To Kill a Mockingbird

1962’s “To Kill a Mockingbird”, directed by Robert Mulligan.

Starring Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, Robert Duvall, Brock Peters, and Paul Fix.

Winner of an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Horton Foote), Best Actor (Peck), and Best Art Direction (Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead, Oliver Emert).
Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Mulligan), Best Supporting Actress (Badham), Best Cinematography (Russell Harlan), and Best Music Score (Elmer Bernstein).

Adapted from the novel by Pulitzer Prize winning Harper Lee, 1962’s “TKaM” is set in Alabama during the depression. We meet a widower dad (Peck), who is an attorney. His 2 children, (Badham and Alford), live with him and spend their time playing, going to school, and being petrified of a strange but over exaggerated neighbour (Duvall). Peck ends up taking a case where a black man (Peters) is falsely accused of raping a white woman. Some of the townspeople demand a proper lynching, but Peck stands up for his client as a matter of decency and waits for rule of law to decide the man’s fate. Told from the perspective of 6 year old Badham, the court case’s decision serves as but a mid point of the movie, and refreshingly saves us from a “Scent of a Woman” or “Time to Kill” mock sporting event conclusion. Instead, it soberly deals with the consequences of doing the right thing in an unjust society.

“TKaM” features a very interesting titles sequence that is both entertaining and foreshadows events to come. As well, in the tradition of “12 Angry men”, it features court procedurals that are riveting to watch- with real emotion during testimonies. But the real star is the children’s coming of age tale to see hatred personified through racism. Much as when they realize their old man is a crackerjack marksmen, they are shocked by the callousness of their municipal neighbours that they previously viewed with innocence. There is mention of how it is a sin to kill mockingbirds, because it silences their melodic songs- that’s the problem with entrenchment of ignorance. The hatred simmers and burns, leaving only the sound of crickets at night.

4.5/5

Trailer: Click Here.