Watch Mr. Deeds Goes to Town For Free

Nice effects though.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It was perhaps inevitable that Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" should find itself on the list of my personal Top 10 Favorite Films. The director himself appears no fewer than five times on my list of Top 100 Favorite Films, more than any other director (with the exception of Billy Wilder), those films being "It Happened One Night" (1934), "Deeds," "You Can't Take It With You" (1938), "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) and, of course, the perennial favorite "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946). The male lead of "Mr. Deeds," Gary Cooper, appears four times in my Top 100 Films list, not only in "Deeds," but also in "The Plainsman" (1936), "Sergeant York" (1941) and "High Noon" (1952). And as for the female lead in "Mr. Deeds," why, it is Jean Arthur, my favorite comedienne of the '30s and '40s, who, with her adorably cracked voice and clean-scrubbed good looks, appears more than any other actress in my Top 100: not only in "Mr. Deeds," "Mr. Smith," "The Plainsman" and "You Can't Take It With You," but also in Billy Wilder's wonderful 1948 offering "A Foreign Affair," as well as in George Stevens' classic 1953 Western "Shane," which would be Arthur's final film. Anyway, as I say, with all those favorite talents both behind and in front of the camera, perhaps it was a foregone conclusion that I would love "Mr. Deeds," and such is surely the case. The film has been a personal favorite of this viewer for almost 40 years now, ever since I first saw it on television back in the mid-'70s. Since that time, I have seen it repeatedly on VHS, DVD and the big screen, and the film never fails to both charm and elicit big laughs. For me, it is Capra's finest piece of work, in a career filled with so many gems.For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the story line of this wonderful picture (and it is a pretty complex one, with multiple plot threads that I will endeavor to summarize in a nutshell), it introduces us to a very special inhabitant of (the fictitious small town of) Mandrake Falls, Vermont. He is Longfellow Deeds (Cooper), an amateur tuba player (whose favorite melody to toot out is apparently "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow," which becomes the theme song of the film) and greeting-card writer, who, to his vast amazement, is made the heir of $20 million by a deceased uncle. Deeds, after inheriting this enormous windfall, is brought to NYC and is subjected by various interests to all manner of pressures. Distant relatives crawl out of the woodwork, hoping for a share of the loot, while a large newspaper sends reporter "Babe" Bennett (Arthur) to get the scoop on what makes Deeds tick. Pretending to be a destitute and homeless woman named Mary Dawson, Babe works her way into Deeds' confidence, meanwhile writing a series of articles mocking his eccentric ways (such as jumping on a speeding fire truck for a ride) and dubbing him the "Cinderella Man." The innocent Deeds quickly falls in love with Mary (who wouldn't?), and is fairly devastated when he eventually learns the truth about her. Ultimately, he decides to give all his money away to the poor and needy, in the form of 10-acre farm plots that the destitute will tend for a period of three years, after which the land will be theirs. This, naturally, causes an outrage amongst the various interested parties, resulting in a courtroom hearing to determine Deeds' very sanity. Sunk in despair over both Mary and this disheartening turn of events, Deeds cannot even offer a word in his own defense, but ultimately does manage to rally and rise to the occasion...."Mr. Deeds," surprisingly enough, was only a moderate box office success after its initial release in April 1936, although it did garner several Oscar nominations and did manage to cop Capra his second Academy Award for Best Director. The film was nominated for Best Picture, ultimately losing to "The Great Ziegfeld" (highway robbery, sez me), and Cooper was nominated for the first of five times as well, losing to Paul Muni's performance in "The Story of Louis Pasteur" (still haven't seen that one, so I cannot comment on whether or not Cooper was robbed or not). It is difficult to say just why the film was not more profitable at the time, although today it is deemed something of a comedy classic, even generating a 2002 remake starring Adam Sandler. (Nope, haven't seen it, and don't need to.) It certainly was not due to a lack of star power, as Cooper and Arthur were both never better than they are here. Arthur plays almost two separate roles in the film: the "sweet and innocent" Mary, as well as the tough-as-nails reporter. She is absolutely wonderful, and it is very hard to imagine the part being played by Carole Lombard, as great a comedienne as SHE was; Lombard was the intended actress for the role, but dropped out to appear in the equally classic '30s comedy "My Man Godfrey." And Cooper is just as ingratiating as can be, with his handsome Montana looks, sweet and gentle demeanor, and soft-spoken vocal delivery. How wonderful he is in the scene in which he gives a recently dispossessed farmer a meal in his palatial digs, and first gets the idea to help the impoverished with his vast fortune! This is a film that plays into what must be a very common fantasy for all of us: What would I do if I ever won a fortune in money? Would I spend it all on myself, give it all away to charity, lavish it on my friends, or what? As this film shows us, being charitable with a huge sum of money is not so simple a proposition as it initially appears."Deeds" also boasts a truly winning script from Robert Riskin, the screenwriter who collaborated with Capra on so many winning films over the course of three decades: "Lady for a Day" (1933), "It Happened One Night," "Broadway Bill" (1934), "Lost Horizon" (1937), "You Can't Take It With You," "Meet John Doe" (1941, and featuring still another wonderful Cooper performance), and finally, "Pocketful of Miracles" (1961)...not to mention another of my personal favorite films of the 1930s, "The Whole Town's Talking," which Riskin penned for John Ford; a film starring the great Edward G. Robinson in a double role, as well as Jean Arthur in her breakthrough. The film manages to deliver any number of wonderful scenes, the most touching of which being the one in which Longfellow Deeds reads a love poem that he has written to Mary, and then abruptly runs away in embarrassment, knocking over a garbage can in the process; the funniest of which perhaps being that lengthy sanity hearing, in which two very eccentric biddies from Mandrake Falls give evidence to support the notion that Deeds truly is what they call "pixilated." The picture features a raft of wonderful supporting players who add immeasurably in putting the whole conceit over, including the ubiquitous Charles Lane as a seedy lawyer; the dependably hissable Douglas Dumbrille, who has rarely been better, here as Cedar, the manipulative attorney of Deeds' late uncle; gravel-voiced Lionel Stander, as the person who is picked by Cedar to chaperone Deeds around and keep him out of trouble in the big city (good luck with that!); and Mayo Methot (who would go on to be Mrs. Humphrey Bogart from 1938 - '45), here playing a grasping relative of Longfellow, and the person who starts the ball rolling on his sanity hearing. But the bottom line is that the qualities that truly put "Mr. Deeds" over are charm, sweetness and big laughs in abundance. Some may refer to it using the old and cliched put-down "Capra-corn," but for this viewer, it is a genuine crowd-pleaser that is well near impossible to resist. "It Happened One Night" might have won more Oscars, and "It's a Wonderful Life" might be the fan favorite in this modern-day 21st century, but for me, "Mr. Deeds" is still at the head of the pack. For he's a jolly good fellow, indeed!

Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper) is a beloved tuba-playing greeting card writer in the tiny Mandrake Falls in Vermont. When his forgotten banker uncle Martin Semple dies, he is the sole benefactor of the $20 million fortune. His uncle's scheming lawyer John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) brings him back to NYC and tries to hide his firm's stealing by getting him to sign the power of attorney. Ex-newspaperman Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander) tries valiantly to keep him out of bad PR trouble. Everybody is trying to take advantage of him thinking he's a small town simpleton. He wants to give away the fortune and rescue a damsel in distress. Ace reporter Babe Bennett (Jean Arthur) insinuate into his life by pretending to be poor girl Mary Dawson fainting in front of him. She starts writing articles giving him the nickname "Cinderella Man" which he hates.Gary Cooper is the everyman nice guy. He has a childlike wonder and a upstanding persona while maintaining a sincerity in his performance. Jean Arthur is terrific as a real broad and the heart winning love. Lionel Stander takes a consolation prize for his hard talking character. It's a simple premise that Capra uses to elevate the nobility of the common man. It does turn serious which is a bit jarring in tone. It doesn't have the same resonance as when it was made during the Great Depression.

*** This review may contain spoilers ***Capra just knew how to do it. The 30s were his decade, and by the end of it, he had 3 Academy Awards to call his own (and may even have won one more for Mr Smith, if it wasn't for Gone with the Wind). Everything about this movie is perfect. The pacing, the dialogue, the acting, the plot.Gary Cooper is wonderful as the idealistic small town tuba player who inherits a small fortune and has to move to the big city, where he'll soon become ''the victim of every conniving crook in town''. Like most of Capra's heroes, he's a playful man-child who slides down bannisters, chases fire engines and grins on hearing echoes. And although he's not as naive as the lawyer Mr Cedar initially hopes, he's genuinely confused by the cynic attitudes of the people around him. Cooper plays beautifully, is convincingly bashful, funny and heartbroken over the course of the film, and really deserved his Academy Award (the close-up of Longfellow's reaction on hearing of Babe's betrayal is especially praiseworthy).But having said that, Jean Arthur's performance is equally brilliant as the cynic reporter who worms her way into Deeds's confidence and writes insulting articles about the ''Cinderella Man'' behind his back, only to fall in love with him herself. Babe's transformation is utterly credible, and beautifully done, so you can't help but root for her in the end.The rest of the cast is superb too, of course, particularly Lionel Stander, George Bancroft and Ruth Donnelly.Mr Deeds is Capra's first film where he consciously tries to bring across his ideas to the public, ideas which champion the little man, the insignificant man, the individualist.I first saw this at the age of 14, and it just blew me away, because it's just so much more sophisticated than the majority of the comedies produced today (although Mr Deeds can't really be classified as just a comedy – that's another wonderful thing about it.) Anyway, it was this film that got me into all the classics of the 30s and 40s, and then eventually, into all kinds of films in general.

Frank Capra struck gold again in this hilarious and heartfelt comedy/drama starring Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds, a simple(yet shrewd) small-town Vermont resident who inherits a great deal of money from his uncle. He moves to the city, where he quickly becomes the target of moochers and swindlers, whom he unexpectedly outwits, but meets his match in cynical female reporter Babe Bennett(played by Jean Arthur) who fools Deeds into thinking she loves him, and gets exclusive material for her cruel headlines. When his right-hand man Cornelius Cobb(wonderfully played by Lionel Stander) wises him up about her, he becomes despondent, and becomes a target by those who claim he is insane in order to take the money away from him. Strange thing happened though: Babe realizes that she really does love him...Classic comedy is a complete joy from start to finish, with outstanding direction and performances, and an original and insightful script with many pertinent things to say about wealth and sanity, sincerity and phoniness that are just as true today. Not to be missed.