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DETAILS

MPAA Rating - NR

Length:
    121 Minutes

Genre:
    Comedy Drama

Original Release Date:
    Feb 13, 2001

Director
    Frank Capra

Cast
    Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward Arnold, Walter Brennan, Spring Byington

 
Movie Summary
The first of director Frank Capras independent productions (in partnership with Robert Riskin), Meet John Doe begins with the end of reporter Ann Mitchells (Barbara Stanwyck) job. Fired as part of a downsizing move, she ends her last column with an imaginary letter written by John Doe. Angered at the ill treatment of Americas little people, the fabricated Doe announces that hes going to jump off City Hall on Christmas Eve. When the phony letter goes to press, it causes a public sensation. Seeking to secure her job, Mitchell talks her managing editor (James Gleason) into playing up the John Doe letter for all its worth; but to ward off accusations from rival papers that the letter was bogus, they decide to hire someone to pose as John Doe: a ballplayer-turned-hobo (Gary Cooper), wholl do anything for three squares and a place to sleep. John Doe and his traveling companion The Colonel (Walter Brennan) are ensconced in a luxury hotel while Mitchell continues churning out chunks of John Doe philosophy. When newspaper publisher D.B. Norton (Edward Arnold), a fascistic type with presidential aspirations, decides to use Doe as his ticket to the White House, he puts Doe on the radio to deliver inspirational speeches to the masses -- ghost-written by Mitchell, who, it is implied, has become the publishers mistress. The central message of the Doe speeches is Love Thy Neighbor, though, conceived in cynicism, the speeches strike so responsive a chord with the public that John Doe clubs pop up all over the country. Believing he is working for the good of America, Cooper agrees to front the National John Doe Movement -- until he discovers that Norton plans to exploit Doe in order to create a third political party and impose a virtual dictatorship on the country. The last of Capras social statement films, Meet John Doe posted a profit, although Capra and Riskin were forced to dissolve their corporation due to excessive taxes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide


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