I know its considered a girlie flick, but the film fascinates me in so many ways. The story, the acting (mainly Vivienne and Clark Gable), the technicolour, the lenth, the music, the ambition of the whole thing. The fact it was made int he "golden era", the making of it etc...

The the whole scope of the film would still be considered daunting even today! And yet I know alot of young people who have never heard of this film. I know they would love it, and infact, a few of my ex girlfriends I had shown this too admitted to liking it aswell.

As I said, its a technical marvel aswell, especially the colour palette or look and the different colour hues changing depending on the mood of the scene. It was certainly a tour de force for the then still new technicolor process in films. And it still looks great today!

Its also one of the most perfect castings in a film lead I can think of. Funny it was a upper class English girl who took the lead in a very American story. She carries the film and looks beutiful in it aswell. Again, credit to the books author for the story and dialogue, but Vivien Lee totally owns the film! Clark Gable is perfectly cast aswell and the chemistry is spot on. Also great is Hattie Mcdaniels. I know the film gets flak for its racial stereotyping, but at least the producer cut out the n words, aswell as toning down some of the racial stereotypes in general.




Its a great lesson in film history in how to actually live up to hype (this film was hyped for years before released), and Clark Gable was robbed for not winning the best actor oscar.

One of my all time favs and not that I care, but adjusting inflation, its apparantly the highest gorssing film of all time. Or at least the no.1 film of all time for most ticket sales.

i've tried. it makes me sleepy.

I LOVE this film

Love this movie. Definitely in my top 10 favorite movies. I watch it on cold, rainy days a few times a year.

Anxiety said:

It is a long film. Its also a slow film in terms of pacing. But I love the relaxed pacing, which is particually evident in the first half of the film.

Ashley Wilkes wimpy personality often makes me laugh. And Scaretts love for him makes it even funnier, but thats love for you. Never can be explained

Its a very soapy film, but the backdrop of the cival war makes it fascinating. Scarletts character development in general also makes the movie very watchable to me.

It's funny, but in today's terms, Scarlett would be a scandalous hoochie!

Question:

Who would you rather have:



wimpy, downtrodden ole' Ashley

or


lovable rogue/general bad boy Rhett Butler

I mean personality wise, no contest its rhett right? I presume women find Rhett, or Clark Gable more attractive. The few real opinions I have of this indicate that so.

One of the greatest pictures of all time...from the single best year in cinema (1939).

It is not a "girlie flick."

Genesia said:

I reckon it is. Its like a soap really, just a really interesting one with a interesting backdrop. OK, maybe its not quite that simple, but I can't see many males around my age (23) watching this.

thesexofit said:

Maybe you just need to grow up a bit.

Genesia said:

Oh I agree.

I've always loved the film since I was little. Appreciate it even more now. Its one of my all time fav movies.

one of my all time fave. films!!! love it!

To me, it's a piece of garbage than romanticizes the Old South and sanitizes history. But what do you expect from Hollywood?
[Edited 1/7/09 22:36pm]

I've seen it lots of times, including on the big screen at the Castro on it's 50 year anniversary. I'm torn at times because the story of the old South and race relations has me feeling one way. Yet I still have to watch so I could drool over Clark Gable. Whew he sure lights up the screen.

The black characters in the movie (and the book) are portrayed rather one dimensionally and used as props mostly. At its core, it's racist, and the author's portrayal of African Americans is nothing compared to the central black character of Mark Twain's novels.

As in all the most of the older movies, minorities are sexless, programmed props for humor and serve often as examples of what whites aren't suppose to think, or as people whose behavior they should rise above (cause you know them blacks just don't know any better).
Before and after the burning of Atlanta (a magnificent series of scenes in film making history, I must admit), it's as if the house negros had absolutely no clue about the ramifications and benefits the war which raged around them would bring to them. The main house slave, you know--the Aunt Jemima looking one--appears bossy and pushy to Scarlet as if she had some level of control over her 'workplace' , but her character is so one dimensional and 'comedic' she might as well have been Jsar Jsar Binks. The movie ends up being nothing but a love story, like James Cameron's Titanic, using history as a mere backdrop, and neither progressing our understanding of the south-vs-north mindset nor adequately addressing any real moral issues. The only insight it reveals is the racist author and America's racist past (and by this I'm not deny it's still racist--it just needs to be political correct now to some extent cause women and minorities have buying power).

Look, even the protagonist, Scarlet Ohara can't be said to be much of a pioneering character for women's lib. She obtained much of what she did through lying, deceit, and the same lacking afore mentioned moral fibre.

That's not the say the men fair any better. Ashley, Mr. Buttler--Scarlet's other husbands--they're all stupid too. It's like a 3 hour moron jamboree.


that being said, every time I see the scene when Scarlet is fleeing Atlanta during the North's Siege of it, and she whips her horse until it collapses dead.
I can't stop laughing
Yeah, I have issues

.
[Edited 1/7/09 23:13pm]

Imago said:

And it's considered an American classic....fitting.

"Frankly Scarlette, I dont give a dam"

uPtoWnNY said:

That's what blows my mind.

Americans may have terrible taste, but our critics tend to be spot on.
How anyone could love this film is beyond me. I's entertaining in places,
and visually astounding for the time period it was made.
But.... well, that's all the positives I can think of.

uPtoWnNY said:

True. Coulda been worse though. A subplot involving the KKK got cut thank God (its in the book I guess?), but yes, the black characters are stereotypical slaves, but then, they are hardly gonna be portrayed as happy or whatever, but I agree with Imago, not any real depth was made with those characters.

No movie is perfect, and I agree with what you and Imago are saying abou the criticisms, but I still love it though.