Griffiths
Dr. Jessica Stevenson
Law 3800
TR 2 PM
Movie View and Review:
To Kill A Mockingbird
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) was produced by Universal International Pictures (UI),
Pakula-Mulligan, and Brentwood Productions. Robert Mulligan directed the movie. The
main actors in the movie were Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), Robert Duvall (Boo
Radley), Mary Badham (Scout), Phillip Alford (Jem), and John Megna (Dill Harris). The
film was released in 1962.
The movie revolves around Jean Louise Finch, or Scout as she is normally called, and
Jem, her brother. They live in Alabama in the 1930s and throughout the time period of
the movie, the two learn of the racism that their Southern town faces. The childrens
father, Atticus is a lawyer in the town, who defends an innocent black man, Tom
Robinson. Robinson is found guilty for rape, and Atticus has strong evidence against
this. However, the racist town does not believe that a black man is innocent for this case.
Atticus begs the jury to look at the evidence of the case, and not to solely judge the man
due to the color of his skin.
One day Atticus finds out that Robinson has been murdered. Robinson had attempted to
flee from jail when he was killed. After Robinson dies, Atticus is criticized by the whole
town for defending a black man. On Halloween, Jem and Scout are attacked by the father
of the girl who was allegedly raped by Robinson. The mysterious Boo Radley out
from comes the shadows and kills the father, and rescues Jem and Scout.
The legal process that is portrayed in the movie is the trial where Atticus defends a black
man, Tom Robinson. Robinson is wrongfully accused of raping a white girl. Atticus
decides that defending Robinson is the right thing to do, however everyone in the town
wants him to pull out of the case. Atticus has many strong arguments for the case and is
confident that he can prove Robinson innocent. However the entire jury is white, and
they are racially divided due to the color of Robinsons skin. The case is closed when
Robinson is murdered for trying to escape prison.
I think that the point of To Kill A Mockingbird was to show that the jury should not judge
people solely based on their skin color. Atticus had clear evidence that Robinson did not
rape the white girl, but the racist jury looked over the evidence. Also, I think that the
movie wants to show viewers that people should not be so quick to judge others, such as
in the rape trial, and with Boo Radley.
The point of the movie was clearly made to audience. I feel that people who viewed this
in the 1960s had a better view of the other race, and to give people who are not like you
a chance. Another point of the movie was that innocent creatures are not to be harmed.
Robinson and Boo Radley are both innocent people, however the town people did not
view them this way.