Have you ever seen a movie that left you with such a good feeling you want to hug somebody? I think the last film that made me feel that way was The Princess Bride. Then I saw Gregory Peck in *To Kill a Mockingbird * over the weekend on HBO.
I don’t know that I can be entirely coherent, so let me just share my random thoughts.
I’m glad I read the book first…I had a context for the story, and even though I knew what was going to happen, it still got to me.
The first kick in the gut was when Atticus is sitting on the porch swing after he put his children to bed. I assume you are to think he is overhearing his children talk, because you hear Jem and Scout discussing their mother “How old was I when she died?” “Was she pretty?” “Did she love me?” “Do you miss her?” and you know Atticus is silently answering the questions.
The courtroom scene…“Stand up, your father is passing.” Wow. Who knew just standing up could have such an impact?
Mary Badham was lovely as Scout. The kid who played Dill looked hauntingly familiar, but I can’t place him.
Gregory Peck…dayum. They don’t make them like that anymore, do they?
Well-deserved place in moviedom…this is a lovely film, and while I did miss some of the minor storylines, I thought it did very well. Everyone involved should be very proud.
I absolutely love this movie. Gregory Peck was wonderful.
I loved the scene where he shot the rabid dog, and Jem’s admiration for him grew so big.
I loved the scene where the mob is descending on the jail to lynch Tom, and Scout defuses it. The fact that Atticus was sitting outside guarding him was just fantastic.
The anguish on Atticus’ face as he gets the news about Tom’s death.
The actor who played Tom Robinson was phenomenal, too. “Did you rape Mayella Euell?” “No, suh!”
I need to watch it again! I watch it every time it comes on when I’m channel-surfing.
It’s in my top five, if not my favorite of all time.
Atticus as a father just blows me away. Everything from gently telling Scout that Mr. Cunningham may be embarrassed to be thanked to shooting the rabid dog. Even the glares and amused glances exchanged between Jem and Atticus at the lunch table as Walt is talking about how he’s had a gun for more than a year (Jem wants a gun and Atticus won’t give him one…nice exchange there…I laughed out loud.)
And Jem sees what kind of man Atticus is, from his wonderful defense of Tom to his refusal to react when Ewell spits in his face. He is a true gentleman. When Jem asked David Robinson to get his father “please” when Ewell shows up just indicates how they’re being raised, that he wouldn’t think to address a black child any different from a white child.
I thought they played up the relationship between Miss Maudie and Atticus a bit more in the movie than the book. In the book, it’s never implied they’re more than neighborly friends, but in the movie, she greets him and sits with the children one evening. I’d like to think they get married a few years down the road.
I’ve noticed something in this movie and in The Color Purple…there seems to be a specific accent that racist whites use when addressing blacks. It’s not just the “Boy” or “Gal” condescension…the accent gets thicker, contemptuous. Anybody else notice that?
Given the normal treatment of great books by Hollywood, I consider it a great blessing to have such a wonderful movie made from one of my favorite books. I have read the book many times, and seen the movie a lot. The movie makes me cry every time. Two scenes that always do it are the aforementioned “your father is passing” scene and the scene in the bedroom when Scout first sees Boo.
Southern Yankee, could that have been Heck Tate, the sheriff, afraid to publicly take a stand but making sure that Atticus didn’t get run over by the mob? I’ll have to watch it again tonight.
Not only that, but they had to label her as a Ham. Whoever built that costume wasn’t very good. And I wish we’d seen her “ruin” the pageant.
I’m confused…Scout said she couldn’t find her dress, so she had to wear the costume home. But she was wearing something underneath…was that some sort of shift?
It’s been several years (too long!) since I’ve seen this wonderful film that I deeply love, but I’ve just about finished re-reading the book (that I also deeply love) thanks to that other thread (thanks!) and in the book it’s Mr. Underwood, the publisher of the paper. He lives upstairs from his office and it’s said that he just has to look outside to see what’s going on. That night, he’s quiet until after the mob have left, then he calls out that he had Atticus’s back. I didn’t remember that being in the movie, so maybe it was Heck in the film. There are several little changes from the book to the movie, though nothing that screams abuse. For instance, the kids don’t see Ewell spit in Atticus’s face in the book, the incident happens downtown and is relayed to them by Miss Stephanie, whereas in the movie it happens outside Tom’s house and Jem sees it happen. Not a major change and it works well.
Everything everyone else has said about this book and movie, I heartily agree with. Classics of wonder, both.
I’m almost positive that’s Tom Robinson’s voice from the window above Atticus. He asks “Are they gone?” knowing how close he came to being lynched. I believe the mob had really decoyed the Sherriff away and Atticus was all alone.
Ruth White ( the actress who played ancient, cranky Mrs. Dubose, who early in the film fussed at the kids to get off her lawn or something) was only 48 at the time.
That happens too, both in the book and the movie, but there’s also another bit in the book (and movie?) of a voice calling down from nearby saying he had a shotgun and had Atticus’s back (had the children not shown up and the mob tried to get through Atticus to get to Tom). In the book it’s Mr. Underwood. I need to see the movie again to see how that was handled in the film.
It wasn’t handled in the film. Atticus tries to bluff the crowd by saying Sheriff Tate will be right back, and they call him on the bluff, saying something I couldn’t quite catch.
I took it to be Tom asking “Are they gone?” the implication being that the Sheriff is afraid of the situation and leaves poor Atticus out there all alone.
That was John Megna, who died of AIDS in 1995. To me, his most memorable performance (other than Dill) was in an episode of Star Trek called “Miri,” in which he played a child who led a chant of “Bonk, bonk on the head!”
I KNEW he was in Star Trek, but I got thrown off by the movie timeline…the movie is set in 1932, but it was made in 1961(?). I thought the movie was about 30 years older than it was. :smack:
Well, that is about the age when one starts yelling at kids to get off one’s lawn, give or take a couple years.
I read the book first, then saw the movie and I gained a whole new respect for Atticus Finch after seeing Gregory Peck in the role. Yeah, Dayum!
I also gained even more fondness for the film and Mr. Peck after reading that it was his favorite role and he kept in touch with “Scout” for the rest of his life.
By the way, Gregory Peck - DAYUM!
Now I must go yell at some kids on my lawn.
