Sorta funny article, but IAWL isn’t a crime thriller.
Justice for Mr. Potter isn’t in the script.
Now, if you want JUSTICE for Mr. Potter, look no further than Dana Carvey’s wonderful revisit way back when Saturday Night Live was actually funny (imagine that).
In that epilogue, Uncle Billy remembers what he did with the money, and George Bailey and gang go down to the bank and kick the living sh!t out of Mr. Potter.
One of SNL’s better moments.
Yes!!!! That’s what I’m talking about. I don’t like the end to It’s a Wonderful Life, because essentially Potter stole $8000.
And if Potter could actually steal $8000, and since Potter had the law on his side, why wouldn’t he have just stolen more of the money? Once you have decided that the guy who has all the power is going to be actively evil, there’s no way you beat him the way IAWL ended.
But that’s how movies used to be. Today, we’d find some way for Potter to get his due.
I will also note that Bailey was pretty stupid to trust his uncle with an important task. Sure, Potter stole the money. But he didn’t SET OUT to steal the money — The stupid uncle could have just as easily dropped the money into the trash, never to be seen again, and the same story could be told (except Potter wouldn’t be so violently evil then).