Daily Dialogue — July 13, 2012

SCARLETT: Rhett! If you go, where shall I go? What shall I do?
RHETT: Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.

— Scarlett (Vivian Leigh), Rhett (Clark Gable), Gone With The Wind (1939), screenplay by Sidney Howard, based on a novel by Margaret Mitchell

The Daily Dialogue theme this week is departure, suggested by MatchesMalone. Today’s suggestion by Traci Nell Peterson.

Trivia: Sidney Howard agreed to write the screenplay, but from his home in Massachusetts, 3000 miles away from studio interference. His first draft would have made a 5 1/2 hour movie. Howard reluctantly agreed to leave his Massachusetts farm and come to Hollywood to work on another draft with Selznick and then-attached director George Cukor. As Selznick was preoccupied with problems on the set of The Prisoner of Zenda, Howard had to wait 5 weeks before he was able to start working on another draft (in the meantime contributing some rewrites for “Zenda”). The second draft turned out to be 15 pages longer than the first.

Dialogue On Dialogue: These observations from Traci: “From imdb.com “The movie’s line ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.’ was voted as the #1 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).”

Why I love this departure line: Just when Scarlett finally realizes she loves Rhett, he leaves, written her off for good. But, what Rhett intends to be a callous, cavalier reply becomes the challenge for tenacious Scarlett to fight for, getting Rhett back. ‘After all, tomorrow is another day.’”