Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing.

Rating: 9/10 (11 April 2008)

With three wins among eight Oscar nominations, this is one of the best pictures of all times. Gregory Peck won one of those Oscars for what is certainly his best performance.
It was Mary Badhams first film, and she received a well-earned nomination for her performance as Scout. It was also Phillip Alford's first film. Both of these children performed as well as many actors with years more experience. Of course, Horton Foote's Oscar-winning screenplay, based upon Harper Lee's novel contributed immensely, but the two young actors really made you believe you were watching real characters.
In an interesting note, it was also Robert Duvall's first film. He was the "Boo" Radley referred to throughout and not seen until the end.
The summation given by Peck has to be one of the greatest of all times, and he truly was, in the words of Miss Maudie, "born to do our unpleasant jobs for us..." Which, of course, includes reminding us of when we fall from what we should be a humans.