Rating: 
Summary: A magnificent adaptation of a timeless classic
Review: Alan Pakula, Robert Mulligan and Horton Foote have made an absolutely terrific movie of one of the greatest books in contemporary fiction. The three years covered in the book are compressed into one year in the movie, and almost everything of importance is kept in the film version. Shooting the movie in black and white was inspired. It symbolizes the stark reality of black vs. white that is at the core of the novel. The acting is extraordinary across the board. Of Gregory Peck, so much has been said that further praise is redundant; suffice to say that after Peck's performance, no one else will ever be able to play Atticus Finch. The children are wonderful, so real that they hardly seem to be acting at all. Mary Badham is absolutely perfect as Scout. Phillip Alford is excellent as Jem, and John Megna is fine as Dill. The lesser actors live up to the lead roles. I especially liked Collin Wilcox as Mayella Ewell; James Anderson brings out all the ugliness and cowardice in Bob Ewell, and Alice Ghostley is a funny and wacky Stephanie Crawford. The three characters who didn't live up to their counterparts in the book were Miss Maudie, Calpurnia, and Tom Robinson. Ms. Maudie is a very intriguing character in the novel, a ditzy, wise, funny woman of bedrock integrity; in the movie, she comes across as just another next door neighbor. Calpurnia's part was far too small in the movie; in the book she plays a major role in the family, almost like a surrogate parent. Estelle Evans is a fine actress and deserved a bigger role to give her talent more scope. And Tom Robinson is almost too saintly to be believed in the film version, over-acted by Brock Peters. But Robert Duvall in a non-speaking movie debut is just right as Boo Radley, and Scout's recognition of her formerly scary neighbor, with her tentative smile followed by 'Hey Boo', is one of the most affecting moments in the picture. I still remember when Peck won the Oscar for best actor; in his acceptance speech, his first words were 'Thank you, Harper Lee.' The movie 'To Kill A Mockingbird' is a labor of love of bringing a timeless classic to the screen, and Harper Lee must have been very gratified at the results.
Rating:
Summary: A small town lesson for the whole world
Review: It's easy to think "To Kill a Mockingbird" is older than it is. Released in 1962, the same year James Bond was immortalised in "Dr. No," director Robert Mulligan chose to film in black & white, despite Hollywood's rush to adopt the new Kodachrome II color film. Since the story is set in the 1930's, the classic look of the film adds weight to its historic reality.Adapted from Harper Lee's only book, which won a Pulitzer prize, the script itself won an academy award. Added to this is a stellar cast who manage to hold their own against the amazing performance given by, Gregory Peck, an actor at the peak of his abilities. For those who also enjoy Robert Duvall's huge body of work, it may be interesting to note this film as his first, in a non-speaking but pivotal role as Boo Radley. It would be easy to dismiss an old film that deals with the race issue in Alabama. Some might think this topic has been done to death and, to an extent, they are right. But To Kill a Mockingbird is not solely about racism. It deals with honesty, justice, fear, childhood, quick judgements and parenthood. Even the race card is dealt with fairly, without blowing things out to sensational proportions. It shows that minor, selfish decisions, which rely on the racism in others, can breed larger evils. An adult Jean Louise 'Scout' Finch narrates much of the story but it is her father, Atticus, around which the narrative hinges. Played with subtle dignity by Peck, Atticus is a small town Lawyer who agrees to defend Tom Robinson against charges of Rape. He agrees, in the full knowledge that many of his neighbours will hate him for defending a black man and still others will expect him to put up only a token effort. Instead, Atticus does what we know he will... his best. There is an interesting contrast between what we see of Atticus and how his two children describe him. Apparently he's too old to do anything, like play ball, and they are a bit embarrassed by his quite ways. The trial and its associated moral battles put their father squarely in the spotlight and not in a good way. He and they are attacked and ridiculed but in the end Scout and Jem see a different picture of their old Pop. A man who is strong enough to stand against hatred, and brave enough to highlight the weaknesses of flawed white girl against the strengths of an honest black man. The name of the film is taken from one of Attcus's rules relating to using a rifle. Jem relates his father's instruction "to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird...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 corncribs, they don't do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us." There are several Mockingbirds in this movie; the misunderstood Boo Radley, Tom Robins and even Atticus. For me though, the film is defined when Reverend Sykes asks Scout to stand up in the court gallery, after a failed defence, saying "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin."
Rating:
Summary: In the quest to achieve an impossible feat
Review: Making justice in a film to the best novel in the twentieth century (determined by vote of librarians across the US) is not an easy task. I would say that although there are a few elements of the novel that get lost in the movie, it is still a great production regardless. That is probably why it was nominated for eight Academy Awards in 1962, including best picture, best actor (Gregory Peck), best actress in a supporting role (Mary Badham), best director (Robert Mulligan), best screenplay, best black and white cinematography, best black and white art direction and best original musical score. The movie won two of the eight awards, best art direction and best actor. The story revolves around the experiences of Scout, a little girl who is telling a story from her childhood. Her father is assigned as the defense attorney of a black young man falsely accused of raping a white girl. The movie does a good job in disseminating the book's main message: racism is destructive and has no basis to exist in our society. If you consider that the book was written in 1960, this is not a minor point, but on the contrary it is a very powerful statement. The movie also does a great job in portraying the qualities found in the character of Atticus Finch, a father who is raising two kids by himself, after losing his wife, and is doing a splendid job at it. Not only he differs from the norm at the time because he never hits his children, but he also tries not to influence their ideas of what is wrong and right. Instead of promoting hatred in Scout and Jem against the people that are racist and unfair, he tries to teach them tolerance to understand that these individuals are acting mostly out of fear. Throughout the story one can observe how the two siblings go from considering Atticus an old man who could not play football with other dads to seeing him as a hero with outstanding values. It is hard to decide how to rate a movie that is based on such an incredibly awesome book. First, because it is harder to convey the "child's view" in the movie while this is very clear in the book. Second because there are passages of the book that were left out, and although they are not crucial to the story they give it a certain charm (for example the visit of Jem and Scout to Calpurnia's church). Therefore, if I use the book as a benchmark, the movie should be rated four stars. However, I think it makes more sense to compare the movie with other movies, and in this comparison it is extremely clear that "To Kill a Mockingbird" is as good as it gets, consequently deserving the five stars rating.
Rating:
Summary: An American classic classically rendered on DVD
Review: The film, truly an American classic and, for my money, one of the 10 best American films ever made, is spendidly rendered here with a mint-condition print, one reportedly transferred from a preservation negative especially created for this DVD, which was released two years ago to commemorate the film's 35th anniversary. This DVD, one of the first issued with supporting materials, remains superior in its mix of additional features, most especially the remarkable documentary, "Fearful Symmetry," by Charles Kiselyak, and compellingly unassuming commentary by the director, Robert Mulligan, and the producer, the late Alan J. Pakula. Besides interviews with them, the documentary, filmed elegantly in black and white, includes interviews with the actors, both non-professionals who played the children, Mary Badham as Scout and Phillip Alford as Jem, as if to remind us that we, too, have grown older. Also a joy are interviews with the screen writer, Horton Foote; the composer, Elmer Bernstein; and Gregory Peck, who played Atticus, a role for which he won an Academic Award--one of eight for which the film was nominated in 1962. Both Peck and Bernstein, Kiselyak tells us, regarded "To Kill a Mockingbird" as their best work. Adding to the documentary's richness still further are interviews with several residents of Monroeville, Ala., the real Maycomb, to round out our sense of the town "then and now." Among the revelations in the commentary is that the production designer, Henry Bubstead, masterfully recreated the children's neighborhood on the Universal backlot at the relatively modest cost of $225,000, salvaging perhaps a dozen houses that would have been demolished by the construction of a freeway--an expense made necessary because Monroeville had become too modern to play itself in the film. This is the oppostie of its equally remote cousin, Marquette, Mich., which Otto Preminger used to great effect in filming "Anatomy of a Murder." Bumstead, who also designed Alfred Hitchcock's venerable "Vertigo," won an Academy Award for his achievement in "To Kill a Mockingbird." The main titles, by Stephen Frankfurt, with Elmer Bernstein's eloquent, elegiac theme, capture brilliantly not only the essence of the film but also an essence of childhood, about which both Harper Lee's timeless, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and the film itself are very much concerned. The film, a rare, nearly perfect distillation of a book, almost certainly would have won an Academy Award as best picture had it not been up against "Lawrence of Arabia," one of the other great epics of the American film canon. Only later in "To Kill a Mockingbird," after the titles have led us to that pristine neighborhood, do we discover the nature of that blend of innocence and experience alluded to in the William Blake poem, "The Tyger," from which Kiselyak takes the title of his documentary. It is, after all, the great, sad sense of both loss and love that Scout and Jem encounter, first at the hands of Robert Ewell and then of Boo Radley. My only regret is that Harper Lee, though she helped Kiselyak in producing the documentary, declined to be interviewed for it, denying us the sound of her voice. In its stead, however, we have another evocation, that of Ms. Lee's rich tone of nostalgia and reminiscence, very much akin to that of Sam Clemens in the Tom and Huck books, with which Charles Kiselyak infuses his own small but mighty masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS MOVIE
Review: Truman Capote's influence is felt everywhere in both the book and film versions of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Harper Lee's classic, beautifully haunting story of childhood, innocence lost, and of the cruelty that exists in people everywhere. Yes, Gregory Peck is Atticus Finch, and all of the players here inhabit their roles with grace, humor and gravity, but it is Mary Badham as Scout who steals the show, as it should be. The simplicity of a father's touch, of a rapist's grimace, of the wind gently blowing through the trees at dusk -- everything in this movie evokes, from Scout's point of view, a time we each have in our lives that transforms us into adults. There comes with it an aching sadness -- as if saying goodbye to a comforting old friend -- but the revelation carries with it a profound joy. Elmer Bernstein's score realizes each emotional chord of the film, and transports us without ever lambasting us -- it is the best kind of movie score. You will be hooked from the opening credits, which are creatively brilliant -- those crayons, the haunting and beguiling theme softly begins on the piano -- through to the closing credits, at which point there will be well-earned tears softly falling down your cheek.
Rating: 
Summary: We watched this after reading the book.
Review: In 10th grade, we watched this film version after reading the book 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. I don't remember too much of the movie, but I thought the book was good.
Rating:
Summary: Greater perspective required
Review: Okay, it might feel slow and it can seem dull, but this movie has a heart and soul like almost no other. Life in a pre-Civil Rights Era, deep South town is not exactly an amusement park experience. Children live in the moment, and that's where perspective resides in this story. It's only later that meaning, lessons, and heartache are really processed (narrator provides the nostalgic adult view). Scout is self absorbed like children are, her older brother Jem longs for manhood, and every adult in town seems to realize their father, Atticus Finch, is a uniquely dedicated man. Story is immensely simple, echoing languid mood of a small town, pre-television, pre-suburban isolation, and very much in the midst of ignorance and prejudice. Racism is the issue that stands out in the end, but story is more an exploration of a time and place that most of us will never--and might never hope to--know. What action exists is observed by a mysterious neighbor and a stoic dad (who just might be the good guys). Don't be fooled by the pace; there are joys and hopes to be found in this small Alabama town. Collector's Edition DVD includes Fearful Symmetry, a wonderfully illuminating documentary about the making of the film and the basis for its story and characters. It starts slow but the messages (some rathy wordy) are poignant. Narration includes many quotes from the book, details that are left out of the movie in effort to translate to screen. For anyone unsure of the value of movie and its story, this feature-length documentary is a wonderful introduction or alternative.
Rating:
Summary: Simply one of the greatest American films
Review: In 1962 one of the twentieth century's most beloved novels became one of its most cherished films. There are, of course, many pitfalls associated with transferring a popular literary novel to the screen, and "To Kill A Mockingbird" avoids every one of them. Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his portrayal of Atticus Finch, the small-town lawyer and all-round nice guy, who is trying to teach the children he is bringing up on his own values against a backdrop of bigotry and corruption. His performance is dignified, and rock solid. Atticus is called upon to defend a black man who has been accused of raping a white girl, and whose fate seems already sealed, thanks to the racism inherent in the small 1930's dust-bowl Southern town. The movie's central strength is that, like the novel it is based upon, it tells this very grown-up story through the eyes of the children. Mary Badham (Nominated for best supporting actress) and Philip Alford are superb, and wholly natural as Scout and Jem, the kids. The first hour has a pleasantly incidental, drifting quality as Scout and Jem try to spy on their mysterious, unseen neighbour Boo Radley, that perfectly captures the essence of childhood. And this long drawn out, but endearing set-up makes the court-room scenes that follow all the more powerful; they feel like a loss of innocence. Powerful, but never emotive, "To Kill A Mockingbird" never patronises or talks down to its audiences, and steadfastly refuses to become an "issue" film. It's difficult to believe Hollywood could produce this kind of picture today, as everything would need to be battened down and explained very thoroughly, rather than happening just off-camera, which is what happens with most of the grown-up themes here - which is exactly how it feels to be a child. But while nothing is spelled out, it never leaves you in a state of confusion, wondering what is going on. It may perhaps seem curious that a prestige picture as late as 1962 could be made in black and white, but the studio made the right decision on this front. The monochrome cinematography is evocative, and crisp. "To Kill A Mockingbird" is, quite simply, one of the best movies ever to come out of the United States of America. Unfortunately Hollywood has since regressed from this point, and is no longer capable of making proper films for grown ups to enjoy. Ah well, nostalgia ain't what it used to be.
Rating:
Summary: As good as the book if not better
Review: I'm not sure which I encountered first, the movie or the book. Either way, they both left their impression but for some reason (and probably the obvious one), the movie sticks in my mind with its wonderful black-and-white footage, its flawless and haunting Elmer Bernstein score, and of course its stellar cast. Not to mention the fact that the adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book was excellent. One can only hope that when they make McCrae's "The Bark of the Dogwood" into a movie, that the adaptation will be as flawless and inspired--let's hope so.
Rating:
Summary: A Perfect DVD
Review: Not only do you get one of the great films of all time, you also get the documentary about the film and its impact on the general public. The film is about a man's priciples to defend a black man who is accused of rape during the Great Depression. The film is also about growing up and facing lifes realities. This work is truly beautiful and has held up every bit as good as when it was first released. The film also follows the book very closely and does a wonderfull job of adapting the masterpiece. The DVD has running commentary from the film makers as well as an exclusive documentary about the film. This project could not been done better. It is part of my personal film library and is truly a great addition.
|
