Classic movie about a small-town Southern advocate including intense court drama , atmospheric scenarios and superb interpretations

Rating: 8/10 (4 February 2015)

Splendid and flavorful rendition based on bestselling novel written by Harper Lee , being perfectly scripted by Horton Foote . The film takes place from the summer of 1932 to October 31, 1933 , Atticus Finch, (Gregory Peck's favorite work , who earned a deserved Academy Award) , a lawyer in the Depression-era South, defends a black man (Brock Peters) against an undeserved rape charge . Meanwhile , he attempts to explain proceedings to his kids (Mary Badham , Philip Alford) , trying to understand life and against social prejudice .
The most beloved and widely read Pulitzer Prize Winner by Harper Lee now comes vividly alive on the screen in this magnificent picture , being leisurely narrated and stunningly filmed . Interesting and thought-provoking screenplay by Horton Foote who also earned an Oscar along with Gregory Peck . Well realized and deliberately paced ; being a powerful retelling , including evocative settings , appropriate cinematography in white and black by cameraman Russell Harlan and rousing musical score . Extraordinary acting by Gregory Peck as a small-town advocate at law who defends an African-American accused of rape . Support cast is frankly well ; cast members such as Mary Badham (Scout), film debut by Robert Duvall (Boo), Frank Overton (Heck Tate), Collin Wilcox Paxton (Mayella), Ruth White , Richard Hale , Paul Fix , and William Windom (Mr. Gilmer) , being narrated by Kim Stanley . Mary Badham became the youngest girl to receive an Oscar nomination, ironically losing the award to another child actress, Patty Duke in The miracle worker (1962). Special mention to Brock Peters , as an inmate , wrongly accused as rapist ; he started to cry while shooting the testifying scene, without rehearsing it this way, and Gregory Peck said that he had to look past him, instead of looking him in the eye, without choking up himself . With the death of Rosemary Murphy (Maudie Atkinson) on July 5, 2014, Robert Duvall (Boo Radley) is the film's last surviving adult cast member . Sensitive as well as evocative musical score by the great Elmer Bernstein ; the piano in Elmer Bernstein's score was played by John Williams . Adequate production and set design , as Art directors Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead had an entire reconstruction of the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, built on the Universal backlot at a cost of $225,000 , as the set contained more than 30 buildings .
The motion picture was magnificently directed by Robert Mulligan . Robert's way of handling his child actors was to let them play together while keeping the cameras as unobtrusive as possible. It is the first of six films director Robert Mulligan made with his producer partner, Alan J. Pakula . Director Robert Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula traveled to Harper Lee's hometown of Monroeville but found it unsuitable for filming , the town had been modernized ; therefore the production team constructed their own ideal version of Monroeville on a backlot at Universal . Robert Mulligan was a good filmmaker expert on dramas such as he proved in ¨Bloodbrothers¨ , ¨Baby the rain must fall¨, ¨Kiss me goodbye¨ , ¨Same time , next year¨ , ¨The Nickel Ride¨, ¨The man in the moon¨ , being his greatest successes the followings : the eerie tale of supernatural titled ¨The other¨, the adolescent drama ¨Summer of 42¨ and this ¨¨To kill a mockingbird¨ . The latter ranked #1 on the American Film Institute's list of the 10 greatest films in the genre "Courtroom Drama" and in 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #25 Greatest Movie of All Time.