ABSTRACT
This chapter considers five films made over five decades: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Senator Was Indiscreet, Advise and Consent, The Seduction of Joe Tynan and Distinguished Gentleman to reveal several surprises about how America has viewed Congress for much of the century. The popular image of the place, although biting and angry from the start, has actually improved with time. The most reverent images of our legislative process did not come during the New Deal or World War II but in the 1960s (during the Kennedy era) and in the 1970s (after Watergate). Throughout these films, however, a few themes are constant. Politicians are often depicted as decent and well-meaning folks led astray by the system, by avarice, by power or by evil political brokers (usually businessmen). People usually recall Mr. Smith as a celebration of naive idealism, another example of Hollywood coping with the Depression by making fantasy and myth.
