Never View It Dubbed. Trust Me.

I should probably be embarrassed to admit this to y'all but I've watched Gone With The Wind in the neighborhood of seventy times. I guess such a statistic should be kept more accurately but when you get into numbers like that for a four hour film, I guess a little inaccuracy is to be expected.

I never watched the movie until, I believe, I was in high school. I loved it though - loved the story and loved the way it was filmed. And the costumes are irresistible. Clark Gable as Rhett is the quintessential rogue and Olivia de Havilland as Miss Melanie defines how a lady should be. And Vivien Leigh? She doesn't just act like Scarlett O'Hara - she is Scarlett O'Hara.

I have favorite lines from that movie and reciting the dialog along with the characters is easy. It should be after 70+ viewings. Hattie McDaniel as Mammy has some of the best lines ever and it wouldn't be a proper viewing of this movie if I didn't say along with her at the proper moment, "He'll be comin' to Atlanta when he gets his leave, and you sittin' there waitin' for him, just like a spider." She more than earned her Oscar with that one line alone.

If there's any statistic more embarrassing than the fact that I've viewed Gone With The Wind around seventy times is the fact that ten of those times occurred in five days. I had a terrible case of the flu and I was at home from work for a week. Each day I would wake up around 8am and I'd pop the cassette into the VCR. My prized 50th anniversary edition. I'd watch the movie (admittedly I may have drifted off to sleep for a few moments - I did have the flu), take a break for an hour to eat some lunch and rest and then around 1:00pm I'd start the film all over again; The End coming up on the screen just as my now ex-husband would be rolling in from work.

I don't watch it as much anymore - in fact I haven't watched it in about three years. Admittedly it's probably not the most politically correct or historically accurate film in the world but what really draws me in is the detail and the effort that went into making that movie. It's a big, lavish, dishy melodrama that lets you lose yourself completely into the story. And what probably draws me in most is how interesting a self-centered brat who needs a smack upside the head can be.