BrainGlutton, that was a fascinating snippet from Clusterfuck Nation. Thanks!
No kidding! Small town, beautiful woman…she would have had men from miles around falling all over themselves wanting to marry her. Even if she were uber-picky AND a lesbian, if she wanted kids she would have picked one of them.
Ok ok, I didn’t say it was a scientific fact, that’s just how it strikes me emotionally.
Yeah, there’s that too. Even Hitler had friends. And he loved his dog.
I just read that. I like it!
From memory:
The movie, when originally made, was a flop. It wasn’t until around the early 1980’s that it became a hit. I remember seeing for the first time on PBS? around 1982 or so? Then it got repeated every frickin’ year. But, I still like(d) it.
Shedon Leonard played the bartender in the bar scene where George and Clarence get thrown out. He later went on to be the successful producer of The Dick Van Dyke Show and probably many more things.
He produced many popular shows. A list is here. I could have sworn he produced The Monkees, too, but it’s not listed.
I recall reading that the movie entered the public domain or something like that about 1980 and so could be shown without having to pay royalties and that that was the spark behind its resurgence.
Here is some great trivia about the movie. Possibly my favorite: “The movie drew fierce criticism for its political statements about post-WWII society when it was released in 1946. Even the FBI labeled it a ‘subversive’ movie and charged that its use of a nasty, Scrooge-like businessman ‘was a common trick used by communists’.”
But the link confirms what Tom Bosley said, that it was Beverly Hills High in the film. I was sure my father said it was his school, Hollywood High.
I really don’t like the movie. I don’t walk away thinking George Bailey is a success or rich in friends. He sacrificed his entire life for his family, and his friends, and that stupid town. He put his dreams on hold again and again and again until they utterly disappeared. He was completely taken advantage of, and throughout the entire film, it’s never clear that the people around him understand or appreciate what they’re doing to him. And yeah, he’s to blame for some of this. But he is inherently a good guy, and the people who knew him knew that, and so they thought there was nothing wrong with taking advantage of him.
Then at the end of the movie, for one night in his entire life, they finally come through for him, and I’m supposed to cry? Where were they when he wanted to go to college? Where were they when he wanted to take pictures for the National Geographic? Where were they when he wanted to go on his own honeymoon?
And you know, the next morning, everybody is going to go back to their usual ways. Uncle Billy is still going to be barely functional. Old Man Potter is still going to be looking for ways to fuck him over. George is still going to be stuck in that damned town until the day he dies.
And this is a cheerful Christmas story? It makes ME suicidal. The “this is what the world would be like without you” was completely manipulative, and let’s face it, just a reminder of how co-dependent everybody in George Bailey’s life is.
Kunstler isn’t the first one aware of this. His picture of latter-day Bedford Falls (and it’s alternate-universe alter ego, Pottersville) is actually not too far removed from Robert Zemekis’ depiction of Hill Valley in the Back to the Future movies. Like Kunstler’s contemporary Bedford Falls, the 1985 Hill Valley is a community “ravaged by suburban development” with its “main street towns … gutted and left for dead” since commercial business moved out to the mall on the edge of town. This is in stark contrast to the 1955 Hill Valley Marty McFly goes back to with its vibrant main street with busy merchants and eager-to-please service station attendants. The alternate 1985 Hill Valley is, of course, Pottersville on steroids–an inherently corrupt open city with “gin mills, strip clubs” and Biff Tanner’s massively tacky hotel-casino at its center.
Well said, pepperlandgirl.
If you live a long life you will bury wives, children and your friends. Nice to know you become a failure too.
It’s every father’s dream to outlive his child.
-Homer Simpson
I’m of two minds about this. Yes, I totally see what you’re saying. But part of me buys into the whole sappy, emotionally manipulative thing. ::sigh::
They did what they could, didn’t they? But most of them were mighty poor themselves, and George was too proud (apparently) to ask for a leg up from, say, Sam Wainwright. When George put down his whole honeymoon fund to keep the building & loan afloat in a financial crisis, his friends – just on the edge of destitution themselves, like most Americans on that day – arranged for him to have a honeymoon of sorts.
The post by pepperlandgirl (who I’m going to guess is under 35, perhaps much younger) illustrates the difference between people today and the generation that survived the depression and fought WWII.
I think 1946 audiences would say that George acted out of a sense of duty when he postponed or even sacrificed his dreams for the sake of the Building and Loan and the town of Bedford Falls. Carrying out your duty is not the same as being taken advantage of, and frankly, I think 1946 viewers would be puzzled, if not horrified, by the idea that anyone could confuse them.
If the people around him don’t constantly praise George and thank him for doing the right thing, that may be because they are also going about doing their duties, which may call for some sacrifice on their part. Individualism is all very fine, but there’s something to be said for altruism and a sense of community. And I think it’s clear that the people of Bedford falls hold George in high esteem and appreciate what he does for them. As BrainGlutton points out, Bert and Ernie go beyond the call of duty to give George and Mary a honeymoon, as one example.
The message of It’s a Wonderful Life is that doing the right thing and helping other people can yield greater rewards than pursuing our own selfish ends. That the apparently small efforts of a single person can have grand results. And that even if you don’t always see it, the people around you do love and appreciate you.
Some of these themes are not as popular – or even as obvious – today as they were in previous decades, unfortunately.
I… have never seen this movie, that I remember.
Are you me?
My question about the movie has to do with the ending. George Bailey is short $8000. Sam Wainwright telegrams that he can make $25,000 available. And people are STILL throwing money at him! I do find that odd.
Yes and no. Its box office gross was 26th out of more than 400 features released that year, i.e., it was in the top 7%. And it was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.
On the other hand, it was released during a general box office slump, and after six months it had not made back its expensive $2.3 million cost to Liberty Films, much less made a profit. On the verge of bankruptcy, Capra and his partners sold Liberty Film’s assets to Paramount.
The film’s images entered the public domain in 1975 due to clerical oversight by the copyright owner. However, because the film was derived from the published story “The Greatest Gift”, whose copyright was duly renewed in 1971, the film’s story was still under copyright.
Not so. An FBI analyst wrote and submitted a memo, without comment, recording an FBI source in the movie industry who said that about the film.
Interesting stats Walloon. Like **samclem **I had always heard it was a flop. This brings a little more clarity.
I liked the SNL skit with the “deleted ending” – somebody figures out what happened to the $8,000, and George and all his friends run over to Potter’s house and beat him to death.
Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.
Sounds like a slogan for recruiting gang members.
Well, not only that, but George didn’t put his “honeymoon” money into the bank so that everybody could withdraw it, he put his own money into his own business to keep it afloat.
His choice was to go on a vacation or to keep the family business a going concern. What good is a “vacation” if you know that the act of taking it is going to cost you your job? How relaxing is that?