To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

#34 on Original,   #25 on Anniversary,   #2 on Cheers,   #1 on 10 Top 10: Courtroom Drama

  

What can I possibly say about such a classic film.  The story is heartbreaking and inspiring; the acting superb.  It reminds me of a time in this country when people allowed hatred to cloud their judgment.  (I’m sure this is still going on someplace, but I can hope it isn’t, can’t I?) It represents the people in this country that are willing to stand up for what is right, even when it seems that most of the world is against them. 

I have never read the book.  Most people read it in high school, but due to switching from regular to honors English classes, I somehow missed this and haven’t gotten around to reading it. So I don’t have the source material to compare the story to.  But this brilliant work portrays the story to me with such a kind of quiet forcefulness, I don’t think I would have needed to read the book to understand fully what was going on, like some other book to screen adaptations.  

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch is so amazingly good and believable.  I don’t know if any other actor could have played this part as genuinely as Peck did.   Atticus Finch makes me want to be a better person, and I think for a film to have that kind of an effect on a viewer speaks volumes all on its own.   Atticus’ strength lies in his inaction, in his ability to resist impulsive actions, and being the bigger person in situations with narrow minded people.   I think Peck as Finch could say almost anything and it would sound wise.  I’m not sure if this is because of Peck’s low pitched voice, or his way of speaking, but then again, I’m not sure if this matters.  I think it just matters that Peck was perfect in this part. 

There were other aspects to the film that helped to make it well rounded.  The interactions between Scout and Jem; the townspeople coming to the jail the night before the trial, and Scout not understanding really what was happening, but diffusing the tension with an innocence that it seems only a child can possess.  Being scared of their neighbor, Boo Radley, only to find out he wasn’t going to harm them. 

I was surprised to see that Boo Radley was Robert Duvall.  But I do think he was very good at portraying Boo’s “quiet way”.  Over all the casting on this film was pretty near to perfect.  Collin Wilcox as Mayella during her courtroom scenes was able to show exactly what her life was like simply in her eyes, even when her words were saying otherwise.  Brock Peters as Tom Robinson simply blew me away.  Peters portrayed the fear that Robinson must have felt, while still trying to maintain his innocence, perfectly.  You could see that he was not only scared, but he was angry that this was happening to him.  For an actor to be able to show that many layers of emotion takes great skill, and both Peters and Wilcox performed brilliantly. 

One of the other AFI lists that I do not include in The List, is AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains.  The number 1 hero is Atticus Finch.  With the 50^th anniversary of the movie being this year, AFI has uploaded the segment from that special to their YouTube page featuring Atticus Finch.  I suggest watching it, because this nicely sums up why I think in his own way, Finch is the bravest of all the film heroes.  And he shows this bravery without blowing things up, and without a lot of special effects and camera tricks. 

Every time I see Atticus Finch leaving that courtroom, with everyone in the balcony standing up to show their respect for him, my chest gets tight, and I feel the same pride that they must feel watching him help someone who deserves it. 

Favorite Quote

Rev. Sykes: Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing.

Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

#10 on 10 Top 10: Courtroom Drama 

This was such a devastating film about humanity.  About rights and wrongs, and letting things go, and bringing justice to a situation where people just wanted to forget and move on.    It is a film about fear, and what letting it take over can do, as well as what happens when you ignore it.   It is a film about justice.  It was a film about truths that were too terrible to imagine.   In the special features the writer, Abby Mann, says that the villain of the film is patriotism. People did what they did in Nazi Germany because of patriotism.  I find it interesting that patriotism is one of those things that walks the fine line between good and bad, and I think of how I’ve seen this reflected in the modern day real world.

Set in 1948, and based on true events, this film shows the search for justice after the crimes of the Nazi party in Germany.  It does beg some questions, like are we just looking for as many people to blame for a horrific situation as we can?  Or is justice truly being served by prosecuting doctors who were upholding the laws of their country at the time?

Overall the acting in this was phenomenal.  Marlene Dietrich’s character just wanted to forget the unspeakable events that took place in her country.  She almost made me feel the same way.  I never could quite understand this perspective until I saw her performance in this film. But then Spencer Tracy brings it all home and reminds the viewer how dangerous that line of thinking can be. Tracy acted up to his usual caliber, but I was most impressed by Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland.  This was the first film of Lancaster’s that I have ever seen, and I had seen almost all of Garland’s screen work before seeing this film. The amount of emotion those two were able to bring to their scenes, and the way they were able to affect me as a viewer with their performances nearly brought me to tears.  (Also, young William Shatner, say what? I was more than half way through the film before I realized it was him.)

I noticed the absence of music a lot.  There was a point where there was musical emphasis when we first saw Judy Garland, but for the most part, not too many other places.  I also though that having headphones to represent when dialog was supposed to be in German was a neat  way to show that this was a bilingual trial, but without subjecting the viewer to subtitles every other minute. (I personally don’t mind subtitles, but that is neither here nor there.)

I will say that some of the camera angles, and the camera moving, and zooming in quickly for emphasis could be some what distracting at points.  But it also helped to show how few cuts were made.  Actors had to get things correct in a single take. Pay attention to movies that are made currently.  There is an almost constant stream of cutting between actors and frames and you don't often see a single uncut shot for very long, to the point where I wonder if the film stars of today could handle it. Spencer Tracy's closing speech was 11 minutes long, and filmed in a single take, no cuts.  If that isn’t winning, I don’t know what is. 

Favorite Quote:
 Capt. Harrison Byers: I trust you'll be comfortable in this room, sir.

Judge Dan Haywood: Captain, I have no doubt that the entire state of Maine would be comfortable in this room!