Amazon.com: Ranked 34 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Greatest American Films, To Kill a Mockingbird is quite simply one of the finest family-oriented dramas ever made. A beautiful and deeply affecting adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Harper Lee, the film retains a timeless quality that transcends its historically dated subject matter (racism in the Depression-era South) and remains powerfully resonant in present-day America with its advocacy of tolerance, justice, integrity, and loving, responsible parenthood. It's tempting to call this an important "message" movie that should be required viewing for children and adults alike, but this riveting courtroom drama is anything but stodgy or pedantic. As Atticus Finch, the small-town Alabama lawyer and widower father of two, Gregory Peck gives one of his finest performances with his impassioned defense of a black man (Brock Peters) wrongfully accused of the rape and assault of a young white woman. While his children, Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Philip Alford), learn the realities of racial prejudice and irrational hatred, they also learn to overcome their fear of the unknown as personified by their mysterious, mostly unseen neighbor Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his brilliant, almost completely nonverbal screen debut). What emerges from this evocative, exquisitely filmed drama is a pure distillation of the themes of Harper Lee's enduring novel, a showcase for some of the finest American acting ever assembled in one film, and a rare quality of humanitarian artistry (including Horton Foote's splendid screenplay and Elmer Bernstein's outstanding score) that seems all but lost in the chaotic morass of modern cinema. Universal's Collector's Edition DVD gives this classic all the respect it deserves, offering the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio, a full-length commentary by director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula, informative production notes, and an exclusive documentary about the making of this all-time great American film. Consider this a must for any respectable DVD library. --Jeff Shannon
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - Michelle's Amazon review
Excellent affordable price for a classic movie that is 3 to 4 times as much cost every place else! Fast delivery! Amazon is the best!
Rating: - Storytelling cannot get any better than this!
Without much knowledge of history behind the acclaimed author Truman Capote, I watched the film "Capote" sometime back, and was interested in knowing more about his childhood friend Harper Lee and the her Pulitzer prize willing novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" mentioned in the film. After reading the reviews, I realized that this novel is tagged as the book of the century in American literature by the critics and the fans. I bought the film with high expectations, and all my expectations were exceeded ... Read More
Rating: - Tender, Touching Tale about Innocence Lost!
Having read the book twice and now watching the film, it's nice to see that the film has actually done justice to the book in that it's successful in bringing out the actual message of innocence lost and about the difference between right and wrong, good and evil as seen from the point of view of 3 children and specifically the little girl Scout. People tend to hate and seek to destroy that which they don't understand just because it scares them and the children learn at the end that the best way to ... Read More
Rating: - Alabama, God Damn
This film is an excellent black and white adaptation of Harper Lee's book of the same name. The acting, particularly by Gregory Peck (and a cameo by a young Robert Duval), brings out all the pathos, bathos and grit of small town Southern life in the 1930's. The story itself is an unusual combination, narrated by Peck's film daughter (and presumably Lee herself), of a stage of the coming of age story that we are fairly familiar with and the question of race and sex in the Deep South (and not only there) ... Read More
Rating: - A Wonderful Classic
I love the book and love the movie even more. This movie had me laughing one minute, angry the next, and finally crying. The is a great movie for all to see.