Here's a testament to how good the film really is... it picked up the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1940, following one of the greatest years ever for movies. To win the award, the film had to beat out such classics as "Stagecoach," Wuthering Heights," "Dark Victory," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and a little picture called "The Wizard of Oz."

She may have played the perfect Georgia peach, but Vivian Leigh was actually British. Leslie Howard, who played Ashley, also hailed from England.

Rhett Butler was the black sheep of his wealthy Charleston family. He started out being kicked out of West Point before becoming a blockade runner during the war.

Scarlett and the other O'Haras called Tara home. The Georgia cotton plantation was given a traditional Irish name, and Irish blood ran strong in the veins of Gerald O'Hara and his daughters.

Scarlett pined for Ashley Wilkes, and her heart broke when she learned he was planning to be engaged to his cousin, Melanie Hamilton.

Scarlett follows Ashley into the library at Twelve Oaks to profess her love. She is heartbroken when he rejects her, and humiliated when she learns that Rhett Butler overheard the entire conversation.

The O'Haras and their friends were attending a barbecue at Twelve Oaks when the men rushed off to enlist in what would later be called the Civil War.

Devastated over Ashley's engagement to Melanie, Scarlett agrees to marry Melanie's brother, Charles Hamilton. He soon dies of the measles while serving in the military, leaving Scarlett a widow in mourning.

Scarlett has two sisters, named Suellen and Carreen. At the start of the film, she and her sisters live at Tara with their parents Gerald and Ellen.

Just as Melanie delivers her baby, she and Scarlett are forced to flee Atlanta as the city burns to the ground. Fortunately, Rhett helps them escape, but later leaves them to go join the war effort.

Mammy, Prissy and Pork are the only slaves that remain at Tara as the war rages.

Scarlett is not above marrying a man she doesn't love to improve her position in life. She marries Suellen's beau, Frank Kennedy, because he has money and she needs to pay the taxes to save her beloved Tara.

Hoping that Rhett will loan her the money to save Tara, Scarlett transforms the drapes at Tara into a dress. She visits Rhett while he is in prison, but his money is tied up in England, so he can't help her.

Frank made his money running a lumber mill. After they wed, Scarlett moves to Atlanta to help him, later tricking Ashley into coming to work for her as well.

Belle Watling managed just fine throughout the war and after. As a madam and brothel owner, Belle made friends with plenty of local gentlemen, including Rhett Butler.

Scarlett is attacked while traveling past a local shantytown. Fortunately Big Sam -- former overseer at Tara -- comes to her rescue.

Scarlett becomes a widow once more after Frank Kennedy dies during a Yankee raid. Ashley and the other men are saved from arrest by Rhett, who pretends that the group was drinking at the local brothel rather than participating in a vigilante attack.

Bonnie Blue is the apple of her father's eye, inspiring him to finally start fitting in with the society he has long despised.

As the town buzzes with scandal after Ashley and Scarlett are caught embracing, Rhett forces her to attend Ashley's birthday party and stand up to Melanie in person.

After Rhett takes Bonnie to England, Scarlett learns that she is pregnant. She loses the child after falling down the stairs while pregnant.

Bonnie dies after trying to jump a fence on her pony. Her death spells the end for Rhett and Scarlett, and he leaves her.

Hattie McDaniel became the first African American to win an Academy Award when she picked up the Best Supporting Actress award for playing Mammy. She was prohibited from attending the premiere of the film because of her race, and had to sit at a table by herself at the Oscars.

After writing one of the most famous novels of all time, Margaret Mitchell was killed in a car accident in 1949, and never published another book.

The four main characters share only a single scene -- when Rhett brings Ashley home after the Yankee raid, after Frank Kennedy has been killed.

At a time when many big movies cost around $1 million to make, "Gone with the Wind" cost about $4 million. It went on to make $32 million at the box office and remains one of the most successful films of all time.

Melanie dies while pregnant with her second child and asks Scarlett to take care of Ashley and her son. Rhett tells Scarlett that now Ashley is free to be with her, but Scarlett decides that she only wants Rhett. Frankly, he doesn't give a damn.

Scarlett is always ready to let go of her burdens and worry about them later, and one of the last scenes of the film features Scarlett exclaiming, "Tomorrow is another day!"

Mitchell was fairly indifferent to the film, refusing to be consulted on many topics, and stating that she didn't care if Groucho Marx played Rhett.

After returning to Tara from Atlanta and seeing the devastated plantation, Scarlett vows that she will never be hungry again.

Sorry folks, there's no happily ever after here. Rhett leaves Scarlett and moves on at the end of the novel. If you need to see what happens next, Mitchell's family authorized a sequel called "Scarlett," which was published in 1991 by Alexandra Ripley.