Harvey
The salient trouble with Elwood Dowd (Jimmy Stewart) is that he sees and talks to Harvey, a 6 foot 3-and-a-half inch rabbit. When Elwood’s long-suffering sister (Josephine Hull, who won an Academy Award for her supporting role in Harvey, 1950) tries to get him committed to a mental institution, chaos ensues. Yes, the movie is funny. But I’ll remember it for the wonderful character of Elwood Dowd. He’s not delusional, although no one else—well, almost no one else—can see the rabbit. He’s not a ne’er-do-well even though he has no job. As he describes his life to a psychiatrist, he goes to the bar, buys some deserving people some drinks, they tell him their momentous stories (“because nothing trivial even goes into a bar”), they become friends, and, as life would have it, he rarely sees them again. It’s touches like the last that make Elwood a complex and interesting character. He’s not dumb, although he makes things simple. He says something like: “I’ve been smart, and now I’m pleasant. Take pleasant any time, and you can quote me on that.” Jimmy Stewart does a wonderful job, introducing us to a unique and thought-provoking character.
Jim Bell