“It’s A Wonderful Life,” released 75 years ago Saturday, Dec. 18, delivers so many great scenes. But to me, one stands out.
It’s about halfway through, when George Bailey, he of the “cheap, penny-ante building and loan,” is offered a job by his nemesis, Mr. Potter, the richest man in Bedford Falls. Potter is tired of losing, so he offers George financial security, a nicer home and a chance to travel the world. Presented with all he’s ever wanted, George Bailey shakes Potter’s hand and, for a split-second, considers the offer. Until …
“Now wait a minute, here,” says Jimmy Stewart as George, delivering the line in perfect gee-whiz staccato. “The answer is no. NO, doggone it! You sit around here and you spin your little webs and you think the whole world revolves around you and your money. Well, it doesn’t, Mr. Potter. In the whole vast configuration of things, I’d say you were nothing but a scurvy little spider!”
“Scurvy little spider” indeed, but not the most quoted line from the film that gave us “Zuzu’s petals,” “George Bailey lassos the moon” and “No man is a failure who has friends.”
You know the story from there: A failing business, a suicide attempt, an angel named Clarence, and Bailey learns that all the friends he’s helped along the way make him the richest man in town. The reason the scene in Potter’s office resonates for me is that given the choice between himself and his community, George Bailey — without the help of a heavenly being — puts his community first.
I fall for it every time.
Not everyone loves “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and neither did the critics, who in 1946 chided its Pollyanna overtones. It’s easy to be cynical about the film, but this movie is as important today as it was for a country still reeling from World War II. I don’t think I’m alone in wondering if the Mr. Potters of the world in 2021 seem to be more prevalent than the George Baileys. I don’t think I’m the only one who wonders if our little corner has become more like Pottersville and less like Bedford Falls.
Remember how the movie ends? The entire town shows up for George when he needs them. Yet we never learn if Mr. Potter suffers any consequences for his behavior, which includes the theft of $8,000 from The Bailey Brothers Building & Loan. Potter never gets his comeuppance — maybe he just crawls back into the dark corner from whence he came, out of sight but always lurking. That’s what scurvy little spiders do.
In a 1987 story in Guideposts magazine, Stewart had this to say of the film’s cultural legacy: “It seems to me there is nothing phenomenal about the movie itself. It’s simply about an ordinary man who discovers that living each ordinary day honorably, with faith in God and a selfless concern for others, can make for a truly wonderful life.”
Originally published in the Webster-Kirkwood Times Dec. 17, 2021
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