16 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
Doesn't take me
Date of Review: Nov 17, 2000
The Bottom Line: Technically great, but as entertainment? No - it's far too long, uninteresting, and filled with unsympathetic characters.
"Gone with the Wind" called itself "the most magnificent picture ever!". In a strange way, it's right. A better tagline, though, would have been "the most magnificent spectacle ever!", As the picture itself isn't quite as spectacular.
"Gone with the Wind" is most spectacular sound and fury signifying nothing I have ever seen. It features mostly good performances, amazing technical achievement, and there is no other picture on its scale. But it still signifies nothing.
For four hours, we listen to Scarlett whine about how awful life is treating her. Okay, she has a hard time. She does something about it, and I admire that. But I find it very difficult to care about someone who is doing okay but will not shut up about themselves. Scarlett is one of the most self-pitying heroines the world has ever known, and also among the most repellent.
Rhett is also annoying. He's smarmy, self-loving, and self-satisfied. He knows Scarlett backwards, and has a wonderful time telling her so. Do we like him? He gives us a few laughs (and God knows we need them in this), but he's still an annoying *sshole.
One thing I have never understood about Scarlett: Why on earth is she so in love with Ashley? He's a wimp! What does he do that's so amazing? It can't be that Scarlett wants to mother him, she's not like that. Rhett sees that she needs someone to put her in her place. [I don't mean to sound sexist, but she's looking for a man strong enough to be able to talk back to her.]
Incidentally, on the subject of Scarlett's loves, she refuses to marry Rhett at first. Why? She doesn't love him. Her first two marriages were out of spite and the need for money. What, has Scarlett magically acquired morals? No.
Now, I have said that the movie is magnificent. It is. What other movie has given us that wonderful slow pull-back to reveal hundreds of soldiers injured? (although the torn flag at the end was over-the-top) And the burning of Atlanta sequence is terrific.
(once again, did Rhett just suddenly decide that he would nobly go and enlist? That's not Rhett.)
By the time Rhett says "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn," neither do I.
"Gone With the Wind" is magnificent. Is it good? No.
