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Summary: This Is A MUST HAVE For ANY DVD Collection
Review: When I ordered the TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD DVD from Amazon.com last week, little did I know that Gregory Peck would be gone just a day after it arrived in my mailbox. Peck's portrayal of Atticus Finch is one of the greatest cinematic characters of all-time! He had what many of today's Hollywood actors sorely lack - INTEGRITY, MORALITY, CHARACTER and HONOR! If you don't own any other movie in your DVD collection, YOU NEED TO GET THIS ONE!!!
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Summary: "Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passin'."
Review: We watched this DVD once again, but on a note of sadness. We mourn Gregory Peck's passing, June 12, 2003. Look no further than this film for the full measure of his talent, and a good glimpse at the kind of man he was in real life. It is fitting that he lived just long enough to know of the honor bestowed on his character Atticus Finch, named Greatest Hero in film by the American Film Institute . While mortal in life, he is immortal in film. So long, Greg! This DVD treats this classic film very well indeed, though some will always want for more extra features. The picture is beautiful, the sound is good, the "making-of" retrospective is wonderful -- a must for your film library! I'm not sure why they put colorized stills on the DVD box cover; it is a black and white film, but please don't let that stop you! I have always thought this film deserved a better place on AFI's list of top films than #34, such as the top 10. It is as fine a two-hour distillation of Harper Lee's great American novel as you could ever ask for -- a beautiful, elegant film that exactly captures the spirit and essence of time and place and character. Fabulous direction, photography, editing, writing, acting, and music come together seamlessly in a perfect, tight fabric. It is an astounding achievement in screenplay based on such a novel. Of course the novel is far better, more complete, but it is a great film on its own merits. Harper Lee shows us the beauty and contradictions and ugliness in Southern culture as no one has before or since. She shows us her disappointment in and revulsion of aspects of her white Southern heritage, while at the same time showing us her great pride in a culture that is so rich and so beautiful when it throws off the ugly cloak of hatred and discrimination (take note, all ye "proud" wavers of the Confederate battle flag). Human arrogance and selfishness have wrought such evils, in this case from slavery to civil war to the desire for vengeance and scapegoats, often (and still) in the name of God. Let us learn from our history, improve ourselves, and sin no more. Buy this film, watch this film, love this film. Be Atticus Finch!
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Summary: The Definition of a 'Man'
Review: This film ruined me for all time.
I first saw it as a child and 'Atticus Finch' set the bar so high as to what it meant to truly be a man that I don't think any living person will ever be able to match it.
Humility, honor, dignity, truth, integrity, justice, compassion, bravery and love. Gregory Peck's remarkable portrayal personified all those characteristics in a way that we are not likely to ever witness again.
The scene in the courtroom after Atticus' closing arguments when the 'balcony people' all rise and Scout is told to stand because 'You're father is passing', will never fail to move me to tears.
Every moment of this film is executed with complete integrity and every actor, most remarkably the children, is to be commended. This has to be seen to be believed. Without ever being preachy, all parties involved have made one of the most outstanding arguments ever committed to celluloid against racial hatred and prejudice. It is easy to see why so many attorneys will tell you that this film made them take up law.
I am writing this on the day of Gregory Peck's passing and I want to send a heartfelt 'Thank You', out to the universe or heaven as the case may be, to the man who cared enough to give such a perfect rendition of all that is good that it was deservedly ranked as number one on AFI's list of 'The Top 50 Most Heroic' screen characters. A proud and fitting legacy from a truly remarkable actor.
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Summary: Timeless film still being honored...and deservedly so
Review: In a twist of time and fate I was viewing 'To Kill A Mockingbird' on DVD when AFI released their choice of Gregory Peck's portrayal of Lee Harper's character Atticus Finch, the Southern lawyer who defends a black man unjustly accused of rape, as Hollywood's all-time movie hero. No character in film history has more deserved to be designated as the best 'good guy'. Peck garnered a well-deserved Oscar for his role as a man of understated wisdom and quiet courage and the quintessential father-figure all men should aspire to be and all children long for in their lives. The fact that this film, it's participants, and the basic story are still being honored after 40+ years is a testament to the solid message if offered and the effective manner in which it was presented. I read this Pulitzer Prize novel when it was published and saw the film upon its theatrical release. The memory of both have long lingered. Enough can't be said about the wisdom of Universal's decision to release this Collector's Edition DVD. The public owes them a monumental 'thank-you'. Interviews with Gregory Peck and commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula make us privy to their precious memories surrounding how the charming novel was transformed into the perfect film. Seeing Mary Badham (Scout) and Philip Alford (Jem) (non-professional southern children starring in an Oscar-nominated film) as adults offering insights into their unique experiences was an unbelievable treat. To watch Robert Duvall make his screen debut as 'Boo Radley', and what a debut that was; and to hear his comments nearly a half-century later proves as never before the value of the DVD format and special features. Watching this film upon its release it was inconceivable that we could one day far in the future hear and see the inside story of its making in the comfort of our homes and from the mouths of the individuals so instrumental in the process of creating a legend. This DVD is priceless. The details of the making of this time-honored film have now been documented forever in a piece of movie-history that deserves to be savored by any true movie-buff as well as by a generation not yet born at the time of it's release. The message and the method of communicating it are timeless and dear. Please do yourself the honor of viewing this film.
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Summary: Amazing---Atticus Finch the greatest
Review: A must-see movie with Atticus Finch (Greogry Peck) at his best. I would rate his acting in this movie as flawless and the character Atticus Finch as my favorite movie character of all time-- frankly speaking I was so involved with the character that at one time or the other I thought I should become a lawyer..... Although Peter O' Toole lost the best actor oscar ---as Lawerance (Lawerance of Arabia) another amazing performance--- to Gregory Peck,, I don't think anybody would disagree that the oscar was given to the deserving... The movie has many emotional and dramatic scenes but my favorite is the court scene esp.. Finch's closing statement.....I suggest this movie to everyone and anyone.....
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Summary: Bought it sight unseen--not disappointed
Review: I bought this movie on recommendation, never having seen it. I watched it twice in one sitting. It's that good. This may be one of the finest films ever made.
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Summary: Charming, slice-of-life tale...
Review: This is a charming, slice-of-life tale about a young girl coming of age in a small town in 1930's, post-Depression
Alabama. Based on Harper Lee's novel of the same title, this is a gem of a movie with the dynamic characters Scout, her brother,
Jem, and their father, Atticus, played by Oscar-nominated Mary
Badham, Phillip Alford, and Oscar-winner Gregory Peck, respectively. Raised by their widowed father, Scout and
Jem must struggle their way through adolescence and face the
trials and tribulations along the way. One of which being a court case of a black man convicted of raping a white woman.
Though he is obviously innocent, his chance at being acquitted seems hopeless.Also a strange, reclusive next-door neighbor named Arthur"Boo"Radley who is played by a very young Robert Duvall whose experience in the movie was his first film debut.
Though only seen for about three minutes in the movie,his influence on Scout and Jem's lives is very great.Being one of my favorite movies, this is one you won't soon forget.
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Summary: Gregory Peck at his prime!!!
Review: "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a classic, a masterpiece, and it is Gregory Peck at his prime. Peck, in his Oscar-winning role, is Atticus Finch, a widowed Southern lawyer, who defends Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man, who was accused of raping a white woman in Alabama, in the 1930s. At home, he raises his son, Jem (Philip Alford), and his daughter, Scout (Mary Badham, Oscar-nominated), and teaches them about compassion and the evils of prejudice. "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the second best movie of 1962, next to "Lawrence of Arabia", and one of the best and most important movies of the 1960s. If you have not seen this movie, rent it, or buy it on DVD (which is what I own on) or video, to add it to your collection. Read the book, too.
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Summary: a masterpiece of american cinema
Review: Gregory Peck was entirely deserving of the recognition that he got for playing Atticus Finch (including the Oscar for Best Actor), the strongest role in the movie was actually that of Scout (played by Mary Badham). Badham was nominated for an Academy Award, and I feel that it is on the strength of Scout that this movie was carried. While Peck may have been the moral backbone of the movie, it is Badham that is the heart of the movie and whom the film truly does revolve around. To Kill a Mockingbird is the film adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same title. The story deals with racism and morality in a very humanistic way. When a black man is accused of raping a white woman, Atticus Finch takes the case to defend Tom Robinson (the man accused). This is a story about race relations as well as community relations and in the end, about doing the right thing. The house next to the Finch home is the Radley house. There are stories and rumors and prejudices against the hidden Radley boy, Boo Radley (the screen debut of Robert Duvall). Somehow, the stories about the Radley home come together with the trial of Tom Robinson and the moment where Scout gently says, "hey Boo" is truly a beautiful moment. I could probably heap praise on this movie until my fingers can't type anymore, but I am simply going to end by saying this is a movie than anybody who wants to watch a great movie needs to see this. Both the book and the movie are truly American classics.
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Summary: Hey Boo!
Review: As noted by many, "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a respectful, well-executed vision of a classic novel. The movie carries all of the impact of the book, with a perfect cast bringing to life the familiar characters. Scout, Atticus Finch and Boo Radley all come to life in crisp black and white. Challenging subject matter in it's time, the themes are still valid today. Rape, racism...not easy topics to discuss especially for kids, but they are facts of the world and should be confronted. This movie, and the book it comes from, help ease the transition. The DVD is excellent, and a great presentation for this fine film. Definitely one for the ages. A movie every child should see.
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