Much overrated message flick

Rating: 6/10 (26 July 2009)

Gregory Peck is good but the focus is on the viewpoint and mentality of the little girl Scout whose infantile point of view wears on the viewer after a brief period of novelty.
The quote-unquote heroic defense of a black man in the segregated American south so many comment about is defeated by the heavy handed use of stereotypical white trash characters and a patently harmless black suspect played by Brock Peters. This "black is good - white is bad" coding only appeals to goody two shoes liberals who really don't want to deal with issues, just to look like they care.
The real story is the coming of age of the small girl and her brother. The Boo Radley character creeped me out as well. Not a bad movie, exactly but not nearly the great one so many call it.