To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD is a 1962 American drama film adaptation of Harper Lee’s novel of the same name. It was directed by Robert Mulligan and stars Mary Badham in the role of Scout and Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch.
In 1995, the film was listed in the National Film Registry. It also ranks twenty-fifth on the American Film Institute’s 10th anniversary list of the greatest American movies of all time, and #1 on AFI’s list of best courtroom films. In 2003, AFI named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century.
Plot. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch (Mary Badham) is a 6 year-old tomboy growing up in the fictional Alabama town of Maycomb, along with her brother Jeremy Atticus “Jem” Finch (Phillip Alford), and their friend Charles Baker “Dill” Harris (John Megna). During the summer, Jem and Dill constantly think of new ways to make Boo Radley (Robert Duvall) emerge from his house. Arthur “Boo” Radley is a man who at a young age was arrested for disorderly conduct. Rather than be locked up by the authorities, his father kept him locked up in their house; to this very day, Boo has yet to come out. Jem and Scout’s father is Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck), a widowed attorney with deeply-held principles. After several lectures from Atticus, the children decide to leave Boo alone.
One day while walking past the Radley house, Jem finds a medal in the knothole of the Radleys’ oak tree. Day after day he finds more small trinkets until Mr. Nathan Radley cements the knothole shut. Before going to bed one night, Jem shows Scout the trinkets left in the tree. They begin to suspect that they were left there by Boo.
On Halloween, Jem and Scout head to a Halloween pageant that Scout is to take part in. On their way home, Jem and Scout are attacked by a man in the dark. After knocking Jem unconscious, the man attacks Scout when another man emerges from the darkness and subdues the children’s attacker. The man takes Jem to Atticus with Scout following. Atticus calls Dr. Reynolds and Sheriff Heck Tate (Frank Overton) over. Dr. Reynolds concludes that Jem has a broken arm and will make a full recovery. The sheriff tells Atticus that he found Bob Ewell dead in the middle of the street with a knife stuck under his ribs. Scout tells Sheriff Tate what she recalls of how they were attacked. When asked who saved them from Ewell, Scout points to the man standing in the corner of the room. After a few moments she comes to realize that their savior was none other than Boo Radley.
Atticus suspects that Jem killed Ewell and tries to make a case of it, but Sheriff Tate insists that Ewell fell on his own knife (although it is implied that Boo killed him). After finally convincing Atticus that Ewell killed himself, Tate leaves. Scout takes Boo home and realizes while standing on the Radley porch that Boo had given her and her brother so many treasures including their lives, but they never gave him anything in return. Scout returns home and falls asleep in Atticus’s arms as he watches over both of his children. ##
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