Gone With the Wind
(1939)THE CONTROVERSY During the filming of Margaret Mitchell's Civil War epic, Production Code chief Joseph Breen gave his approval to controversial elements of the story: the patronizing view of Tara's slaves, the horrors of the soldiers' hospital, and Rhett's (Clark Gable) marital rape of Scarlett (Vivien Leigh). But Breen balked at Rhett's famous four-letter farewell to Scarlett.
THE FIRESTORM For months, producer David Selznick pressured Breen (and Breen's bosses, the studios' executives and stockholders), ultimately securing a new amendment to the Production Code allowing for certain mild expletives under limited circumstances.
THE AFTERMATH Audiences frankly did not give a damn; they were so far from scandalized that they made Gone With the Wind one of the biggest hits of all time. In any case, Breen was right to fear that a dam had been breached: The studios learned that they could beat the code if they lobbied persistently enough.
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