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The film I watched and am going to discuss is Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, which came out in 1939.  Smith was a very gullible man that was asked to fill a spot in the US senate. In the movie, Mr. Smith was manipulated so they could get the bill to pass. When he first goes to Washington, most of the people like him there and he meets a girl. When this movie came out, the United States congress did not like it and talked bad about it. They did not like it because it made the senators look really bad and gave them a bad name. The film made the American government seem pro-communist and anti-American. The movie represented the corruption of the United States government. Alben W. Barkley was a democrat and the Senate Majority Leader in 1939. He called the film “silly and stupid”. He felt as if it made the Senate look like crooks. This movie was such an outrage that a journalist attempted and suggested that senate should pass a bill basically giving movie theaters the option to not show the film at the theater because it does not represent the government in a positive light. This film was banned in Spain, Germany, Italy, and the USSR. This movie is called a “whistleblower” because they were telling on the government. By definition, a whistleblower is a person who exposes misconduct, alleged dishonest or illegal activity occurring in an organization. Obviously, the storyline fits the definition perfectly.

The governor has to choose someone to take Sam Foley’s spot and after flipping a coin and it landing on the edge, he chooses Smith because he thinks it will make the people happy and Smith is easy to manipulate. Because Smith is so naïve, the press easily took advantage of him and made him look like a fool through headlines. Smith comes up with a bill aimed to allow a loan by the federal government to buy some land for a camp. However, Paine already has the same land as part of a graft scheme framed by the Taylor “political machine’. Paine is in support of this scheme. Then, Paine makes Smith look bad by trying to say that he already owns the land in question. Smith was shocked and ran away from the situation. Just before the vote to remove Smith, he talks for twenty-four hours straight. He was trying to convince the Senate of the true motives of the whole scheme. However, none of the Senators were convinced. Smith is determined to convince them of his innocence, and he then faints. Pain then feels very guilty and tries to kill himself. The other senators stopped him, and then Paine finally burst in and admitted everything he did wrong, said he should be expelled, and told everyone that Smith was innocent. The main themes of the film are high ideals, patriotism, having the courage to fight for what's right and the little guy making good against impossible odds.