Something to Ponder - John Doe

by Lisa

When Buffy and Dawn arrive at the crypt looking for Spike, Clem is watching the movie "Meet John Doe"... I found it interesting (also interesting that it was so *obviously* that movie. This isn't like Bargaining where is was so unclear what movie Spike was watching. This was completely obvious. I recognized the scene immediately -- of course I watch American Movie Classics a lot).

Descriptive comments about the movie from web sources:

>>The film was intended to combat pro-Nazi Fascist forces present in America with its story of a young female newspaper reporter (Barbara Stanwyck) who writes a fraudulent column. She invents a fictitious suicide-martyr as the author of a letter of protest against an injust political and social system. And then because of public interest and demand (and soaring newspaper sales), she incarnates an American ex- baseball player/hobo (John Doe) to sell his services as an imposter and impersonate the non-existent character. The has-been tramp preaches charity, kindness, and a doctrine of good-neighborliness, causing the spread of 'John Doe Clubs' across the country. The benevolent, empowering fraud is eventually uncovered (and opposed by corrupting, unscrupulous political influences), and Doe is forced to publicly admit the charade.

Suffering humiliation and near failure, John Doe decides to prove his sincerity by leaping from a building. [The greatest difficulty with the film was that five endings were shot and it was undecided how the film would end - the conclusion that seemed most inevitable and unavoidable was John Doe's sacrificial suicide on Christmas Eve but that downbeat ending was rejected by preview audiences.

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Part of the film:

John Doe is sequestered in his posh hotel room, where he passes the time by playing a pantomime, imaginary baseball game (with himself as pitcher and the Colonel as catcher). The distrustful Colonel offers catcher's signals and tips to the pitcher - he states the real reason for his partner's complicity in the deal, although Willoughby calls off certain signals:

"He's stuck on the girl. That's all a guy needs is to get hooked up with a woman...A guy has a woman on his hands. The first thing you know is, his life is balled up in a lot more things."

John soon becomes uneasy with the manufactured role and the whole phenomenon when he realizes that he may never be able to play big- league baseball again, if people discover his fakery:

"...you know how they are in baseball. If a guy's mixed up in a racket...I was just thinking about this John Doe business. Why, as soon as it comes out it's all a fake, you'll be washed up in baseball, won't ya?..."

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Later:

John Doe: "They've started a lot of talk about free people goin' soft, that we can't take it. That's a lot of hooey! A free people can beat the world at anything, from war to tiddlywinks, if we all pull in the same direction. I know a lot of you are saying, 'What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count. Well, you're dead wrong. The little punks have always counted because in the long run, the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks." {snip] I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves: 'He's askin' for a miracle to happen. He's expecting people to change all of a sudden.'

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Later still:

The newspaper headlines soundly denounce Doe: "JOHN DOE A FAKE! MILLIONS VICTIMIZED!" Doe is publicly humiliated as Norton outmaneuvers him.

A surrealistic montage of images assault John Doe's mind - accusations of "faker, racketeer, liar, cheat, imposter."

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Now. . .

The scene that was playing in the background of the crypt when Clem was telling Buffy that Spike went to Africa is the climax of the movie. As follows:

A broken, defeated and humiliated man, Doe decides that he will vindicate himself and fulfill the original threats of the fake letter by really committing suicide and becoming a martyr. He believes he has nothing more to live for - Ann has deserted him and he has been misunderstood and 'crucified' by his own followers. On a cold, snowy Christmas Eve, he enters City Hall (unseen) ready to jump at midnight from a ledge on the huge building [...]He smokes his last cigarette. (From the shadows Norton and his followers watch expectantly.) As John Doe climbs onto the railing, Norton cautions him to reconsider the taking of his anonymous life:

I wouldn't do that if I were you, John. It'll do you no good. The Mayor has policemen downstairs with instructions to remove all marks of identification you may have on your person. You will be buried in potter's field and you will accomplish nothing. [No one will ever know about his sacrifice]

Ann (feverish from a sick bed) screams at John to stop. She hysterically sobs and urgently begs him not to kill himself. In an emotional speech - she admits her love for him. She clings and clutches at him, almost threatening to jump with him if he does.

"Please don't give up. We'll start all over again. Just you and I. It isn't too late. The John Doe movement isn't dead yet. You see, John, it isn't dead or they [Norton's group] wouldn't be here. It's alive in them. They kept it alive by being afraid. That's why they came up here. Oh, darling!...We can start clean now. Just you and I. It'll grow John, and it'll grow big because it'll be honest this time. Oh, John, if it's worth dying for, it's worth living for. Oh please, John...You wanna be honest, don't ya? Well, you don't have to die to keep the John Doe ideal alive. Someone already died for that once. The first John Doe. And he's kept that ideal alive for nearly 2,000 years. It was He who kept it alive in them. And He'll go on keeping it alive for ever and always - for every John Doe movement these men kill, a new one will be born. That's why those bells are ringing, John. They're calling to us, not to give up but to keep on fighting, to keep on pitching. Oh, don't you see darling? This is no time to give up. You and I, John."

The ending as shown:

As John Doe walks away from the ledge toward his supporters with Ann in his arms, after the John Doe club members have renewed their faith in him and he has decided to not commit suicide, Connell (with his fist) tells off the oppressive and evil Norton in the final line:

There you are, Norton! The people! Try and lick that!"

The alternate endings:

The film ends after the convention and Connell's epilogue quote: "Well, boys, you can chalk up another one to the Pontius Pilates"

John leaps from the top of City Hall and is shown - after his death - cradled in the arms of the Colonel who bemoans: "You poor sucker, you poor sucker"

After Ann pleads with him and faints (after her expression of love), John decides to abandon his suicidal plan and he carries her out to "start clean" or "start all over again"

When Ann encourages him not to jump, John is transformed by the Christmas spirit. He offers his Christmas wishes to Norton, who surprisingly converts and orders Connell to print the real suicide letter (and the true story) in the newspaper. The Colonel concludes: "Well, looks like I gotta give the heelots one more chance"

-- Lisa