Five Best Jimmy Stewart Movies
Jimmy Stewart is one of my favorite actors of all time. He performed in nearly a hundred different films from the 1930s to the 1990s. He had a very recognizable voice and he was nominated for five Oscar Awards, winning one of them. In addition to his acting, Stewart also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran, who rose to the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Air Force Reserve. Stewart starred in all sorts of films. He was a family man, a lawyer, a gunslinger, and even a politician. What films were the best Jimmy Stewart movies? Did your choices make this list? Let us know!
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
(1946) This movie is a holiday classic shown each Christmas. Stewart plays the lead role as George Bailey, a savings and loan owner who tries to save his town from the evil banker, Mr. Potter. The movie is directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story, "The Greatest Gift" (1939), written by Philip Van Doren Stern. The film is considered one of the most inspirational and best loved movies in American cinema.
VERTIGO
(1958) Alfred Hitchcock's psychological-thriller is based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts by Boileau-Narcejac. Jimmy Stewart plays retired police detective, "Scottie" Ferguson, who is hired as a private investigator to follow a woman, played by Kim Novak. Stewart was a favorite of Hitchcock. Besides this movie, Jimmy Stewart also starred in Hitchcock's Rope (1948), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), and Rear Window (1954)
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE
(1962) This is possibly one of my all-time favorite John Ford westerns. Besides Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne and Lee Marvin. It is a story told by Stewart's character, Ransom Stoddard, who is now a U.S. Senator. He comes back to his old home to go to the funeral of a friend, Tom Doniphon (played by Wayne). Stoddard made his reputation as "the man who shot Liberty Valance" a local outlaw. All is not how it seems, though...
MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON
(1939) Another one of Frank Capra's films, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington based on Lewis R. Foster's unfinished story of the same name. It is the tale of a junior Senator who goes to Washington filled with dreams of helping the country only to find corruption and apathy in our nation's capitol. Sound familiar? The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won for Best Original Story. It lost most of the Awards to another film that came out that year called, Gone With The Wind.
HARVEY
(1950) Unlike some of the other films on this list, Harvey is based on a play by the same name. It is about a six foot invisible faerie, called a pooka. In this case, the faerie came in the form of a rabbit. Jimmy Stewart plays the man who can see Harvey. Even though this movie was the most light-hearted of Stewart's films on this list, it is considered one of the best fantasy films in the history of cinema.
