by Deborah Giffin, VATP Chair of Direct Legislative Action (DLA)
After the hubbub of the primary elections are past, you might want to take a break and chill out and watch some movies. This article is a recommendation of outstanding movies to watch or re-watch if you have seen them in the past. For the younger folks, watching black and white movies on Turner Classic Movies is an introduction to movies they have never seen. For us older folks, it is revisiting some of the best cinema created.
The first of the two movies you should consider watching is Mister Smith Goes to Washington (1939). Yes, it is dated, but so many archetypes are on display to remind us that there is not much new under the sun. What captivated me upon re-watching was the excitement of Jimmy Stewart as Mr. Jefferson Smith upon his first coming to Washington, DC. He is excited and overwhelmed by the history and the monuments. I wonder what he would think today with so many monuments being destroyed, removed, or covered with awful graffiti. His is a story of the Everyman, a good-hearted American sent to Congress by a political machine that thought he would be an easily controlled rube. Instead, he becomes a voice of conviction to his cause.
The second movie is different and perhaps not as well-known. Andy Griffith stars in A Face in the Crowd, the story of Lonesome Rhodes, a drunk bum turned into a media star and “Everyman” of a different sort. Found by chance, interviewed on the radio, his wit and charm turned him into a star. His rise was due to a woman who loved the witty, charming side of him, and who forgave his deep character flaws for far too long. He moved to television, got his own show, and was being put forward as a viable political candidate based on his popularity and homespun wit and demeanor. In this case, his flawed character was his downfall, and the media was the means of his exposure.
And as an added suggestion, if you want a more contemporary movie to entertain you, check out Being There (1979), the next-to-last movie Peter Sellers made. The story of Chance the Gardner is quite entertaining, as his only view of the world comes from watching television. Everyone he meets projects their ideas and conclusions onto the blank slate that he offers them. Once again, powers-that-be determine that he would make a great political candidate.
