This classic movie starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur and Claude Rains was on one of the movie channels when my boyfriend and I sat down for a few moments prior to starting dinner preparations last night. He commented that he had never seen it all the way through, to which I responded that I had seen it from start to finish at least a dozen times, because I had shown it to my ninth-grade Civics classes (pardon me--Economic, Legal and Political Systems classes) year after year. Far from being disinterested, though, I was rushing to and from the kitchen not to miss what I knew to be the best parts. "No-watch this part!" I would say, not wanting him to miss the wonderful scene where James Stewart battles the clock and his own fatigue to avoid surrendering the Senate floor and his own reputation.
The amazing thing is that my students, for whom this movie was a minimum of 50 years old (I started teaching in 1989 and the film was produced in 1939) LOVED it. I'm sure part of this was due to the fact that they actually had to watch it--I was never one of those teachers who showed movies so they could catch up on their work--and they got a grade for staying awake and being attentive. I would also stop the film several times to make sure they understood what was happening and to discuss things which reinforced what they would previously have learned about the workings of Congress.
No matter how many times I showed "Mr. Smith," I was heartened by the way these 14 and 15-year-olds responded. Initially, they were glum, expecting to have to stare at some corny old movie for two class periods, knowing Ms. Shonosky would make it impossible for them to sleep. "It's in black and white?!" they would exclaim in horror. But little by little they were drawn in, still young enough that Jeff Smith's idealism spoke to them, and rooting, like most of us do, for the underdog. As old-fashioned as everything about the film is, they were willing to overlook it, because it became clear to them that they were watching something with genuine substance. The issues--political corruption, the evil inherent in framing an innocent man, the guts it takes to fight back, love, integrity--were as fresh as ever, not obscured by the out-of-date clothes and the 'gollies' and 'gee whizzes."
I think the kids liked the movie so much because the world they lived in (and I'd guess it's even worse now) was so filled with cynicism, and when it came to politics, well-founded cynicism. Something in them yearned to believe that such an honest man could exist, that there could actually be a Congressman like Jeff Smith, one who saw his service as an honor and a sacred trust with the people.
Maybe it's the kid in me, but I still yearn to believe that, too.
