Yeah, yeah – you know it. But look again. Is there a single screenwriting rule it DOESN’T break?!
For one thing – Clarence is the hero: he’s the one given the mission, he takes the crucial action. But that’s ridiculous, we know it’s George…who is (apparently) passive during the whole thing. Plus, half the damn movie is flashbacks, WITH voice-over. And the antagonist – if there really is one – barely shows up. WTF?
This extraordinary, richly-textured, genre-bending, intimate-yet-epic, sweet-yet-dark American-meme-fountain is, I believe, one of the greatest accomplishments in cinema history. And it’s so popular and heart-warming, we don’t notice how much it has in common with CITIZEN KANE.
Look again. In terms of vision and craft, this is a masterpiece worth learning from.
