Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Directed by Frank Capra
After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.
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What critics compared Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to
Darabont’s lead characters in Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, and The Majestic all bring to mind classic James Stewart roles from It’s a Wonderful Life and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
In Bridge of Spies, which was co-written by Matt Charman and Ethan and Joel Coen, Spielberg does quite the opposite by elevating a seemingly ordinary man, a Boston-based insurance lawyer named James Donovan, to the kind of everyman-heroic level associated with James Stewart in his Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) heyday.
Think Mr. Smith Goes to Washington meets Inception, with a love story thrown in: Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau.
A famous example is that of James Stewart, in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), toying with the brim of his hat to indicate social awkwardness, and the sight of Hopkins, in “The Father,” pottering about the kitchen, filling the kettle and unpacking groceries, casts a comparable spell.
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And his populism pushed both Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939) and Meet John Doe into perilous territory.