A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.A penniless drifter is recruited by an ambitious columnist to impersonate a non-existent person who said he'd be committing suicide as a protest, and a social movement begins.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 4 wins & 1 nomination total
- Charlie Dawson
- (as Charles Wilson)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Frank Capra didn't want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part without reading a script for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck.
- GoofsAfter "John Doe" intrudes on D. B. Norton's dinner party and tells him off, Norton calls his newspaper and orders a special edition which will reveal Doe as a fraud. Doe takes a cab from Norton's house directly to the convention hall. Within minutes of his arrival there, a horde of newsboys appear with copies of the newspaper. It would be impossible to print an extra edition in such a short period of time. Correction: There isn't a plot hole, because D.B. Norton isn't saying nor implying that the newspaper will be printed from them on. He stated, before Ann is running after John Doe's in the Rain, "that he was prepared for this" and this does imply that the papers were already prepared, printed before. D.B. was a very rich man, callous, evil man. He foresaw all the problems in his investments.
- Quotes
Beany: What's a helot?
The Colonel: You've ever been broke, sonny?
Beany: Sure, mostly often.
The Colonel: All right. You're walking along, not a nickel in your jeans, you're free as the wind, nobody bothers ya. Hundreds of people pass you by in every line of business: shoes, hats, automobiles, radios, everything, and they're all nice lovable people and they lets you alone, is that right? Then you get a hold of some dough and what happens, all those nice sweet lovable people become helots, a lotta heels. They begin to creep up on ya, trying to sell ya something: they get long claws and they get a stranglehold on ya, and you squirm and you duck and you holler and you try to push them away but you haven't got the chance. They gots ya. First thing ya know you own things, a car for instance, now your whole life is messed up with alot more stuff: you get license fees and number plates and gas and oil and taxes and insurance and identification cards and letters and bills and flat tires and dents and traffic tickets and motorcycle cops and tickets and courtrooms and lawers and fines and... a million and one other things. What happens? You're not the free and happy guy you used to be. You need to have money to pay for all those things, so you go after what the other fellas got. There you are, you're a helot yourself.
- Alternate versionsAlso available in a computer-colorized version.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 54th Annual Academy Awards (1982)
- SoundtracksTHE BATTLE HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC
(1861) (uncredited)
Music by William Steffe
Lyrics by Julia Ward Howe
Performed by Hall Johnson Choir
- TheLittleSongbird
- Aug 1, 2011
- Permalink
- How long is Meet John Doe?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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