To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

"...remember it [is] a sin to kill a mockingbird ...they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us." Atticus Finch

When a film establishes a character as "the greatest hero in American film," by the American Film Institute, it's pretty hard to find fault with the movie, and Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch is that character.

The movie ostensibly is about Peck's heroic defense of a black man accused of rape by a white women in the racist South of the 1930s, and that is a major theme, but our doorway into the story is a six year-old girl, and clearly the crime and its aftermath cannot be the foremost thing in her childish mind.

No, the account is a coming of age story, with a child's view of her father, first as a nurturing figure, but later as a more complex tower of strength than she knew. The growing realization of the love and sacrifices of her father, a single parent, and the character he instills in the girl (Scout) and her elder brother, Jem, through his example is the heart of the story.

From Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, the movie is narrated by the little girl, Scout, who is an older woman reminiscing about those two summers that the film covers. The girl is between age 6 and 8 as the story plays out. As you watch, it pays to remember you are seeing it through the child's eyes; that explains the heightened emotions evoked from the various idylls and frightening times, like the parts concerning the absent but always nearby neighbor Boo Radley. The kids make a bogeyman out of him, and indeed a few times menacing shadows seem to approach, only to retreat. To an adult these things would be almost meaningless but to kids with their imaginations working overtime they become surreal.

To watch the happenings from the kid’s perspective is interesting for a time but I began to tire of the endless wonder of looking at mundane things in the sleepy Deep South depression-era town.

The message part of the movie played it safe by depicting the tamest, most docile black to be the alleged perpetrator of the crime. Peck did not have to stick his halo out very far to defend Brock Peters, who appeared angelic, domesticated, and obviously not guilty. I wish they would have showed a defendant who looked militant and aggressive. That would have presented an acting job for Peck to put up a defense for such an unattractive individual. The way it was cast and scripted, there was no difficulty getting the viewer to line up on the side of Peck and Brock Peters.

Of course the whites, except for Peck were of the meanest white trash stereotypes. So here we have Peck, the only enlightened white person in the whole town, apparently, as the evil all-white jury believed the obviously lying girl (she contradicted herself) and convicted poor, innocuous Brock Peters. Later we hear he was killed "trying to escape."

The movie is basically a puff piece for Gregory Peck to feel good about his liberal credentials. The black people, including defendant Brock Peters and Atticus' housekeeper Calpurnia (Estelle Evans) are ciphers and do not get any development. This may have been a start at bringing the issue of racism to the country's attention, but it was pretty weak, all told. Gregory Peck and Henry Fonda specialized in these sorts of roles and maybe they were cutting edge and couldn't have been made with more ugly reality, yet they just do not generate the same impact today as they may have when they were first run.

The Universal DVD is a two disk set, with one disk completely of special features including two ninety-minute features; one on the "making of" To Kill a Mockingbird, and the other on Gregory Peck, lauding him. The main DVD is presented in 1.85:1 Black and White restored video. The movie lasts an overlong 129 minutes. There are several special features on disk 1, also including a couple of awards Peck received - the Best Actor Oscar, for his role as Atticus Finch in this movie, and his AFI Lifetime Achievement award.

The movie is good if you want to see an old-fashioned message film like Stanley Kramer used to put out, but it has not aged gracefully, except for Peck’s strong performance, as seen through the eyes of the little girl.

Watch it once, so you can say you have seen it.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day