor was on the screen. The only drawback to this movie was just how much politics there actually was. Like I said earlier, I don't like politics. Still, it was not enough to make me hate this movie.

The bottom line:
Rating: 4.0
Would I own it? Probably not.
Would I recommend it? Yes, it was entertaining.