"To Kill A Mockingbird"

Earlier this year my book club read "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I was disappointed when I learned that the author, Harper Lee, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her book, has never written another one because I was ready to read everything she'd written.

The book focuses on Atticus Finch, an attorney and widower, and his two children as well as the black housekeeper who helps raise the children. When Atticus is asked to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, he takes on the case despite knowing it will not be well received by others in the small southern town where he grew up and lives. However, Atticus is a man who believes everyone has a right to the best defense and he also believes in the innocence of his client so he sets out to prove it. It's told from the point of view of his youngest child, a daughter, and I think that is the key to why this book is so well-received and loved.

Although I have a faint recollection of seeing the movie starring Gregory Peck, I didn't really remember the story line of the movie as I was reading the novel so I decided to find a copy of the DVD for my spouse and I to watch for date night. Even though I read the book fairly recently, I can't say for sure but I believe there are some discrepancies in the movie. However, they are not discrepancies that dilute the original message. It's more like they changed the order of some events -- and, of course, shortened them somewhat -- to make it more adaptable to a movie version.

The biggest names in the movie are Gregory Peck and Robert Duvall but Duvall doesn't even receive a credit anywhere on the cover of the DVD. He had a bit part and I suspect it must have been an early role for him.

I've heard that Peck was very particular about the movie roles he accepted and in "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "The Big Country" (another of his movies I love) I see the thread of an honorable man. Was Peck also an honorable man who chose to play those types of roles? I think I'll check out some of his other movies to see if they're in the same vein.

After watching "To Kill A Mockingbird" I can't imagine anyone else playing the role of attorney, Atticus Finch. If you have never seen this movie or read the book, I highly recommend you do both.

pazt