James
Stewart (Spirit of St. Louis) turns in a
delightful performance as Jefferson Smith, a noble and patriotic boy ranger
leader who gains renown as a delightful, though naïve individual full of goodwill
and honor. When the Senator of Missouri dies, Jeff becomes the happy medium
between the Turner Political Machine dumby candidate and the public opinion
candidate, and is chosen by the corrupt governor as the interim senator.
He
is joined by Senator Paine (Claude Raines, Casablanca), a once idealistic man who sold his soul for fame
and faithful voters, supplied by the Turner Machine. Paine was a friend of
Jeff’s father, but has changed since he knew the man.
Everything
seems okay until our hero proposes a bill that conflicts with the proposed land
use, land which was illgotten by Turner and Paine, and Paine and Turner then
turn on the young idealist with the full force of lies and corruption. He is
quickly run out of office, but makes a last stand in hopes of securing public
opinion and eventually, revealing the truth. His filibuster is one of the best
scenes in Hollywood history.
Overall
this movie lives up to the hype, a thing which few older movies are able to do
nowadays. A 2, and one of stewarts finest, as well as one of the most well
subdued romances.
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