You forget: In the primary reality Nick * was * Martin’s employee, in the nice little town of Bedford Falls, with no ‘men looking to get drunk in a hurry.’ Martini didn’t have the jazz piano; he had the juke box, playing bright, festive Italian music. It was a nice little place; Martini did not want fights in his establishment, and George Bailey was an old friend. So he and Nick kicked Welch out. I would love to have a business like that–but with no Welches.
I showed it to my students in my high school film class two weeks ago. None of them had ever heard of it, let alone seen it. Also, they HATE black and white movies.
They all loved it. 
I had never seen it when my older brother invited our sister and me to watch it on TV one morning. I was 13 at the time; I had never heard of any of the actors, except for seeing * Vertigo * in a movie house in the 50s, with Jimmy Stewart. I cried at the ending, of course; and the movie has become a permanent favorite. 
Bumped.
Did you know there was a 1977 gender-reversed It’s A Wonderful Life starring Marlo Thomas (and Wayne Rogers and Orson Welles)?
Never seen it, but decided to read this thread. Without context, this guy sounds like an asshole. Sounds like he’s deliberately keeping someone else uncomfortable and embarrassed so he can get an eyeful. Hope that’s not it.
I’ve heard of such people but wasn’t sure they actually existed.
The next time I watch it, I’m going to compile a list (which I’ll post) of every rationalization George gives as to the weird stuff that’s going on. “Bad liquor…are you a hypnotist…everybody else is crazy…”
I also love the 1940’s lifestyle assumptions that just don’t fly today. To wit:
An unmarried woman in her 30’s is an “old maid” and must wear glasses and men’s clothes.
Someone who loses their business and declares bankruptcy will go insane and live their days in an asylum.
Police are justified in firing their weapon down a crowded street, to bring down a drunk-and-disorderly suspect.
I always liked the assumption that potter would of turned the town into the Midwest bowery if it wasn’t for George ……and remeber this is one of the movies that became “classic” because the copyrights ran out and everyone played it endlessly until the early 2000s
It’s the movie that earned Alfalfa his Academy Award.
I have always liked it. I was disappointed when it was stolen out of the public domain, so now it’s hardly ever on anymore.
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I’ve always liked Norm’s comment about the movie on Cheers!: “Trust me as an accountant, you lose $8000 of other people’s money and nobody’s gonna come bail you out!”*
My favorite moment in the movie is when George’s brother splashes that Japanese airplane.
*Or words to that effect.
I’ve been on this message board for nearly twenty years, and that is the NICEST “cite?” that I could ever hope to see!
You go, Frylock! You’re keeping Capra’s spirit alive! 
Not only that, she becomes the…librarian! Oh, the horror! She must have had some spooky connection to George, as she couldn’t find any other guy in the entire universe to marry?
It’s not without film precedent -look at the merry-go-round scene in Strangers on a Train. Cops not only shoot into a crowd, it’s a crowd with kids!
Maybe that was standard police procedure? The reason police protocols don’t allow shooting into crowds isn’t because people all of a sudden got smart, but because cops killed too many innocent bystanders. Like all safety rules, someone had to die before they were made.
Mind you, I like the movie a lot. but you see it enough times and the weaknesses start to show.
The thing that bugs me about George’s character isn’t that he’s a doormat, but that he’s a bully! Look at his behavior during the war. He goes power mad as air raid warden with his whistle. Give a wimpy guy a little power and he becomes a dictator.
It isn’t like there were any German bombing runs on upstate New York.
Especially given she had a boyfriend before that who would have been a good choice to give her. Still, that part is so much shorter than I think it might have been easier to just leave her unmarried than to have to explain anything.
The main thing that gets me is how slow the movie is building up George’s life before we finally get to the main part. It’s just so different and violates the “rules” for where the structures go in movies.
Yet it so completely works.
I actually have the colorized version on my computer. I know, I know. It’s not the best. But I mess with the colors a bit and get something that’s just easier to make out than black and white without looking too garish. I never noticed so much of the details until they were in color.
[quote=“Elendil_s_Heir, post:224, topic:521638”]
Bumped.
Did you know there was a 1977 gender-reversed It’s A Wonderful Life starring Marlo Thomas (and Wayne Rogers and Orson Welles)?
It Happened One Christmas - Wikipedia
[/QUOTE]Whoa. When you say gender reversed, you mean it. I jumped around and saw the same scenes, heard mostly the same lines, even the same character names except Mary and George are reversed.
I suspect that movie is in copyright hell once It’s A Wonderful Life was found not to be in the public domain.
Well, obviously the Luftwaffe never attacked Bedford Falls because they knew George was on the job.
That was the only part I liked.
Your hope is going to be dashed.
That’s not really it. He was being a jerk, but he wasn’t doing it just to get an eyeful. He was teasing. He wasn’t really going to sell tickets.
George was just an overgrown kid. Like a dog chasing a car, George didn’t know what to do with the girl now that he caught her. So he did stupid shit like tease her because he thought it was cute or funny. It wasn’t, of course, but he wasn’t doing it maliciously. If anyone had actually come along, George would have protected Mary.
Just kiss her, you fool!
What?
Aw, youth is wasted on the young!
Socialist? I don’t recall any characters advocating for state control of the means of production, even implicitly.