Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

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"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." is a line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind starring Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh.

It was spoken by Gable, as Rhett Butler, in his last words to Scarlett O'Hara. It occurs at the end of the film when Scarlett asks Rhett "where shall I go? What shall I do?" if he leaves her. The line is memorable not only because it contains a swear word (which was generally not allowed in films of that time period), but because it demonstrates that Rhett has finally given up on the selfish Scarlett and no longer cares what happens to her.

This quotation was voted the number one movie line of all time by the American Film Institute 2005.

The line is often mis-quoted or approximated as "Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn." The phrase is also sometimes mistakenly quoted as the final line of the film, which is really, "After all, tomorrow is another day!" spoken by Scarlett.

In the novel Gone with the Wind, Rhett does not say "Frankly", but simply "My dear, I don't give a damn". The context is also different; he is speaking quietly to Scarlett in a room, not storming dramatically out of the house.

1 Production Code conflict
2 Parodies
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Production Code conflict

Prior to the film's release, censors objected to the use of the word "damn" in the film, a word that had been prohibited by the 1930 Production Code that began to be enforced in July 1934 (Prior to 1930, the word "damn" had been relatively common in films). Although legend persists that the Hays Office fined producer David O. Selznick $5,000 for using the word "damn", in fact the Motion Picture Association board passed an amendment to the Production Code on November 1, 1939, a month and a half before the film's release, that forbade use of the words "hell" or "damn" except when their use "shall be essential and required for portrayal, in proper historical context, of any scene or dialogue based upon historical fact or folklore … or a quotation from a literary work, provided that no such use shall be permitted which is intrinsically objectionable or offends good taste." With that amendment, the Production Code Administration had no further objection to Rhett's closing line.^[1]

[edit] Parodies

There are many parodies of this line:

In the Garfield comic strips, when Jon decides to grow a moustache, Garfield explains that moustaches make people do weird things. Jon then says, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a darn".
In one of the endings to the movie Clue, Wadsworth says near the end, "Frankly, Miss Scarlet, I don't give a damn."
In The Muppet Movie, when Miss Piggy rejoins the group on the way to Hollywood, Kermit the Frog replies, "Frankly, Miss Piggy, I don't give a hoot."
The British spoof TV host Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) also gives two memorable reworkings of the quote, while debating with his listeners regarding "which is the best Lord." Declaring "Lord Of The Dance" Michael Flatley the winner, he comes up with the gem "Flatley my dear, I don't Riverdance", in reference to Flatley's other dance opus. In an episode of Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, in an attempt to ingratiate himself with a Miss Norwich contestant who says Gone With The Wind is her favourite film, he says "Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn! No, I do... I do give a damn."
In Douglas Adams's book The Meaning of Liff, under the definition of "epworth" (basically, something worthless or futile), he suggests that the original line from the movie was, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give an epworth."
In an episode of The Simpsons the end of the line is dubbed over in a version played at the old folks home to make it "Frankly my dear... I love you, let's remarry!"
In The Mask, Jim Carrey's character at one point parodies this line by pretending to be dying from a gunshot wound and saying, in an imitation of Rhett Butler's voice, "Tell Scarlett I do give a damn."
In an episode of The Critic, Duke is talking when he quotes famous movie lines and how he will change them to make them more commercial. He changes this line to: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a ham".
In the movie Corpse Bride by Tim Burton, dead but walking-the-earth skeleton grandpa replies to grandma on the question "But you've been dead for 15 years" the classic phrase: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn". The two then swing into the classic pose seen on Gone With The Wind movie posters, and the music changes to play several bars of that movie's main theme.
One episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends is called Franky, My Dear