.....and Harper Lee smiled......

Rating: 10/10 (7 June 2003)

Few screenwriters capture the essence of the source material as well as Horton Foote does with his adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about innocence and evil in the 1930's deep South. This film is even above and beyond every superlative hurled it's way in the past four decades, so I won't even attempt another glowing recommendation. It's very simple: If you miss this movie, you are depriving yourself of one of the finest cinematic experiences known to mankind....(okay, so I attempted it!) The American Film Institute recently published the results of the voting for the number one hero in American Film History. It was Atticus Finch -- the hero of this story. You'll easily see why. Gregory Peck's portrayal is flawless. The supporting cast also deliver astounding performances, especially Brock Peters as Tom Robinson, Collin Wilcox Paxton as Mayella Ewell and James Anderson as Bob Ewell (who apparently was very frightening and disturbing to the other actors on set!) For me, this film was spiritually transcendental. It may even have the ability to sway hearts and minds (one can only hope!)