American Classic

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2014)

Based on Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning book, Scout (Mary Badham) is a 6 year old girl living in Maycomb, Alabama during the 1930s. It's a tired old town life with his lawyer father Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) and his little brother Jem. Then Atticus takes a case to defend a black man Tom Robinson accused of raping a white teen girl Mayella Ewell. It sends the town into a frenzy which only Atticus and the innocence of Scout are able to withstand.
It's an American classic. Gregory Peck exudes stature, compassion and dignity. It takes an important book and honors it with an impressive film. The trick of the movie is to look at the issue of race through the eyes of Scout. It also features Robert Duvall as the iconic Boo Radley. There is one point in the movie after the trial is over that always gets me. As Atticus walks out of the courtroom, all the blacks in the balcony stand up. Reverend Sykes tells Scout to stand. "Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing." There is something so poignant and so overwhelming about that moment.