'Gone With the Wind' Is Returning to Big Screen Theaters for the Film's 80th Anniversary 2 Days This Month!

I hope many show up in period dress around the nation to remind folks of our history instead of talking about banning it! Sheesh!
We love this movie. It’s the inspiration for thousands of re-enactors. Recently AMC played this movie and called it a movie about slavery. I wasn’t too keen on their tag line. I’m sure something like that will be done again but we will see.
 
I'm not raining on anyone's enjoyment of GWTW but would like to point out there were protests over it 80 years ago, too. Honest. It's been an American love/hate thing since the day it opened.




Goodness, that's incredible! What airline?
TBF it won 8 academy awards and broke attendance records at the time, it was a mostly love relationship with audiences...…...and to this day ranks well in movies of all time, AFI ranks it 4th out top 100 movies of the last 100 years
 
After watching that movie from time to time for the last 50 years, I finally spotted something a couple of months back that ruined a scene for me. In the railroad yard in Atlanta, the hundreds of wounded. There are only a few real people as wounded strategically placed with their arms or legs moving. The rest are either dummies or simply prop uniforms laid out to resemble a person. Dammit.
At the time there was great deal of controversy surrounding the filming of the scene, as Selznick wanted more casualties so decided to go the dummy route. This created a panic among members of the Guild representing Hollywood extras who protested vigorously, causing him to retract the plan and go for total real-live extras for the scene. Unfortunately, when the time came to film it not enough extras showed up - Back to plan one!
 
I saw it on the big screen when I was 17 and don't care to see it again. It was good, but I like the book better.
 
I saw it on the big screen when I was 17 and don't care to see it again. It was good, but I like the book better.
You and the owner of Jefferson, Texas' Gone With the Wind Museum, Bobbie Hardy:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/scarlett-ohardys-gone-with-the-wind-museum-jefferson-texas.121573/

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TBF it won 8 academy awards and broke attendance records at the time, it was a mostly love relationship with audiences...…...and to this day ranks well in movies of all time, AFI ranks it 4th out top 100 movies of the last 100 years


I don't mean to be the crank in the conversation ( and not happy kinda forced into the position, we're better than this ) but will be considered one since we're now allllll ' good ' or alllll ' bad ' depending on who says something no one wants to hear; surely it's better to have a clear eyed view of pretty much everything? Not that I wasn't aware just pointing that out would make fans unhappy and did not actually slam it myself. History isn't an exclusive club or worse, something everyone gets to decide with a vote. Flat Earth society is making a comeback, from reports, and we could be in trouble.

No one is being personally insulted if someone doesn't care for aspects of this movie, we've managed to hang on to the idea it's o.k. to have opinions and voice them. And it's not a contest " Best Movie Of All Time So There You're Just Wrong ". No idea what criteria may be for AFI's top 100 list. Like to point out it took what, until 2017 for Hollywood to feature a black cast, black superhero in a movie? Makes one suspect maybe not a lot of black votes being courted out there. We're pretty a mixed lot out here, almost half our population doesn't look like Vivien Leigh ( who was hysterically a very talented Brit anyway ). Seems odd.

If being on a list it makes a movie untouchable, then they need to get rid of The List.
 
I don't mean to be the crank in the conversation ( and not happy kinda forced into the position, we're better than this ) but will be considered one since we're now allllll ' good ' or alllll ' bad ' depending on who says something no one wants to hear; surely it's better to have a clear eyed view of pretty much everything? Not that I wasn't aware just pointing that out would make fans unhappy and did not actually slam it myself. History isn't an exclusive club or worse, something everyone gets to decide with a vote. Flat Earth society is making a comeback, from reports, and we could be in trouble.

No one is being personally insulted if someone doesn't care for aspects of this movie, we've managed to hang on to the idea it's o.k. to have opinions and voice them. And it's not a contest " Best Movie Of All Time So There You're Just Wrong ". No idea what criteria may be for AFI's top 100 list. Like to point out it took what, until 2017 for Hollywood to feature a black cast, black superhero in a movie? Makes one suspect maybe not a lot of black votes being courted out there. We're pretty a mixed lot out here, almost half our population doesn't look like Vivien Leigh ( who was hysterically a very talented Brit anyway ). Seems odd.

If being on a list it makes a movie untouchable, then they need to get rid of The List.
Wasnt accusing you of being or trying to be a crank myself at all.

Just to say good/bad, love/hate or anything/anything to me suggests some major or substantial divide...… Doesnt seem to be to the case to me at all as it had one of the better receptions of all time breaking attendance records...., or even today

One can always find a few who will complain about anything, but they dont represent "WE" as in the decided majority, so until it would least approach 60/40 or so, wouldn't suggest any major divide in opinion myself. Was just pointing out opinion was decidedly in favor of the film at its release, and would say so even today as its still considered a classic that ranks well on most lists of the industry.

I acknowlege the existence of PETA for example.....but to me that hardly would justify saying "we have always had a love/hate relationship with pet ownership" when it fact its always been widely accepted...…….just seems to be overblowing the detractors a bit..…. as PETA represent less then 2% of the population, hardly representative of "we"
 
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I have seen GWTW more times than I can count, and have a copy saved in my Direct tv queue for when the mood strikes. Its a great movie, but it is important to remember that it is just...that, a movie and far from accurate history. And the lore has spread and been piled on over the years that is was "universally" acclaimed and praised at the time.

That was far from true. There were many voices of protest at the time; some of them even reaching the ears of Selznick and causing him to "adjust" his production along the way. And so, since this is a primarily a History Forum where we--generally speaking--prefer to deal in "the truths" thereof ...below I will post some insights from a jstor article that discusses both GWTW & BoaN and of the contemporary reactions to their respective releases and production. In this month of all months of the long/short year, a little consideration for voices that were raised and mostly ignored is in order.

A little rain on the parade never hurts in the long run, it helps the history flowers grow.

Source: My entries below are from pg 6 of the dwnld. and pg. 460 of the org. article. I will attach the other 2 pgs I selected in the next post.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/405438...7015b76a4c4f0a66&seq=9#page_scan_tab_contents

screenshot-www.jstor.org-2019-02-17-08-16-35.png
 
I always supposed the "truth" was it was fiction....It was a movie based on a fictional book...….To try to criticize it on some grounds of historical accuracy seems rather odd, as fiction is by defination imaginary people and events....... The purpose of fiction is to simply entertain.....….its not a documentary......

Movies generally claim some "artistic license" even in presenting non fictional events, however thats not the case in GWTW as it wasnt even ever presented as non fiction...……

I love the phrase "most historical scholarship of Gone with the Wind".....its freaking imaginary...….perhaps Daffy Duck warrants historical scholarship...….
 
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I always supposed the "truth" was it was fiction....It was a movie based on a fictional book...….To try to criticize it on some grounds of historical accuracy seems rather odd, as fiction is by defination imaginary people and events....... The purpose of fiction is to simply entertain.....….its not a documentary......

Movies generally claim some "artistic license" even in presenting non fictional events, however thats not the case in GWTW as it wasnt even ever presented as non fiction...……

I love the phrase "most historical scholarship of Gone with the wind".....its freaking imaginary...….perhaps Daffy Duck warrants historical scholarship...…..

The master of the the obvious as usual. You may take it as posted, which was intended as more facts on the reactions to the film's original release or not. I am not interested in the rhetorical supposin......that seems............to be your general tactic of engagement, it is generally a circular navigation to nowhere. Your mentioning Daffy somehow seems fitting when you mention historical scholarship.
 
As is your presenting 'historical scholarship" of imaginary events as serious......If your wanting to suggest fitting to people or go with inferences

And nothing wrong with noting the obvious in that it was fiction, little need to suggest the obvious is something it isn't, that would be disingenuous

And again if one wants to note its reception, it was top grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation. Hard to spin it, as it wasnt received positively, which I guess does also go to rather obvious as to the reaction to its original release
 
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It's a movie. Entertainment. Any "historical accuracy" is coincidental; consider t a "bonus.".
Inaccuracies are fun to point out sometimes, but hardly a reasonable basis or judging a movie.

My judgment on GWTW is based solely on my disenchantment with That Dreadful Woman. Her character ruins, for me, any appeal it may otherwise have had.
 
After seeing Scarlett's costumes in person when they were on exhibit at UT, I have to re-see it on the big screen. My mom, who was only a couple of years out of high school when it premiered, took me--along with all my friends--to see it when we were young teenagers. It was in its first re-release in 1967. I had read it the year before in an all-day, all-night session, and was just not into Scarlett. Many years later, I am indeed into Vivien Leigh's portrayal! Sad to realize Leslie Howard died a hero in 1943 and here we are all dogging on him (myself included) for a movie role he wanted no part of. But LOL....who wouldn't have killed off Melanie if Errol was Ashley?
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The movie was re-released in 1947--I saw it in early 1948 when I was in 8th grade and it was required for my American History class--to the horror of my parents.

Since then I've seen it a couple more times but have no wish to see it again. Too little historical accuracy, too much soap opera (I actually burst out laughing a number of times the last time I saw it).
 
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