Been mentioned hereabouts before, but here it is again: “It’s A Wonderful Life” does *not* have a happy ending.
Jimmy Stewart was, indeed, one heck of an acting unit.
In the end, this movie is the story of a man who allows himself to be used for the benefit of others. He is ground down, his dreams ruined and stripped from him, all to make other peoples lives easier. It’s well known that Ayn Rand didn’t like the movie due to it’s anti-capitalist portrayal of bankers, but it’s also true that George Bailey is pretty much the anti-Galt. The perhaps ironic thing is that in a movie that Rand apparently despised, the character that she should have hated the most on a philosophical level ends up broken and miserable, with a future full of dooooooom. Basically, George Bailey ends up punished because he did not try to be a John Galt-like figure.