I owe everything to George Bailey...
Help him, dear Father.
Joseph, Jesus and Mary.
Help my friend, Mr. Bailey.
Help my son, George, tonight.
He never thinks about himself, God,
that's why he's in trouble.
George is a good guy.
Give him a break, God...
I love him, dear Lord.
Watch over him tonight...
Please, God,
something's the matter with Daddy...
Please bring Daddy back.
Hello, Joseph.
Trouble?
Looks like we'll have to
send someone down.
A lot of people asking for help
for a man named George Bailey.
George Bailey. Yes.
Tonight's his crucial night. You're right.
We'll have to send someone down
immediately. Whose turn is it?
That's why I came to see you, sir.
It's that clock-maker's turn again.
Oh, Clarence.
Hasn't got his wings yet, has he?
We've passed him up right along.
Because, you know, sir, he's got
the I.Q. Of a rabbit.
Yes, but he's got the
faith of a child. Simple.
Joseph, send for Clarence.
You sent for me, sir?
Yes, Clarence.
A man down on earth needs our help.
Splendid! Is he sick?
No. Worse. He's discouraged.
At exactly ten forty-five
P.M., earth-time...
...that man will be thinking seriously
of throwing away God's greatest gift.
Oh, dear, dear! His life! Then I have
only an hour to dress.
What are they wearing now?
You will spend that hour getting
acquainted with George Bailey.
Sir... If I should
accomplish this mission...
I mean, uh, might I
perhaps win my wings?
I've been waiting for over
two hundred years now, sir...
...and people are beginniing to talk.
What's that book you've got there?
Oh, 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. '
Clarence, you do a good job with
George Bailey and you'll get your wings.
Oh, thank you, sir.
Thank you.
Poor George. Sit down.
Sit down? What are we...
If you're going to help a man, you want
to know something about him, don't you?
- Well, naturally, of course, I...
- Well, keep your eyes open.
- See the town?
- Where? I... I don't see a thing.
Oh, I forgot. You haven't
got your wings yet.
Now look, I'll help
you out.
Concentrate.
Begin to see something?
Why, yes!
This is amazing!
If you ever get your wings,
you'll see all by yourself.
Oh, wonderful!
Yippee!
Okay, boys, let's go.
Hey, who's that?
- That's your problem, George Bailey.
- A boy?
That's him when he was twelve.
Back in nineteen nineteen.
Something happens here
you'll have to remember later on.
Come on, Marty.
Come on, Marty.
- Hee-haw!
- Hee-haw!
And here comes the scare-baby,
my kid brother, Harry Bailey!
I'm not scared!
Go, Harry! C'mon, Harry!
Attaboy, Harry! Come on, Harry!
Help, George!
Help! Help!
...Harry, I'm coming!
- Help!
- Hang on, Harry!
I'm coming!
Chain Gang!
George saved his brother's life that day.
But it caught him that cold
which infected his left ear.
Cost him his hearing in that ear.
It was weeks before he was able to
go back to his after-school job...
...at old man Gower's Drugstore.
Mr. Potter!
Who's that?
A king?
That's Henry F. Potter.
The richest and meanest man
in the county.
Hee-haw! Hee-haw!
Go to work, slave...
I wish I had a million dollars!
Hot dog!
It's me, Mr. Gower.
George Bailey.
- You're late
- Yes, sir.
Hello, George.
Hello, Mary.
Hello, Violet.
Two-cents' worth of shoelaces?
She was here first.
I'm still thinking.
Shoelaces?
Please, Georgie.
I like him.
You like every boy.
What's wrong with that?
Here you are.
- Help me down.
- Help you down?
Made up your mind yet?
I'll take chocolate.
With coconuts?
I don't like coconuts.
You don't like coconuts?
Say, brainless, don't you know
where coconuts come from?
Look it here...
from Tahiti, Fiji Islands, the Coral Sea!
A new magazine!
I never saw it before.
Of course you never.
Only us explorers can get it.
I've been nominated for membership
in the National Geographic Society.
Is this the ear you can't hear on?
George Bailey,
I'll love you till the day I die.
I'm going out exploring some day,
you watch.
And I'm gonna have a couple of harems,
and maybe three or four wives.
Wait and see.
- George! George!
- Yes, sir.
You're not paid to be a canary.
No, sir...
Mr. Gower, do you want something?
- Anything?
- No.
- Anything I can do back here?
- Nope.
I'll get them, sir.
...take those capsules
over to Mrs. Blaine's.
- She's waiting for them.
- Yes, sir...
They have the diphtheria there,
haven't they, sir?
Ummm.
Is it a charge, sir?
Yes, charge.
- Mr. Gower, I think...
- Aw, get going!
Yes, sir.
Fast there, Captain Cook!
Where you headin'?
Got to see Pop, Uncle Billy.
- Some other time, George.
- It's important!
There's a squall in there
that's shapin' up into a storm.
Uncle Billy, telephone.
- Who is it?
- The Bank examiner.
Bank examiner?
Oh, I should have called him yesterday.
Switch it inside.
 
I'm not crying, Mr. Potter.
Well, you're begging
and that's a whole lot worse.
All I'm asking for
is thirty days more.
- Pop!
- Just a minute, son.
Just thirty short days. I'll dig up
that five thousand somehow.
- Shove me up. Shove me up.
- Pop!
Have you put any real pressure on these
people of yours to pay those mortgages?
Times are bad, Mr. Potter.
A lot of these people are out of work.
- Then foreclose!
- I can't do that.
- These families have children.
- Pop!
They're not my children.
But they're somebody's children, Mr. Potter.
Are you running a
business or a charity ward?
- Well, all right...
- Not with my money.
Mr. Potter, what makes you such a
hard-skulled character?
You have no family, no children.
You can't begin to spend all the
money you've got.
So I suppose I should give it to miserable
failures like you...
...and that idiot brother of yours
to spend for me.
He's not a failure!
- You can't say that about my father!
- George, George, quiet. George, George...
You're not!
You're the biggest man in town!
- Run along.
- Bigger than him.
- Run along!
- Bigger than everybody!
Gives you an idea of the Baileys.
Don't let him say things like that
about you, Pop.
All right, son.
All right.
Thanks.
I'll talk to you tonight.
What!
Why, that medicine should have been
there an hour ago.
It'll be over in five minutes, Mrs. Blaine.
Where's Mrs. Blaine's box of capsules?
I feel...
- Didn't you hear what I said?
- Yes, sir, I...
What kind of tricks are you playing anyway?
Why didn't you deliver them right away?
Don't you know that boy's very sick?
You're hurting my sore ear.
You lazy loafer!
Mr. Gower, you don't know what you're doing.
You put something wrong in those capsules.
I know you're unhappy.
You got that telegram and you're upset.
You put something bad in those capsules.
It wasn't your fault, Mr. Gower.
Just look and see what you did.
Look at the bottle you took the powder from.
It's poison!
I tell you it's poison!
I know you feel bad.
I didn't know...
- Oh...
- Don't hurt my sore ear again.
- Don't hurt my sore ear again.
- Oh, no, no, no...
Oh, George. George...
Oh, Mr. Gower, I won't ever tell anyone.
I know what you're feeling.
I won't tell a soul.
- Hope to die, I won't.
- Oh, George, George...
An overnight bag,
genuine English cowhide...
...combination lock,
fitted up with brushes, combs...
Nope!
Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Now look, Joe.
Now look...
I, I-I want a big one.
What did you stop it for?
I want you to take a good look at that face.
- Who is it?
- George Bailey.
Oh, you mean the kid that had his ears
slapped back by the druggist?
That's the kid.
Uh-huh. It's a good face.
I like it.
I like George Bailey.
Tell me, did he ever tell anyone
about the pills?
Not a soul.
Did he ever marry the girl?
Did he ever go exploring?
Well, wait and see.
Big... See...
I, I don't want one for one night.
I want something for a thousand
and one nights.
With plenty of room here for labels
from Italy and Baghdad, Samarkand...
...a great big one.
- I see, a flying carpet, huh?
- Yeah.
I don't suppose you'd like
this old second-hand job, would you?
Now you're talking.
Gee whiz, I could use that
as a raft in case the boat sunk.
- How much does this cost?
- No charge.
That's my trick ear, Joe.
It sounded as if you said no charge.
That's right.
Well, what's my name doing on it here?
A little present form old man Gower.
Came down and picked it out himself.
He did?
What do you know about that...
my old boss. Isn't that nice?
What boat you sailing on?
I'm working across on a cattle boat.
- A cattle boat?
- Okay, I like cows.
- Hello, Mr. Gower.
- George!
How are you?
Thanks ever so much for the baggage.
- It's just exactly what I wanted.
- Aw, forget it.
Oh, it's wonderful of you to think of it.
- Hope you enjoy it.
- Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I wish I had a million dollars.
Hot dog!
Avast there, Captain Cook!
You got your sealegs yet?
Parlez vous Francais, Mister?
Hey, send us some of their picture
postcards, will you, George?
Hey, George,
don't take any plugged nickels.
Hey, George, your suitcase is leaking.
Hey, Ernie!
Hi, Ernie!
- Hiya, George.
- Hi, Bert.
- George...
- Hey, hey, I, I'm a rich tourist today.
- How about driving me home in style?
- Great.
Hop in Your Highness, hop in.
And for the carriage trade.
I put on my hat.
- Good afternoon, Mr. Bailey.
- Hello, Violet.
Hey, you look good.
That's some dress you got on there.
What!
This old thing?
Why, I only wear it when I don't care
how I look.
- How would you like...
- Yes.
Want to come along, Bert?
We'll show you the town.
No, thanks. I, uh, I've gotta go home
and see what the wife's doing.
Family man.
George!
Harry!
You're shaking the house down!
Stop it!
Oh, let them alone!
I wish I was up there with them.
But Harry'll tear his dinner suit!
George!
That's why all children should be girls.
But if they were all girls,
there wouldn't be any...
Oh, never mind.
George! Harry!
Come down to dinner this minute.
Everything's getting cold and you know,
how long we've been waiting for you.
Okay, Mom!
- Here's a present for you, Pop.
- Oh, you two idiots!
- George, sit down and have dinner.
- I've eaten.
Well, aren't you going to finish dressing
for your graduating party?
- Look at you!
- I don't care.
It's George's tux. Annie, my sweet,
have you got those pies?
If you lay a hand on me,
I'll hit you with this broom.
Annie, I'm in love with you,
there's a moon out tonight.
Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, my last meal
in the old Bailey Boarding House.
Oh, my lands, my blood pressure!
Pop, can I have the car?
I have to take over a
lot of plates and things.
- What plates?
- Oh, Mom...
I'm Chairman of the Eats Committee
and we only need a couple of dozen.
Oh, no, you don't.
Harry, now, not my best Haviland.
Oh, let him have the plates, Mother.
Hope you have a good trip, George.
Uncle Billy and I are gonna miss you.
I'll miss you too, Pop.
What's the matter? You look tired.
- Oh, I had another
tussle with Potter today.
- Oh.
I thought when we put him on the board...
...of Directors, he'd ease
up on us a little bit.
Oh, what's eating that
old money-grubbing buzzard anyway?
Oh, he's a sick man.
Frustrated and sick.
And his mind's sick in his soul,
if he has one.
He hates everybody that has anything
that he can't have.
He hates us mostly, I guess.
Gangway! Gangway!
So long, Pop.
So long!
- Harry, you got a match?
- Very funny. Very funny.
Put those things in the car and
I'll get your tie and studs ready for you.
- Now, hurry up, hurry up.
- Okay, Mom.
- You coming later?
- Don't you drop one of those.
- You coming later, George?
- What do you mean...
- And be bored to death?
- Couldn't want a better death.
Lots of pretty girls, and we're going to
use that new floor tonight, too.
- Oh, I hope it works.
- No gin tonight, son!
- Aw, Pop, just a little.
- No, son. Not one drop.
Oh!
Boys and girls and music...
why do they need gin?
Father, did I act like that when
I graduated from high school?
Pretty much.
You know, George, I wish we could
send Harry to college with you.
Your mother and I talked it over
half the night.
Mmm, we have that all figured out.
Harry'll take my job at the Building
and Loan, and work there four years...
...then he'll go.
- He's pretty young for that job.
- Well, no younger than I was.
Maybe you were born older, George.
How's that?
I say, you were born older.
I suppose you've decided what you
want to do when you get out of college.
Oh well, you know what I've always
talked about... Build things...
...design new buildings...
plan modern cities...
- All that stuff, I was talking about.
- Still after that first
million before you're thirty.
No, I'll settle for half that in cash.
'Course it's just a hope, but uh...
...you wouldn't consider coming back
to the Building and Loan, would you?
Well, I... I... Why, Annie, why,
why don't you draw up a chair?
Then you'd be more comfortable and
you could hear everything that's going on.
I would if I thought I'd hear anything
worth listening to.
You would, eh?
- I know it's soon to talk about it.
- Oh, now, Pop. I, I...
I couldn't. I couldn't
face being cooped up...
...for the rest of my life in
a shabby little office...
Oh, I'm sorry, Pop,
I didn't mean it that way...
...but this business of nickels and dimes
and spending all your life...
...trying to figure out how to save three
cents on a length of pipe... I'd go crazy.
I... I wanna do something big
and something important.
You know, George...
I feel that in a small way we
are doing something important.
Satisfying a fundamental urge.
It's deep in the race for a man to want
his own roof and walls and fireplace.
And we're helping him get those things
in our shabby little office.
I know, Pop. I, uh, I, I know that I, I...
I wish I felt...
...but I, I've been hoarding pennies like
a miser here in order to...
Most of my friends
have already finished college.
I, uh, I just feel like if I
didn't get away, I'd bust.
Yes, yes. You're right, son.
You see what I mean, don't you, Pop?
This town is no place for any man unless
he's willing to crawl to Potter.
And you've got talent, son.
I've seen it.
You get yourself an education.
Then get out of here.
Pop, you want a shock?
I think you're a great guy.
Oh, did you hear that, Annie?
I heard it.
About time one of you lunkheads said it.
I'm going to miss old Annie.
Pop, I think I'll get dressed
and go over to Harry's party.
Have a good time, son.
Here you are.
George!
Hello!
You know my kid brother, George?
I'm going to put him through college.
- Hello, George!
- Hee-haw!
Oh, oh, Sam Wainwright.
How are you?
When did you get here?
Oh, this afternoon.
I thought I'd give the kids a treat.
Old college graduate now, huh?
Yeah. Old Joe College Wainwright,
they call me.
Well, freshman, looks like
you're going to make it after all.
- Yep.
- Hey, hey!
Harry!
You're the guy I want to see.
- The Coach has heard all about you.
- He has?
Yeah. He's followed every game
and his mouth's watering.
He wants me to find out if you're
going to come along with us.
Well, I eh,
I gotta make some dough first.
Well, you'd better make it fast.
We need great ends like you.
...not broken-down old guys
like this one!
- Hee-haw!
- Hee-haw!
George!
Welcome back!
Hello, Mr. Partridge,
how are you?
Putting a pool under this floor
was a great idea.
Saved us another building.
Now, Harry, Sam, have a lot of fun.
There's lots of stuff here to eat and drink.
- Lots of pretty girls around.
- Hey, George...
- Hello, Violet. How are you...
- Hello. What am I bid?
- George...
- Marty. Well, it's old home week.
Marty!
Glad to see you.
- Do me a favor, will you, George?
- What's that?
- Well, you remember my kid sister, Mary?
- Oh, yeah. Yeah.
"Mamma wants you, Marty. "
"Mama wants you. " Remember?
Dance with her, will you?
Oh, me? Oh, well, I feel funny enough
already, with all these kids.
Aw, come on.
Be a sport.
Just dance with her one time
and you'll give her the thrill of her life.
- Aw, go on.
- Hey, sis!
And don't be long, Marty!
I don't want to be a wet nurse for...
And the next thing I knew,
some guy came up and tripped me.
That's the reason why I came in fourth.
If it hadn't been for that, that race
would have been a cinch.
I tried to find out who it was later
but I couldn't find out.
Nobody'd ever tell you who... whoever,
whoever it was because they'd be scared.
- They know what kind of a guy I am...
- You remember George?
- This is Mary. Well, I'll be seeing you.
- Well... well... well...
Now, to get back to my story, see...
Hey, this is my dance.
Oh, why don't you stop annoying people?
Well, I'm sorry. Hey!
- Well, hello.
- Hello.
- You look at me as if you didn't know me.
- Well, I don't.
You've passed me on the street
almost every day.
Me?
Uh-huh. Uh-uh.
That was a little girl named Mary Hatch.
That wasn't you.
O-yes, o-yes, o-yes!
The big Charleston contest!
The prize?
A genuine loving cup!
Those not tapped by the judges
will remain on the floor. Let's go!
- I'm not very good at this.
- Neither am I.
Okay. What can we lose?
Hey, you're wonderful!
What's the matter, Othello,
jealous?
Did you know there's a swimming pool
under this floor?
And did you know that button behind you
causes this floor to open up?
And did you further know that George
Bailey is dancing right over that crack?
And I've got the key?
Stand back, everybody!
Stand back!
They're cheering us.
We must be good.
Get out!
Oh, well...
Buffalo Gals,
can't you come out tonight?
Can't you come out tonight?
Can't you come out tonight?
Buffalo Gals,
can't you come out tonight?
And dance...
...by the light of the moon.
- Oh, Hot dog! Just like an organ.
- Beautiful.
I told Harry I thought
I'd be bored to death.
You, you should have seen the
commotion in that locker room.
I, I had to knock off three people
to get this stuff we're wearing here.
Here, let me, let me
hold that old wet dress of yours.
Do I look as funny as you do?
I guess I'm not quite the football type.
I... You, you look wonderful!
You know, if it wasn't me talking I'd say
you were the prettiest girl in town.
Well, why don't you say it?
Well, I don't know. Maybe I will say it.
How old are you anyway?
- Eighteen.
- Eighteen?
Why, it was only last year
you were seventeen.
Too young or too old?
Oh, no, no. Just right.
Your age fits you.
Yes, sir, you look a little older
without your clothes on.
I, I mean, without a dress.
You look older.
I, I mean, younger. You look...
y-y-you just look...
- Oh, oh!
- Oh, oh!
- Oh, no. I wanna...
- Sir, my train, please!
A pox upon me for a clumsy lout.
Your... Your caboose, me lady.
- You may kiss my hand.
- Ummm.
Hey.
Hey, Mary.
As I was lumbering
down the street...
...down the street,
down the street...
Okay then, I'll throw a rock
at the old Granville house.
Oh, no, don't!
I-I love that old house.
No. You see, you make a wish
and then try and break some glass.
And you got to be a pretty good
shot nowadays, too.
Oh, no, George, don't.
It's full of romance, that old place.
I'd like to live in it.
- In that place?
- Uh-huh.
I wouldn't live in it as a ghost.
Now watch.
There's a window right on
the second floor there, see?
- What did you wish, George?
- Well, not just one wish. A whole hatful.
Mary, I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow...
...and the next day and the next year
and the year after that.
I'm shaking the dust of this crummy
little town off my feet...
...and I'm gonna see the world.
Italy, Greece, the Parthenon...
the Colesseum.
Then I'm coming back here and go to
college and see what they know...
...and then I'm going to build things.
I'm gonna build air fields.
I'm gonna build skyscrapers a
hundred stories high.
I'm gonna build
bridges a mile long.
Well, are you gonna throw a rock?
Hey, that's pretty good.
What'd you wish, Mary?
Buffalo Gals,
Can't you come out tonight?
Can't you come out tonight?
Can't you come out tonight?
Buffalo Gal,
Can't you come out tonight?
And dance by the light of the moon.
What'd you wish
when you threw that rock?
- Oh, no.
- Come on, tell me.
If I told you,
it might not come true.
What is it you want, Mary?
What do you want?
You, you want the moon?
Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso
around it and pull it down.
Hey, that's a pretty good idea.
- I'll give you the moon, Mary.
- I'll take it. Then what?
Well then, you could swallow it...
...and it'd all dissolve, see?
And the moon beams'd shoot
out of your fingers and your toes...
...and the ends of your hair.
Am I talking too much?
Yes!
Why don't you kiss her
instead of talking her to death?
How's that?
Why don't you kiss her
instead of talking her to death?
Want me to kiss her, huh?
Aw, youth is wasted
on the wrong people!
Hey, hey, hold on.
Hey, mister, come on back out here.
I'll show you some kissing
that'll put hair back on your head.
What are you...
Mary?
Okay, I give up.
Where are you?
Over here, in the hydrangea bushes.
Here you are. Catch.
Wait a minute.
What am I doing?
This is a very interesting situation!
- Please give me my robe.
- Hmm.
A man doesn't get in a situation
like this every day.
I'd like to have my robe.
Not in Bedford Falls anyway.
- Ooooouch! Oh!
- Gesundheit.
- George Bailey!
- This requires a little thought here.
Give me my robe!
I've read about things like this,
but I never...
Shame on you!
I'm going to tell your mother on you!
Oh, my mother's way up
on the corner over there.
I'll call the police!
They're way downtown.
They'd be on my side, too.
Then, then, then I'm going to scream!
Maybe I could sell tickets.
Let's see.
No, no, the point is, in
order to get this robe...
I've got it. I'll make
a deal with you, Mary.
George!
George!
George! Come on home.
Quick.
You father's had a stroke!
What?
Mary! Mary, I'm sorry.
I've got to go.
Come on, George. Let's hurry!
- Did you get a doctor?
- Yes. Campbell's there now.
I think that's all we'll
need you for, George...
I know you're anxious to make a train.
I have a taxi waiting downstairs.
I want the Board to know that George
gave up his trip to Europe...
...to help straighten
things out here these past few months.
Good luck to you at school, George.
- Thanks.
- Good luck! So long!
Now we come to the real purpose
of this meeting...
...to appoint a successor
to our dear friend, Peter Bailey.
Mr. Chairman,
I'd like to get to my real purpose.
- Wait just a minute now.
- Wait for what?
I claim this institution is not necessary
to this town.
Therefore, Mr. Chairman...
I make a motion to
dissolve this institution...
...and turn its assets and liabilities over
to the receiver.
Potter, you dirty, contemptible...
I'll wring his neck, so help me,
George...
- You hear what that buzzard...
- Mr. Chairman...
...it's too soon after Peter
Bailey's death to talk...
...about chloroforming
the Building and Loan.
Peter Bailey died three months ago.
I second Mr. Potter's motion.
Very well. In that case, I'll ask the
two executive officers to withdraw.
But before you go...
I'm sure the whole Board wishes
to express its deep sorrow...
- At the passing of Peter Bailey.
- Thank you very much.
It was his faith and devotion that are
responsible for this organization.
I'll go further than that.
I'll say that to the public, Peter
Bailey was the Building and Loan.
Oh, that's fine, Potter, coming from you...
...considering that you probably drove
him to his grave.
Peter Bailey was not a business man.
That's what killed him. Oh, I don't mean
any disrespect to him, God rest his soul.
He was a man of high ideals, so-called.
But ideals without common sense
can ruin this town.
Now, you take this loan here to Ernie
Bishop...
...you know, that fellow that sits around
all day on his brains in his taxi, you know.
I happen to know the bank turned down
this loan, but he comes here...
...and we're building him a house
worth five thousand dollars.
- Why?
- Well, I handled that, Mr. Potter.
You have all the papers there.
His salary, insurance.
I can personally vouch for his character.
- A friend of yours.
- Yes, sir.
You see, if you shoot pool with
some employee here...
...you can come and borrow money.
What does that get us?
A discontented, lazy rabble
instead of a thrifty working class.
And all because a few starry-eyed
dreamers like Peter Bailey...
...stir them up and fill their heads
with a lot of impossible ideas.
- Now, I say...
- Just a minute. Just a...
Just a minute.
Now, hold on, Mr. Potter.
You're right when you say my father
was no business man. I know that.
Why he ever started this cheap penny-ante
Building and Loan, I'll never know.
But neither you nor anybody else can say
anything against his character...
...because his whole life was...
Why, in the twenty-five years since
he and Uncle Billy started this thing...
...he never once thought of himself.
Isn't that right, Uncle Billy?
He didn't save enough money
to send Harry to school, let alone me.
But he did help a few people
get out of your slums, Mr. Potter.
And what's wrong with that?
Why... Here,
you are all businessmen here.
Doesn't it make them better citizens?
Doesn't it make them better customers?
You... You said that uh...
what'd you say just a minute ago...
They, they had to wait and save their money
before they even thought of a decent home.
Wait! Wait for what?
Until their children grow up
and leave them?
Until they're so old
and broken-down that they...
Do you know how long it takes a working
man to save five thousand dollars?
Just remember this, Mr. Potter,
that this rabble you're talking about...
...they do most of the working and paying
and living and dying in this community.
Well, it is too much to have them work
and pay and live and die...
...in a couple of decent rooms
and a bath?
Anyway, my father didn't think so.
People were human beings to him...
...but to you, a warped,
frustrated old man, they're cattle.
Well, in my book, he died a much
richer man than you'll ever be.
I'm not interested in your book.
I'm talking about the Building and Loan.
I know very well what you're talking about.
You're talking about something you can't
get your fingers on, and it's galling you.
That's what you're talking about, I know.
Well, I, I, I've said too much.
I... You're, you're the Board here.
You do what you want with this thing.
There's j-just one thing more though.
This town needs this measly
one-horse institution...
...if only to have some place where people
can come without crawling to Potter.
Come on,
Uncle Billy.
Sentimental hogwash.
I want my motion.
Oh boy, that was telling him,
George, old boy.
You shut his big mouth.
You should have heard him.
What happened?
We heard a lot of yelling.
Well, we're being voted out of business
after twenty-five years.
Easy come, easy go.
Here it is.
"Help wanted - Female. "
You still want me hang around, George?
Yeah, I'll be right down.
Hey, you'll miss your train.
You're a week late for school already.
Go on.
- What's going on in there?
- Oh, never mind. Don't worry about that.
They're putting us out of business.
So what?
I can get another job.
I'm only fifty-five.
- Fifty-six.
- Go on, go on.
Hey, look, you gave up your boat trip...
...now you don't want to
miss college, too, do you?
George!
George!
They voted Potter down.
They want to keep it going.
- Whoopee!
- You did it, George, you did it.
But they got one condition,
only one condition.
- What's that?
- That's the best part of it.
They've appointed George here as...
Executive Secretary to
take his father's place.
Oh, no!
But, Uncle Billy...
You can keep him on.
That's all right.
As Secretary you can hire anyone you like.
Dr. Campbell, now let's
get this thing straight.
I'm leaving.
I'm leaving right now.
I'm going to school.
This is my last chance.
Uncle Billy here, he's your man.
But, George, they'll vote
with Potter otherwise.
I know, I know, he didn't go.
That's right.
Not only that, but he
gave his school money...
...to his brother, Harry,
and sent him to college.
Harry became a football star.
Made second team All-American.
Yeah, but what happened to George?
George got four years older,
waiting for Harry to come back...
...and take over the Building and Loan.
Oh, there are plenty of jobs around
for somebody that likes to travel.
Look at this.
There...
Venezuela oil fields - Wanted.
Man with construction experience.
Here's the Yukon, oh, right here -
wanted - Man with engineering experience.
There she blows.
You know what the three most exciting
sounds in the world are?
- Uh
-huh.
- Breakfast is served,
lunch is served, dinner...
No, no, no, no!
- Anchor chains, plane
motors, and train whistles.
- Peanut?
There's the Professor now.
- Old Professor Phil Beta Kappa Bailey! All
-American.
- Well, if it isn't old George
Geographic Explorer Bailey.
What? No husky dogs?
No sled?
Uncle Billy, you haven't changed a bit.
- Nobody ever changes here, you know that.
- Oh, am I glad to see you.
- Say, where's mother?
- She's home, cooking the fatted calf.
- Come on. Let's go.
- Oh, wait! Wait, wait, wait, wait a minute.
George, Uncle Billy,
I want you to meet Ruth.
- Hello.
- How do you do.
- Ruth Dakin.
- Ruth Dakin Bailey, if you don't mind.
Huh?
Well, I wired you I had a surprise.
Here she is. Meet the wife.
Well, what do you know - wife.
Well, how do you do.
Congratulations.
What am I doing?
Congratulations!
They're married...
why didn't you tell somebody?
...Oh, I can't wait to see Tilly's face.
- Did you really marry him?
- Why, yes...
What's a pretty girl like you doing
marrying this two-headed brother of mine?
Well, I tell you.
It's purely mercenary.
My father offered him a job.
Oh, he gets you and a job?
Well, Harry's cup runneth over.
Uh, George, about that job,
Ruth spoke out of turn.
I never said I'd take it.
You've been holding the bag here
for four years, and...
...well, I won't let you down, George.
I would like to... Oh, wait a minute.
I forgot the bags.
I'll be right back.
It was a surprise to me.
This is the new Mrs.
Bailey, my nephew's wife.
Old, old friends of the family.
- Oh, of course, I've
heard him speak of you.
- And I want you to tell you...
...we're going to give the biggest party
this town ever saw.
Here, have some popcorn.
George, George, George,
that's all Harry ever talks about.
Uh, uh, uh, Ruth, uh, this,
uh, what about this job?
Oh, well, my father owns
a glass factory in Buffalo.
He wants to get Harry started
in the research business.
- Well, is it a good job?
- Oh, yes, very.
- Not much money, but,
uh, good future, you know.
- I know.
Harry's a genius at research.
- My father just fell in love with him.
- And you did, too.
Oh boy, oh boy,
oh boy, oh boy.
I feel so good.
I could spit in Potter's eye.
I think I will.
I think I will.
What did you say?
Huhh?
Oh, maybe I'd better go home.
Where's my hat?
Where's my...
Oh! Oh, thank you, George,
which is mine?
- The middle one.
- Oh, thank you, George, old boy, old boy.
Now, look, if you'll point me in the right
direction... would you do that, George?
- Right down here.
- Oh... Old Building and Loan pal, huh...
Now you just turn this way and
go right straight down there.
That way, huh?
My Wild Irish rose...
I'm all right.
I'm all right.
The sweetest flower that grows...
Hello, Mom.
That's for nothing.
- How do you like her?
- Oh, she's swell.
Looks like she can keep Harry on his toes.
Keep him out of Bedford Falls anyway.
Did you know that
Mary Hatch is back from school?
- Uh-huh.
- Came back three days ago.
Hmmm...
- Nice girl, Mary.
- Hmmm.
Kind that will help you
find the answers, George.
- Hmmm...
- Oh, stop that grunting.
Hmmm.
Can you give me one good reason
why you shouldn't call on Mary?
- Sure - Sam Wainwright.
- Hmmm?
- Yes, Sam's crazy about Mary.
- Well, she's not crazy about him.
Well, how do you know?
- Well, did she discuss it with you?
- No.
- Well then, how do you know?
- Well, I've got eyes, haven't I?
Why, she lights up like a firefly
whenever you're around.
Oh...
And besides, Sam Wainwright's away in
New York and you're here in Bedford Falls.
And all's fair in love and war.
Well, I don't know about war.
Mother of mine, I can see right through you,
right to your back collar button...
- Trying to get rid of me, huh?
- Uh-huh.
Well, here's your hat,
what's your hurry.
All right, Mother,
Old Building and Loan pal...
I think I'll go out and find the girl
and do a little passionate necking.
Oh, George...
Now if you'll just point me
in the right direction...
...this direction?
Good night, Mrs. Bailey.
- Excuse me...
- Now, wait a minute.
I think I got a date.
But uh, stick around, fellows,
just in case, huh?
We'll wait for you, baby.
- Hello, George-Porgie!
- What?
- Hey, uh... What gives?
- Nothing.
- Where are you going?
- Oh, I'm... Probably end
up down at the library.
Georgie, don't you ever get tired of
just reading about things?
- Yes. What are you doing tonight?
- Not a thing.
Are you game, Violet?
Let's make a night of it.
Oh, I'd love it, Georgie.
What'll we do?
Let's go out in the fields
and take off our shoes...
...and walk through the grass.
Huh?
Then we can to up to the falls.
It's beautiful up there in the moonlight...
...and there's a green pool up there...
...and we can, uh, s-swim in it.
Then we can climb Mt. Bedford...
...and smell the pines
and watch the sunrise against the peaks...
...and we'll stay up
there the whole night...
...and everybody'll be talking
and there'll be a terrific scandal...
Georgie, have you gone crazy?
Walk in the grass in my bare feet?
- Why, it's ten miles up to Mt. Bedford.
- Shhh...
- You think just because you...
- O-O-Okay, just forget
about the whole thing.
What are you doing, picketing?
Hello, Mary.
I just happened to be passing by.
Yes, so I noticed.
- Have you made up your mind?
- How's that?
Have you made up your mind?
- About what?
- About coming in.
Your mother just phoned and said
you were on your way over to pay me a visit.
My mother just called you?
Well, how did she know?
- Didn't you tell her?
- I didn't tell anybody.
I just went for a walk and happened
to be passing by, idiot.
What do you...
went for a walk. That's all.
- I'll be downstairs, mother.
- All right, dear.
Well, are you coming in
or aren't you?
Well, I'll come in for a minute.
But I...
I didn't tell anybody
I was coming over here, you know.
- When did you get back?
- Tuesday.
Where'd you get that dress?
- Do you like it?
- It's all right.
I thought you'd go back to New York like
Sam and Angie, and the rest of them.
Oh, oh, I worked there
a couple of vacations.
But...
I don't know...
I-I guess I was homesick.
Homesick?
For Bedford Falls?
Yes, and my family, and...
Oh, everything.
Would you like to sit down?
All right, for a minute.
I-I still can't understand it though.
You know I didn't tell
anybody I was coming here.
Would you rather leave?
No, I don't want to be rude.
Well, then sit down.
What's this?
Some joke, huh?
Well, I see it still smells
like pine needles around here.
Thank you.
And dance by the...
What's the matter?
Oh, oh, yeah... Yeah...
Well, I...
It was nice about your brother Harry,
and Ruth, isn't it?
Oh... Yeah, yeah. That's all right.
Don't you like her?
Well, of course, I like her. She's a peach.
Oh, it's just marriage in general
you're not enthusiastic about, huh?
No. Uh, marriage is all right
for Harry and Marty and Sam and you.
Mary! Mary!
Who's down there with you?
It's George Bailey, Mother.
George Bailey?
What's he want?
I don't know.
What do you want?
Me?
Not a thing.
I-I just came in to get warm.
He's making violent love to me, Mother.
You tell him to go right back home,
and don't you leave the house, either.
Sam Wainwright promised to call you
from New York tonight.
But your mother needn't...
You know I - I didn't come here to...
What did you come here for then?
I don't know.
You tell me.
You're supposed to be the one
that has all the answers.
- You tell me.
- Why don't you go home?
That's where I'm going. I don't know
why I came here in the first place.
- Good night.
- Good night!
Mary! Mary!
- The telephone. It's Sam!
- I'll get it.
Whatever were you doing
that you couldn't hear?
Mary, he'swaiting!
Hello.
I forgot my hat.
Hee-haw! Hello, Sam, how are you?
Aw, I'm great.
Gee, it's good to hear your voice again.
Oh, well, that's awfully sweet of you, Sam.
There's an old friend of yours here.
George Bailey.
You mean old moss-back George?
Yes. Old moss-back George.
Hee-haw! Put him on.
W-Wait just a minute.
I-I'll call him. George!
He doesn't want to speak to George,
you idiot!
He does so.
He asked for him.
Geo-George!
George, Sam wants to speak to you.
- Hi, Sam.
- Well, George Bailoffski!
Hey, a fine pal you are.
What're you trying to do?
Steal my girl?
W-W-What do you mean?
Nobody's trying to steal anybody's girl.
H-Here... Here's Mary.
No, no, wait a minute. Wait a minute.
I want to talk to both of you.
- Here to you.
- Tell Mary to get on the extension.
- You tell him.
- Mother's on the extension. We...
I am not!
We can both hear.
Come here.
We-We're listening, Sam.
Well look, I have a big deal coming up
that's going to make us all rich.
George, you remember that night
in Martini's Bar when, eh...
...you told me you read someplace
about making plastics out of soybeans?
Jelly beans?
Shut up, will you?
Do you remember out of jelly-
... Out of soybeans?
Huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah...
soybeans. Yeah.
Well, listen.
Dad snapped up the idea.
And he's going to build a factory
outside of Rochester.
How do you like that?
Rochester?
Well, why Rochester?
Well, why not?
Can you think of anything better?
Oh, I don't know...
It's just...
Why not right here?
Y-You remember that...
that old tool and machinery works?
W-Well, you tell your father
he can get that for a song.
And all the labor he wants, too.
Half the town was thrown out of work
when they closed down.
Is that so? Well, I'll tell him.
Hey, that sounds great.
Oh, baby, I knew you'd come through.
Now here's the point...
Mary... Mary, you're in on this, too.
Now listen, have you got any money?
- Money? Yeah... well, a little.
- Well now, listen.
I want you to put every cent
you've got into our stock, you hear?
And George, I may have a job for you...
...that is, unless you're still married
to that broken-down Building and Loan.
Well, this is the biggest thing since radio.
And I'm letting you in on the ground floor.
Oh, Mary...
Mary...
Well, I-I'm here.
Uh, would you tell that guy...
I'm giving him the chance
of a lifetime, you hear?
The chance of a lifetime.
H-He says it's the chance of a lifetime.
Now you listen to me.
I don't want any plastics.
I don't want any ground floors.
And I don't want to get
married ever to anyone.
You understand that?
I want to do what I want to do.
And you're...
and you're...
- Oh, Mary... Mary...
- George... George... George...
Mary... Would you?
Would you...
Here they come!
Here they come!
Goodbye.
First Harry.
Now George.
Annie, we're just two old maids now.
You speak for yourself, Mrs. B.
If either of you two see a stranger
around here, it's me.
Hey, look!
There's somebody driving this cab.
Bert the cop sent this over.
He said to float away to Happy Land
on the bubbles.
- Oh, look at this. Old Bert. Champagne!
- Good old Bert.
By the way, where are you two going
on this here now honeymoon?
Where are we going?
Look at this.
There's the kitty, Ernie.
Here, come on, count it, Mary.
I feel like a bootlegger's wife.
Look!
You know what we're going to do?
We're going to shoot the works.
A whole week in New York.
A whole week in Bermuda.
The highest hotels, the oldest champagne...
...the richest caviar, the hottest music,
and the prettiest wife!
Wow!
That does it! Then what?
- Then what, honey?
- After that, who cares?
That does it,
come here, come here, come here!
Don't look now, but there's something funny
going on over there at the bank, George.
I've never really seen one, but that's got
all the earmarks of being a run.
Hey, Ernie, if you got any money
in the bank, you better hurry.
- George, let's not stop. Let's go.
- Just a minute, dear.
- Oh-oh...
- Please, let's not stop, George.
I'll be back in a minute, Mary.
Well, hello, everybody.
Mrs. Thompson, how are you?
Charlie?
What's the matter here, can't you get in?
What is this, Uncle Billy?
A holiday?
George...
Come on in, everybody.
That's right.
Just come on in.
Now look,
why don't you all sit down?
There are a lot of seats over there.
Just make yourself at home.
George, can I see you a minute?
- Why didn't you call me?
- I just did, but they said you left.
This is a pickle, George.
This is a pickle.
All right now, what happened?
How did it start?
Well, how does a thing like this ever start?
All I know is the bank called our loan.
- When?
- About an hour ago.
- I had to hand over all our cash.
- All of it?
Every cent of it
and it still was less than we owe.
Holy mackerel!
And then I got scared, George,
and closed the doors. I... I... I...
The whole town's gone crazy.
Yes, h-hello?
George, it's Potter.
- Hello?
- George...
...there is a rumor around town that you've
closed your doors. Is that true?
Oh, well, I'm very glad to hear that.
George, are you all right?
- Do you need any police?
- Police? What's for?
Well, mobs get pretty ugly
sometimes, you know.
George, I'm going all out
to help in this crisis.
I've just guaranteed the bank
sufficient funds to meet their needs.
They'll close up for a week
and then reopen.
He just took over the bank.
I may lose a fortune...
...but I'm willing to
guarantee your people too.
Just tell them to bring
their shares over here...
...and I will pay fifty
cents on the dollar.
Aw, you never miss a trick, do you, Potter?
Well, you're gonna miss this one.
If you close your doors before six P.M.,
you will never reopen.
George, was it a nice wedding?
Gosh, I wanted to be there.
Yeah...
You can take this one off now.
Now, just remember that this thing isn't
as black as it appears.
I have some news for you folks.
I was just talking to old man Potter...
...and he's guaranteed cash
payments at the bank.
The bank's going to reopen next week.
But, George, I got my money here.
Did he guarantee this place?
Well, no, Charlie.
I didn't even ask him.
- We don't need Potter over here.
- I'll take mine now.
No, but you... You...
you're thinking of this place all wrong.
As if I had the money back in a safe.
The, the money's not here.
Well, your money's in Joe's house...
that's right next to yours.
And in the Kennedy House, and Mrs. Macklin's
house, and, and a hundred others.
Why, you're lending them
the money to build...
...and then, they're going to pay it
back to you as best they can.
Now what are you going to do?
Foreclose on them?
I got two hundred and forty-two dollars
in here...
...and two hundred and forty-two dollars
isn't going to break anybody.
Okay, Tom. All right.
Here you are. You sign this.
- You'll get your money in sixty days.
- Sixty days?
Well, now that's what you agreed
to when you bought you shares.
- Tom... Tom... Did you get your money?
- No.
Well, I did. Old man
Potter'll pay fifty cents...
...on the dollar for every share you got.
- Fifty cents on the dollar!
- Yes, cash!
- Well, what do you say?
- Now, Tom...
...you have to stick to
your original agreement.
- Now give us sixty days on this.
- Okay, Randall.
- Are you going to go to Potter's?
- Better get half than nothing.
Tom!
Tom!
Randall, now wait a minute, wait...
...now listen... Now listen to me.
I-I beg of you not to do this thing.
If Potter gets ahold of
this Building and Loan...
...there'll never be another decent
house built in this town.
He's already got charge of the bank.
He's got the bus line.
He's got the department stores.
And now he's after us.
Why?
Well, it's very simple.
Because we're cutting in on his business,
that's why.
And because he wants
to keep you living in his slums...
...and paying the kind of rent he decides.
Joe, you had one of those Potter houses,
didn't you? Well, have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten what he charged
for that broken-down shack?
Here, Ed. You know, you remember last year
when things weren't going so well...
...you couldn't make your payments.
You didn't lose your house, did you?
Do you think Potter would
have let you keep it?
Ca-Can't you understand
what's happening here?
Don't you see what's happening?
Potter isn't selling.
Potter's buying.
And why? Because we're panicky and he's not.
That's why.
He's picking up some bargains.
Now, We-We can get through
this thing all right.
We-We've got to stick together, though.
We've got to have faith in each other.
But my husband hasn't worked in
over a year and I need money.
- How am I going to live
until the bank opens?
- I got doctor bills to pay.
- I need cash.
- I can't feed my kids on faith.
How much do you need?
Hey!
I got two thousand dollars.
Here's two thousand dollars.
This'll tide us over until the bank reopens.
All right,
Tom, how much do you need?
Two hundred and forty-two dollars.
Aw, Tom, just enough to tide you over
till the bank reopens.
I'll take
two hundred and forty-two dollars.
- There you are.
- That'll close my account.
Your account's still here.
That's a loan.
Okay. All right, Ed?
- I got three hundred dollars here, George.
- Alright, now, Ed...
...wh-wh-what'll it
take till the bank opens?
What do you need?
- Well, I-I suppose twenty dollars.
- Twenty dollars. Now you're talking.
Fine.
Thanks, Ed.
All right now, Mrs. Thompson,
how much do you want?
- But it's your own money, George.
- Never mind about that.
- How much do you want?
- I can get along with twenty, all right.
- Twenty dollars.
- And I'll sign a paper.
You don't have to sign anything.
I know you-you'll pay it when you can.
That's okay.
All right, Mrs. Davis?
- Could I have seventeen-fifty?
- Seven...
Bless your heart, of course you can have it.
You got fifty cents?
- Seven...
- We're going to make it, George.
- They'll never close us up today!
- Six, five, four...
...three, two, one...
Bingo!
We made it. Close the door, Ernie.
We made it. Look.
Look, we're still in business.
We're still got two bucks left.
Well, look, let's have some of that.
Let's celebrate, huh.
G-Get some glasses,
Tilly.
Well, a couple of financial wizards.
Those Rockefellers.
Get a tray for these two great
big important simoleans here.
We'll save them for seed.
A toast.
A toast! A toast to Mama Dollar
and to Papa Dollar...
...and if you want to keep this
old Building and Loan in business...
- You better have a family real quick.
- I wish they were rabbits.
I wish they were, too.
Okay, let's put them in safe
and see what happens.
- Folks, folks, wedding cigars!
- Oh-oh... wedding!
Holy mackerel, I'm married!
Where's Mary? Mary...
Well, poor Mary.
Look, I've got a train to catch.
Well, the train's gone.
I wonder if Ernie's still
here with his taxicab?
George, there's a call for you.
Look, will you get my wife on the phone?
She's probably over at her mother's.
- Mrs. Bailey is on the phone.
- I don't want Mrs. Bailey.
I want my wife.
Mrs. Bailey! Mrs... Oh, that's my wife.
Here, I'll take it in here.
Mary! Hello. Listen, dear.
I'm sorry...
What? Come home?
What home?
Three-twenty Sycamore?
Well, what...
...whose home is that?
The Waldorf Hotel, huh?
Hey, this is the company's posters,
and the company won't like this.
How would you like to
get a ticket next week?
- Haven't you any romance in you?
- Sure I have, but I got rid of it.
Liver pills!
Who wants to see liver
pills on their honeymoon?
What we want is romantic places...
...beautiful places...
places George wants to go.
- Hey, Bert. Here he comes.
- Come on, we got to
get this up. He's coming.
- Who?
- The groom, idiot.
This is their honeymoon.
Come on. Get that ladder.
What are they - Ducks?
- Get that ladder up here.
- All right, all right.
- Hurry up. Hurry up. Hurry up.
- I'm hurrying.
Hiya... Geo... Uh... Good evening, sir.
Entree, Monsieur.
- Entree.
- Islands of Hawaii...
Where skies of blue are calling me.
Where balmy air and golden moonlight...
...caress The waving palms of Waikiki.
Welcome home, Mr. Bailey.
Well, I'll be...
Mary, where did you...
I Love You Truly...
Truly, Dear.
Life with Its Shadows...
Oh, Mary...
Life with Its Tears.
Remember the night we broke
the windows in this old house?
Fade into Dreams,
- This is what I wished for.
When I Feel You Are Near...
- Darling, you're wonderful.
I Love You Truly...
Truly, Dear.
- Martini, you rented a new house?
- Rent?
- You hear what he say, Mr. Bailey?
- What's that?
I own the house.
Me, Giuseppe Martini, I own my own house.
No more we live like pigs
in this Potter's Field.
Hurry, Marie!
Come on...
Bring the baby.
This is like a dream!
I'll take the kids in the car.
Oh, thank you, Mr. Bailey.
All right, kids. Here.
Get in here.
Now get right up on the seat there.
Get the... Get the dog!
You've got a goat too!
- All right. Goodbye.
- Goodbye, everybody!
All in.
Mr. And Mrs. Martini, welcome home.
Good old George.
He's always making a speech.
Hee-haw!
- Sam Wainwright!
- Oh, who cares!
Bread!
That this house may never know hunger.
Salt!
That life may always have flavor!
And wine!
That joy and prosperity may reign forever.
Enter the Martini castle!
Look, Mr. Potter, it's no skin off my nose.
I'm just your little rent collector.
But you can't laugh off this Bailey Park
anymore. Look at it.
Congressman Black is here to see you.
Oh, tell the congressman to wait.
Go on.
Fifteen years ago, a half-dozen houses
stuck here and there.
There's the old cemetery, squirrels,
buttercups, daisies.
I used to hunt rabbits there myself.
Look at it today.
Dozens of the prettiest
little homes you ever saw.
Ninety per cent owned by suckers
who used to pay rent to you!
Your Potter's Field, my dear Mr. Employer,
is becoming just that.
And are the local yokels making with
those David and Goliath wisecracks.
Oh, they are, are they?
Even though they know the Baileys
never made a dime out of it.
You know very well why...
...the Baileys were all chumps.
Every one of these homes is worth twice
what it cost the Building and Loan to build.
- If I were you, Mr. Potter...
- Well, you are not me.
As I say, it's no skin off my nose.
But one of these days
this bright young man...
...is going to be asking
George Bailey for a job.
The Bailey family has been a boil
on my neck long enough.
- Yes, sir?
- Come in here.
We just stopped in town to take a look
at the new factory, and then...
- we're going to drive on down to Florida.
- Oh...
- Why don't you have your friends join us?
- Why, sure.
Hey, why don't you kids drive down
with us, huh?
Oh, I'm afraid I couldn't get away, Sam.
Still got the nose to
the old grindstone, eh?
Jane, I offered to let
George in on the ground...
...floor in plastics and
he turned me down cold.
- Oh, now don't rub it in.
- I'm not rubbing it in.
Well, I guess we better run along.
Awfully glad to have met you, Mary.
- Nice meeting you.
- Goodbye.
- Goodbye, George.
- So long, George.
- See you in the funny papers.
- Goodbye, Sam.
- So long, Mary.
- So long, Sam. Have fun.
Thanks for dropping around.
Florida!
Hee-haw!
Hee-haw.
Thank you, sir.
Quite a cigar, Mr. Potter.
You like it?
I'll send you a box.
Well, I, uh, I suppose
I'll find out sooner or later...
...but just what exactly did you want
to see me about?
George, now that's just
what I like so much about you.
George, I'm an old man,
and most people hate me.
But I don't like them, either,
so that that makes it all even.
You know, just as well as I do...
...that I run practically
everything in this town...
...but the Bailey Building and Loan.
You know, also, that
for a number of years...
I've been trying to get
control of it or kill it.
But I haven't been able to do it.
You have been stopping me.
In fact, you have beaten me, George...
...and as anyone in this county
can tell you, that takes some doing.
Take during the depression,
for instance.
You and I were the only ones
that kept our heads.
You saved the Building and Loan,
I saved all the rest.
Yeah. Well, most people say
you stole all the rest.
The envious ones say that,
George, the suckers.
Now, I have stated my side very frankly.
Now, let's look at your side.
Young man, twenty-seven, twenty-eight,
married, making say... Forty a week.
- Forty-five!
- Forty-five. Forty-five.
Out of which,
after supporting your mother...
...and paying your bills, you're
able to keep, say ten, if you skimp.
A child or two comes along, and you
won't even be able to save the ten.
Now, if this young man of twenty-eight
was a common...
...ordinary yokel,
I'd say he was doing fine.
But, George Bailey is not a common,
ordinary yokel.
He's an intelligent,
smart, ambitious young man...
...who hates his job, who hates the Building
and Loan, almost as much as I do.
A young man who's been dying to get
out on his own ever since he was born.
A young man... The smartest one
of the crowd, mind you...
...a young man who has to sit by and
watch his friends go places...
...because he's trapped.
Yes, sir, trapped into
frittering his life away...
...playing nursemaid to
a lot of garlic-eaters.
Do I paint a correct picture,
or do I exaggerate?
Oh, what's your point, Mr. Potter?
- My point? My point is, I want to hire you.
- Hire me?
I want you to manage my affairs,
run my properties.
George, I'll start you out at
twenty thousand dollars a year.
 
Twenty thous...
twenty thousand dollars a year?
You wouldn't mind living
in the nicest house in town...
...buying your wife a lot of fine clothes...
...a couple of business trips to New York
a year, maybe once in a while Europe.
You wouldn't mind that,
would you, George?
Would I?
Y-You're not talking to somebody else
around here, are you?
...you know, th-this is me, you remember me?
George Bailey.
Oh, yes, George Bailey.
Whose ship has just come in...
...provided he has enough brains
to climb aboard.
Holy mackerel!
Well, how about the Building and Loan?
Oh, confound it, man!
Are you afraid of success?
I'm offering you a
three-year contract at...
...twenty thousand dollars
a year, starting today.
Is it a deal, or isn't it?
Well, Mr. Potter, I...
I... I know I ought to jump
at the chance but I... I just, uh...
I-I wonder if-if it
would be possible for you...
...to give me twenty-four
hours to think it over?
Sure, sure, sure.
You go on home
and talk about it to your wife.
- I'd like to do that.
- Yeah.
In the meantime,
I'll draw up the papers.
- All right, sir.
- Okay, George?
Okay, Mr. Potter.
 
No, no, no, no. Wait a minute here.
Wait a minute.
I don't need twenty-four hours.
I, I don't have to talk to anybody.
I know right now,
and the answer is no! No!
Doggone it!
You sit around here
and you spin your little webs...
...and you think the whole world revolves
around you and your money.
Well, it doesn't, Mr. Potter.
In the... in the whole
vast configuration of things...
I'd say you were nothing
but a scurvy little spider.
You... And that goes for you, too.
And it goes for you, too.
If you wouldn't mind living
in the nicest house in town.
Buying your wife a lot of fine clothes.
Going to New York on a business trip
a couple of times a year.
Maybe to Europe once in a while.
I know what I'm going to do tomorrow...
...and the next day and next year
and the hear after that.
I'm shaking the dust of
this crummy little town...
...off my feet, and I'm
going to see the world...
...and then I'm going to build things.
I'm going to build air fields.
I'm going to build skyscrapers
a hundred stories high.
I'm going to build a bridge a mile long.
What is it you want...
Mary? What? Y-You want the moon?
If you do, just say the word,
I'll throw a lasso around it...
...and pulls her down for you.
Buffalo Gals,
won't you come out tonight...
Won't you come out tonight,
Won't you come out tonight.
Buffalo Gals,
won't you come out tonight...
And...
- Hi.
- Hi.
Mary Hatch!
Wh-Why in the world did you
ever marry a guy like me?
To keep from being an old maid.
You could have married Sam Wainwright
and anybody else in town.
I didn't want to marry
anybody else in town.
I want my baby to look like you.
You didn't even have a honeymoon.
I promised you...
your what?
My baby.
You... You-You-You-You-You-You-You...
Mary, you're on the nest?
George Bailey lassoes stork.
Lassoes the stork!
What do you...
You mean... You-you-you...
What-what-what is it,
a boy or a girl?
Uh-hm.
Now, you've probably already guessed
that George never leaves Bedford Falls.
No!
Mary had her baby, a boy.
Then she had another one, a girl.
Day after day she worked away remaking
the old Granville house into a home.
Night after night,
George came back late from the office.
Potter was bearing down hard.
Then came a war.
Ma Bailey and Mrs. Hatch joined
the Red Cross and sewed.
Mary had two more babies but still
found time to run the U.S.O.
Sam Wainwright made a fortune
in plastic hoods for planes.
Potter became head of the draft board.
One-A...
one-A... One-A
Gower and Uncle Billy sold war bonds.
Bert the cop was wounded in
North Africa, got the Silver Star.
Ernie, the taxi-driver,
parachuted into France.
Marty helped capture the Remagen Bridge.
Harry, Harry Bailey topped them all.
A Navy flier,
he shot down fifteen planes.
Two of them as they were about to crash
into a transport full of soldiers.
- Yes, but George...
- George?
Four-F on account of his ear,
George fought the battle of Bedford Falls.
Hold on, hold on,
hold on now.
Don't you know there's a war on?
Air raid warden...
...paper drives... Scrap drives...
rubber drives...
Like everybody else,
on V-E day he wept and prayed.
On V-J day,
he wept and prayed again.
Joseph, now show him
what happened today.
Yes, sir.
This morning, day before Christmas,
about ten A.M., Bedford Falls Time.
Hi, Ernie,
look at that.
Gonna snow again.
What do you mean it's gonna snow?
Look at the headlines.
I know, I know, George.
And it's marvelous.
Commander Harry Bailey!
Mr. Gower, look at this.
The second page.
Now look, this is for you.
This is for you.
That's for you.
- Thanks.
- See you again.
Be sure you spell the name right.
Hello, Billy, how are you?
Extra!
Extra! Read all about it!
George! George! It's Harry now
on long distance from Washington.
- Harry! What do you know about that!
- He reversed the charges.
It's okay, isn't it?
Reverse the charges...
of course it's for a hero.
Harry...
Oh, you old seven times of a son of a gun.
Congratulations!
How's mother standing it?
She did?
What do you know...
Mother had lunch with the President's wife.
Wait till Martha hears about this.
- What did they have to eat?
- Wha-What did they have to eat?
H-H-Harry, you should see what
they're cooking up in the town for you.
Oh, they are?
The Navy's going to fly mother
home this afternoon.
In a plane?
What?
Uncle Billy?
- Has Uncle Billy come in yet?
- No, he stopped at the bank first.
No, he's not here right now, Harry.
But look...
- George...
-... Tell me about it.
...George, tha-that man's here again.
- What man?
- B-B-Bank... Examiner.
Oh, oh.
Uh, uh...
Harry, talk to Eustace for a minute,
will you?
I'll be right back.
Well...
- Harry...
- Good morning, sir.
Carter, bank examiner.
- Mr. Carter, Merry Christmas.
- Merry Christmas.
We're all excited around here.
My brother just got
the Congressional Medal of Honor.
The president just decorated him.
Well, I guess they do those things.
Well, I trust you had a good year.
Good year?
Uh, well, between you and me,
Mr. Carter, we're broke.
Yeah, very funny.
Uh, w-well...
Now, come right in here, Mr. Carter.
Oh, I shouldn't wonder when you okay...
...reverse charges on personal
long distance calls.
George, shall we hang up?
No, no. He wants to talk to Uncle Billy.
You just hold on.
Now, if you'll cooperate,
I'd like to finish with you by tonight.
I want to spend Christmas
in Elmira with my family.
I don't blame you at all, Mr. Carter.
Just step right in here.
We'll fix you up.
December twenty-fourth...
Eight thousand.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter...
Well, good morning, Mr. Potter?
What's the news?
Oh, well, well, well.
Harry Bailey wins Congressional Medal.
That couldn't be one of the Bailey boys?
You just can't keep those Baileys down,
now can you, Mr. Potter.
How does slacker George feel about that?
Very jealous.
Very jealous.
He only lost three buttons off his vest.
Of course, slacker George would have gotten
two of these medals if he had gone.
Bad ear.
Yes. After all, Potter, some people
like George had to stay at home.
Not every heel was in Germany and Japan.
- Oh, good morning, Mr. Bailey.
- Good morning, Horace.
- I guess you forgot something.
- Huh?
- You forgot something.
- What?
- Well, aren't you going to make a deposit?
- Oh, sure, sure I am.
Well, then it's usually customary
to bring the money with you.
Huh? Oh, shucks...
Well, I knew I had...
- How about that finger there?
- Hmm? Well, I...
Bailey...
Take me back there.
Hurry up.
Come on, look sharp.
Take me back.
Just make yourself at home, Mr. Carter.
I'll get those books for you.
Oh, hello, Vi.
George, can I see you for a second?
Why, of course you can.
Come on in the office here.
Uncle Billy, talk to Harry.
He's on the telephone.
Hurry, Uncle Billy, hurry.
Long distance, Washington.
Hey, here's Harry on the phone.
Harry, your nephew, remember?
Here he is.
Hurry up.
Hello... Hello. Y-Y-Yes, Harry.
Yes... Everything...
everything's fine.
I should have my head examined.
Eight thousand dollars.
It's got to be somewhere.
Here you are.
Character?
If I had any character, I'd...
It takes a lot of character to leave your
home town and start all over again.
No, George, don't...
- Now here, now you're broke, aren't you?
- I know, but...
What do you want to do,
hock your furs and that hat?
Want to walk to New York?
You know, they charge for meals
and rent up there...
...just the same as
they do in Bedford Falls.
- Yeah, sure.
- It's a loan.
That's my business.
Building and Loan.
Besides, you'll get a job.
Good luck to you.
I'm glad I know you, George Bailey.
Say hello to New York for me.
Yeah, yeah... Sure, I will.
Now let's hear from you once in a while.
Hmm.
- Merry Christmas, Violet.
- Merry Christmas, George.
- Mr. Bailey.
- Oh, Mr. Carter...
I'm sorry.
I'll be right with you.
- Uncle Billy in?
- Yeah, he's in his office.
Unc...
What's going on?
The bank examiner's here, and I...
- He's here?
- Yeah, yeah.
He wants the accounts payable...
- What's the matter with you?
- Come here.
- Eustace.
- Yeah?
Come here a minute.
Did you see Uncle Billy with
any cash last night?
He had it on his desk counting it
before he closed up.
Now look, did you buy anything?
- Nothing. Not even a stick of gum.
- All right, all right.
Now, we'll go over every step you took
since you left the house.
All right. This way.
And did you put the envelope
in your pocket?
Yeah... Maybe, maybe, maybe...
Maybe-Maybe!
I don't want any maybe.
We've got to find that money!
- I'm no good to you, George. I...
- Uncle Billy, do you...
Listen to me.
Do you have any secret place hiding place?
Listen to me, listen to me!
Think! Think!
I can't think anymore, George.
I can't think anymore. It hurts...
Where's that money,
you silly, stupid old fool?
Where's that money?
Do you realize what this means?
It means bankruptcy
and scandal, and prison!
That's what it means.
One of us is going to jail!
Well, it's not gonna be me.
Hello, darling.
Hello daddy, hello daddy.
How do you like it?
We're going to put...
Bless you!
Did you bring the wreath?
- Yes, Daddy, did you
bring the Christmas wreath?
- What wreath?
Oh, that's the Merry Christmas Wreath
for the window.
No. I left it at the office.
- Is it snowing?
- Yeah, just started.
- Where's your coat and hat?
- Left them at the office.
- What's the matter?
- Nothing's the matter.
Everything's all right.
Go on, Pete, you're a big boy.
You can put the star up.
Way up at the top.
That's it.
All right.
Fill in that little bare
spot right there.
That's it.
Isn't it wonderful about Harry?
We're famous, George.
I'll bet I had fifty calls today
about the parade, the banquet.
Your mother's so excited, she...
Must she keep playing that?
I have to practice it
for the party tonight, Daddy.
Mommy says we can stay up till midnight
and sing Christmas carols.
Can you sing, Daddy?
Better hurry and shave.
The families will be here soon.
Families! I... I don't want
the families over here.
Come on out in the kitchen with me
while I finish dinner.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Have a hectic day?
Oh, yeah. Another big red-letter day
for the Bailey's.
Daddy, the Brown's next door
have a new car. You should see it.
Well, what's the matter with our car?
Isn't it good enough for you?
Yes, Daddy.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
Excuse you for what?
I burped!
All right, darling, you're excused.
Now go upstairs and see
what little Zuzu wants.
Zuzu.
W-What's the matter with Zuzu?
Oh, she's got a cold.
She's in bed.
Caught it coming home from school.
They gave her a flower for a prize...
...and she didn't want to crush it
so she didn't button up her coat.
- What is it, a sore throat or what?
- Just a cold.
- The doctor says it's nothing serious.
- The doctor?
- Was the doctor here?
- Yes, I called him right away.
- He says it's nothing to worry about.
- Is she running a temperature?
- What is it?
- Just a teensy one, ninety-nine, six.
- She'll be all right.
- Gosh, it's this old house.
I don't... I don't know
why we don't all have pneumonia.
This drafty old barn!
Might as well be living in a refrigerator.
Why did we have to live
here in the first place...
...and stay around this
measly, crummy old town?
George, what's wrong?
Wrong?
Everything's wrong.
You call this a happy family?
Why did we have to have all these kids?
Dad, how do you spell 'frankincense'?
I don't know.
Why, ask your mother.
- Where're you going?
- Going up to see Zuzu.
He told me to write a play for tomorrow.
F-R-A-N-K-I-N...
Hi, Daddy.
- Well, what happened to you?
- I won a flower.
Wait now.
W-Where do you think you're going?
Want to give my flower a drink.
All right, all right, here,
give Daddy the flower.
I'll give it a drink.
All right, here.
- Look, Daddy... Paste it.
- Yeah, all right...
Now, I'll paste this together.
Now, there it is, good as new.
All right, give the flower a drink.
- Now, will you do something for me?
- What?
Will you try to get some sleep?
I'm not sleepy.
I want to look at my flower.
I know, I know,
but you just go to sleep...
...and then you can dream about it,
and it'll be a whole garden.
- It will?
- Uh-huh.
- Telephone!
- I'll get it.
Hello.
Yes, this is Mrs. Bailey.
Oh, thank you, Mrs. Welch.
I'm sure she'll be all right.
The doctor says that she ought to be out
of bed in time to have her Christmas dinner.
- Is that Zuzu's teacher?
- Yes.
Let me speak to her.
Hello. Hello, Mrs. Welch?
This is George Bailey.
I'm Zuzu's father.
Say, what kind of a teacher are you anyway?
What do you mean sending her home
like that, half naked?
Do you realize she'll probably end up
with pneumonia on account of you?
- George!
- Is this the sort of thing...
...we pay taxes for - To have teachers...
to have teachers like you?
Stupid, silly, careless people who send
our kids home without any clothes on?
You know, maybe my kids aren't
the best-dressed kids...
...and maybe they don't have
any decent clothes...
Aw, that stupid...
He-Hello, Mrs. Welch.
I-I-I want to apologize.
Hel-lo... Hello...
- She's hung up.
- I-I-I'll hang her up.
Now, who do you think you are?
What is that?
Hello?
Who is this?
Oh, Mr. Welch?
Okay, that's fine, Mr. Welch.
Gives me a chance to tell you
what I really think of your wife.
- George...
- Will you get out and let me handle this?
Hello?
Hello? What?
Oh, you will, huh?
Okay, Mr. Welch.
Any time you think you're man enough.
Hello... Any...
Oh...
Daddy, how do you spell
"Hallelujah?"
How should I know?
What do you think I am, a dictionary?
Tommy, stop that!
Stop it!
Janie, haven't you leaned
that silly tune yet?
You've played it over and over again.
Now stop it! Stop it!
I'm sorry, Mary.
Janie, I'm sorry.
I didn't mean...
You go on and practice.
Pete, I owe you an apology, too.
I'm sorry.
What do you want to know?
Nothing, Daddy.
What's the matter with everybody?
Janie, go on.
I told you to practice.
- Now, go on, play.
- Oh, Daddy...
George, why must you torture the children?
Why don't you...
Mary...
Bedford two-four-seven, please.
- Is Daddy in trouble?
- Yes, Pete.
- Shall I pray for him?
- Yes, Janie, pray very hard.
- Me, too?
- You, too, Tommy.
Hello, Uncle Billy?
I'm in trouble, Mr. Potter.
I need help.
Through some sort of an accident
my company's short in their accounts.
The bank examiner's got there today.
I've got to raise eight thousand dollars
immediately.
Oh, so that's what the reporters wanted
to talk to you about?
- The reporters?
- Yes...
...they called me up
from your Building and Loan.
Oh, there's a man over there
from the D.A.'s office, too.
He's looking for you.
Please help me, Mr. Potter.
Help me, won't you, please?
Can't you see what it means to my family?
I'll pay any sort of a bonus
on the loan, any interest...
...if you still want the Building and Loan.
I'm...
George, could it possibly be
there's a slight discrepancy in the books?
No, sir. There's nothing
wrong with the books.
I've just misplaced eight thousand dollars.
I can't find it anywhere.
You misplaced eight thousand dollars?
Yes, sir.
Have you notified the police?
No, sir.
I-I didn't want the publicity.
Harry's homecoming tomorrow...
They're gonna believe that one.
What've you been doing, George?
Playing the market with the company's money?
No, sir, no, sir. I haven't.
What is it, a woman then?
You know, it's all over town that
you've been giving money to Violet Bick.
- What!
- Not that it makes any difference to me...
...but why did you come to me?
Why don't you go to Sam Wainwright
and ask him for the money?
I can't get ahold of him.
He's in Europe.
Well, what about all your other friends?
They don't have that kind of money,
Mr. Potter.
You know that. You're the only one
in town that can help me.
I see.
I've suddenly become quite important.
Wha-What kind of security would I have,
George?
- Have you got any stocks?
- No, sir.
Bonds? Real estate?
Collateral of any kind?
I have some life insurance,
a fifteen thousand dollar policy.
Yes... How much is your equity in it?
- Five hundred dollars.
- Five hundred dollars!
And you ask me to lend you eight thousand.
Look at you.
You used to be so cocky!
You were going to go out
and conquer the world.
You once called me a warped,
frustrated old man.
What are you
but a warped frustrated young man?
A miserable little
clerk crawling in here...
...on your hands and knees
and begging for help.
No securities, no stocks, no bonds...
...nothing but a miserable
little five hundred...
...dollar equity in a
life insurance policy.
You're worth more dead than alive.
Why don't you go to the riff-raff
you love so much...
...ask them to let you have eight thousand?
You know why?
Because they'd run you out of town
on a rail.
But I tell you what I'm going to do
for you, George.
Since the state examiner is still here...
...as a stock holder of
the Building and Loan...
I'm going to swear out a warrant
for your arrest.
Misappropriation of funds,
manipulation, malfeasance...
All right, George,
go ahead, George.
You can't hide in a little town like this.
Bill?
This is Potter.
Joe!
Merry Christmas!
- Glad you come.
- Thank you.
- How about some of that good spaghetti?
- We got everything.
God...
Oh, God...
Dear Father in Heaven...
I'm not a praying man, but
if you're up there...
...and you can hear me,
show me the way.
I'm at the end of my rope.
I...
Show me the way, God.
Are you all right, George?
Want someone to take you home?
Why you drink so much, my friend?
Please go home, Mr. Bailey.
This is Christmas Eve.
Bailey?
Which Bailey?
This is Mr. George Bailey.
And the next time you talk to my wife
like that, you'll get worse.
She cried for an hour.
It isn't enough she slaves
teaching your stupid kids...
...how to read and write, and you
have to bawl her out, eh.
You get out of here, Mr. Welch!
Now wait.
I want to pay for my drink.
Never mind the money.
You get out of here quick.
- All right.
- You hit my best friend. Get out!
You all right, George?
Who was that?
He gone.
No worry.
His name is Welch.
He no come in to my place no more.
Oh, Welch.
That's what I get for praying.
The last time he come in here.
You hear that, Nick?
Yes, you bet.
Where's my insurance policy?
Oh, here.
- Oh, no, please, no go
out this way, Mr. Bailey.
- I'm all right.
No, no, you no feel so good.
Sit down and rest.
- I'm all right.
- Please no go away. Please!
What do you think you're doing?
Now look what you did.
My great-grandfather planted this tree.
Hey, you! Hey, you!
Come back here, you drunken fool!
Get this car out of here!
Hey, what's the matter with you?
Look where you're going!
Help!
Help! Help! Help!
Help! Help!
Help!
Help! Help! Help! Help!
Help!
Help! Help! Help!
I didn't have time to get
some stylish underwear.
My wife gave me this on my last birthday.
I passed away in it.
Oh, Tom Sawyer's drying out, too.
You should read the new book
Mark Twain's writing now.
How did you happen to fall in?
I didn't fall in.
I jumped in to save George.
You what?
To... To save me?
Well, I did, didn't I?
You didn't go through with it, did you?
- Go through with what?
- Suicide.
Well, it's against the law
to commit suicide around here.
Yeah, it's against the law
where I come from, too.
- Where do you come from?
- Heaven.
I had to act quickly.
That's why I jumped in.
I knew if I were drowning
you'd try to save me.
And you see, you did,
and that's how I saved you.
Very funny.
Your lip's bleeding, George.
Yeah, I got a bust in the jaw in answer
to a prayer a little bit ago.
Oh, no, no, no, George,
I'm the answer to your prayer.
That's why I was sent down here.
How do you know my name?
Oh, I know all about you.
I've watched you grow up from a little boy.
- What are you, a mind reader or something?
- Oh, no.
- Well, who are you then?
- Clarence Odbody, A-S-2.
Odbody... A-S-2.
Wh-Wh-What's that A-S-2?
Angel Second Class.
Cheerio, my good man.
Oh, brother...
I wonder what Martini put in those drinks?
Hey, what's... with you...
...wh-wh-what-did you say just a minute ago?
Why'd you want to save me?
That's what I was sent down for.
I'm your guardian angel.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised.
Ridiculous of you to think of killing
yourself for money.
- Eight thousand dollars.
- Yeah, I'll say. Just things like that.
Now how do you know that?
I told you.
I'm your guardian angel.
I know everything about you.
Well, you look about like the kind of
an angel I'd get.
Sort of a fallen angel, aren't you?
What happened to your wings?
I haven't won my wings yet.
That's why I'm an angel second class.
I don't know whether I
like it very much being...
...seen around with an
angel without any wings.
Oh, I-I've got to earn them
and you'll help me, won't you?
- Sure, sure. How?
- By letting me help you.
Only one way you can help me.
Y-You don't happen to have
eight thousand bucks on you?
Oh, no, no.
We don't use money in heaven.
Oh, that's right, I keep forgetting.
Comes in pretty handy down here, bub.
Oh, tut, tut, tut.
I found it out a little late.
I'm worth more dead than alive.
Now look, you mustn't talk like that.
I won't get my wings with that attitude.
You just don't know all that you've done.
If it hadn't been for you...
Yeah, if it hadn't been for me,
everybody'd be a lot better off.
My wife, and my kids, and my friends.
And my... Look, little
fellow, why, you go off...
...and haunt somebody else, will you?
No, no, you don't understand.
I've got my job.
Aw, shut up, will you?
Hmmm, this isn't gonna be so easy.
Yeah! So you still think killing yourself
would make everyone feel happier, eh?
Oh, I don't know.
I guess you're right.
I suppose it would have been better
if I'd never been born at all.
- What'd you say?
- I said I wish I'd never been born.
Oh, you mustn't say things like that.
You...
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
That's an idea.
What do you think? Yeah, that'll do it.
All right.
You've got your wish.
You've never been born.
You don't have to make
all that fuss about it.
What did you say?
You've never been born.
You don't exist.
You haven't a care in the world.
No worries, no obligations,
no eight thousand dollars to get...
...no Potter looking
for you with the sheriff.
- Say something else in that ear.
- Sure. You can hear out of it.
Well, that's the doggonedest thing.
I haven't heard anything out of that ear
since I was a kid.
Must have been that jump in
that cold water.
Your lip's stopped bleeding, too, George.
What do you know about that?
What's happened?
It's stopped snowing out, hasn't it?
Well, I, uh...
What's happened here?
What I need is a couple of
good stiff drinks.
How about you, angel,
you want a drink?
Come on, soon as
these clothes of ours are dry...
Those are dry.
What do you know about that?
Stove's hotter than I thought.
Now, come on, get your clothes on,
and we'll stroll up to my car and get...
Oh, I'm sorry.
I'll stroll, you fly.
I can't fly.
I haven't got my wings.
You haven't got your wings.
Yeah, that's right.
What's the matter?
Well, this is where I left
my car and it isn't here.
You have no car.
Well, I had a car and it was right here.
I guess somebody moved it.
- Good evening.
- Oh, say... Hey...
...wh-where's my car.
- I beg your pardon?
- My car, my car.
I'm the fellow that owns the car
that ran into your tree.
What tree?
What do you mean, what tree?
This tree. Here.
I ran into it.
Cut a big gash in the side of it there.
You must mean two other trees.
You had me worried.
One of the oldest trees in Pottersville.
Pottersville.
Why, you mean Bedford Falls.
I mean Pottersville.
Don't you think I know where I live?
What's the matter with you?
Oh, I don't know.
Either I'm off my nut, or he is.
...or you are.
It isn't me!
Well, maybe I left the car up at Martini's.
Well, come on, Gabriel.
- Clarence!
- Clarence! Clarence!
That's all right.
Go on in.
Martini is a friend of mine.
There's a place to sit down, sit down.
Oh, hello, Nick.
Hey, where's Martini?
- You want a Martini?
- No, no, Martini.
- Your boss. Where is he?
- Look, I'm the boss.
You want a drink or don't you?
Okay, all right. Double bourbon, will you?
Quick, huh.
Okay.
What's yours?
I was just thinking.
Uh... It's been so long
since I...
Look, Mister, I'm standing here waiting
for you to make up your mind.
That's a good man.
I was just thinking, uh,
of a flaming rum punch.
No, it's not cold enough for that.
Not nearly cold enough.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
I got it.
Mulled wine, heavy on the cinnamon
and light on the cloves.
Off with you, me lad, and be lively!
Hey, look, Mister, we serve hard drinks
in here for men who want to get drunk fast.
And we don't need any characters around
to give the joint atmosphere. Is that clear?
Or do I have to slip you
my left for a convincer?
What's he talking about?
Nick, Nick, just give him the same as mine.
He's okay.
Okay.
What's the matter with him?
I never saw Nick act like that before.
You'll see a lot of
strange things from now on.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, li-li-little fellow, you worry me.
- You know, y-y-you got someplace to sleep?
- No.
You don't, huh?
- Well, y-y-you got any money?
- No.
No wonder you jumped in the river.
I jumped in the river to save you
so I could get my wings.
- Oh, that's right.
- Oh-oh.
- Somebody's just made it.
- Made what?
Every time you hear a bell ring, it means
that some angel's just got his wings.
Look, I think maybe you better not
mention getting your wings around here.
Why?
Don't they believe in angels?
A... Yeah,
they believe in angels.
Oh, oh! Why should they be surprised
when they see one?
Aw, he never grew up. He's...
How old are you, anyway, Clarence?
Two hundred and ninety-three,
uh, next May.
That does it!
Out you two pixies go,
through the door or out the window.
Look, Nick, what's wrong?
And that's another thing.
Where do you come off calling me Nick?
Well, Nick, that's your name.
What's that got to do with it?
I don't know you from Adam's off ox.
Hey! Hey, you, rummy there!
Come here! Come here!
Didn't I tell you never to come
panhandling around here, huh?
Mr. Gower!
Mr. Gower!
What... what is he...
Mr. Gower!
This is George Bailey!
- Don't you know me?
- No. No.
Throw 'em out.
Throw 'em out!
Mr. Gower...
Hey, what is...
Hey, Nick, Nick...
Isn't that Mr. Gower, the druggist?
You know, that's another reason
for me not to like you.
That rum head spent twenty years
in jail for poisoning a kid.
If you know him, you must be
a jailbird yourself.
Uh, would you show these
gentlemen to the door?
Sure.
This way, gentlemen.
Stay out! Stay out!
Hey!
Get me!
I'm giving out wings!
You see, George, you were not there...
...to stop Gower from putting
that poison into the capsule...
What do you mean I wasn't there?
I remember distinctly.
What the...
...hey, what's going on around here?
Why, this ought to be Martini's place.
Look, who are you?
I told you, George.
I'm your guardian angel.
Yeah, yeah, I know.
You told me that.
What else are you?
What are you?
- You are hypnotist?
- No, of course not.
Well, then why am I seeing
all these strange things?
Don't you understand, George?
It's because you were not born.
Then if I wasn't born, who am I?
You're nobody.
You have no identity.
Oh, what do you mean, no identity?
My name's George Bailey.
There is no George Bailey.
You have no papers, no cards, no driver's
license, no 4-F card, no insurance policy.
They're not there, either.
- What?
- Zuzu's petals.
You've been given a great gift, George...
...a chance to see what the world
would be like without you.
Now wait a minute here.
Wait a minute here.
Aw, this is some sort of a funny dream
I'm having here.
So long, Mister, I-I'm going home.
- Home? What home?
- Now shut up! Cut it out!
You're... You're... You're crazy.
That's what I think.
You're... You're screwy
and you're driving me crazy, too!
I'm seeing things here.
I'm going home and see my wife and family.
You understand that?
And I'm going home alone!
How am I doing, Joseph?
Thanks.
No, I didn't have a drink!
Hey, hey.
- Where did the Building and Loan move to?
- The building and what?
The Bailey Building and Loan.
It was up there.
They went out of business years ago.
That guy is a liar!
I know everything's shot in this town.
- I know...
- Hey, Violet.
Hey, listen, that's Violet Bick!
- I know. I know.
- I know that girl.
Take a walk.
Beat it.
Hey, Ernie, Ernie...
Ernie, take me home.
I've gone off my nut!
- Where do you live?
- Aw, now, doggone it...
Ernie, don't you start pulling that stuff.
You know where I live.
Three-twenty Sycamore.
- Now hurry up.
- Okay. Three-twenty Sycamore?
- Yeah, yeah, hurry up. Zuzu's sick.
- All right. All right.
Look here, Ernie, straighten me out here.
Look, I-I've got some bad liquor
or something.
I want you to listen to me.
Now, you are Ernie Bishop...
...and you live in Bailey Park with your
wife and kid? That's right, isn't it?
You seen my wife?
Seen your wife!
I've been to your house a hundred times.
Look, bud, what's the idea?
I live in a shack in
Potter's Field and my wife...
...ran away three years
ago and took the kid...
And I ain't never seen you
before in my life, see?
Okay. Just step on it.
Just get me home.
- Is this the place?
- Of course, it's the place.
Well, this house ain't been lived
in for twenty years.
What's up, Ernie?
I don't know, but we'd better keep
our eye on this guy.
He's bats.
Mary!
Mary!
Tommy! Pete! Janie! Zuzu!
Where are you?
They're not here, George.
You have no children.
Where are they?
What have you done with them?
All right, put up your hands.
No fast moves.
Come on out here,
both of you.
Bert!
Thank heaven, you're here.
- Stand back!
- Bert, what's happened to this house?
Wh-Where's Mary?
Where's my kids?
Watch him, Bert.
- Come on, come on.
- Bert, Ernie!
What's the matter with you two guys?
You-You-You were here on my wedding night.
You, both of you, stood
out there on the porch...
...and sung to us, don't you remember?
- Think I'd better be going.
- Look...
...now why don't you be a good kid
and we'll take you into a doctor.
- Everything's gonna be all right. Now...
- Bert, now listen to me.
Ernie, will you take me
over to my mother's house?
Bert! Listen!
It's that fellow there.
He says he's an angel.
He's tried to hypnotize me.
I hate to do this, fella, but...
Run, George!
Run, George!
Help!
Joseph, help!
- Oh, shut up!
- Help, oh, Joseph, Joseph!
Where'd he go? Where'd he go?
I had him right here.
I need a drink.
Well, which way'd they go?
Help me find 'em.
Well?
Mother.
Mother?
What do you want?
Mother, this is, this is George.
I... I thought sure you'd remember me.
George who?
If you're looking for a room,
there's no vacancy.
Oh, Mother, listen.
Please help me.
Something terrible's happened to me.
I-I-I don't know what it is.
Something's happened to everybody.
Please let me come in.
- Keep me here until I get over it.
- Get over what?
I don't take in strangers unless
they're sent here by somebody I know.
What?
Look, I know everybody you know.
What do you...
Your brother-in-law, Uncle Billy.
- You know him?
- Well, sure I do.
- When'd you see him last?
- Today over at his house.
That's a lie.
He's been in the insane asylum
ever since he lost his business.
And if you ask me, that's where you belong.
Strange, isn't it?
Each man's life touches
so many other lives...
...and when he isn't around he leaves
an awful hole, doesn't he?
I've heard of things like this.
You've got me in some kind of a spell,
or something.
Well, I'm going to get out of it.
I'll get out of it.
I know how, too.
I...
The last man I talked to before all this
stuff started happening to me was Martini.
You know where he lives?
Sure I know where he lives.
He lives in Bailey Park.
Are you sure this is Bailey Park?
Oh, I'm not sure of anything anymore.
All I know is this should be Bailey Park.
But where are the houses?
You weren't here to build them.
Your brother, Harry Bailey...
...broke through the ice
and was drowned at the age of nine.
That's a lie.
Harry Bailey went to war!
He got the Congressional Medal of Honor!
He saved the lives of every man
on that transport.
Every man on that transport died.
Harry wasn't there to save them,
because you weren't there to save Harry.
You see, George, you
really had a wonderful life.
Don't you see what a mistake
it would be to throw it away?
- Clarence...
- Yes, George?
- Where's Mary?
- Oh, well, I... I... I can't do...
I don't know how you know these things...
- But tell me, where is she?
- I...
If you know where she is,
tell me where my wife is.
I'm not supposed to tell.
Please, Clarence, tell me where she is.
- You're not going to like it, George.
- Where is she?
She's an old maid.
She never married.
Where's Mary, where is she?
- She is...
- Where is she?
She's just about to close up the library!
Aw, there must be some easier way
for me to get my wings.
Mary!
Mary!
Mary, Mary, Mary...
Mary, it's George.
Don't you know me?
What's happened to us?
- I don't know you, let me go!
- Mary, please!
Oh, don't do this to me.
Please, Mary, help me.
Where's our kids?
I need you, Mary!
Help me, Mary!
Mary...
Let me go!
- Mary, don't run away!
- That man, stop him!
Tom!
Ed!
Charlie!
That's my wife!
- Mary!
- Oh, no, you don't!
- Somebody call the police!
- Hit him with a bottle!
He needs a straight jacket.
Mary! Clarence!
Get out of here!
- Clarence!
- Where are you?
Oh, it's you!
Stand back!
Clarence!
Clarence!
Clarence!
Help me, Clarence.
Get me back.
Get me back.
I don't care what happens to me.
Get me back to my wife and kids.
Help me, Clarence, please.
Please! I want to live again.
I want to live again.
I want to live again.
Please, God, let me live again.
Hey, George.
George!
You all right.
Hey, what's the matter?
Now get out of here, Bert
or I'll hit you again! Get out!
What the Sam Hill you,
you yelling for, George!
You...
George?
Bert, do you know me?
Know you?
Hum, are you kidding'?
I've been looking all over town,
trying to find you.
I saw your car piled
into that tree down there...
...and I thought maybe you...
Hey, your mouth's bleeding.
Are you sure you're all right?
What did you...
My mouth's bleeding, Bert!
My mouth's bleed...
Zuzu's petals, Zuzu's...
There they are!
Bert!
What do you know about that?
Merry Christmas!
Well, Merry Christmas!
Mary!
Mary!
Yaa!
Yaa!
Hello, Bedford Falls!
- Merry Christmas!
- Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, George!
Merry Christmas, movie house!
Merry Christmas, Emporium!
Merry Christmas,
you wonderful old Building and Loan!
Hey!
Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!
Happy New Year to you... in jail.
Go on home.
They're waiting for you.
Mary!
Mary!
Mary!
Well, hello, Mr. Bank Examiner.
How are you?
- Mr. Bailey, there's a deficit.
- I know. Eight thousand dollars.
George, I've got a little paper here.
I'll bet it's a warrant for my arrest.
Isn't it wonderful?
I'm going to jail.
Merry Christmas!
Reporters?
Wh-Where's Mary?
Mary!
Oh, look at this wonderful old drafty house.
Mary! Mary!
Mary!
Have you...
Have you seen my wife?
- Merry Christmas, Daddy!
- Merry Christmas, Daddy!
Kids!
Pete!
Oh!
Kids!
Janie! Janie! Tommy!
Oh, let me look at you.
Oh, I could eat you up.
- Where is your mother?
- She went looking for you with Uncle Billy.
- Daddy!
- Zuzu! Zuzu!
My little gingersnap!
How do you feel?
- Fine! Not a smitch of temperature.
- Not a smitch of tempe...
Hallelujah!
- George! George!
- Mary! Mary!
George, darling!
Where have you been?
- Oh, George, George, George.
- Mary! Let me touch you.
Let me touch you.
Oh, you're real!
Oh, George...
George.
You have no idea what happened to me.
You have no idea what happened.
Well, well, come on, George, come on
downstairs, quick. They're on their way.
- All right.
- Come on!
Come on in here now.
Now, you stand right over here, by the tree.
Right there, and don't move, don't move.
What's happening?
Who's gonna come?
I hear 'em coming now, George,
it's a miracle!
- It's a miracle!
- Who's coming?
Who's gonna come, Daddy?
- Who, Daddy?
- I don't know.
Come in, Uncle Billy.
Everybody! In here!
Isn't it wonderful?
So many faces!
Mary did it, George!
Mary did it!
She told some people
you were in trouble and then...
...they scattered all over town
collecting money.
They didn't ask any questions - Just said:
"If George is in trouble, count me in...
What is this, George?
Another run on the bank?
Here you are, George,
Merry Christmas.
The line forms on the right.
Merry Christmas!
God bless you.
- Oh, Mr. Martini!
- Merry Christmas!
Step right up here.
I busted the jukebox, too!
Mr. Gower!
I made the rounds of all my charge accounts.
- Violet Bick!
- I'm not going to go,
George. I changed my mind.
I've been saving this money for a divorce,
if ever I get a husband.
There you are, George.
I got the faculty all up out of bed.
And here's something for you to play with.
I wouldn't have a roof over my head
if it wasn't for you, George.
Just a minute.
Just a minute.
Quiet, everybody.
Quiet, quiet.
- I just got this. It's from London.
- Oh.
Mr. Gower cabled you need cash. Stop.
My office instructed to advance you
up to twenty-five thousand dollars. Stop.
Hee-haw and Merry Christmas.
Sam Wainwright.
Mr. Martini. How about some wine?
Hark, the Herald angels sing...
Glory to the new-born king.
Peace on earth, and mercy mild...
God and sinners reconciled.
Joyful all ye nations rise...
Join the triumph of the skies...
With angelic hosts proclaim...
Christ is born in Bethlehem...
Harry Bailey.
George, old son of a gun.
- Harry! Harry!
- Looks like I got here too late.
Mary, I got him here from the airport
as quickly as I could.
The fool flew all the
way up here in a blizzard.
Harry, how about your banquet in New York?
Oh, I left right in the middle of it
as soon as I got Mary's telegram.
Good idea, Ernie, a toast...
...to my big brother George.
The richest man in town!
Should auld acquaintance be forgot...
And never brought to mind...
Should auld acquaintance...
Be forgot, and days of Auld Lang Syne.
What's that?
That's a Christmas present from
a very dear friend of mine.
Look, Daddy.
Teacher says every time a bell rings,
an angel gets his wings.
That's right.
That's right.
Atta boy, Clarence.
For Auld Land Syne, my dear.
For Auld Land Syne...
We'll take cup of kindness yet...
For Auld Lang Syne...
We'll take cup of kindness yet...
For Auld Lang Syne...