Top 250 Challenge: 144

Harvey (1950)
Number 164 on IMDb's Top 250

Nominated by Lynn

Elwood P. Dowd (James Stewart) has been driving his sister and niece wild by introducing everyone he meets to his pal Harvey. Harvey is a big white rabbit, six feet three and a half inches tall, which only Elwood (and occasionally his sister when she's feeling odd) can see. Harvey is actually a púca ("pooka" in the film), a mischievous magical creature from Celtic mythology. The sister, Veta Louise Simmons (Josephine Hull {won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress}), tries to have Elwood committed to Chumleys Rest sanatorium, but they let Elwood out and lock her up. After sorting out the mistake, Dr Chumley goes after Elwood himself. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: Though Jimmy Stewart's character, Elwood P. Dowd, may certainly be referred to as an alcoholic, only at one time in the entire picture is he seen taking a drink. In this film, Harvey is often described as being "6 foot tall" and according to the film's press releases as 6'3 1/2". That was actually the same height as Stewart himself, although the height he indicted for Harvey was nearly 7 feet tall compared to himself. While acting in the stage version, Stewart changed it so that he referred to Harvey as 6'7 1/2". At the suggestion of Stewart, the director changed many shots to make them wider so that "Harvey" would be in the frame.

I have thought about this and I really can not think of any actor that could have pulled this movie off any better then Jimmy Stewart. The man is just amazing. I have yet to see a Stewart character that I didn't like. Good movie. Thanks Lynn.