Summary
George throws rocks at the window, and tells Mary that he wished for a number of different things. "Mary, I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow and the next day and next year and the year after that," he says, "I'm shaking the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world!" He tells Mary he's going to learn about how the world works and then come back and improve Bedford Falls.
When Mary throws a rock, George asks what she wished, but she just walks down the sidewalk singing. George asks Mary if she wants the moon, and offers to lasso it and pull it down for her. "Then you could swallow it, and it would all dissolve, see? And moonbeams would shoot out of your toes and your fingers and the ends of your hair," he says.
Suddenly, a man who has been sitting on his porch nearby advises George to kiss Mary instead of talking so much. As George begins talking back to the man in a playful manner, Mary runs out of sight, but loses her robe in the process.
Mary hides in the hydrangea bushes and demands that George give her her robe, but George doesn't hand it over so easily. As he playfully strikes a deal with Mary, his uncle Billy pulls up in a car and tells George that his father has had a stroke.
The scene shifts to a meeting of the board at Mr. Bailey's company after Peter Bailey's death. A member of the board announces that George has given up his trip to Europe to help out at the company. He wishes George well at college, when suddenly Mr. Potter pipes up and says, "I make a motion to dissolve this institution and turn its assets and liabilities over to the receiver."
Potter pulls out a loan that the company gave to Ernie the taxi driver that allowed him to build a $5,000 house. As he goes to leave, George tells Potter that he handled that loan and that he can personally vouch for Ernie's character. George concedes that his father was not a businessman, but that his character was unimpeachable, and that in the 25 years of running the business, "he never once thought of himself." George says that he did not save enough money to send his two sons to school, but he helped people get out of the slums. He gives an impassioned speech about the working class in Bedford Falls, and says that his father had something that Potter could never have, human decency.
Outside the office, Billy compliments George on his speech, as they tell the other employees the company is folding. As George prepares to go off to school, a member of the board comes out and tells him that the board has voted to keep the company going after all, on the condition that George act as Executive Secretary in his father's place. Realizing that he must stay in Bedford Falls to continue the legacy of his father, George's face falls.
We see the solar system, as the guardian angels discuss the fact that George stayed in Bedford Falls and gave his school money to Harry to go to college himself, where he became an all-American football star.
The film shifts four years ahead. George is waiting for Harry to return from college to take over the family business, so that he can get a job somewhere abroad. As Harry's train arrives, he gets out with his new wife, Ruth. Billy and George are overjoyed, and usher the two of them to the family home. As they walk home, Ruth tells George that her father offered Harry a job. Harry reassures George that he has not accepted the job yet, and that he wants to take over for his older brother at the Building and Loans.
George asks Ruth more about the job, and she tells him her father owns a glass factory in Buffalo. "Not much money, but a good future, you know?" she tells George. Back at the Bailey house, Billy gets drunk and George sends him on his way home. George lights a cigarette and considers his situation, looking at his old travel brochures. His mother comes out and tells George that Mary came back from school three days prior, hinting that he ought to go on a date with her. George suggests that Mary is seeing Sam Wainwright and he wouldn't want to get in the middle. George's mother reminds him that Sam is in New York, and that Mary much prefers him, as he puts on his hat and goes off into the night.
In town, Violet spots George and walks over to him. He asks her to spend the evening with him, but when he suggests that they ought to go to the fields, take off their shoes, walk in the grass, swim, and climb Mount Bedford, she dismisses the idea completely.
He walks over to Mary's house. She comes to the window and tells him her mother just called to tell her that he was headed to her house. As she comes downstairs to let him inside, Mary puts on a recording of "Buffalo Gals" and invites him in. George's manner is brusque as he asks Mary why she didn't head to New York after graduation. They go into the living room, where Mary has displayed a drawing of George lassoing the moon for her. He dismisses the drawing and sits down, swatting away all Mary's attempts at intimacy.
Mary's mother calls down and tells Mary to send George home, before telling her that Sam Wainwright promised to call her that night on the phone. The phone rings and Mary picks it up. When George comes back inside to collect his hat, Mary pretends that she is having an exceedingly flirtatious phone conversation with Sam on the phone, when Sam asks to speak to George. George and Mary both listen in on the receiver, getting very close, as Sam outlines a plan to make plastics out of soybeans at a factory outside Rochester. George suggests he do it in Bedford Falls instead, and Sam takes him up on it.
Sam tells Mary and George to put all their money into the stock on his company, and offers George a job at his company. Suddenly, George drops the phone and holds Mary tight, telling her he doesn't want to work for Sam's company and he doesn't want to get married. In the middle of it, they embrace and kiss.
The scene shifts to George and Mary leaving their wedding in the midst of a hail storm. They kiss in the backseat as the cab driver hands them a bottle of champagne that Bert sent over. George tells the cabbie that they're planning to go for a long honeymoon, to New York and then Bermuda.
Analysis
George's relationship with Mary is very charming and shows that each of them has an easy and playful intimacy. As they walk back from the gym in their stolen change of clothes, singing in the moonlight and talking about wishes and dreams, the viewer cannot help but notice that they seem meant for one another. Their back-and-forth is fluid and blithe, and they seem to inspire in one another a sense of possibility and excitement about the future.
Throughout the film, George remains a dreamer, someone who sees the potential for greatness in all scenarios. As they wander back from the gym, he tells Mary that he wants to leave the town and see the world, so that he can one day return and make the town a great place to live. When Mary won't tell him her wish, he imagines a scenario in which he brings the moon down for her with a lasso, and she swallows it, illuminated from within by moonbeams. George's imagination seems to know no bounds, and it seems that the small community of Bedford Falls cannot contain all the ambitious visions he has for himself.
George's dreams of greatness and escaping Bedford Falls are dashed when he has no choice but to take his father's place at the Building and Loan office. Potter wants to dissolve the company entirely, but after George makes a particularly compelling speech in the company's favor, the board votes to keep it running if he agrees to eschew his higher education to act as Executive Secretary. In the moment that George hears this condition, director Frank Capra zooms in on his face as it falls in disappointment. It is a defining moment, one in which George must sacrifice all of his dreams of excitement and novelty to do what is right for his community, even if doing what is right holds none of the allure. George's ambivalence is written across his face in this defining turning point in his life.
When the film shifts into the future, it seems doubtful that Mary and George will actually couple up. George has his mother's blessing, but Mary's mother seems less encouraging. Not to mention, Mary is connected to Sam Wainwright, and George can barely get it together to even remotely show Mary that he has a crush on her. As George dismisses Mary's attempts to invite his admiration, eventually smashing a recording of "Buffalo Gals" in frustration, the viewer wonders if George and Mary won't get together after all. However, in a cathartic moment of physical closeness, while sharing a phone receiver, they cannot help but embrace and declare their love for one another.
Thus, while George's professional prospects are not looking especially promising, with his brother Harry likely taking work in Buffalo and his father's company in dire need of an executive, he manages to find happiness in love. His marriage to the kind-hearted and spirited Mary promises to give George some direction in his professional and personal aspirations, as his mother suggested. With a strong union to a beautiful woman, George tries to find a way to give himself a new lease, and find new motivation for living.
