Just saw Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington for the very first time last night on Turner Classic Movies and, oh, I loved it so.  Mr. Smith’s first encounter with the Lincoln Memorial actually gave me chills.  Couldn’t find that on You Tube, which is a bummer since I wanted to rip it and post it here but okay, I found another Lincoln Memorial scene in that movie and posted that one instead.

Both Lincoln Memorial scenes are equally moving.  Well, okay, ‘equally moving’ might not be way to put it.  Both scenes tap the better angels of my nature, though.  And they do this in different ways and for different reasons.

At the stop of the second Lincoln Memorial scene (the one pasted below) Jeff Smith is down for the count and Lincoln, by way of Saunders –in a manner of speaking—get him back on his feet again.  Hope rises from the ashes in the form of a non-ironic Hollywood ending.

If I could do this w/ my characters -even strive to do it in a sincere way- I would actually be able to reach my potential as a scriptwriter.

“It’s a forty foot dive into a tub of water
but I think you can do it”