To Kill a Mockingbird

Running time: N/A

Hollywood films have played a large part in forming and changing the public's attitude on many social issues, often prompting political action. They have often failed as films when dealing with these controversial issues in a cliched or propagandistic way. Where they have usually succeeded is in portraying individual lives caught up in the conflicts and pressures resulting from violent changes in society. To Kill A Mocking Bird deals with racial prejudice in a small Alabama town in the thirties, long before the great upheavals of the civil rights movement of the sixties. Based on Harper Lee's powerful and moving Pulitzer prize novel, this film brings the abstract principles of justice down to the actions of individuals who take lonely stands against majority opinion. Gregory Peck's 1962 Oscar winning performance as a small-town lawyer, Atticus Finch, defending a black man against rape charges is probably his finest, and certainly his most memorable one. The subplot of Atticus's children and the retarded man next door (Robert Duvall's film debut) provides texture and richness to the characterization of Peck's role as a widowed father. The entire picture is a tribute to those old fashioned concepts of honor and integrity which are so rarely mentioned today. The beautiful musical background by Elmer Bernstein who received an Oscar nomination plays no small part in the success of this unforgettable movie. --Ed Soohoo