#7 It’s
A Wonderful Life
The Frank Capra classic is a holiday favorite of many. It’s
one of the oldest Christmas classics, and yet at the same time, it isn’t really
a holiday film. Christmas doesn’t really happen till the end of the film, and
isn’t a major factor throughout. Still, this film is closely connected to
Christmas and is a favorite of mine.
It’s a Wonderful Life is the story of George Bailey (Jimmy
Stewart). In fact, it is the entire story of George Bailey. George spends his
entire life working to ensure the welfare of others. When he is young, he saves
his younger brother after falling into ice, an act which causes him to lose his
hearing in one ear. As he grows older, George stops an elderly pharmacist from
putting the wrong chemical into pill capsules, and as he gets older, life has a
funny way of showing that George will not get all that he wants to get out of
life.
His father runs a The Bailey Building and Loan company in
Bedford Falls. The Building and Loan is one of the few establishments that haven’t
been corrupted by the town’s greedy miser, Potter (Lionel Barrymore).
As George
grows up, he wants to leave the town and set out on his own, but his father
wants him to stay at home and help run the Building and Loan. George hates his
town, but his father dies suddenly, and the trustees at the bank want to close
it unless George takes over. So, knowing Potter would take advantage of the
poor of Bedford Falls, George stays. He gives his brother his money for college
and stays home.
Throughout the movie, we are shown parts of George’s life.
He marries a beautiful girl, Mary Hatch (Donna Reed) and has a family, but the
whole time, he cannot escape the mundane life that he has found himself in.
While he is helping Bedford Falls, little by little, he cannot see the result
of his work.
It all comes to a head at Christmas in 1945. George’s Uncle
Billy (Thomas Mitchell) while going to the bank, loses a large deposit. This
puts the building and loan in a bind, and George panics as he doesn’t know what
to do when the bank examiners arrive.
He snaps at his family, and others, and finally, after
confronting Potter runs from the law, who is out to arrest him. He ends up
contemplating suicide by jumping off a bridge, but instead, his guardian angel,
Clarence (Henry Travers) jumps in before he does, which forces George to save
him.
George tells Clarence that he wishes he’d never been born,
and Clarence shows him what would have happened to Bedford Falls if that had
happened. George doesn’t know what to make of this bizarre world and town
(called Pottersville instead of Bedford Falls) and when he is shown what
happened to all those he helped; George begins to understand how important his
life has been for those in the town.
He returns home, grateful for the opportunities life has
afforded him, and he is greeted by his family and friends who surround him with
the means to get out of any financial hardships he is in.
It’s a Wonderful Life has been copied, and parodied many
times since its release. Marlo Thomas starred in a updated version in the 1970’s
(which is very good, but not sold for some reason) and SNL also did a great
parody of the film. Heck, even I found a way to parody the film at one point.
Still though It’s a Wonderful Life is a great film. It’s an
old film to be sure, and I know many people may not care for classic movies (Dennis
Beverly) but watching it today, you’d be surprised how well it holds up. The
themes throughout the film are universal, and are simple enough to identify
with. The acting is superb and executed flawlessly, and the story is relevant
today as ever before.
There are times when we get so caught up in our own
personal crap that we forget how our mere existence impacts others around us. I
try to take time and let people know, from time to time, how much they mean to
me personally, and how much I appreciate having known them and how much it
means to me that they’ve been a part of my life.
It may sound cheesy, and frankly, I don’t care. It’s a
Wonderful Life reminds us to appreciate what we have in front of us, because
you never know how much of an impact even the smallest gesture can have.
It’s a lesson that is more relevant today than ever before.
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