Thread by @JerryDunleavy

Thinking about doing my annual live tweeting of It’s A Wonderful Life tonight

Alright it’s happening — LFG!

Prayers are up for George Bailey in Bedford Falls.

St. Joseph hears the intercession prayers of Bedford Falls. Clarence is brought in by God & St. Joseph to help George out.

“A man down on Earth needs our help.

“Splendid. Is he sick?”

“No, worse — he’s discouraged.”

George saved his brother’s life that day...

Mr. Potter sighting.

I swear the man is already 1,000 years old at the start of the movie.

Young Mary dragging Young Violet for liking every boy she sees. Young George dragging Young Mary for her bad food takes.

Young George begins his long tradition of telling Potter to go fuck himself.

The scene with Mr. Gower is tragic & powerful — the druggist is stricken with grief over losing his son to influenza, & so he makes what could’ve been a deadly mistake with the capsules. And our boy George is there to point it out & save some lives — the victims’ & Gower’s. King.

Jimmy Stewart is now on the scene. So young. So full of hope. About to get truly screwed over.

So... Bert suddenly wanting to go home and “see what the wife is doing” after seeing Violet on the street is a low key great joke that I didn’t understand the first time I saw this as a kid. “Ah, a family man,” Ernie quips.

The love between George’s father & him is established so easily— just a few words over the dinner table. Made sadder by the fact that (spoiler) these appear to be his last words to his dad. And the future George rejects at the table (Building & Loan) is one that he takes up soon.

“Do me a favor, will ya George? Well, you remember my kid sister Mary? … Just dance with her one time and you'll give her the thrill of her life.”

George is super skeptical til he sees it’s literally ***Donna Reed*** who is there with some schmuck who George just tells to GTFO.

Sorry for the pause. Had some Christmas duties to attend to. Now, where were we…

Ah yes, the Charleston contest.

“They’re cheering us — we must be good!”

Dudes Posting Their Ws

Strong Christmas gift.

Nosy Neighbor***: “Why don’t you kiss her instead of talking her to death?”

George: “You want me to kiss her, huh?”

Nosy Neighbor: “Oh, youth is wasted on the wrong people.”

***Wise & Astute & Scholarly Nosy Neighbor

Now the *problematic* scene with the hydrangea bushes.

The moment ended by the death of George’s father…

Remember this Potter — this rabble you talk about, they do most of the working & paying & living & dying in this community… Ppl were human beings to my father, but to you, a warped frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well in my book he died a much richer man than you'll ever be.

Great speech — saves the Building & Loan from Potter’s clutches, but forces George to give up college…

So after George’s father dies, George agrees to skip college to save the Building & Loan from Potter... then George’s brother basically backs out of his end of the agreement to come back and run the business while George finally gets his own chance to go to college. Frustrating.

George’s mom encouraging George to visit Mary: “Nice girl, Mary. The kind that will help you find the answers.” What else do you really need honestly.

Also when George brings up Mary is dating Sam, George’s mom reveals herself to be of the dating-ain’t-married school of thought.

One of the great unsolved mysteries of this film is where the gigantic crowd which magically materializes around George & Violet to laugh at George suddenly comes from. Who are these evil monsters?!?! We never learn.

George’s inability or refusal to take a hint from Mary is legendary. Never before seen levels of ignorant.

Listen, it owns super hard how much Mary’s annoying mother viscerally hates George.

“He’s making violent love to me mother!”

“You tell him to go right back home!”

Mary trying to loudly fake an enthusiastic “Hee-Haw” to Sam to make George jealous. We have all played these games. Recognize.

This convo that George has with Sam...so he very casually convinces Sam to open up a giant plastics factory in the mill that was shut down that had thrown half the town out of work. So not only does he swipe Mary from Sam but he also convinces him to send jobs back to the town.👑

Mr. Save Your Town & Steal Your Girl.

It gives me life to see how mad George’s future mother in law is when he starts making out with her daughter. The look of pure horror on her face.

After all he has given up, now giving up a honeymoon to save the town from being taken advantage of by Potter during a bank panic. It’s Mary who pulls the honeymoon money out when she realizes how important it is to George — right there by his side from Day One of their marriage.

Impossible not to notice the purposeful parallels between the bank run scene inside the Building & Loan, where George helps calm a panicked crowd with his money, and the scene inside the Bailey home at the end, where the same crowd helps out a panicked George with *their* money.

Listen you’ve gotta give Mary some huge credit for the “honeymoon suite.” Impressive work. Relationship goals.

Guy puts his hand out for a tip and broke George tips water from his hat into his open palm. Strong.

“Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.”

“Remember the night we broke the windows in this old house? This is what I wished for.”

“Martini, you rented a new house?”

“Rent? You hear what he said Mr. Bailey? I own the house! Me, Giuseppe Martini, I own my own house! No more we live like pigs in this Pottersfield.”

Me IRL after taking an eggnog break

Potter forces a congressman to wait outside as he & his henchman worry about Bailey Park challenging his grip on the town.

Sam Wainwright invites George & Mary to drive down to Florida for a vacay, but George makes it clear he can’t get away from the job like that. Kicks his car door shut in frustration.

Potter is terrified of George & tries to engage in mind games & play to his insecurities & buy him off, but our king cannot be bought, folks.

“You sit around here & spin your little webs & you think the whole world revolves around you & your money. Well it doesn’t, Mr. Potter.”

George keeps the free cigar tho, because, you know, a free cigar is a free cigar, and no take backs.

George says no to Potter’s offer and comes home to something so much better — Mary tells him he’s going to be a father.👑

Joseph: “Now you’ve probably already guessed it, but George never leaves Bedford Falls.”

Clarence: “Oh no!”

Potter takes over the draft board and you see him just randomly deciding who is sent off to war & who isn’t. Very normal & cool.

Harry Bailey shoots down fifteen enemy planes & saves a transport at sea full of Americans — but only because George saved him from the ice all those years ago!

Joseph: “Like everybody else, on VE Day, George wept & prayed. On VJ Day, he wept & prayed again.”

And now we’ve finally come to the fateful day that the movie started with — when the whole town was praying for George — and when George decides to end it all.

It is Christmas Eve in the film, to be exact.

Potter has to ***steal*** $8000 from the Building & Loan to try to finally beat George.

Also, we really do need to talk about the fact that Uncle Billy is a fairly bad employee TBQH

Uncle Billy doesn’t even remember talking to Mr. Potter? I mean come on bro! George’s anger here is 100% justified. “Do you realize what this means?! It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison!”

Seeing the years & years of frustration & longing & anger & disappointment wash over George Bailey at this moment is always so tough to watch, especially when he takes his hopelessness out on the kids.

Mary can spell frankincense off the top of her head? I need autocorrect every time. More like Mary Sue, amirite.

One thing that’s sad in the film is you only get to see George’s parenting at his worst when he is at his absolute lowest, though the scene with Zuzu & her petals is a brief respite from that & a glimpse into what George must usually be like with the kids, who clearly love him.

George takes responsibility for the lost money during his meeting with Potter despite it being Uncle Billy’s fault.

And Potter sure is pretty high & mighty in this meeting with George for a thief who ***just stole $8000***.

George (not a praying man) offers up a desperate prayer for help to God, and is almost immediately met with a punch right in the face.

I think many of us have been there before, at least metaphorically speaking.

“That’s what I get for praying.”

Apropos of nothing but certain libertarian types who consider Mr. Potter some sort of hero or good guy are legit insane.

Clarence has the genius plan to save George’s life by jumping into the water before George could — I’ll kill *myself* before George can kill *himself* — & of course it works, & George saves him instead of ending his own life.

“It’s against the law to commit suicide around here.”

George: “I suppose it would’ve been better if I’d never been born at all.”

Clarence: “What did you say?”

George: “I said I wish I’d never been born!”

Clarence: “Oh, you mustn’t say things like that…wait a minute…you’ve got your wish. You’ve never been born. You don’t exist.”

Important reminder that the whole alternate reality bit of the movie is actually pretty short — only twenty minutes or so.

“Hey look, mister, we serve hard drinks in here for men who want to get drunk fast, and we don't need any characters around to give the joint atmosphere — is that clear or do I have to slip you my left for a convincer?” This is what bartenders tell me all the time.

Mr. Gower is now a broken-down panhandler laughed at by the bar — because, without George to stop him on the day he got the telegram about his son’s death, Mr. Gower accidentally poisoned a kid to death & destroyed his own life too.

Sorry I need just one more drink and then we will crush the final stretch here.

George is pretty slow on the uptake here!

Zuzu’s petals gone — never existed, actually, just like her — devastating.

The house that Mary spent years fixing up and turning into a home is now an abandoned wreck.

And now George’s mom of course also has no memory of him either, which kills him too.

Clarence: “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives, and when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”

Bailey Park, instead of being a thriving respite from Potter’s slums, is now a graveyard … and George’s 8-year-old brother is buried there.

“Every man on that transport died! Harry wasn't there to save them, because you weren't there to save Harry. You see, George, you really had a wonderful life. Don’t you see what a mistake it would be to throw it away?”

“Mary it’s George! Don’t u know me? What’s happened to us?”

“I don’t know you!”

“Mary please. Help me. Where’s our kids? I need you Mary!”

This is what truly convinces him to live again. Town screwed. Brother dead. Kids don’t exist. His friends, Mom, & Mary don’t remember him.

“Help me Clarence! Get me back! Get me back! I don’t care what happens to me. Get me back to my wife and kids. Help me Clarence, please. Please. I want to live again. I want to live again. Please God, let me live again.”

HELLO BEDFORD FALLS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

George: “Hey, Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!”

Potter: “Happy New Year — in jail!”

men only want one thing

Thanks to Mary, Bedford Falls is squad’ing the eff up for George Bailey rn, doing for him in his time of need what he has done for them & the town his whole life.

“A toast to my big brother George — the richest man in town!”

“Thattaboy Clarence!”

The final truly unmatchable minute & a half of It’s A Wonderful Life.👇

My conclusion after watching, as always, is that It’s A Wonderful Life is the G.O.A.T. Christmas movie (even better than Die Hard!), that George & Mary are heroes, that you never know all the ways you’ve helped others, & that we should bring back drunkenly singing Auld Lang Syne.

Alright and here is SNL’s “Lost Ending” to It’s A Wonderful Life when Uncle Billy suddenly remembers that it was Potter who stole the $8,000.

Okay one final thing I never knew until today — Jimmy Stewart said that his tears in the scene where he is praying to God were real and unscripted. Amazing stuff.

guideposts.org/better-living/…