I don't care what anyone says - I think "Gone with the Wind" is a crappy movie

[LynneSin]

Sure, it had wonderful cinematography but personally I thought Clark Gable was at first too swarmy but eventually pussywhipped and by whom? Probably one of the most annoying female characters ever in the movies

[taterguy]

1. Ahem, spoiler alert

What about those of us who haven't seen it yet? :)

[LynneSin]

2. You'll thank me for the 3 hours of your life I just gave back to you

by spoiling the end of "Gone with the Wind"

Seriously.

The first time I've seen it (I've seen it twice) I started to head home after the intermission because I did not realize there was still more. I probably should have kept going home.

To be fair I found it on TCM a few weeks ago and thought I should give it a second chance because this movie is considered such a classic. I lasted about an hour until I flipped channels

[Left Is Write]

39. Heee. You can't really spoil a 68-year-old movie, can you?

;)

[mvd]

3. I like it, but thinking back..

I think I too swiftly placed it in my favorite movies list. There are certainly 10 better ones..

[LynneSin]

5. Hell I think "From Justin to Kelly" might be a better movie

I saw 30 minutes of it once when it was on HBO

[wildhorses]

4. frankly scarlett

i don't give a damn:P

:hi:

[crim son]

6. I can love a movie for the pretty faces and costumes alone.

GWTW is one of those movies :)

[JSK]

13. And don't forget

the MUSIC. Spectacular.

[cwydro]

18. Yeah, I like it

because it's one of those old time movies where you just kind of lose yourself for a few hours.

And hell, Rhett does get the last word.

[Madspirit]

27. Hey Crim son

That's why my girlfriend likes it. I can't stand it. <g> She loves movies with period clothing and crap.
Lee

[Aristus]

7. First time I saw the movie all the way through, I was one of a group of

Texas high-school football players. When Rhett bitch-slapped Scarlett with his "I don't give a damn!", all of us cheered!

[LynneSin]

8. It rates up there with the scene where Mary Coppola gets shot in Godfather III

There was a standing ovation at the theater when that happened

[Dr Fate]

9. It's like Casablanca- love it or hate it. I love them both.

But you present an arguable, valid critique.

Scarlet IS annoying- she is supposed to be-but not half as annoying as that Melanie!!

[LynneSin]

11. I could probably have liked the movie if Rhett Butler wasn't so pussywhipped

He knew that Scarlett loved someone else but married her anyways and then catered to all her whims. Pathetic

[Dr Fate]

14. Heh- but then there would be no story!!!

That's the whole point & scope of GWTW- almost every character's flaws are metaphors for the Confederacy- bad choices and missed opportunities.

[NashVegas]

21. Oh Please

If Rhett was pussywhipped, it was of his own doing not Scarlett's.

He was constantly Double Dog Daring her, but he took few emotional risks of his own. Sure he could pamper Scarlett all day, but as long as he believed her in love with Ayashley :) he could be equally dismissive of whatever affection she threw his way. Every time Scarlett was actually honest with him, he snarked at her.

[wildhorses]

29. how very astute of you to notice that

very good observation there

and there is something to be said for the fact that this movie is still be discussed some 60 years after it was made...

[NashVegas]

45. Oh Yeah

If nothing else, the color alone is worth it.

I've read the book and what's great about that is the more depth it gives to Melanie and the whole Scarlett-and-Melanie-as-perfect-foils business.

[wildhorses]

46. that is my test for if they have really seen it or not

what they think of melanie...:shrug:

and scarlett ???!?!?! ....bitch shot a man .... gets my respect every time!!!!

and prissy ...she holds her own even when she don't :P

as for mammy...gawd forbid any man i don't care what color :bounce:


some strong female characters in this film....black and white ....there is nothing there for ANY actor to be ashamed ....just my .02

:yoiks:
























:hide:

[NashVegas]

47. When I Was Much Much Younger

I thought Melanie was a wimp, too, except for the birthday party scene.

[wildhorses]

48. melanie has a strength that is quiet but strong

deep and abiding...it is called loyalty not, many people recognize it today

[Mad_Dem_X]

60. Melanie was a class act

At first I too thought she was namby-pamby and a pushover, but then I realized she had strength of character and class. I love Mammy as well - she tells it like it is! :)

[cwydro]

76. You go girl...

I agree.

[Left Is Write]

40. And then he got tired of it and left her.

If things had been hunky-dory, the movie would have lasted about 20 minutes. :P

[wildhorses]

49. i think its called conflict

polarizing

opposites

sumpin' like that...

[kwassa]

64. The difference: Casablanca is a good movie. GWTW sucks.

Scarlett has no redeeming qualities, and learns nothing while doing her best to ignore Civil War, which just keeps intruding in her self-worship. The only reason any man would be interested in this selfish twit is to get their hands on her father's fortune. Anything else is implausible, as is much of the film.

Comparing it to Casablanca is downright bizarre. It is hard to think of two films with less in common.

[azmouse]

10. The book is better but still over rated.

[skygazer]

12. You won't get any argument from me

I actually enjoy the book - to a certain extent. Recognizing it for what it is - a resurrection of the whole Lost Cause mythos - it's an entertaining and well written book. But I've always thought the movie sucked - all the casting was lousy in my opinion with the exception of Hattie McDaniel who had to play a cartoon character and did it with style.

And that kid who played Bonnie had to be the worst child actor I've ever seen.

[ScreamingMeemie]

I loved it...

:shrug: Enough to buy it even. Go Packers! :hi:

[ronnykmarshall]

I might buy it too.

I've had fun over the years watching it.

I saw it for the first time at the THEE-ater with my mom and brother in 1976. I BAWLED my ass off when little Bonnie died and when Melanie died. Hattie McDaniels was the best actress in the whole film IMO. And that's a pretty impressive statement considering all the great perfomers in it.

I'll never forget this one time I was at a friends house in SF watching it. This one guy (white boy) just kept going on and on and on about "oh this is so racsist that, and so racsist this". This other guy at the house (who was black) and I were busting up. Every time Prissy or Mammy would say some shit we would crack up and imatate them. Uptight White Boy (UWB) was throwing a fit. The higher he climbed up on his soapbox the worse me and the other guy got. We were about to run into the kitchen and wrap dishrags on our heads and sing "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" when out hostess finally told UWB to shut the fuck up.

[Shakespeare]

38. Please. I beg of you.

We (me, you, your partner, other LA DUers, whoever else wants to come along!) MUST meet up for drinks in WeHo sometime! :7

[ronnykmarshall]

44. I'd love that!

[Left Is Write]

58. I can barely stand to watch the part where Bonnie dies.

It is SO heart-wrenching. And every time, I think - if only Bonnie had lived. Rhett and Scarlett would have stayed together. Or, if only Rhett had known that Scarlett called for him in her sleep after her fall, maybe he would have stayed.

I'm sappy that way.

[Left Is Write]

57. I bought it once and will probably buy it again.

I bought it so long ago that I have it on VHS. I'll have to get a DVD copy.

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. I loved it...

:shrug: Enough to buy it even. Go Packers! :hi:

[Deep13]

16. absofreakinlutely

Hated it. I hated all the characters. I was rooting for Sherman.

[Deep13]

17. "Frankly my dear, I want you found dead in a ditch somewhere."

Well, that's how I would have written it.

[FuzzySlippers]

19. The depiction of black people is appalling.

Shown as simple minded, in need of the "protection" of the institution of slavery. The "good" ones remain loyal to their benevolent masters. Yech!! :puke:

[Maine-ah]

33. certainly NOT todays standards

BUT there is something to remember about this, and that is this was written in 1936. As for the cinematics, christ, for 1939, it was way ahead of it's time. It still packs move theaters today, now something has to be said for that.

Some rather interesting facts can be found here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gone_with_the_Wind

AWARDS: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031381/awards

btw,
Hattie McDaniel - Became the first African American to be nominated for and win an Oscar (Mammy)

here's some interesting info about MM:


http://www.gwtw.org/margaretmitchell.html

[cmkramer]

54. That's Hollywood stereotyping

In the book, the slave characters - Mammy, Uncle Peter (he only appears very briefly in the movie, but in the book, he's a slave who basically raises Melanie and her brother Charles because their Aunt PittyPat is too flighty to make up her mind on anything), Pork, etc. are dignified, intelligent and capable. And even in the movie, Rhett Butler says the only person whose opinion he values is Mammy's. As for Prissy, she's a 13 year old girl.

[Maine-ah]

20. I read the book long before I saw the movie

I loved them both. Now, the dipshit who wrote the sequel should be beaten.


now this sucked...

[wildhorses]

30. i was disppointed in the sequel also

what would you do with the characters...?

[Maine-ah]

59. nothing. I would have just left it be.

Scarlett got hers in the end. Realized her true love, and he left her. What this woman did was write a harlequin (sp?) romance novel. it sucked.

[cmkramer]

31. ITA

I read it a couple of years ago and couldn't believe how she turned Rhett Butler into this pussy-whipped shadow of himself.

[ohiosmith]

22. Funny. I got into a fist fight for saying the same thing about 35 years ago.

[LynneSin]

23. I wouldn't beat the crap out of someone for disagreeing with me but....

...perhaps I'd say snarky things behind their backs instead

[ohiosmith]

25. A "friend" took a swing at me for saying it to a girl he was hot for. GWTW just happened to be her

fav.

[GalleryGod]

36. In 1971 ? You must've been "Dazed & Confused" at the Time?

:evilgrin: :smoke: :smoke: :smoke: :evilgrin:

[bigwillq]

24. I didn't think it was that good either.

Too overblown and dramatic for my tastes.

[Madspirit]

26. I hate it

I hate that big ol' racist soap opera. Everybody I know loves that god damned movie. I can't stand it.
I did like Carol Burnett's take-off on it.
Lee

[Scout]

28. don't care for it myself ... I fell asleep the only time I tried to watch it. n/t

[GalleryGod]

37. They might have a Will Ferell version coming out soon.

:rofl: :shrug: :rofl:

[RubyDuby in GA]

32. Oh, you are so going to hell for saying that

Fiddle-dee-de!

:P

[querelle]

34. Well.........OK

I love it but to each his (or her) own I guess. BTW, you are right about Rhett & Scarlett being totally unsympathetic characters. But I believe the genius behind both the book and the movie is that they make the audience care about two very loathesome people. This is a device that Pedro Almodovar uses in many of his films. He makes you sympathise with completely repugnant characters. Check out his film "Talk To Her". It's about a male nurse who is raping and eventually impregnates a pretty young comotose patient. Pretty awful huh? But I swear that by the end of the film, you actually like the guy.

Just my $0.02.

Q

[GalleryGod]

35. Have another drink, Old Pal ! Where's Ramsey when we need her.

No Led Zep soundtrack,that must be it ???:rofl: :headbang: :rofl:

[hfojvt]

41. 'swarmy' or 'smarmy'?

but smarmy means 'servile' so wouldn't you expect such a person to be whipped? I am guessing that you mean 'full of himself' another word for that would be hfojvty.

I haven't seen it, but was surprised to hear it was defending slavery.

[mentalsolstice]

42. Early childhood memory

My mom took me to see it when I was about five, it was her favorite movie. I remember being scared shitless when they amputated the soldier's leg. Otherwise, I like the movie.

[AlCzervik]

43. "Scarlett honey, you know the Wilkes always marry their cousins" god i love

that movie.

[MichiganVote]

50. "As God is my witness" so did I---pure mindless entertainment

Really, its just too much work to undo all the baloney is past films. They're all about an era and not much more. Seems very few are timeless.

[mike_c]

51. the ONLY movie I've ever walked out of in my life....

:boring:

[SPKrazy]

52. It's A GREAT Movie!

a classic

a wonderful love story with an annoying female character... very true to life :rofl:


It's a great movie!

[cwydro]

63. oh god spk

as usual, you hit the nail on the head.:rofl:

[SPKrazy]

74. ROFL!

I did didn't I?

:rofl:

[Beausoir]

53. Apparently, Clark Gable had horrifying halitosis during filming.

I read it was a combination of a stomach ulcer, cigarette smoking and heavy drinking.

When he kisses her in the parlor, after she has been drinking over her husband's death, I can almost see her recoil in horror.

[SaveElmer]

55. Will you marry me?

I've been saying that for years...and always get dirty looks and snide comments (course I do live in the South)...

Still, I thought it was awful...besides the over dramatic acting, and the fact the story is trying to get us to sympathize with slave holding southerners...it was just plain boring...

[amitten]

56. I love that movie! And I like Scarlett O'Hara. Gritty broad. n/t

[LynneSin]

66. Gritty is the last word I'd use to describe Scarlett O'Hara

At least the one portrayed in the movie

Annoying, Bossy, Whiny - those are probably the nicest words I could use to describe her

[amitten]

71. Yeah, but then she went on to deliver a baby, trek cross country

by herself in a wagon with others depending on her, survive a rape attempt, create and manage her own business, and resurrect the lifestyle at Tara where her family was crazy and starving.

Kinda gritty...you must have only watched the first part where she's just flirting all the time!

On edit: Oh, she also shot that one trespasser who was going to rob them at Tara.

On edit again: spellcheck missed something.

[LynneSin]

77. It still was a crappy movie and she was annoying as hell

and she got her business by marrying a man who was suppose to marry someone else (one of Scarlett's sister or something).

[MissMillie]

61. I felt cheated to have watched it for 3 hours only to hear

"oh well, tomorrow is another day..."

[slj0101]

62. What does "swarmy" mean?

Is that a combination of "swarthy" and "smarmy"?

And, by your criteria, what are some classic films?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

73. It's an adjective which applies to bees and wasps and other insects

[kwassa]

65. anyone remember Carol Burnett's "Went with the Wind"?

where she came down with the dress made out of draperies? complete with pole?

here is Bob Mackie's design:

[TommyO]

67. Who can forget this incredible sequel?

One of the cases where the sequel is actually far better than the original!

[MissMillie]

68. maybe one of the funniest moments on TV--ever

:thumbsup:

[Maccagirl]

82. "I saw it in the window and just couldn't resist it..."

One of the funniest sight gags ever.

[Frank Cannon]

69. I agree completely

It's just another one of so many "classic" movies that I just can't get into at all. This is going to sound like cinematic blasphemy, but I would also put Casablanca in that category as well. It just doesn't do a thing for me.

I think these movies are kind of like those truly funny personal anecdotes you tell that no one laughs at. There's nothing wrong with your story, it's just that you really had to be there. These movies are products of their times.

[kwassa]

72. I think Casablanca as vastly more universal than GWTW.

Frank:
"I think these movies are kind of like those truly funny personal anecdotes you tell that no one laughs at."

I don't, actually. As much as I dislike GWTW, I know there are many, many fans of that film today. I don't think you have to be there with either film. To me GWTW is a chick flick/romance novel fantasy film. As a guy, I find the heroine completely unlikable and unbelievable, but it is a fantasy of the Old South.

Casablanca is much more of a real romantic film, elevated by the quality of Bogart's and Berman's performances, as well as the other elements of adventure and comedy. There are some fantastic elements in this film as well that are not quite believable, but it really is a much better film, with much more interesting characters and much better writing.

[Frank Cannon]

78. Casablanca might be universal for you, but not for me

I really had to fight to keep my eyes open through that movie. But the beauty of art is that we all bring our own experiences to it; therefore, we all see it in our own unique ways. All I can say is that my wife and I spent an evening watching that blasted movie, and we both wondered what on earth the fuss was all about.

[cmkramer]

79. I agree

To be fair, I'm not a big Humphrey Bogart fan anyway, I've seen CASABLANCA a couple of times, but it's never struck me as anything other than "meh".

[kwassa]

87. I've probably seen it a dozen times in the past 30 years.

How late at night did you watch it?

It is a good enough movie for me to keep finding new things in it, in terms of the characters or the plot or certain nuances of the performance.

Many other Bogart films are quite good, too.

[Hardrada]

81. I like Casablanca and have lost count of how many times

I've seen it over the past 50 years. The movie is deficient in some details. The Hollywood movies of that era share this fault and it is that they never get the German uniforms right. I can't tell if the German officer is Wehrmacht or Waffen SS or Luftwaffe or what because the details all seem jumbled. Also they sing Die Wacht am Rhein which was WW1. In Afrika, as they were, the Panzerlied would have been more appropriate but really they would have been singing Lili Marlene. And that would have been rather moving for a group of German soldiers far from home.

[ileus]

70. My only hope is I never have to watch it...

[noonwitch]

75. I always thought Rhett was a hypocritical jerk

He marries Scarlett knowing she loves another man, and just when she realizes she loves him, he decides he's had enough?

Clark Gable, on the other hand, was a very handsome man.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

80. And Vivien Leigh looked beautiful, even if she was a disagreable character

I read the book before I ever saw the movie, and they left out a lot.

On the whole, I found the movie to be emotionally manipulative, especially with two deaths and a miscarriage in the last 15 minutes.

[Canuckistanian]

83. Never understood the popularity of that movie

The Butterfly McQueen scenes are interesting, but other than that.....

[WCGreen]

84. You're right....

GWTW sucks...

[QMPMom]

85. I've seen it 37 times. 'Nuff said.

[Zookeeper]

86. Yes and no....

In many ways it's over-rated, but I do think it's worth seeing from a cultural-literacy and film history standpoint. Although the film is so well-known that most people can "get" any cultural references to the movie without having actually seen it.