MovieChat Forums > It's a Wonderful Life (1947) Discussion > George should have *reamed* Tom but good...

George should have reamed Tom but good.

posted 7 years ago by strntz
2 replies | jump to latest

Tom is the tool that wanted his entire $240 plus bucks back when George and Mary put up their own private money to help out the customers during the run on the banks. This was over 10 percent of the total money that George had that the rest of the people needed to get by. Then Tom was headed to Potter's to sell his shares for .50c on the dollar when he heard Potter was buying. A first class PR!#k in my opinion.

I would have offered him .60C on the dollar and handed him $145 and told him to take that or take the $122 that Potter would give him.

George would have had an extra $100 in the till at closing time *and* the equity in Tom's shares...

Is very bad to steal Jobu's rum. Is very bad.

[–] snelling 7 years ago

Tom was panicky and timid. He didn't want to lose all his money. The movie needed a spineless character like Tom to counterbalance the others who trusted George. Tom sort of redeemed himself at the end but he was still yellow. My guess is that come January, Tom lost a lot of the town's respect and many friends by then.

"'Extremely High Voltage.' Well, I don't need safety gloves, because I'm Homer SimpsonzzzzzZZZZZxxx--" - Frank Grimes

[–] binaryguy1101 7 years ago

No, bank runs occur because of fear.

If George had given Tom only a portion of his balance, it would have made the Building and Loan seem insecure. And that may very well have caused the others to ask for as much as they could get out of the institution.. But George giving Tom his entire account balance, he established that the other's savings were secure there.