To Kill A Mocking Bird (1962)

Title: To Kill A Mocking Bird
Director: Robert Mulligan
Genre: Classic
Highs: Performance by Gregory Peck.
Lows: Personally I found it a little frustrating.
RhynoBot Grade: A-

I know a lot of people will be amazed that I have never seen this movie until now but what can I say, I typically don't like old movies but this was an exceptionally well done movie for the time. However, I have to admit I was very frustrated for about 2/3 of the movie since to me it looked like they were not getting to the point (which I thought was the court case). I made the mistake of going into this movie thinking it was going to be a court drama like "A Time To Kill", which has a similar old South racial tension feel to it like Mocking Bird. Unexpectedly, it turns out the whole point of the movie was about Atticus Finch's (play by Gregory Peck) children learning a hard lesson about life, the society they live in, and acceptance of others different from you.

The majority of the movie was centered around Jem and Scout's (Atticus' children) fascination with the boy down the street, "Boo" Radley (played by a really young Robert Duvall), who was said to be not right in the head. Of course kids being kids, being told to stay way from the Radley house and to leave Boo alone was very unsatisfying. The kids spent all summer trying to sneak a peek at Boo with no success, all the while Atticus had been preparing for his big trail defending a black man accused of raping a white woman. The Finch children learn a lot about the injustice of society, their neighbors bigotry, and the strength of the man who was their father as the trial date got closer. Scout finds herself in several fights at school defending her father's good name. Jem witnesses the strong will forthrightness of his father refusing to back down from an angry mob set on lynching the accused defendant.

Finally, the trail day is at hand. Scout, Jem, and the neighbor kid that visits every summer sneak into the colored viewing area of the courtroom and witness a grave injustice first hand. Atticus presents irrefutable evidence of the defendants innocence and still the all white jury convicts him of raping a white woman. Despite his defeat Atticus exhibits unwavering determination to over turn the injustice until he learns his client Harris has been killed by law enforcement officers trying to escape. Atticus and Jem head out to the Harris home to bring them the bad news. They are met there by the leader of the towns bigots Bob Ewell the father of the "rape victim". Bob is there trying to incite Atticus into a fight by spitting in his face but Atticus doesn't play into it - he is a pillar of justice which Jem can clearly see. Several months pass, Jem and Scout are attacked by a drunk Bob Ewell on their way home from school and are saved by Boo Radley who kills Ewell.

This essentially completes life's lesson for the Finch children. The man whom they feared the most without understanding who or what he was saved their lives from a man whom feared everything that was not like himself.

This is a great movie, just don't expect a "court drama", you should see it.