In our 100th episode, we cover the first half of the epic classic 1939 film "Gone with the Wind" that tells a story of Southern belle Scarlett O'Hara who begins her life as a bratty rich girl on her idyllic plantation, and then loses everything when the Civil War strikes. Then she lies, cheats, murders and marries her way into being rich during Reconstruction, like some kind of airheaded Daniel Plainview.
Marred by a tumultuous production due to its maniac producer David O. Selznick, this almost four-hour flick went on to win 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, and is the highest-grossing film of all time (adjusted for inflation) with more than 200 million tickets sold.
Vivien Leigh plays Scarlett O'Hara, a woman who is secretly in love with a married man named Ashley, and won't let that go. When her family loses all their money, she turns extra evil and does whatever it takes to get rich again, even if that means lying, cheating, killing and entering into three loveless marriages.
Clark Gable plays Rhett Butler, a pencil-thin-mustachioed scalawag scoundrel who spends half the movie negging Scarlett into submission. Then, despite the fact that she openly articulates her love for another man, he gets her to marry him as a business decision and he proceeds to intermittently fly into fits of rage over her not loving him. Oh, and he also rapes her and habitually walks out on her. He's a real gem.
Hattie McDaniel plays Mammy, Scarlett's long-time slave nanny, who is used as comic relief in this movie by muttering "white trash" under her breath the whole time. McDaniel became the first African-American actor to be nominated for and win an Oscar, so at least that's something.
Olivia de Havilland (who is still alive at 102 years old) plays Melanie, a kind and oblivious woman who marries her cousin, has an incest baby and doesn't seem to notice that her sister-in-law and best friend secretly wants her husband.
Join us as we discuss how the Scarlett O'Hara character doesn’t change and she is an awful person, decide that the slimy Rhett Butler would make a good used carriage salesman, and discuss this movie's crazy production and its novel.
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This episode is sponsored by Less Fear Tactical Gear.
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