Why do they keep greeting each other with “HeeHaw!” in the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life”? They do it as kids and adults. What does it mean?
They are “admitting” to being jackasses. As youth, they are simply playing around, but then it is simply an in-joke carried forward through the years, with Sam Wainwright calling George Bailey an ass for being a sucker that does not go out and get rich while Sam is also a bit jealous of George’s decency and the sort of friendship that it garners.
(By the way, if you continue to check back on your thread, don’t be surprised if you find it has been moved to the Cafe Society Forum, which is where just about all questions regarding film, TV, radio, stage, books, etc. belong.
I don’t agree with Tom that it’s an informal admission to being jackasses.
Here’s my theory. The early years of the movie takes place during the highwater mark of fraternal organizations (…you know, like the Shriners…) in America. Most of these groups have largely withered away today, but in the early 20th century they were hugely popular in small towns much like the mythical Bedford Falls. These groups had silly “members only” rituals – think secret handshakes, or even better, the raccoon tail shake that Ralph and Norton perform on The Honeymooners when they meet fellow lodge members. This, IMHO, is what the Hee-Haw is all about to the circle of George Bailey’s pals: their little “fraternal” greeting ritual. And they carry it into their adult lives as a vestige of their childhood friendship.
tiramisu11, as tomndebb mentioned, questions about movies, music, etc. belong in the Cafe Society forum.
I’ll move this for you.
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-xash
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I agree with stuyguy. But it’s also telling that it is really only Sam Wainwright who carries it into adulthood. He’s the eternal frat boy who gets all the breaks while George is was “born older” and gets all the responsibilities.
Anybody ever consider that it’s a play on Sam’s name? Samuel…. Sam “Mule”…. Seems legit to me!
18 years! This thread is an old mossback.
I figured it was just something the weird kid (Sam) did that later he figured he couldn’t stop doing because everyone expected it.
He’s got more money than Carter’s got pills, but he’s insecure. He fears no one likes him. Unlike Potter, Sam became the class clown. Potter just for meaner.
Frederick Opper, the famous Hearst cartoonist, had a comic character named “Maud the Mule.” She would inevitably end up kicking someone in the rear, and would ALWAYS exclaim in the final frame “HEE-HAW!” My theory, judging by the age and timeline, that as kids, they (or at least Sam) read the funnies, and latched on to Maud’s tagline. 
I am hoping this is considered answered enough that I can safely ask if anyone else thought that there might be a show with the residents of Cornfield County (the TV show included Junior Semples, Grandpa, Minnie Pearl, etc.) doing a take-off on the George Bailey story.
I know several of the major players have since gone to that great farm in the sky, and I was never a big Hee-Haw fan, but I would have watched this.
It’s A Wonderful Life trivia tidbit: Jimmy Stewart’s avian co-star was also named Jimmy. Jimmy The Crow (actually a raven) appeared in hundreds of films between 1938 and 1954, including The Bride Came C.O.D., You Can’t Take It With You, and The Wizard Of Oz