Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Reviews and Ratings


  • jam233
    September 10, 2009
    jam233
    This is one of Frank Capra's best, and one of the best "feel good" films ever. The performances are outstanding, the writing sublime and one of the best classics ever. Delightful from start to finish.
  • elviraalejandro
    September 5, 2009
    elviraalejandro
    Magnificent performances in a magnificent story.Indispensable.
  • joaoprp
    May 12, 2009
    joaoprp
    This one is a great movie. Deed's a likeable character who stands for what we should all stand for.
    The laughs at the end of the movie kind of throw me away and the pacing of the movie isn't all that great but still, the characters are always top-notch.
  • SaintFrancisofAssisi
    February 16, 2009
    SaintFrancisofAssisi
    Do not judge on the surface.
  • lovablemisanthrope
    November 20, 2008
    lovablemisanthrope
    A good Capra classic.
  • kcddck
    November 12, 2008
    kcddck
    I'm not too sure if I would call this movie a comedy, but it is quite a chamring movie to watch and I did enjoy it quite a bit. This is the first movie that I have ever seen with Gary Cooper and I thought that he was a pretty good actor. A pretty decent story and not played too...( read more) over the top that many movies from the thrities and forties are known for.
  • Ghettofab75
    October 6, 2008
    Ghettofab75
    i didn't know there was an old version to Mr Deeds with Adam Shandler..
  • kenstachnik
    April 4, 2008
    kenstachnik
    So much better then I was expecting!

    A really funny, touching and surprising film that just makes you smile! One of Capra's best.

    Does anyone think Daniel Craig stole his DNA from Gary Cooper?
  • kurosawian
    March 10, 2008
    kurosawian
    A wonderful story that is uplifting, charming and smart. Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur are a joy to behold. The Adam Sandler remake can't hold a candle to this classic. Capra at his best.
  • holmennnguy
    March 8, 2008
    holmennnguy
    Another Frank Capra classic, and a favorite of mine. It's very underrated and is far superior to the remake starring Adam Sandler. There are quite a few funny parts, and is a very original movie that was copied many times.
  • FangsFirst
    January 9, 2008
    FangsFirst
    I've gotta say one stupid thing first--how on earth did one man end up making two films with titles that are formatted as "Mr. [So-and-so] Goes to [Such-and-Such]"? It's not a simple issue of two nouns joined by a conjunction, or a subject and an intransitive verb, or something e...( read more)lse similarly simple--or even a person performing the same action, but specifically a male specifically travelling to a location. On the same thread, I would suggest that, upon viewing this one, I feel that Mr. Deeds Comes to Town would have been a more appropriate title, which I will explain in good time.

    The beginning of the film is our old favourite trick--the newspaper headline spinning into focus. It seems a wealthy magnate named Martin Semple has fallen prey to vehicular trauma, leaving a fortune of $20 million dollars--especially keeping in mind this is set during the Depression--to his pseudo-estranged nephew Longfellow Deeds (Gary Cooper), a man who lives in the small town of Mandrake Falls, Vermont and writes greeting and postcard poetry, playing the tuba in the town band. Lawyer John Cedar (Douglass Dumbrille) takes the extremely cynical Cornelius Cobb (Lionel Stander--wait, Kup?!*), who is employed as the man to keep stories out of the newspaper for the late Semple, to find Mr. Deeds and inform him of his inheritance. We quickly learn that Cedar's motivations are less than pure--he wants power of attorney over the money so that he and his croneys (Cedar, Cedar, Cedar and Budington--the last of whom Deeds can never figure out a rhyme for) can control it themselves, and once Deeds comes into town, we find that everyone is willing to try anything and everything to get their hands on the money that means so little to Deeds himself. He almost shrugs when informed, saying, "That is an awful lot, isn't it?" and continuing to thoughtfully oomph phblatt on his tuba. Louise "Babe" Bennett (Jean Arthur) poses as one "Mary Dawson" to get close to Deeds, hoping to earn a month long paid vacation from her editor in the process, finding herself--you saw this coming, right?--falling madly for the sweetly naïve, loveable, yet fairly intelligent Deeds.

    Once again, Capra and constant screenwriter Robert Riskin (husband of legend Fay Wray--star of the original 1933 King Kong) have tasked themselves with an honesty versus cynical greed sort of story. We have another honest man, this time the unbelievably, ridiculously honest Deeds, going up against the entire world, which is so steeped in its own jaded egocentric values that it literally tries to label the man insane for wanting to give to his fellow man. Over a half of the films in the set of Capra movies I bought were scripted by Riskin, and I have no complaints about this. His screenplays are fantastic, always with snappy comebacks that feel fresh--even over seventy years later, and dialogue for romance that, too, does not find itself mired in cliché or grasping at straws. Capra, too, remains in control, bringing a believability to the character of Deeds which would otherwise be nearly impossible to swallow.

    Cooper, who I had previously only seen in High Noon, brings a similar countenance (of course, it is his own!) to the role, but by that I mean more his tendency to constantly look dour, rarely smiling and always seeming as if there's an awful lot on his mind, troubling him. It works though, he may or may not be aware of this part of his appearance, but it never affects our impression of the personality and character of Deeds. Despite this seeming somberness throughout, we take him as a good-hearted and kind man anyway, when he "aw, shucks" his way through many a scene, always seeming perfectly sincere in it. Arthur brings the "tough reporter lady who softens when she sees a real human being" type character to life quite well, which is pleasing to see as she apparently is going to continue on into the last two films in this set as well. Stander is excellent as the tough, sarcastic, suspicious Cobb--while I saw early on that he would be the lone voice consistently defending Deeds, it never felt overly scripted, nor poorly played. It seemed utterly natural for his character to cling to someone like Deeds, who he could easily tell was the real deal, but to be protective and scolding of him at the same time, fearing in his way that the world around them would ruin him, and hoping to instill in him at least some semblance of self-preservation. It's for that reason, that Deeds is the stranger, that I suggested earlier that the verb should have been "Comes" instead of "Goes"--Deeds is the stranger to our reality, coming into it, not going out into another one, and it is him, while we are proud of him and admire him, that we feel is out of touch with reality. This is, I must admit, pretty amusingly balanced by the few things he will protect himself over--a run in with some pompous poets who decide to mock him ends with Deeds on top, despite the fact that he is fooled temporarily by these men.

    Again, as everyone suggests of Capra, this is a fanciful, fairy tale world in its way, but he doesn't shy away from negativity all the same. Deeds is told that violence is not an appropriate response, and though it is a light-hearted approach to it, it is still there and not (exactly) seen as a positive, though we most certainly cheer when some get theirs. Murder comes about in at least discussion in the previous two films I've seen, and here we open the film with a death. It's not all flowers and rainbows here, though there's a much more clear delineation as to who is good and who is bad--but at the same time, hearts can change. I know some people hate this for its lack of reality--possibly being unable to accept these things out of their own pessimistic view of humanity, or possibly out of a jealous envy of the world in which these characters live, but I do feel that in forms expressed so well as Capra's films, there's no problem with taking a dip into a more optimistic world and seeing some good, even if it's written.

    Sidenote: Pixilated? The subtitles spelled it that way (I had to make sure I was really hearing that word) but some sites spell it "pixellated"--and clued me into the fact that not only did this film popularize that term, but also "doodling." Fascinating, I must say, though the Faulkner sisters' definition of being "touched by pixies" is a far cry from an image which has broken down into its most basic elements. Interesting, then, that the word was so wholely replaced, as I see little if any connection--and certainly the pixellated I'm familiar with, the latter definition, is derived from the elements being "pixels"--but perhaps that term is related to pixies. I suppose I should go look that up....

    *OK, I know this is totally bizarre for someone to be raving about Frank Capra and to be excited that he just saw the man behind the voice of a Transformer, and I'm a total goof, but I can't help it.
  • KnightRuler
    December 25, 2007
    KnightRuler
    was good to see a classic like this and compare it the remake made in this era. i enjoyed it
  • cyberturnip
    December 9, 2007
    cyberturnip
    Good fun with a warm heart and infinitely superior to the Adam Sandler remake, but lacking in alot of ways including the character of Deeds who's kind of all over the place.
  • shokwave1
    December 1, 2007
    shokwave1
    Another Capra classic. Far superior to the more comical re-make. Still funny but full of true heart and emotionally uplifting performances. Not to be missed.
  • hugonar
    November 2, 2007
    hugonar
    Classified as a classic = Interested.
  • thesavvybamalady
    October 28, 2007
    thesavvybamalady
    What a quirky comedy. Cooper would play the nice guy who is always misunderstood. In this he plays a small town fella who finds out that he is the recipient of a windfall, goes to NYC, and becomes the laugh of the town.
  • hollistercali800
    October 28, 2007
    hollistercali800
    Gary Cooper or Adam Sandler....ummm hands town GARY COOPER!!!
  • buddingnovelist
    October 22, 2007
    buddingnovelist
    Fantastic! Why watch the Adam Sandler remake when you can have the original. Gary Cooper is wonderful!
  • x0hn0th3r4nc0rx
    October 11, 2007
    x0hn0th3r4nc0rx
    Out of all the movies I've seen with Gary Cooper (which isn't very many, I guess), this is his best. He is utterly convincing as Longfellow Deeds, the naive man who inherits an enormous fortune and doesn't know what to do with it. Although it is a wonderful comedy, it also shows ...( read more)the dark side of America's Great Depression, especially when Deeds decides to use his money for the poor and is declared insane. It's one of Frank Capra's best movies and one of the best films ever made.
  • AgentLexi2132
    September 14, 2007
    AgentLexi2132
    Could be worth a look interesting story there.
  • mentalfig
    September 1, 2007
    mentalfig
    Frank Capra was an auteur genius...watch this and It's A Wonderful Life back to back and you will believe too
  • VictoriaEGS
    August 30, 2007
    VictoriaEGS
    Complete and utterly delightful. Gary Cooper is perfection, Jean Arthur is one of the best female leads in the decade, and the entire film is not only funny and idealistic like the very best of Capra, but, all combined, makes one of the most adorable films ever made. And sigh to ...( read more)Gary Cooper.
  • ctguy
    August 8, 2007
    ctguy
    Gary Cooper was great in this favorite
  • jimmorrison713
    July 29, 2007
    jimmorrison713
    Sad to say this but I liked the remake much more. Some movies are just so old that the language makes you need an' inturpetor.
  • jagullo427
    July 22, 2007
    jagullo427
    A classic. Need I say more...
  • cousinsam92
    July 15, 2007
    cousinsam92
    never plan on seeing it
  • CloudIsAMonkey
    July 11, 2007
    CloudIsAMonkey
    Keh.

    You're not Adam Sandler!

    The public does not care for you.
  • MovieGuruDude72
    June 8, 2007
    MovieGuruDude72
    Loved this one. Cooper should have done more movies like this.
  • slabofmeatwithmittens
    May 31, 2007
    slabofmeatwithmittens
    This movie has such a great sotryline, everybody should see it!
  • mikesails
    May 27, 2007
    mikesails
    got to see this, LOL
  • mizzmmv
    May 21, 2007
    mizzmmv
    If only life were like a Capra movie - there would shy, cute millionaires for all of us!
  • weikel2000
    May 13, 2007
    weikel2000
    One of the all time great comedies. Blows the remake out of the water, Gary Cooper is great, and so is Jean Arthur, as always.
  • jonhironimus
    May 1, 2007
    jonhironimus
    Compare this original version to the Adam Sandler version.
  • magichelmet
    April 20, 2007
    magichelmet
    "They think he's pixilated."

    Gary Cooper embodies all the subtle charm and humility in the world as small towner, Longfellow Deeds. Immediately after he inherits 20 million dollars from his uncle, the vultures come out from the woodwork, intent on taking his money and rui...( read more)ning his reputation. In return, humble Deeds has his own ideas of how his money should be spent. A light-hearted and charming classic with a great message!

Summary

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town Summary