One Line Review: To Kill a Mockingbird is the best novel adaptation you’ll ever watch. Period.
Youtube Trailer To Kill a Mockingbird
Starring: Billy Crystal, Megan Ryan
Director: Robert Mulligan
Release Date: 11 July 1962
Introduction
On this day, ‘To kill a mockingbird’ made its first appearance in Hollywood. Fast-forwarding to today, this film is a textbook example of a movie done right. It is highly recommended to everyone who has not seen it.
It’s hard to believe that more than six decades had passed by, but we still haven’t got a film remotely closed to ‘To kill a mockingbird.’ Let’s dive into this film and see what it has to offer.
Trivia
Mary and Gregory came close during the shooting of this film. They remained in contact with each other after the movie for the rest of their life. Mary and Gregory consider the role of each other as their idol role and source of inspiration. The role of Scout and Atticus are the sources of inspiration for other actors also.
Iconic dialogues from this movie
Atticus Finch: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house and that he’d rather I’d shoot at tin cans in the “backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted if I could hit ’em, but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
(Source: IMDb)
Critic Reviews
“A classic adaptation of an American classic. Storytelling doesn’t get much better than this”. William Thomas
“This Hollywood masterpiece offers crucial lessons about prejudice and the fears that motivate it.” TS Yellin
Plot Summary
Atticus Finch prepares himself for a big day. He takes a case to defend a black man, Tom Robbins, who is accused of raping a white woman. Atticus believes that Tom is innocent and didn’t commit the crime he is charged with. While all this is s going on in the courtroom, the children at Atticus’ home spy on their weird neighbor.
From a Novel to a film
To kill a mocking bird is an attempt to give the novel a visual shape. The book might have lost its existence if it was not for the film. This film stands up against racism and people’s love for fair-skinned people. It was probably the first film ever to stand up against such an issue, that too in those Times. If you don’t know about history very well, then let me tell you it was not as easy as it is today to speak about racism back then. Racist people were not ready to accept the fact that other races also have equal rights over the American land as the white people do. You would have got shot, point-blank, if you over-stressed this issue. That’s how tough it was. So, the directors and the cast took a massive risk by deciding to be a part of this film. Although, the story was already very well received by the audience. The novel (To kill a mockingbird by Harper Lee) was a big success already. But the creators wanted to make an even bigger deal out of it. They wanted to spread the message to a vast audience. So that’s why they decided to give it a visual identity.
Child actors’ acting took this film to perfection
Let me tell you a little back story. My cousin bought this film for a family gathering. Everyone was so excited to watch it. But, when she told me that it is a classic black and white film, I immediately backed off. Because the black and white films are famous for being, to say the least, boring. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. Though, there was not very much happening in the movie. But, I stayed till the climax.
Why? Because of the beautiful acting of the child actors. The adult actors were also good, but the child actors’ performances kept me sitting until the end of the movie. Their acting had the innocence and fun of childhood in it.
Conclusion
To wrap up my mind, I must say that this film is the best novel adaptation I’ve ever seen. I am speaking after watching a ton of adaptations like Two states, Half Girlfriend, Hello, 3 Idiots, and Kai Po Che!
