Meet John Doe Page #3

Synopsis: A reporter (Barbara Stanwyck) writes a fictitious column about someone named "John Doe," who is distraught at America's neglect of the little people and plans to kill himself. The newspaper then hires a ballplayer-turned-hobo (Gary Cooper) to pose as John Doe. In a series of radio addresses written by a publisher with fascist leanings, Doe captures the public's imagination. When he finally realizes he has been used, Doe comes to his senses and becomes the man he never knew he could be.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Production: Madacy Entertainment
  Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win.
 
IMDB:
7.7
Rotten Tomatoes:
89%
NOT RATED
Year:
1941
122 min
1,266 Views


She begins to pound furiously, her jaw set.

CLOSE-UP:
Of ANN. Eyes flashing as she types.

CLOSE-UP:
Of JOE, watching her. The wild look in her eye

and the unnatural speed of her typing causes him to stare

dumbly at her.

MED. SHOT:
ANN bangs away madly. Finally she finishes. She

whips the sheet out of the typewriter, hands it to JOE.

ANN:

Here.

As JOE takes it, ANN begins to empty the drawers of her

desk.

CLOSE-UP:
Of JOE reading what ANN has written.

JOE:

(reading)

"Below is a letter which reached

my desk this morning. It's a

commentary on what we laughingly

call the civilized world. 'Dear

Miss Mitchell:
Four years ago I

was fired out of my job. Since

then I haven't been able to get

another one. At first I was sore

at the state administration because

it's on account of the slimy

politics here we have all this

unemployment. But in looking around,

it seems the whole world's going

to pot, so in protest I'm going to

commit suicide by jumping off the

City Hall roof!' Signed, A disgusted

American citizen, John Doe.'"

JOE pauses to absorb this.

JOE:

(continues reading)

"Editor's note . . . If you ask

this column, the wrong people are

jumping off roofs."

JOE glances up toward ANN, in mild protest.

JOE:

Hey, Ann, this is the old fakeroo,

isn't it?

FULL SHOT:
ANN has just about accumulated all her things.

JOE stares at her, knowing it's a fake.

ANN:

Never mind that, Joe. Go ahead.

JOE shrugs, shakes his head, and exits. ANN stuffs her

things under her arm and also goes.

INT. OUTER OFFICE

MED. SHOT:
Voices ad lib—"Awfully sorry you're not going."

"Good-bye." (Laughing)

Rate this script:3.6 / 7 votes

Robert Riskin

Robert Riskin (March 30, 1897 – September 20, 1955) was an American Academy Award-winning screenwriter and playwright, best known for his collaborations with director-producer Frank Capra. more…

All Robert Riskin scripts | Robert Riskin Scripts

0 fans

Submitted by aviv on November 06, 2016

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Meet John Doe" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/meet_john_doe_492>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Meet John Doe

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.