Gone With the Wind

Rating:
Summary: GWTW: Still good on revisit, maybe even better
Review: I just watched Gone with the Wind all the way through for the first time in years. This time it was the DVD (non-deluxe version). The immediate benefit was that I turned on the closed captions, which help me to focus better on what was being said.

Now close to senior citizen age (and male) I found this viewing the most cathartic ever. I felt some gut-wrenching sadness (and some joy) that I never experienced in earlier years. The main characters are of course stereotyped. But Scarlett, Rhett, and to some extent Ashley show developing personalities. Can't help but admire Scarlett willing to get in there to work physically in order to survive. (And also to connive in order to get money for basically a noble cause.) Melanie remains a little too much goody-goody and optimistic. Probably the least believable of the main characters. And then Mammy stands out as an epitome of wisdom, even though the wisdom may be colored by belief in the morals of the formerly dominant society.

The film version has been so overpowering, that when I read the novel 25 years ago there was something that did not fit: Scarlett had a son by first husband Charles Hamilton. It was hard to picture that little guy as really belonging in the story, since he was not in the film.

Yes, the story is biased with the white southerner's viewpoint, and we don't see enough of the African-American perspective. But learning more about that perspective from elsewhere is a worthwhile complement to Mitchell's view. We can have both, as well as all the shades in between.

One nice piece of redemption: Ashley said in 1866 (read: 1939) that he had intended to free all the family's slaves once his father died, but that the war took care of that for him.

So upon revisit, I have to say that is still one of the 10 greatest U.S. movies ever made.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic and Must see film!
Review: "Gone with the Wind," in my opinion, is a film everyone should see. It has a timeless theme and epic story. I think it deserves five stars. It has every single element, tragedy, romance, drama, comedy. It will always be a classic, bacause it was brilliantly made, and has an interesting story, and moral for all generations.

Rating:
Summary: Frankly, my dear, I DO give a damn!
Review: This movie is absoulety without a doubt the greatest movie ever made. Sure its special effects are weak, nevertheless it was way a head of its time. Clark Gable is the defintion of handsome and sexy playing the role of Rhett Butler.
I saw this movie when I was in second grade and I enjoyed it even then, but when I wanted to read the book my mother would not let me. I read the book for the first time last year when I was in 8th grade after seeing the movie for the third time. I must admit the book was lenghty and at some points boring, but it is still a favorite of mine to this day.
This is the type of that everyone must see in there life to appreciate a forgotten era of people. I intend on having my children see it.

P.S. this movie deserves more than 5 stars, but sadly it was not an option!

Rating:
Summary: Gone With the Wind: The Epic Standard
Review: GONE WITH THE WIND is the movie epic by which all other movies are judged. During its nearly four hours, the audience can see several movies in one: a love story, a war epic, a portrait of a self-driven woman to succeed regardless of cost, an historical saga, and the need of a displaced formerly proud people to regain their roots. Much of the sweep of Margaret Mitchell's novel is retained while losing only extraneous material. Director Victor Fleming presents a vision of the South that existed only for a precious, priviliged few. The first half centers on this ante-bellum image of a julip drinking South peopled mostly with polished gentlemen and marriage-hunting women. The dramatic focus of both halves is, of course, Scarlett O'Hara, played by Vivien Leigh in the role of a lifetime. Scarlett shows none of the monomania for success that drives her later on. Here, she is vain, flirty, and totally self-centered, except for her obsession for Ashley Wilkes, who as played by Leslie Howard, comes off as the last of a dying breed of Southern gentlemen. She throws herself at his feet, promising to love him eternally. When he rejects her, she slaps his face, now promising to despise him. As fine an actor as Leslie Howard is, he cannot set himself up as her power equal. For that, Clark Gable enters as Rhett Butler, a man who sees the world as it is and people as they are. In nearly the same scene, he announces to all the Southern gentlemen present that their beloved South has no chance to win the war. Moments later, he informs Scarlett that he will have her as surely as the South will lose the war.
As the first half proceeds, the audience can see the proud South slowly crumble under the might of the industrial North. This crumbling is measured in blighted landscapes and human lives lost. One of the most powerful scenes in any movie is the one in which Scarlett leaves the Confederate hospital because she is too spent to care for the constant influx of dead and dying men. As she emerges into the sunlight, the camera lingers on a few bodies lying in the street, then expands into a vast panorama of thousands more waiting helplessly for women like Scarlett to tend to them. It is this vision of a dying way of life that propels the first half into Scarlett's return to Tara.
Her metamorphosis from vain party girl to a driven monomania for money is punctuated by the impossibly dramatic silhouette of Scarlett ripping out shrubs and eating them raw, all the while shaking her fist at God promising Him that she will prevail.
Following the intermission, the pace of the film slows and becomes less sweep and more soap opera. Events happen in a whirl. Scarlett has one husband, then another, a child is born, a child dies, a husband leaves her. The finale of Rhett storming out into the night with his now cliched 'Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn,' is the final lesson that Scarlett has to learn. She has stepped on those whose only offense was to love her. Ironically, as she gains the riches that she thought she wanted more than anything else, she now sees those riches as hollow as the magnificent but empty mansion in which she now lives quite alone.
The amount of pity that the audience feels for Scarlett is a function of how they evaluate her justification for the pursuit of wealth. Scarlett may be wounded at the end, but if the audience feels a lack of pity for her, then surely they also see a woman whose bravado has stood her in good stead often during past crises. Her new solitary existence promises to be the most severe test yet of that bravado.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent!
Review: Eventhough the movie definitly deserves 5 stars, i only give it 4 because of the lack of any extra features on the DVD. Can't wait for something decent to come out.

The movie follows the life of scarlett O'hara starting at the beginning of the civil war through a few years after the end of it. Scarlett starts off as this spoiled 16 year old girl from a very wealthy southern family with a nice plantation home and the slaves that go along with it. She thinks each man that sets eyes on her falls for her and she flirts with everyone of them. Scarlett is probably the most annoying, selfish, evil and determined female character ever portrayed. On the one hand, she makes you cringe because of how she does anything to reach her goals, regardless of how she treats people, but on the other hand, she's admirable for being so determined and never giving up no matter how difficult the situation is.

The movie gives a good insight on what life must have been like in the south after the civil war. However, i don't think it paints an accurate image of what the south was like before the civil war. The movie makes it seem as if all southerners were rich, plantation and slave owners, while really only 2% of them actually owned slaves, and less than that were as wealthy as Scarlett's family.

The movie is more enjoyable as a fictional story, and really does not teach you anything about history but it is full of interesting subplots and despite its length, 4+ hours, it is worth watching every minute of it.

Rating:
Summary: A Classic but it's NOT for everyone!
Review: I used to think that this Hollywood classic was for everyone. However, after reading nearly 300 reviews of the film, I think that isn't true anymore. This movie is NOT for you IF 1) you think a movie must be as historically accurate as a history book, 2) you think a 1939 movie should reflect the values of the 21st century, 3) your attention span is so short that you must only see movies from 90-120 minutes in length, 4) you can only accept politically correct films, particularly in terms of racial issues, 5) you are so DUMB as to think widescreen movies were made before the 1950s (although to be fair, Selznik originally intended to use a special widescreen process for the so-called "burning of Atlanta" sequence but gave up on the expensive idea), 6) you can only accept computerized special effects as they appear in modern films, or 7) your idea of great acting is to be found in slasher or teen films being made these days.

GWTW is NOT a documentary on the Civil War period. It is NOT a history of slavery in America. It is NOT a story of perfect people behaving perfectly at all times.

It IS an adaptation of a novel written by a Southern woman who, as a child, sat and listened to the stories the old Confederate veterans told about the old days before, during, and after THE war. It IS a love story, probably about the novelist's grandmother, which reflects the attitudes left over from that long-ago time.

To criticize this film for so many unrelated issues is silly. It stands on its merits as a masterful film that tells of bittersweet love and lost fantasy. That it succeeds so well is a tribute to the actors and filmmakers of over sixty years ago.

Rating:
Summary: Gone with the Wind
Review: This is by far one of the best movies ever made. I could watch this movie over and over again. This is a great movie to curl up on the couch with your significant other and watch. This movie will capture anyone's heart.

Rating:
Summary: An enduring classic
Review: I have viewed Gone with the Wind in movie theatres since I was a romance driven teenager over 45 years ago. Nearly every revival found me once again standing in line for my GWTW fix. Then it made it's way to the TV screen. I captured it on tape to watch every once in a while. But, like rich chocolate, one must not overindulge or the tastebuds become jaded.

Then we got our DVD player and in looking over the catalog of choices for 'must-own' movies: GWTW was an early winner!

I'm glad to have this on DVD. The picture quality is very sharp and finding a special scene so much easier on DVD.

The movie, itself, needs no review from me. It remains one of the most visually stunning movies about that period of our history that exists. If I could do a "dream cast" and be capable of drawing from every actor, past and present, I cannot imagine making any cast changes. For EVERY principal player IS THE PERSON who they play. I would, however make one addition to the cast. I would cast myself as a Southern Belle at the party at Twelve Oaks so I could witness that scene where Scarlett throws the china at the fireplace and barely misses hitting Rhett.

Rating:
Summary: A GREAT Movie!!!
Review: This is my all-time favorite movie! I know it's long, but if you read the book you'll realize that they actually skim through the story. It's a wonderful story of survival and adaptation, as Scarlett is jolted out of her charmed life and into a changed world where some get left behind. I love how she is a woman ahead of her time, being a strong and independent survivor in an age where women were not supposed to be that way. Meanwhile, her obsession and infatuation with Ashley leaves her blind to the true love that has been with her all along. I can't remember how many times I've seen it, and I love it each time!

Rating:
Summary: Aaugghh!!!
Review: The greatest film ever made? The culmination of 1930s cinema? Hardly.

Gone With the Wind has got to be the most overrated film of all time. It is essentially a soap opera made on a grand scale. We watch as Scarlett O'Hara whines her way through the Civil War and Reconstruction while doing stupid things like lusting after her married cousin Ashley Wilkes and using everyone in sight. Meanwhile, roguish Rhett Butler spends the next four hours grinning and laughing at her exploits in bemusement. Much like those stupid soap operas on TV, we are expected to be enthralled as the plot goes from nowhere to nowhere and self-destructive characters do self-destructive things. At least those soap operas last only an hour at most instead of the four hours in this film. What's worse, after the four hours are up, the film doesn't even come to an end! Instead, Rhett gives his famous "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn" line. My thoughts exactly.

My mother informs me that the point of the film is that the immoral Scarlett O'Hara is strong and can survive the hard times, while the moral Ashley Wilkes is weak and fails. Huh? Scarlett doesn't seem to handle her hardships very well to me while Ashley shoulders the burdens and never complains. It struck me that Scarlett is weak and Ashley is strong.

Another thing that irritated me about this film is the poor period detail. The whole movie seems like a filmed play, which is what it is. We have to take the character's word for it that there is a war going on somewhere beyond the set walls (the war is never once shown in the film.) I know, some people are going to say that this was made in the thirties and that's how movies were made then, but I've seen films earlier that this (The Birth of a Nation, The General) that look authentic to this day. Then there's Max Steiner' score, he essentially repeats the same theme over and over again for four hours.

I have tried numerous times to watch this movie all the way through in one sit and failed every time. I have had to watch it in half hour spurts to get through the entire film. And I'm an old movie buff. It's that painful.