Jimmy Stewart: Stewart had been in a number of films before he found his mark as Tony Kirby in Frank Capra's
You Can't Take It With You and the powers that be realized the right vehicle for him. It's a likable enough film, but I'll go with his next Capra pairing for the beginning of Jimmy Stewart the movie star.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939): still the best movie ever written about political idealism taking on the inherent corruption of government and power. Stewart got his first and well deserved Oscar nomination for his portrayal of young Jefferson Smith, a fellow pushed into power following the death of a sitting senator. Meant to be a paper tiger, his idealistic efforts at helping the boys of the nation inadvertently sets him on a collision course with the dark underbelly of political power in his state. One of the best endings of any movie ever made. If you aren't cheering and grinning at the close you may need a defibrillator.
The Philadelphia Story (1940): A film most notable for its pairing him with Katherin Hepburn and Cary Grant. The film is flawed, vaguely misogynistic and contrived, but you won't care if you settle in to watch it. On the surface it's about a socialite (Hepburn) about to wed an up and coming man of the people. Her last/first husband, Dexter (Grant) is about to do his subtle best to play monkey wrench in those plans. Stewart arrives with Dexter to report on the tangled schemes of the rich and idle, but soon finds his class ideas turned on their ear.
It's a Wonderful Life (1946): one of the best Christmas movies ever made tells the tale of George Bailey (Stewart) a man who sacrifices to make the lives of others better and manages to keep a cheerful face over his personal frustrations until an accident turned conspiracy at the bank threatens to undo everything he's made. Driven to thoughts of suicide by the man who likely ran his father into an early grave and set him firmly on that path of self sacrifice, George wonders if the world (and George) would have been better off without him. The answer to that, with the help of a hapless angel, is cinematic gold.
Call Northside 777 (1948): A man is convicted and sentenced to life for the killing of a police officer during prohibition. Eleven years later his mother puts an add in a newspaper offering five thousand dollars to anyone with information on the true killer. This intrigues the paper's editor (Lee Jay Cobb) who sends a cynical reporter (Stewart) to find out the particulars. What he reluctantly discovers challenges the conclusion of the court and the powers that put a man behind bars for a crime he may not have committed.
Winchester '73 (1950): arguably the best of his psychologically complicated westerns, it follows the story of a man in search of the brother who killed their father. Along the way there are Indian uprisings and love triangles, the usual stuff of westerns, but with a very different and sophisticated undercurrent. I don't care as much for Jimmy in the post WWII, angry turns, but this is a keeper.
Harvey (1950): Elwood P. Dowd (Stewart) has a serious problem (alcoholism) but this movie doesn't care and neither should you if you're going to find what's wonderful about it in there. It's not meant to be a statement film and I understand that we no longer find the subject fit for comedic exploitation, but if you can suspend modern sensibility for a while you're going to enjoy what was Stewart's favorite film.
No Highway in the Sky (1951): a small film that sees Stewart paired with Marlene Dietrich for the second time (the first in a goofy, but fun Destry Rides Again, omitted here). Theodore Honey (Stewart) is an engineer investigating an airplane crash. He concludes that stresses over a number of hours led to the crash and is on his way back to report when he realizes that he's riding in the same model plane--a plane that by his calculations will crash before its final leg. Marlene plays an actress who comes to believe him when no one else will. It's a really good way to spend an hour and a half.
Rear Window (1954): Jeff Jefferies (Stewart) has a broken leg, a beautiful girlfriend (Grace Kelly) and a neighbor who just might have murdered his wife. A terrific film that will have you squirming in your seat, literally. Hitchcock at his best and a fine performance by Raymond Burr as the potential heavy.
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956): Dr. Ben McKenna (Stewart) and his wife (Doris Day) are on vacation in the middle east (yes, it was a long, long time ago) with their son. Travelling with a group of Europeans the two strike up conversation and friendly acquaintance until one of those stumbles into Stewart while dressed as an Arab and with a knife protruding from his back . What the man whispers sets in play the kidnapping of McKenna's son, the rush to foil a plot to kill a foreign diplomat on English soil and a whole lot of singing by Day.
Vertigo (1958): Yes it's a great film and yes he's terrific in it, but it's dark and a bit ugly and so is the character he plays. So I include it because I have to, not because I'm fond of it.
Anatomy of a Murder (1959): Stewart as a lawyer with a client who may or may not be guilty of cold blooded murder and a wife who is anything but innocent in her own right.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962): one of two on screen pairings with John Wayne and one of the best westerns ever made. We meet Stewart as a beloved U.S. Senator, returning to the small town that launched him and the funeral of another man (Wayne) whose sacrifice made it possible. The back story that unfolds in flashback is an homage to the dying breed of men who carved out the West for other men to profit by.
Shenandoah (1965): Stewart is the matriarch of a large Southern family swept up in the passion of a Civil War he'd just as soon ignore. The rest is lesson and loss and redemption. It's long and heavy handed and without Stewart would collapse upon itself in a second, but with him it becomes compelling and bitter sweet.
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965): Going out in style, Stewart plays a pilot whose plane has crashed in the dessert striving to keep his passengers alive and focused as they concoct an unlikely escape with water and will running out. First rate study in human nature and a compelling adventure.
The Rare Breed (1966): Stewart plays an aging cowboy who first protects a widow and her daughter who are bringing Vindicator, a hornless English bull, to the plains of the west to fulfill the dream of her late husband. It's a sweet hearted movie with Brian Keith as the romantic rival and oddly placed Scott. A sentimental favorite.
And yes, I neglected the biopics and a few other films that are solid but don't get under my skin. But if this list leads you to any other interesting discoveries I'm happy for it. And yes, I realize that by volume he compares favorably to Grant, but I'd argue that by sum Grant's movies are the better. It's a great horse race in any event.
