All Time Best Movie Heads South

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2006)

For decades this picture remained #1 on virtually all lists of the best picture ever made as well as the all time box office champion. Suddenly though, the film's reputation heads South. I won't elaborate on the excellence or entertainment value because whatever I say you already know. GWTW was bounced off the box office list primarily because movie prices are never adjusted to constant dollars, thus the newest pictures always win. When GWTW opened in 1939, the admission price of $1.15 was so severe that some theaters had picket lines of protest. In 1939 a good middle class annual income was $800, so $1.15 was indeed expensive. Compare that to today's $10.50 and you see who wins. As to the film's reputation for excellence, this has been trashed in recent years because (1) the film portrays slaves during the Civil War era --- and this is shocking to the political correctness crowd; (2) the slaves act like slaves rather than acting like Snoop Dogg, Ice T, or even Sidney Poitier; another outrage to liberal censorship. The wacky left American Film Institute has thus dropped America's All Time Great Movie from #1 to it's current standing in the trash heap. Thinking people, however, still appreciate and love this classic. For the record, this picture was intensely popular with Black people when released in 1939, again in 1941, in 1954, in 1961 et cetera.