Frank Capra was fond of speeches, and Meet John Doe is stuffed with them. Written by Robert Riskin and directed by Capra, the movie begins with a newspaper stunt, in which desperate columnist Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) invents an unemployed, disaffected man who writes a letter threatening to take his own life. When the down-on-his-luck, former baseball prodigy she hires to impersonate this “John Doe” (Gary Cooper) strikes a chord with readers, a populist political movement begins to take shape,…

We really didn't need another superhero movie after this.

A few notes on this revisit:

- Pulls no punches on the domestic trauma front. This is about a husband and father's real betrayal. That late-night fight between the parents is uncomfortably true to life.

- "Tonyloaf"

- Elastigirl caught in the series of doors is better than almost any superhero action sequence staged since.

- "I never look back darling. It distracts from the now." (What does this mean for…