Harvey (1950) - Nice guy or Smart guy?

... about a man who decides to live his life as a person "oh so pleasant" instead of "oh so smart".

"Years ago, my mother used to say to me, she'd say: 'In this world, Elwood,' she always used to call me Elwood. 'In this world, Elwood, you must be oh, so smart or oh, so pleasant.' Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. And you can quote me." - Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart)

Excerpt from "Harvey" (1950) with James Stewart.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• James
• Stewart
• Harvey
• Elwood
• P.
• Dowd
• philosophy

[boinkburger]

4 people  chose not to be pleasant

[johnathanrussell7]

I have always loved this movie. If we could only surround our selves with people like elwood and harvey ;)

[Coganboy]

Jimmy Stewart: Top 5 Actors Easily

[cicESP517]

4 dislikes just needed a little conveying.

[ezmereldagreen]

@ezmereldagreen i could watch james stewart for days...

[ezmereldagreen]

just magical..christianity had the unfortunate habit of turning every aspect of the peoples religions it wiped out into something evil and negative...the forest god became the devil and pookas and spirits, which were neither good nor bad but often helpful or playful, into demons. goddesses and priestesses became witches and whores...it took 700 years to convert britain to christianity and even then they had to make it law...harvey is a great example of a pooka, certainly not a demon.

[dippinb217]

what's the quote mean

[pinkcowboyhat]

Ah, James Stewart.

[Dopamin05]

I Love it....!

[meldme]

@StrawberrySheffields - Very true. Sadly, we are a cynical species and even the great Jimmy Stewart could not pry us from this mindset for long enough. A couple of hours, perhaps.

[snapdragon0423]

@2sick2care Due to the fact that we're dealing with Celtic Folklore, a Pooka can be considered by some to be a demon. As a personal opinion, to consider Harvey to be a demon is to take the film too seriously. There are many ways to interpret this scene alone when Mr. Dowd describes what happens when he introduces Harvey to people. To me, I can not help but see elements of Christianity...

[5610winston]

The mark of Jimmy Stewart's greatness as an actor was his ability to be convincing in every role he played. He was always at his best playing the geuine nice guy, and there has never been a nicer guy in all of comedy than Elwood P. Dowd. Stewart put that role on like a familiar sweater or a comfortable pair of shoes and he became Elwood. Others may have played the role, but Jimmy Stewart made it his own. You may quote me.