Frank Capra is great at making heart-warming films. The audience sympathizes with Jefferson Smith(James Stewart), because he is a red-blooded American who is turned into a puppet for a political machine, and feel bad for him when he is made to look like a fool in the press and almost gets expelled from the senate. Although the story line is great, some small details i the movie are too unrealistic to ignore. Obviously the actors over-dramatized most of the film to go along with the Capra-esque style(most notably the governor's children at the dinner table), but the main problem is during Smith's filibuster. Why were the boy rangers working in a sweat shop to make Smith's newspaper? How did so many rallies and parades get started in less than 23 hours? How did Jim Taylor get away with sending men to hurt little boys and take their newspapers? Why did everyone just stand there and watch as a man slapped a kid in the face and walked out with their newspapers? Why were little kids driving a car in the first place? How come there was no one watching the parade that got fire hosed? How did Taylor get away with sending people to shoot the parade with a fire hose? These are all questions that pertain to a small part in the movie, but they bothered me to a point where I could not ignore them.
Review of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
