The Best Movie Playing in LA Last Saturday Night...

...was seventy years, four hours long, and pretty much devoid of video game-like effects.

And it still got several hundred people to show up at the historic Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard. It was obvious that, after stuffing themselves on Thanksgiving dinner, people had no interest in any of the turkeys being served up at the local multiplex. Garbage like "Precious," "2012", and "The Blind Side." Nope, it was a perfect time to revel one more time in arguably the greatest motion picture of all time.

I myself have probably now seen "Gone With The Wind" a half dozen times in my lifetime. In screen time, that's one entire day of my life spent with Scarlett, Rhett, Melanie, and Mammy. I've seen some relatives less. Never once have I been disappointed with the events at Tara. Meanwhile, I'm pretty much always disappointed by certain relatives. But, I digress... Let's get back to a civil war that is worth talking about.

Whenever you revisit GWTW, you marvel that this epic could have been created by a Hollywood that was still in its veritable infancy. Talkies had only been around for a decade or so. Meanwhile, when you are enraptured by vistas like the setting sun behind Tara or the desolation of a Confederate army lying wounded in the streets of Atlanta, you are convinced all over again how great a film can be. Compare it then to modern day junk like "The Dark Night" or "Inglorious Basterds" and you'll be convinced that what comes off those reels is nothing but Quilted Northern two-ply toilet tissue. For instance, the last Batman nonsensical epic was almost three hours long and felt like a week. GWTW goes on for about four hours and feels like two. There is never a wasted shot or moment. Indeed, its storytelling is remarkably economical. There was a bunch of stuff in the original 1000 page novel by Margaret Mitchell that didn't even make it to the screenplay.

Amid all this greatness, the stories about GWTW's ignoble production are now legend. Producer David Selznick was rewriting the script on a daily basis. Ultimately, Victor Fleming is the one director credited, but there are about three others who filmed various segments of the movie. GWTW was created in a constant state of extreme confusion, yet none of the frenzy shows up on the screen. Once again, take a movie directed solely by hack Quentin Tarantino. He's fully in control and in charge, but the result is still nothing but the bottom of a Taco Bell dumpster.

The GWTW performances are spot on always. Vivien Leigh is magnificent in perhaps one of the toughest female roles ever essayed for a celluloid strip. Clark Gable is his usual dynamic self with an amazing ability to make big ears and dentures look sexy. In the past, I've always dismissed the work of Olivia DeHavilland as Melanie and Leslie Howard as Ashley and considered them secondary to the rest. Not so during my most recent viewing. Even they were marvelous. But then again, who doesn't look good in the most glorious (and restored one more time) Technicolor ever fashioned for a movie audience? GWTW looked like it was made last week. Pristine and sparkling. As it should be.

Now, I have one nincompoop for a friend out here. A Black writer who refuses to see GWTW because of the depiction of slavery. Okay, it was the friggin' Civil War! Like it or not, slavery was a part of our history. You can't rewrite or ignore the facts. Yet, if you watch GWTW and concentrate on the Black actors as I did the other night, you will discover something quite amazing. They're not stereotypes at all. Oh, sure, they talk like slow-witted fools, but the roles are written with such amazing layers of emotion and sensibility. When you focus on the character of Mammy, this is no Aunt Jemima. She is wise beyond her years and, despite her illiteracy, can read Scarlett like a book. There is tremendous substance behind Hattie McDaniel's acting choices in this film. No wonder they giftwrapped a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her, even if the Academy probably sat her in the kitchen for the awards ceremony.

"Gone With The Wind" looks wonderful on DVD, but it breathes best on a huge screen. Not one in your media room. I am talking about a big canvas in a fabulous movie palace. With an audience delighted by every plot turn.

Try to find that at your local AMC.

Dinner last night: Meatloaf at the Cheesecake Factory.