Democracy Dies in Darkness

‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ still shapes the filibuster debate. That’s a problem.

The movie lionizes a pernicious tactic.

Perspective by
Landon Palmer is a film historian and an assistant professor in the department of journalism and creative media at the University of Alabama. He is the author of "Rock Star/Movie Star: Power and Performance in Cinematic Rock Stardom" (Oxford University Press).
January 27, 2022 at 10:19 p.m. EST
James Stewart clutches a wad of letters as Claude Rains looks on, both of the actors portraying senators on the floor of the U.S. Senate, in a still from director Frank Capra’s film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On May 15, 1987, Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd (D) delivered a speech to the U.S. Senate posing the rhetorical question, “Has there ever been a better movie about the Senate than Frank Capra’s 1939 classic ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’?”

Indeed, images from “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” have remained vivid in the public imagination, particularly those of the protagonist’s marathon filibuster at the climax of the film.