 Tagline: If you have read the novel, you will relive every treasured moment. . .If not, a deeply moving experience awaits you! Experience one of the most significant milestones in film history like never before with To Kill A Mocking Bird: 50th Anniversary Edition. Screen legend Gregory Peck stars as courageous Southern lawyer Atticus Finch - the Academy Award-winning performance hailed by the American Film Institute as the Greatest Movie Hero of All Time. Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about innocence, strength and conviction and nominated for 8 Academy Awards, this beloved classic is now digitally remastered and fully restored for optimum picture and sound quality and boasts hours of unforgettable bonus features. Watch it and remember why "it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." Storyline: Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book of 1961. Atticus Finch is a lawyer in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930s. He agrees to defend a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but he decides to go ahead. How will the trial turn out - and will it change any of the racial tension in the town ? Written by Colin Tinto Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman, , January 20, 2012 -- 1962 was a rather remarkable year for films featuring stellar performances by young actors. Patty Duke took home a well deserved Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her iconic work in The Miracle Worker, but Patty's was hardly the only notable performance that year. Duke was joined in the Best Supporting Actress category by another young girl whose performance has entered the annals of the near legendary, namely Mary Badham's beautifully rendered work as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird. There were a slew of other films that featured standout younger performances—Lolita, Sundays and Cybele, Cape Fear, The Music Man just to name a few—but no other film that year (and arguably any year) actually captured the viewpoint of children as magically yet realistically as To Kill a Mockingbird did. What's perhaps so incredible about this beautifully heartfelt film is how effortlessly it manages to sum up an entire generation's experience of one distinct region of the United States, namely the American South, dealing with all sorts of issues from the epochal (like race relations) to the seemingly picayune (like sibling rivalry and loyalty). The fact that To Kill a Mockingbird does this while virtually never deviating from its children's perspective makes the film one of the most extraordinary achievements in the annals of film, one which intentionally maintains a simple, unaffected style that still manages to produce one of the heftiest emotional wallops imaginable. While a major subplot of the film casts a rather unseemly light on the American South, the incredibly noble and moral character of the focal children's father, one Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), an attorney who is hired to defend a black man accused of raping and beating a white girl, gives this film a strong ethical center which further helps to distinguish it and which adds inestimably to the film's allure. Harper Lee was a largely unknown quantity when her first (and only) novel To Kill a Mockingbird was published in July 1960. Lee had been encouraged by her childhood friend and neighbor Truman Capote (upon whom the character of Dill in the book is based), and Capote wrote a brief blurb on the dust jacket of the first edition hardback espousing Lee's talent. (In an aside, that blurb led to the spurious rumor that Capote himself actually wrote the book, something which has been definitively disproven.) Lee had no great hopes for the book, and in fact the publisher had warned her it probably wouldn't do very well, so she (not to mention the publishers) when the book became something of an overnight sensation. While there were definitely some naysayers (including author Carson McCullers, who considered To Kill a Mockingbird a bit too similar to her own Southern reminiscences), by and large critical reaction was overwhelmingly positive, and public reaction was nothing short of phenomenal. The property was quickly optioned for film, and by an unusual alignment of the stars (metaphorical and otherwise), a seemingly perfect combination of talents both in front of and behind the camera fell into place for what remains as one of the most sterling literary adaptations of all time. Similarly, director Robert Mulligan wasn't exactly a household name, either, though he had had the extreme good fortune to have partnered with producer Alan J. Pakula (who would also become a director of some considerable note) and did have a handful of features, as well as a long television career, under his belt. But Mulligan's quiet, deliberate approach turned out to be absolutely perfect for To Kill a Mockingbird, especially with regard to coaxing absolutely realistic performances out the film's central trio of children, Mary Badham as Scout Finch, the six year old from whose viewpoint (and memory) the film is told; Phillip Alford as Jem Finch, Scout's older brother and erstwhile protector; and John Megna as colorful neighbor Dill, who joins the siblings in a series of adventures, many of which revolve around ferreting out information about the Finch's mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall). As the kids' exploits play out, the Finch's father, attorney Atticus, finds himself caught up in simmering racial tensions when a local black man (Brock Peters) is falsely accused of having attacked a white girl (Collin Wilcox). Mulligan resolutely refuses to ever let the film lapse into melodrama, staging things simply and without sensationalism, and that approach gives the film much of its indelible emotional power. The film, while unassuming and for the most part understated, is also devastatingly on target with all of its performances. The kids here are simply a revelation, natural and unforced, with perfectly nuanced turns and often exuberant moments of childlike wonder. The supporting cast is just flat out superb, from the really disturbing James Anderson as the piece's villain Bob Ewell to the stoic and tragic Brock Peters as wrong accused Tom Robinson to Frank Overton as put upon Sheriff Tate to then newcomer Robert Duvall, who pretty much steals the final few moments of the film as neighbor Boo Radley. But it is of course Gregory Peck who anchors this film in its undeniably strong moral center. Has there ever been a more perfect marriage of actor and role than Peck as Atticus Finch? The Peck children in several supplements included on the Blu-ray state that Peck was much like Finch in real life, a lover of truth and justice and the American Way (not to be overly corny about it), and even Harper Lee was evidently moved to tears by Peck when she spent three weeks on set early in the film's shooting schedule. As Cecilia Peck mentions a couple of times on supplements, an entire generation (maybe a couple of generations by this time) grew up wishing Peck's Atticus Finch could have been their father, and it's not hard to understand why, seeing the grace and grit of this character brought perfectly to life in one of the most iconic film performances of all time. [In the trivial but fascinating department, To Kill a Mockingbird has one of the oddest concatenations of "famous relative syndrome" with regard to its cast and crew of any major motion picture. Just a brief listing includes these gems: Mary Badham (Scout) is the little sister of director John Badham (Saturday Night Fever); John Megna (Dill) is the half-brother of actress Connie Stevens; director Robert Mulligan was the brother of actor Richard Mulligan (Soap, Empty Nest); and Estelle Evans (housekeeper Calpurnia) was the sister of actress Esther Rolle (Maude, Good Times).] To Kill a Mockingbird is a quiet film, and in fact several studios passed on optioning Lee's novel because they couldn't understand what possible allure it could have for audiences. "It's about a lawyer and his two kids," was all studio executives (never the most prescient bunch) could see in the book, obviously missing the profound truths buried in Scout and Jem's world, like the treasures Boo Radley secrets away in the neighborhood tree cavity. But like a parent whispering to a beloved child, To Kill a Mockingbird speaks directly to the heart, never demanding attention, but commanding it nonetheless. If you've never seen this hugely affecting film, you're in for one of the most touching experiences of your cinematic life. If you're a longtime fan, rejoice that it's been revitalized now to rediscover all over again. I'm not ashamed to admit I was once again a puddle of tears as To Kill a Mockingbird drew to a close as I watched it to prepare for this review. I've seen the film countless times, and it has the same effect on me, certainly a good indication of just how emotionally powerful the film is. How many films can you think of that lose little if any of their emotional resonance upon repeated viewings? To Kill a Mockingbird is one of that rare breed of films which seems timeless even as it precisely recreates a very specific time and place. Classic film lovers have come to dread Universal catalog releases (rightly or wrongly), but To Kill a Mockingbird sets a new standard for the studio, one which they hopefully will continue with as their hundredth anniversary celebration takes center stage. To Kill a Mockingbird instantly jumps to the front of the pack of best releases in the still young 2012, and it comes Highly recommended. Cast Notes: Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), John Megna (Dill Harris), Frank Overton (Sheriff Heck Tate), Rosemary Murphy (Miss Maudie Atkinson), Ruth White [II] (Mrs. Dubose), Brock Peters (Tom Robinson), Estelle Evans [II] (Calpurnia), Paul Fix (Judge Taylor), Collin Wilcox Paxton (Mayella Violet Ewell), James Anderson [I] (Bob Ewell), Alice Ghostley (Stephanie Crawford), Robert Duvall (Arthur "Boo" Radley), William Windom (Gilmer), Crahan Denton (Walter Cunningham), Richard Hale [II] (Mr. Nathan Radley). IMDb Rating (01/04/16): 8.4/10 from 204,923 users Top 250: #67 IMDb Rating (09/05/14): 8.4/10 from 162,875 users Top 250: #73 IMDb Rating (10/15/07): 8.1/10 from 38,147 users Top 250: #120 IMDb Rating (05/24/01): 8.4/10 from 4,156 users Top 250: #99
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