Best of the Big Screen!
Tuesday, September 20th at 7 PM
60th Anniversary Celebration! New digital
restoration!
TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Introduction by Philip Harwood
Members $10 | Public $15
Sixty years after it premiered, To Kill a
Mockingbird remains one of the most treasured films in Hollywood
history. In 1995 it was selected for the National Film Registry of the Library
of Congress. Faithfully adapted by playwright Horton Foote from Harper
Lee’s beloved, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the film and the book have
become so intertwined in the national consciousness that they have blended as
“an inescapable part of our cultural DNA.” Directed by Robert Mulligan,
the film gave Gregory Peck the iconic role of a lifetime, that
of Atticus Finch, the small-town lawyer who defends Tom Robinson (Brock
Peters), a black man accused of raping a white woman, invoking the ire of
the bigoted white community. Peck’s performance resonated so strongly that when
the American Film Institute conducted a poll of all-time screen heroes, his
portrayal of Finch was voted number one, ahead of such screen favorites as Han
Solo and James Bond. Peck closely identified with the themes of parenting two
young children, and those of social and racial justice at the height of the
Civil Rights era. He was awarded a very popular Best Actor Oscar in one of the
most competitive Oscar races of the twentieth century. Among the film’s eight
total nominations (including Best Picture and Director) is one for Supporting
Actress, which went to screen newcomer Mary Badham as Scout,
the impressionable six-year-old daughter of Atticus, and it is through her eyes
the story unfolds. Her remarkable performance conveys all the wonderment and
innocence of childhood imagination, and she is ably supported by a stellar
cast, including Robert Duvall in his screen debut in the
pivotal role of “Boo” Radley. Harper Lee was involved in the
film’s preparation and was “very proud and very grateful” for the fidelity of the
finished film. (USA, 1962, 129 min., B&W, DCP /
Director: Robert Mulligan / Writer: Horton Foote, based
on the novel by Harper Lee / Cast: Gregory Peck, Mary
Badham, Brock Peters, Robert Duvall)
