Gone with the Wind: Everett Collection

Gone With the Wind

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.