MovieChat Forums > Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) Discussion > The Murder of Mr. Smith(Sr?)

The Murder of Mr. Smith(Sr?)

posted 16 years ago by deadclock
7 replies | jump to latest

A sub-subplot of the film is the implied murder of Jefferson Smith's father.

What we know:
Paine & Mr. Smith Sr. were friends
Mr. Smith Sr. was a Journalist
The Taylor Machine tried to control every press in the state.

Paine reacted with shock and emotion when he is reminded of Mr. Smith's murder & Taylor's willingness to use violence to control the presses.

It seems logical that Taylor may have had some kind of connection with the murder of Smith's father and if this were a subplot it would help explain the irrational and possibly illogical actions Paine is willing to take as he is forced to insult and attack Jeff and afterword.

However as a literal work it would be far more interesting if rather than Taylor it was a Smith Machine, Perhaps Mr. Smith Sr would have lost his idealism grew into a tyrant.

[–] MrCottonsParrot 16 years ago

Good point, thanks.

I need to watch this again. This board has taught me a thing or two!

"I have pills for everything. Some make you taller... some make you forget... "

[–] actionlad 15 years ago

I have wondered the same thing about Smith's dad. I watched it for the first time this afternoon and even before the end, I wondered if Taylor had something to do with Smith's dad's death and that Payne knew something about it.

[–] dzmfntz 15 years ago

Agreed. I just watched for the first time last night and thought that this subplot was definitely going to be addressed by the end. Perhaps we have come to expect that sort of connection after watching all the conspiracy theory movies produced over the last 70 years. I wonder what we would have thought back in 1939...my guess is probably the same but maybe not. Anyways, I don't know if we will ever know the answer considering not too many are around from the film to answer it!

[–] rick03 15 years ago

I think you guys are reading into this a bit much. There isnt anything concrete to suggest that Taylor had anything to do with it. It would have been at least 25-30 years ago and Taylor isnt old enough to have had that kind of power that long ago.

[–] JonsAngelCat 13 years ago

Well, I don't know if he's responsible for the murder of Jeff's dad, but I find the timing fairly suspicious. Taylor himself said that he's helping Paine's political career along for the past 20 years, which lines right up with how long Paine said he's been in office. Before that, Paine and the elder Mr. Smith were great friends, "the struggling editor and the struggling lawyer," as he said. It makes sense that they'd get mixed up in the politics of their community, especially with how idealistic we're told they were, and if Taylor was rising to power as quickly as his ruthlessness seems to suggest... *shrugs* Seems to me, he's a likely suspect, probably as puppet-master. He definitely would've gotten somebody to do his dirty work.

[–] marckymarc71 10 years ago

Remember the Hays Code enforced at the time. If Taylor's machine had been showed to be responsible for Smith's death then Taylor would have to have been punished for the crime, which in the film he was not. The film would have been anti-climactic to have an epilogue showing what would have had to happen to Taylor if it was implied that he was in any way involved with the murder.

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[–] deadclock 10 years ago

Thanks for that input. Never knew about the code. Just did some quick research. Great input!