To Kill a Mockingbird

Year:  1962
Director:  Robert Mulligan
Screenplay:  Horton Foote, based on the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Starring:  Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford, John Megna, Brock Peters, Robert Duvall
Running Time:  128 minutes
Genre:  Drama

This is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest films ever made.  Set in the 1930s in the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, the film tells the story of upright lawyer Atticus Finch (Peck), a widowed father to two young children, Scout (Badham) and Jem (Alford).  Atticus agrees to defend a young black man, Tom Robinson (Peters), accused of the rape of a white woman.  The events are seen through the eyes of Scout whose childhood view of the world is changed forever by the racism and other prejudices she encounters around her.

It is a powerful and deeply moving film, which features some stunning performances particularly from Peck who gives an iconic portrayal of dignity and decency. The child actors are superb, especially Mary Badham.   It also features the screen debut of Robert Duvall as the reclusive Boo Radley.  It's one of the best movies about children and the child's eye view of the world:  Bright, sunny summer days, and also looming threatening shadows.  The trial and it's aftermath, while key, are just part of the tapestry that makes up Scout and Jem's childhood.
I have to confess that I have never read the Harper Lee novel and came to the film expecting it to be a courtroom drama, and was surprised to find it to be much more than that, although it does feature a gripping trial sequence.
It deals with the evils of prejudice and bigotry without being too preachy, and is all the better for it.  The film's compassion even extends to the more unsympathetic characters who are depicted as victims in a different way, due to poverty, their upbringing and their own prejudices.

Heartbreaking, powerful and at times even humorous, this is a must see.