Gone with the Wind

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Nominated in: 1940
Did it win? Yes
Worth watching: YES
Standout performance: Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara
Watchfl’s favorite quote/s: “With enough courage, you can do without a reputation.” – Rhett Butler

“Larry won’t play Rhett Butler, but I shall play Scarlett O’Hara. Wait and see.”
- A then-unknown Vivien Leigh, on her famous husband Laurence Olivier

Gone with the Wind (Wind) is a movie I’ve seen many times, but it was on TV recently and provided a good refresher for a blog post. This film reminds me of my grandmother – it’s the only one I remember her voicing a positive opinion about – and of staying home sick from school, when I had the time and inclination to sit through the movie in its entirety.

Wind is the quintessential “epic,” a film that covers an unusually long period of time for a movie and takes place during a significant and dramatic period (in this case, the Civil War era South). The story revolves a spirited and spoiled Southern belle named Scarlett O’Hara (Oscar winner Vivien Leigh). Scarlett is too clever for her surroundings and the limited opportunities afforded to the women of her time. She has nothing better to do than flirt with every man in the county and pine after Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard), the one she can’t have. Although part of Ashley is in love with Scarlett, he is an idealistic Southern gentleman already engaged to Melanie Hamilton (Oscar nominee Olivia de Havilland), a walking saint and Scarlett’s polar opposite.

Throughout the film, Scarlett is adored by men and despised and envied by women. Ironically, her best and most loyal friend turns out to be Melanie.

The action begins on every level at a party on the Wilkes plantation. The Civil War breaks out and all the young men leave to enlist. Scarlett confesses her love for Ashley but is rejected, and he announces his engagement to Melanie. Scarlett is horrified when she realizes a mysterious and wealthy out-of-towner, Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) overheard her entire conversation with Ashley, and the two begin a verbal and emotional sparring that continues for the duration of the film.

Reeling and outraged by Ashley’s rejection, Scarlett accepts a marriage proposal that same day from Melanie’s brother, Charles Hamilton. Just after their wedding, Charles leaves for the war and dies nearly instantly. Scarlett as a young widow is comical, and it is at this point that the adventure really begins as Scarlett’s continues to run into Rhett Butler and struggles to maintain close proximity to Ashley through her manipulative friendship with his wife.

Rhett and Scarlett

Scarlett weathers both desperate poverty and empty extravagance over the years, and her ruthless will to survive overtakes most of the idealistic men around her, who cannot seem to adapt to the harsh realities of war, death and hard work. Rhett is her only equal, if only they can manage to both be in love with the other at the same time.

Wind is important in all the ways a film can be important: historically, financially, topically, critically. Accounting for inflation, it remains the highest-grossing movie of all time. It was so long in production that by the time it was released in theaters, audiences had heard so much about it that they rose for standing ovations as soon as the title came across the screen.

Wind represented one of the first instances of an actor cursing onscreen and explored controversial subjects that pushed the boundaries of censorship at the time. Virtually the only roles available to African Americans in the film were as slaves. Nevertheless, some of the parts were significant, and Wind afforded the first African American ever to be nominated for, and later, win, an Oscar (Hattie McDaniel).

Gone with the Wind is one of the enduring classics; its relevance and importance seem only to increase with time. If you haven’t yet, you should see this movie for every reason.

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Filed under 1940-1949 Oscar Nominees, Drama, Winners Only