To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writers:

Harper Lee (novel)
Horton Foote (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 December 1962 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama

Tagline:

The most beloved and widely read Pulitzer Prize Winner now comes vividly alive on the screen!

Plot:

Atticus Finch, a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man against an undeserved rape charge, and his kids against prejudice.

Plot Keywords:

Children | Trial | Lawyer | Alabama | Injustice

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 11 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Atticus Finch
John Megna	...	Charles Baker 'Dill' Harris
Frank Overton	...	Sheriff Heck Tate
Rosemary Murphy	...	Maudie Atkinson
Ruth White	...	Mrs. Dubose
Brock Peters	...	Tom Robinson
Estelle Evans	...	Calpurnia
Paul Fix	...	Judge Taylor
Collin Wilcox Paxton	...	Mayella Violet Ewell (as Collin Wilcox)
James Anderson	...	Robert E. Lee 'Bob' Ewell
Alice Ghostley	...	Aunt Stephanie Crawford
Robert Duvall	...	Arthur 'Boo' Radley
William Windom	...	Mr. Gilmer, Prosecutor
Crahan Denton	...	Walter Cunningham Sr.
Richard Hale	...	Nathan Radley

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #20267) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) | Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 (f)

Filming Locations:

Monroeville, Alabama, USA

Company:

Brentwood Productions

Trivia:

Director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula traveled to Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville but found it unsuitable for filming. The town had been modernized. Therefore the production team constructed their own ideal version of Monroeville on a backlot at Universal. When Lee saw their recreation, she said it was perfect.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The introduction places the beginning of the movie in 1932, and it says that Macon had just been told "The only thing we have to fear, is fear its self" referring to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural speech. President Roosevelt was first inaugurated President on March, 4, 1933.

Quotes:

Atticus Finch: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted - if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
Jem: Why?
Atticus Finch: Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don't do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat people's gardens, don't nest in the corncrib, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.

Movie Connections:

Featured in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies (1998) (TV)

A Remarkably Simple and Simply Remarkable Masterpiece!

Very rarely, it happens that movies are made that are very simple in expression but possess monumental appeals and significant life lessons in a style only of the kind of their own that, we can't expect even. This fact is truthfully exemplified in this movie. It's not just a movie or even just a promising story in general, but all it portray's is "Innocence". A girl's recollection of her childhood days which are still at their full bloom in her mind, depicting the innocence of juvenile as well as as adult minds, a period where mostly immature minds become curious to the racial bigotry and sometimes mature minds become its prey and a time when harsh realities of life like intolerance, hatreds, prejudice and adversities of society gradually dawn upon them.

Atticus Finch ( Gregory Peck ) is an absolutely Gentleman Lawyer whose wife has passed away and he has a son and a daughter. A Black man Tom Robinson is wrongly alleged of raping a poor white woman. In fact, he a victim of white woman's effort to hide her guilt by targeting his innocence and utilizing favors of racial attitude of unsocial society towards Negros. Finch decides to defend him on his principles realizing that the narrow minded society will turn against him and so it happened and townspeople started making his life agonizing. The whole story is masterfully out shined by the ingenuousness, purity and innocence of his children with with a unique inspirational interaction with their father.

Boo Readly who lives in the town is mentally retarded and is sidelined by the society. He is a mark of fear and curiosity for children because he is different from others. But he is the one who marks the ultimate climax of this emotionally crafted masterpiece.

It's a must see movie for all ages in all times because it gives many priceless emotional and touching lessons for those who are sincere and perceptive.

A Remarkably Simple and Simply Remarkanble Masterpiece!!!