The Magnificent Dope (1942)

Here we have Henry Fonda playing a lazy guy who is happy to just drift through life. When he answers an advert that earns him $500 and puts him in touch with Don Ameche, we learn that Fonda's character is not someone you can change by arguing with them, but rather by showing them how they should live. It follows the pattern: tell me and I'll forget; show me and I'll remember; demonstrate and I'll buy. If you want to motivate people you cannot do it by arguing with them you have to show and demonstrate to them the right way to do things. We don't have enough role models in daily experience, but we have loads of people who want to change us by criticising us.It's a nice touch when Fonda sees a man eating dinner by himself and he goes over to offer friendship. Realistic you couldn't do that today, but it shows Fonda had his heart in the right place.

Yet he is, in this movie, a charming and sly country vs city tale. Fonda is the title character. He is chosen as a prime loser who can take Don Ameche's positive thinking course: If he can come through it, the cynical Ameche and his sidekicks reason, anyone can. And others will try.Edward Everett Horton is one of these sidekicks, as is Bari, his mink-wearing secretary.Fonda is from rural Vermont and teaches everyone in New York a thing or two himself. He wins over a famous financier, who promptly retires to enjoy life. He shows all and sundry how to relax. And he pines for Bari.It's a cute idea, which twists and turns several times before its ending. The premise resembles a far less cynical and cruel "Curtain Call" -- which is an infinitely better, less conflicted, movie.

A refreshing, funny film about a different kind of American dream - laziness.Dwight Dawson (Don Ameche), peddling his success classes, launches a contest to find the laziest man in America. The plan is to turn the winner into an aggressive, driven success through his class and draw thousands of enrollees. The winner is Tad Page, beautifully portrayed by Henry Fonda. He's a happy man who feels that, though he's not rich, he has everything - he just wants the prize money to buy a fire engine for his town. He has no interest in taking Dawson's class. Then he falls in love - with Dawson's girlfriend (Lynn Bari).This is a delightful movie about a man who has the true secret of life and is able to impart it to many he meets. As the original post indicated, it's a great life lesson and something to think about.The cast - Fonda, Ameche, Bari, Edward Everett Horton, are just great. The birthday party, during which Ameche and Horton try to keep Tad from realizing that Bari is Ameche's girlfriend - was especially funny. Highly recommended.

It will be evident, that any attentive viewer of this movie, will have a thoughtful review of their own past. Moreover, it will cause one to ponder on the concept, "Why have I been going the way that I have been." Slow Down !!! ... Take it easy. There are many people that are in such a rush to get somewhere that they will never get there. Some folks, run Smack-Dab into their destiny on the same road they use to get away from it.