Today's Confession Time is brought to you by the great taste of Stroh's.
As a person who reviews films and also someone who prides himself on being a bit of a movie aficionado, it is with a heavy heart and a mild case of plantar fascitis that I inform you I've never sat through 1939's Gone with the Wind in its entirety.
Oh, I've seen it. At one point or another I've watched all 238 minutes of David O. Selznick's Civil War magnum opus, just not all at once. It was never re-released when I was a kid, which would've been my best chance to catch it on the big screen. There was another theatrical run in 1989, but I'd have a hard time telling you where I was when that took place. So would most of my family and friends.
Home video? I must have watched the first tape a dozen times, always intending to hop off the couch and pop in the second one after the intermission. For some reason, I could never bring myself to watch the second half. There was always something else that needed doing, or somewhere I had to be, or some other excuse to not have to deal with two more hours of harpy extraordinnaire Scarlett O'Hara and beleaguered Southern characters I had no sympathy for. I'd sometimes catch the second tape a day or two later (the sea of Confederate wounded makes for great hangover material), and I've seen the ending on TV several times, but for whatever reason, I've never made the time committment to watch in all at once.
As cinematic sins go, it's not very significant. Just thought you should know.
Next up: the shocking revelation that, while I have in fact been to Paradise, I've never actually been to me.
Fiddle-dee-dee! Mr. Vonder Haar, how can I ever take your movie criticism seriously again?
I've seen it on TV and in the theater (that 1989 run). It's a lot better in the theater.
Now if you tell me you've seen Scarlett, I'm going to worry.
There was a limited theatrical re-release while I was living in Austin, so that had to have been in 1996 or 1997. It's the only time I've seen it on the big screen.
There was a time when GWTW was one of those films that got run on TV in its entirety once every year, just like they used to do with "The Wizard of Oz". My mom and I watched it every time it came on. I also own the videos and have watched those many times, sometimes all in one shot.
You really should try to sit and watch it as it was intended. And don't forget, it was originally released with an intermission, so you're even allowed to get up and take a break in the middle if you like, and still consider it a full-fledged, traditional viewing.
Hi. My name is Dave.
(All: "Hi, Dave)
And I, too, am an incomplete movie watcher.
I've never seen Gone with the Wind, nor Network.
(All: applause)
My Mom dragged me along to see it at a theatre in '73 or '74 (with the intermission). Wow. If nothing else, seeing Technicolor up there on the screen blew me away. I think my love of movies was born on that day.
I've been gone a few years, but the theatre at CNN Center in Atlanta used to run it on one screen all day every day. I wouldn't be surprised if they still do.
I can top that. No matter how many times I try, I absolutely cannot stay awake for the entirety of The Godfather OR The Godfather 2.
Shame.
While we're sharing, I've also never seen The Next Karate Kid.
GWTW the book was much better than the movie, Pete.
Pete, it's a good thing the House Unamerican Activities Comittee no longer exists or your ass would be grass, Commie. You've never seen GWTW in its entirety, in one sitting? Holy Butterfly McQueen! I may not know nothin' 'bout birthin' babies, but I do know my GWTW trivia.
I never finished either Gone with the Wind or Casablanca. What's worse is I did finish watching all of Farewell My Concubine, better known in these parts as "The sound of nails on blackboards".
Wow, I really feel better now.
As someone sharing your interests in the motion picture arts and sciences, I must confess to never having seen E.T.
There, I feel better.