Rhett Butler or Ashley Wilkes?
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Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone With the Wind won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 75 years ago today. Have you ever read it? I never have; I only saw the movie for the first time a few years ago. I was terrified of its running time. Also I'm a Yankee. We weren't indoctrinated with this shit from birth. When you're voting do keep in mind that Rhett is a total rapist.
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Have read the book and it is engrossing and a page turner but I still prefer the film. The screenwriters did an excellent job of winnowing out the unimportant details and focusing the main characters. Additionally as compelling as Scarlett was in the book Vivien Leigh's performance added so much nuance to her that nothing could top it. Really the same goes for Clark Gable and Olivia de Havilland. Leslie Howard is another matter, he hated the character of Ashley and it showed in his work, plus he was too old for the part. They should have gone with Tyrone Power as was originally proposed.
I read GWTW in my late teens and I loved the shit out of it. It's pure entertainment. I love the movie too. I know it's got a lot of serious racial "issues" but I attribute that to the time in which it was created. I totally understand anyone who can't deal with that aspect tho.
I should add, since I ended this post with a lot of snark, that I totally loved the movie too. Vivien Leigh is completely and totally brilliant, and the fact that it was four hours long meant nothing once I got swept up in it - I may have only seen it for the first time a couple of years ago, but I've seen it three more times since then.
My mother loved the movie so much that she named me Tara Ashley. I was almost Scarlett Leigh.
My brother's middle name is Rhett.
True story.
I forgot to mention that I have seen the movies many times. Never read the book, but I hear that it's good.
WHO WOULD PICK ASHELY? He's such an assshole. Fuck Ashley.
No Anonymous - DON'T fuck Ashley - that's what you really mean, isn't it?
Hot damn Leigh's performance is still one of THE greatest on screen ever. She just enhances and inhabits that part...God it's a wonder to watch.
And I do think Gable does a fine job holding his own with her.
I do think Howard provided a very valuable weakness and haughty vulnerability in the role that helped explain Scarlett's obsession with him. He was "pretty" and so gentlemanly and useless - it sort of made sense why Scarlett was so fucked up over him. I'm afraid someone like Tyrone Power would have confused Scarlett's motivations too much for the audience. We had to keep explaining to ourselves why she would care for him in order to really understand how fucking blind Scarlett was to reality.
Anyway - I feel so frigging bad for all those actresses who got close to playing that part. It had to hurt so bad to see the final film. Truly - how many other parts in the history of Hollywood can compare in terms of scope, power, appeal, range - lordie!
Leslie Howard was a fitting Ashley, though people often say otherwise. He was older, yeah, but I can't really imagine Tyrone Power or anyone else playing that part better. Like billybil said, he provided a useful role in terms of Scarlett's motivations.
It makes me sad that Leslie Howard has become so forgotten with time. No one knows who he is anymore. I wish more people knew about his career.
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