Great reply...I agree with your points on Potter’s attempted takeover being based on sound principles (given the limited info offered in the movie). I don’t mind how George saved the business with his own money...lots of people determined to save their businesses pump more money in, and after all, it was his dad’s business and he’s a loyal community & family guy throughout the flick.
SO many memorable scenes...I love the guy at the bridge who falls out of his chair hearing Clarence talk about being an angel. Or how about “...you like ALL the boys” - “What’s wrong with that?” LOL
How about the very un-PC Sheldon Leonard (as the bartender, Nick): "That's it! Out you two pixies go...through the door, or out the window!"
There's an interesting link here titled Its A Socialist Life? with some choice quotes from Boston talk show host Michael Graham who characterizes "It's a Wonderful Life" as "...the worst movie ever made, but basically anti-American." I've got to think that Graham's analysis is at least partly tongue in cheek but there are parts that ring true:
Smart, ambitious George gets stuck at the modest Building and Loan back in Hickville when his brother marries into a cushy corporate gig and his father dies. After years of dreaming of going off to college, traveling the world and becoming a top engineer or architect, his life is spent scraping by, and helping others do the same.
Somehow the movie like the Occupiers of today tries to turn that into a virtue. Despite his wife and kids, George turns down $20,000 a year so he wont have to work for that evil banker, Mr. Potter.
Occupy Bedford Falls!