To Kill a Mockingbird | | Cast : | Gregory Peck | | Director : | Robert Mulligan | | Studio : | Universal Studios | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | December 25, 1962 | | DVD Released Date : | September 06, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | NR (Not Rated) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 22, 2005 | | Summary | You Never Get to Know Someone Unless You Walk Around in Their Shoes.. | Content
 | This movie is, safe to say, on just about everyones favorite movie listing. Harper Lee's classic novel brought to life with Gregory Peck in the lead role of Atticus Finch. I don't think Gregory Peck ever did a bad movie in his film career and he shines in this one. As Atticus, he displays the kind of lawyer that you would want if you ever had to go to trial for anything. He also displays a pretty good example to all us fathers on how to deal with our children. There are some very good ideologies displayed in this movie. The idea that all men are equal in the eyes of the court was displayed with Atticus defending a black man against a flimsy rape charge. I'm not sure in 30's Alabama you could ever get a fair and impartial jury on this count. This is a very satisfying movie that everyone, including your children, should watch. The movie really hits home in alot of areas and is well worth adding to your movie library. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 19, 2005 | | Summary | My Favorite Movie of All Time | Content
| I LOVE this movie. No matter how many times I've seen it before, I will watch it again.
Having been raised in the deep South, this movie eloquently captures a time during the Depression when people were poor, hungry, scared, and ignorant. The character of Atticus Finch quietly parsed the poverty and ignorance of his town with educated intelligence and the soul of a good man ... as his children watched in amazement.
The casting, acting, photography, and musical score bring Harper Lee's original story to life. The black and white film is perfectly fitting. Gregory Peck's portrayal of Atticus was his very best work. I still watch him in awe.
My grandmother watched this movie with me when I was a little girl. I recommend that all grandparents watch To Kill A Mockingbird with their grandchildren and continue a beautiful tradition. |
| Rating | | | Date | June 11, 2005 | | Summary | A Magnificent Film In Every Way. | Content
| For "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), the film version of Harper Lee's 1960 first novel about growing up in Depression Alabama, Universal studio's ad campaign was: "The Pulitzer Prize novel that became a legend in its own time is now a memorable motion picture." McCall's magazine concurred, raving, "What a sheer delight to see a movie that informs, amuses, enchants and makes you think all at the same time." Rock Hudson had discovered Lee's novel based on her childhood reminiscences, but the studio turned down Hudson at the time and only later bought the screen rights for Gregory Peck, hiring Robert Mulligan to direct and Horton Foote to write the screenplay. For novelist Lee, the casting was precisely right. "That film was a work of art," she glowed. Before beginning the film, Peck went to Alabama and met the real Atticus Finch, Lee's aged father Amasa Lee, who died during the filming. Lee herself coached Peck in handling the pocket watch he wore. In gratitude for his performance, she presented him with her father's own watch, a gift that greatly moved the actor. Peck commented at the time: "I can honestly say that in 20 years of making movies, I never had a part that came close to being the real me until Atticus Finch." Readers of the Pulitzer Prize novel--a folk classic with overtones of Mark Twain and William Faulkner--expected Hollywood to ravage its wistful Americana. Instead, it turned out to be a superior motion picture, filmed entirely at Universal studios in Hollywood. Frame houses came from a rundown area of Los Angeles and were reconstructed on the studio lot to represent the backwater town of Maycomb, Alabama.
Peck submerged his own natural good looks behind round-lens glasses and a sear-sucker suit and was aided by director Mulligan, two non professional children from Birmingham, Alabama (9 year old Mary Badham and 13 year old Philip Alford) and a supporting cast of unfamiliar faces from Broadway. Robert Duvall made his screen debut here in the brief but pivotal role of Boo Radley.
The picture suspended notions that Gregory Peck was just a strong-jawed man of iron and won him the Academy Award on his fifth nomination. In addition to Peck, screenwriter Horton Foote and the set designers also won Academy Awards.
Atticus Finch is a wise, gentle small-town Alabama lawyer of 1932, raising his motherless offspring and defending a Negro falsely accused of rape. During the first half of the film, we see the sleepy little Alabama town through the eyes of the children. Then during the second half, we become the active participants and the children the watchers as the tragic drama unfolds. Under his soft-spoken guidance, Atticus' two youngsters emerge from the world of childhood fantasy towards maturity; in the courtroom, Southern prejudice threatens to defeat his cause because the man he defends is a Negro.
Quietly helping the story and the acting is a superb musical score by Elmer Bernstein. It underscores important points and heightens tense moments without ever intruding upon the flow of the story. The range of action with which composer Bernstein had was wide. It included the scoring of a children's game and the welling of terror surrounding a night reconnoiter of the forbidding house where Boo Radley lives. There is music to underline the nobility of Atticus Finch in his dealing with his children and in his efforts to save the unjustly accused Negro Tom Robinson, superbly played by Brock Peters.
The story may seem slightly sentimental today in its portrayal of race relations, but its stature and lasting substance stem from the beautifully observed relationship between father and children and from the youngsters' perceptions of the enduring human values in the world around them. In it's own quiet way, this is one of the best movies dealing with race relations that the American film industry has ever made. [filmfactsman] |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | A shining example of cinema | Content
| Not much to say at this point. One of the finest films Hollywood has ever produced. Gregory Peck's signature performance. Both the movie and the book are musts for all Americans. No excuse not to have seen this movie. None. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2005 | | Summary | Great classic | Content
| To Kill a mockingbird tell the story of Atticus Finch, a Southern lawer, who is appointed to defend Tom Robinson, a black man charged for rape and assault against Mayella Ewell. Meanwhile, Atticus's children are following with the trial and learning the mysteries of life, and trying to find out the truth about their next door neighbor, Boo Radley.
To Kill a Mocking bird is a wonderful film that teaches you an important lesson. Never judge a man by the color of his skin. |
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