Daniels persuades him to help others in every way he can, including his wife Lu's good-for-nothing brother, Claude, who's been living with them rent-free for six months, and their neighbors the Butlers, who need a car for a vacation when theirs breaks down.

Lu is fed up with Sam's generosity, particularly when he ends up paying for the Butlers' car repairs, then letting the mechanic come over for home-cooked meals.

Sinclair Lewis was asked to work on the script but refused, stating: "[A] man who tried to lead in our times the life of an apostle would be an idiot and would be considered by others to be one".

According to the American Film Institute, Cooper's career was "floundering" at the time, and while he was filming Good Sam he signed a "significant contract" with Warner Bros.[3] For the scene in which a Salvation Army marching band accompanies Cooper's drunken character home, director McCarey assembled a 25-piece band composed of students from several high schools in the Los Angeles area.

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times evaluated the film positively, calling it "a mischievous sort of satire" and pointing out that the main character, who behaves like a saint towards everyone, should not be taken seriously.

Crowrher wrote: “The principal danger in this picture is that people will take it seriously as a nobly intended tribute to the Good Samaritan type.

[6] A 1950 review by the Narandera Argus and Riverina Advertiser of New South Wales also praised the film as "smashing in its comic effect", "heartwarming and human".

[7] The Santa Cruz Sentinel gave the picture a weak nod, writing: "The film has several good laughs, and no doubt some people will find it amusing and even philosophical.

[9] Contemporary reviews also noted the miscasting of Sheridan, who typically played "sassy" characters but in this film was cast as a "bland" housewife.

[9] In 1982, The RKO Story criticized McCarey's coaching of the actors for "bungling" the potential satirical comedy, resulting in Cooper giving "one of the most dopey, insipid performances of his long career".

[11] PopMatters writes that the film “ ...balances comedy, pathos, and irony so freely within each scene that you don't know how the movie expects you to react.

He's so fascinated by observing the nuances of human reactions, and how the emotions of different characters feed and counterpoint each other, that he lets scenes run on quite long; you get the feeling he'd just as soon they never end.

[12] Writing for the CinePassion website, Fernando Croce on the other hand, asserts that "[t]he leisurely treatment allows for the flowering of digressions like Ida Moore's sketch of a wizened sly pixie or Dick Wessel's beautiful rendition of Edgar Kennedy's monumental slow-burn at the wheel of a bus".