Synopsis
Naive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United States Senate by the puppet governor of his state. He soon discovers, upon going to Washington, many shortcomings of the political process as his earnest goal of a national boys' camp leads to a conflict with the state political boss.
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Cast
- James StewartJefferson Smith
- Jean ArthurClarissa Saunders
- Claude RainsJoseph Paine
- Edward ArnoldJim Taylor
- Guy KibbeeGovernor Hopper
- Thomas MitchellDiz Moore
- Eugene PalletteChick McGann
- Beulah BondiMa Smith
- H.B. WarnerSenate Majority Leader
- Harry CareyPresident of the Senate
Recommendations
- 100
Empire
Demonstrating that the greatest political evil is indifference, this appeal to a world on the verge of war has lost none of its relevance. - 100
Variety
There’s tremendous dramatic impact threaded throughout the picture, interwoven with those deft human episodes which have become familiar with Capra’s direction in previous pictures. He keys the motivation of his basic premise without wasting time, and then carries it through vigorously. - 100
The New York Times
[Capra] has paced it beautifully and held it in perfect balance, weaving his romance lightly through the political phases of his comedy, flicking a sardonic eye over the Washington scene, racing out to the hinterland to watch public opinion being made and returning miraculously in time to tie all the story threads together into a serious and meaningful dramatic pattern. - 100
TV Guide Magazine
While MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON is the most moral of films, it is so artfully filled with real emotion that it never becomes heavy-handed. - 90
Time
The acting of the brilliant cast is sometimes superb. But Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is bigger than any of these things. Its real hero is not calfy Jeff Smith, but the things he believes, as embodied in the hero of U. S. democracy's first crisis, Abraham Lincoln. - 80
Time Out
Quintessential Capra - popular wish-fulfilment served up with such fast-talking comic panache that you don't have time to question its cornball idealism. - 80
Chicago Reader
This is classic Capracorn, with the greatest girl cynic of the 30s, Jean Arthur. - 60
The New Yorker
No one else can balance the ups and downs of wistful sentiment and corny humor the way Capra can - but if anyone else should learn to, kill him.
