Tight drama yet to be excelled

Rating: Null/10 (2 February 1999)

High credit for this film includes the way its screenplay quotes parts of the excellent book, verbatim.
Not just merely flawless (score, casting, directing, screenplay, scenery) the sum of the parts exceeds their individual components.
Now, what to watch for - Scout's (daughter's) growth through her father's teaching - "don't fight," "don't prejudge."
Robert Duval as boo - his first role - and he doesn't say a word.
The easy way the white children interact with their black maid.
The last scene in the courtroom - black courtroom observers upstairs, whites downstairs.
The irony of the whole thing - whites and blacks basically identical, poor and principled, and just not the same when they are.
Less is more in this film. Leave it alone, don't redo it, don't colorize.
By the way, Mary Bedham, who played Scout, never did another film.
America's best example of dramatic, minimalist cinema.