Meet John Doe (1941)

Ann: [Ann is pleading with John not to commit suicide] Please don't give up. We'll start all over again. Just you and I. It isn't too late. The John Doe movement isn't dead yet. You see, John, it isn't dead or they wouldn't be here. It's alive in them. They kept it alive by being afraid. That's why they came up here. Oh, darling!... We can start clean now. Just you and I. It'll grow John, and it'll grow big because it'll be honest this time. Oh, John, if it's worth dying for, it's worth living for. Oh please, John... You wanna be honest, don't ya? Well, you don't have to die to keep the John Doe ideal alive. Someone already died for that once. The first John Doe. And he's kept that ideal alive for nearly 2,000 years. It was He who kept it alive in them. And He'll go on keeping it alive for ever and always - for every John Doe movement these men kill, a new one will be born. That's why those bells are ringing, John. They're calling to us, not to give up but to keep on fighting, to keep on pitching. Oh, don't you see darling? This is no time to give up. You and I, John, we... Oh, no, no, John. If you die, I want to die too. Oh, oh, I love you.

---

Long John Willoughby: Hey, stop worryin', Colonel, fifty bucks ain't gonna ruin me.
The Colonel: I've seen plenty of fellas start out with fifty bucks and wind up with a *bank* account!
Beany: Hey, what's wrong with a bank account, anyway?
The Colonel: And let me tell you, Long John, when you become a guy with a bank account, they gotcha! Yes sir, they gotcha!

---

Ann: If it was raining hundred dollar bills, you'd be out looking for a dime you lost someplace!

---

read more quotes from Meet John Doe...

Frank Capra's first choice for the role of Ann Mitchell was Ann Sheridan. However, she was vetoed by Warner Bros. in a contract dispute.
Frank Capra didn't want anyone to play John Doe except Gary Cooper, who agreed to the part (without reading a script) for two reasons: he had enjoyed working with Capra on Mr. Deeds Goes to Town and he wanted to work with Barbara Stanwyck.
The first film Frank Capra produced independent of the Hollywood studios.
read more facts about Meet John Doe...