Film

With his trademark golly-gee charm, James Stewart plays a naïve local hero shocked by the entrenched government corruption he witnesses while campaigning to establish a national boys' camp. Attacked upon its release for being un-American, this populist classic has since been canonized on AFI's list of top five inspirational films. With seen-it-all skeptic Arthur as his foil, Stewart's boundless energy-culminating in a frenzied three-day filibuster that still brings the house down-makes Mr. Smith Goes to Washington an iconic portrait of all-American idealism.