OSCARS '62: To Kill a Mockingbird

“Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.”

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of racism, sexual assault, false imprisonment.

1962 contained not one but two books that were thrust upon us as required school reading (or acting), but none loom as large as this story. To be fair, it’s one of the few stories about the pre-Civil Rights Act South that’s presented through the eyes of a child, and that means it’s perfect school fodder. The movie was a huge labor of love from the entire creative team, which is fantastic and reads on screen, but also makes for a truly uneven watching experience. Director Robert Mulligan gets the most out of the cast, but his execution of trying to see things through Jem & Scout’s perspective never translates on screen. In fact, the only moments that truly work are in the courtroom, when the reality of small town Alabama racism come roaring back. It’s a shame it’s not a better movie because Gregory Peck is giving his masterpiece performance and the kids are phenomenal on screen, but acting alone cannot a movie make. We wrap up Oscars ‘62 with To Kill A Mockingbird on Macintosh & Maud Haven’t Seen What?!

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Intro music taken from the Second Movement of Ludwig von Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Hong Kong (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 HK) license. To hear the full performance or get more information, visit the song page at the Internet Archive.

Excerpt taken from the main title to the film To Kill A Mockingbird, written and composed by Elmer Bernstein. Copyright 1962 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts taken from the introduction to the 35th Academy Awards held on April 8, 1963.