Review of Gone with the Wind (1939) by Mitchell B — 12 Mar 2016

Gone with the Wind is movie that everyone should at least view once even if you aren't a fan of romances. It's a revolutionary film in that it's one of the first major colored pictures and it is technically the highest grossing film ever, at least domestically. This film came out when ticket prices were roughly a quarter (or something like that) and made over $200 million in the US. Today, when you factor in inflation, that is over a billion dollars the film grossed. When a film makes that much of an impact it's doing something right. The majority of people, even today, still call this film a classic and I can see why. I personally didn't find it outstanding like most people, mostly due to me not being that into romance movies. I thought the film was okay overall, but I did find it considerably boring in places and there are some things that just irritate me to no end. There will be some spoilers in this review for anyone who cares. For the few people who haven't seen the movie yet go see it.

Let's get the good aspects out of the way. Firstly, the acting is great from everyone in the cast, especially from Clarke Gable. Gable's character, Rhett Butler, is great and fun to watch as well as the character I was invested in. Without him I probably would not enjoy this film much. The film looks brilliant. From the set designs to just the attention to detail in how people dress to how people acted back then is done flawlessly. When it comes to the sheer size and spectacle of the film and how they captured that time period I think this film is on par with Titanic with just how everything looked and felt. They really captured the mood and issues of the time period as well like the threat of the Civil War in the background or the issue of slavery being brought-up periodically. The film does have a great amount of atmosphere. The music is well-done and suits mood of the film greatly.

However, I do have issues with the movie. The main girl, Scarlett (Vivien Leigh), is probably one of the most annoying main characters I've ever seen. Throughout the entire movie she is just being an awful person to Butler and pretty much everyone. I do not understand what Butler sees in her. The romance between her and Butler doesn't work for me because I don't think she deserves Butler and he is just chasing after a lost cause. She rarely does anything to prove that she would be a lovely person to marry and spend the rest of their life with. The whole love triangle between her, Butler, and Ashley went on for too long and it was never truly resolved really. I get the feeling she never truly got over Ashley. At the very end when Butler leaves her and says his famous line "frankly my dear I don't give a damn" I was rooting for him. You are supposed to feel sad for Scarlett because he left her but I really didn't. I was thinking "good, go find someone who deserves you." She damn near killed my enjoyment of this film.

Another problem is the length. It's too long and drawn out in places. This reminds me of James Cameron's Titanic in that regard, except this is even more drawn out. In Titanic I thought the first half of the film was too drawn out, but here it's the opposite. This film unlike most films tries to show you what comes after happily ever after. When Butler and Scarlett finally get together would normally be where the film ends. If it had ended there I would rate this film a little higher. However, here they show you there relationship and it's so boring and drawn out for me. Scarlett seemed to become even more horrible person when they were together than before.

Overall, Gone with the Wind, to me, is very much like Titanic. In fact, I like Titanic a bit more with the second half with the ship sinking. However, I still like the film alright. The look and size of the film is great and has a great atmosphere and music that accompanies it well. The acting is great and I like the Rhett Butler character. However, in the end, it just wasn't really my type of film. It's too long, it can get quite boring, and I hate the Scarlett character. I'd still say see the film because it is such a classic film. Most people love it and you'll probably like it too especially if you're in to romances.