To Kill has provided me with a social injustice scale for my life.

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2005)

In 1962 my mother, a huge Greg Peck fan, took me, my older brother and my dad to see To Kill a Mockingbird. We went to a drive-in movie in of all places Fort Fairfield Maine. I was only 7 at the time and we did not have many opportunities to see highly touted films like To Kill, so off we went with anticipation, the 4 of us not knowing what was about to play out.
The film started without much fanfare and I became bored and started to fall asleep. Just as I was nodding off, the fog swept in as it is wont to do in Northern Maine even in the summer. The decision was made by the drive-in management to delay the film until the fog blew over (they hoped). My mother had settled my older brother and myself in the backseat of the car hoping we would leave her to be absorbed by Atticus's commanding presence on the screen. Alas the fog had delayed the movie and the question between mom and dad was should we go home. Dad readied the car to go when a tunnel occurred through the fog allowing us to see the screen of the now restarted film.
So in a state of half awake in the backseat of a 1960 Blue Plymouth Fury I viewed this enchanting visual, the subtle gray tones of the movie made even more wispy and enchanting by the effect of viewing through the fog. Do you have any idea the effect this had on me, to this day it has influenced me in my view of the goodness and not so good in people. Watching Boo Radley through a fog tunnel was terrifying to a 7 year old but this was balanced by the safety and security of Atticus, fighting the good fight.
To this day Atticus and indeed Greg Peck is my yardstick of a person who despite the whirlwind of being a white man in the American south of the 1960's wants to do the right thing and resists getting caught up in the racial maelstrom prevalent of the day. He represented what a good man and father could be and should be. We should all take note and tell our kids to put away the computer games and shoot em up flicks and watch "To Kill a Mockingbird". Serve this wonderful movie with wispy fog remnants and optional social comment and watch how it plays out for your family. I rate this wonderful movie 12 out of 10, and I sorely miss Greg Peck!!! He was/is an American treasure!