Gone with the Wind: Collector's Edition (1939)

I've finally seen Gone With the Wind, so now (according to some) I can officially be considered cultured -- although I suspect those who claim Gone With the Wind is the best movie ever made are all women in the south. (Men from the north or the south tend to claim either The Godfather or The Deerhunter as the best movie ever made.) In retrospect, I have two words: Four hours! Is this America's answer to War and Peace? Is Scarlett our Anna Karenina? Is a pouty drama queen our best claim to cinematic royalty? True, after the war she drops the "drama princess" mien of a protected southern debutante, faces reality, and toughens her outlook: "As God as my witness, I will do whatever it takes ... I will never be hungry again!" She never surrenders her means of manipulation, however, and in fact only sharpens such skills. It's worthwhile to note that, despite her initially childish motives for choosing and pursuing two will-o'-the-wisp men, neither of these men were strong enough to stand up to her. Perhaps she intuitively chose them precisely so that she could continue to get what she wanted (a strategy that didn't work so well with her first marriage). Only Rhett was man (and clear-eyed realist) (and selfish) enough to stand up to her and to tell her No when she needed it -- or to show her the rejection she had visited upon others when playing by her rules of vested self-interest. Gone With the Wind is a southern diorama of pre- and post-Civil War society seen through the personal ambitions and frustrations of Kate Scarlett O'Hara Kennedy (Vivian Leigh). It's a moral play that is most interesting to me when the (mostly) amoral Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) dispenses his clear-eyed observations on Scarlett's misbegotten motives. The two ultimately forge a tacit if not mutual understanding for a time but Rhett abruptly cuts the anchor line, leading to Scarlett's most memorable query and his most notorious reply ("Frankly, Scarlett ..."). Scarlett always was and always will be a force of nature, a turbulent wake for all who knew her and for whom only the Civil War itself could be a greater firestorm. 5 stars. (5-11-09 posted 6-24-09)