Overall Rating
 Awesome: 59.57%
Worth A Look: 10.64%
Average: 11.7%
Pretty Bad: 7.45%
Total Crap: 10.64%
1 review, 88 user ratings
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| To Kill a Mockingbird |
by Slyder
"Touching"
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One of the greatest literary adaptations into the silver screen ever (Next To The Godfather). I loved the book and I was a little skeptic on whether this film would be as good as the book. It was.Jean Louise “Scout” Finch (Mary Badham) and his older brother Jeremy “Jem” Finch (Phillip Alford) are son’s Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) is a small town lawyer and widow, in Maycomb, Alabama during the depression era. We get to see, from Scout’s point of view the struggles of her father Atticus, as he takes the assignment of defending a black man, Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), who’s been accused of raping a white girl. While this happens, both Scout and Jem, and their friend Dill Harris (John Megna) cope with school troubles, and also submerge themselves in the myth that is Arthur “Boo” Radley (Robert Duvall), whom lives in the nearby neighborhood.
Viewers will find it a little eerie when in the movie, the mood of the film is at times a little too lighthearted, and the sharp division of who’s the good guy and who’s the bad guy (and example is the courtroom scene). Well, that’s the whole point of the movie. The book was written from a child’s innocent point of view, and Horton Foote’s adaptation never forgets that. The atmosphere of the film is a childlike one, where happiness and fun reign and in the moments of suspense, evil reigns. It’s pretty much the same type of mood you will find in films like Hope And Glory and the underrated Empire Of The Sun, yet it’s interesting since were seeing through a child’s eyes the popular view of racism, and in no worse place than Maycomb, Alabama (yeah, redneck country). From the very beginning of the film, as the crayons make their way through the paper, you’ll notice a metaphoric view on racism and the hatred that comes with it. But as the film keeps rolling, it’s not necessarily a film about racism and hatred; it’s actually more than that. It’s simply a film about growing up, seeing things, learning and drawing your conclusions, and move on, with a different perspective of the world. A character study on how our 2 main characters, Scout and Jem, experience the racist-torn world of the 1930s, with a little touch of “urban legend” added to it. But it’s this type of depiction in which many people can relate to their own childhood, having fear of the boogeyman, playing with friends, going places and on many whimsical adventures, and of course, the warm love of our parents. Atticus is represented as a “father figure,” of course, he’s their dad, but in a more symbolic way, a man of experience and that wishes his children to grow straight in a corrupt society (as he vividly tells Scout sitting out in the porch of their house). Atticus also presents the metaphor of “Killing a Mockingbird” (hence the title), which vividly illustrates on how people can be “morally” unjustly punished for doing the right thing, a fact of life which will be always present in our society.
To help make these views effective, cinematographer Russell Harlan director Robert Mulligan keep it simple: wide-angle view shots to show the “coming of age” and the innocence of our characters, and also to produce the childlike atmosphere that surrounds the film. The characters are strict where they stand, whether it’s good or evil, or anything that the kid’s memory makes up. It’s all really well made and I applaud these two for their work. I also applaud Horton Foote for his fine adaptation of this great book.
The performances are dead-on. Gregory Peck is masterful in the role of Atticus Finch, never overdoing his emotions. Mary Badham (who is sister of director John Badham) is also impressive as Scout but is closely matched by Phillip Alford as Jem. All three combined steal the show. It was surprising to me that I found Robert Duvall playing Arthur “Boo” Radley, I mean, gees, it was really surprising since Robert isn’t the type of guy you would cast as a mentally unstable person wouldn’t you? But he does really well that’s what’s good about it, and I have to affirm that this was one of the cementing blocks for Duvall to launch his career, and I’m glad and I guess many people are glad it did. The rest of the cast is also great, and you will forever have James Anderson as the evil “white trash” Bob Ewell.In the end, is this film recommendable? Yes. It’s a family film that everyone should enjoy. One of the finest films ever made, this film will really make you remember those days when you were a kid and how great and happy and good looking the world around you looked, plus at the same time, teaching and refining some moral values that are still effervescent today as they were many years ago.
 del.icio.us 
link directly to this review at http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=4880&reviewer=235
originally posted: 10/02/02 09:08:55
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USA
25-Dec-1962
DVD: 06-Sep-2005
UK
N/A
Australia
N/A
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