"To Kill a Mockingbird."

[Behind the Aegis]

I am watching this now on "Encore." I should be asleep, but I just can't stop watching this movie. This was based on something that wasn't so far in our past, and yet, we still have that type of hate today. Why?

Gays, Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Whites, Women....will there ever be a time when people will really be equal and that "who" they are is not a reason to hate them?

[H2O Man]

1. That is one

of the few great movies.

[Behind the Aegis]

2. It really is.

It is something that all children should have to watch.

[shadowknows69]

4. I saw, and videotaped an amazing and very courageous student production a few years back

Put on, I'm proud to say at my old high school. To the director's credit they didn't alter any of the speech or themes that could have caused some controversy and the actors really threw themselves headlong into their roles. I have to break out that DVD again. I wonder if I could convert it down to youtube sizes?

[blondeatlast]

20. And even better thatn the extraordinary book which was a treasure of my

adolescence, the first grown-up book I ever read.

[JustAnotherGen]

3. tee hee

And prior to watching - they should be made to read the book! *razz* :rofl:

One of my favorite books when I was a kid! :-) Still one I return to every once in awhile too!

[shadowknows69]

6. Me too, we read it in eighth grade. One of my best english teachers too.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. I agree.

Another good book to read is "Native Son."

[shadowknows69]

9. What is that about Aegis? That sounds familiar.

[Behind the Aegis]

27. Here is a Wikipedia breakdown...which isn't half bad.

Native Son

I read this in High School many, many moons ago. It was during the mid-80's and the big complaint was this about "commies," which it really isn't.

[JustAnotherGen]

28. Ohh that is a very good one

Couple it with Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. :pals:

[JustAnotherGen]

29. Ohh that is a very good one

Couple it with Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. :pals:

[greenbird]

5. Love that movie

It's one of those that I have to watch every once in awhile for a "fix". So many levels to it, and the music is wonderful.

[lisa58]

8. My favorite - and the book is even better

[eowyn_of_rohan]

11. I saw the movie before reading the book

But to me, this movie couldn't have been cast more perfectly, and it captured the essense , feeling, spirit of the book so well. I think the only thing the movie didn't completely convey were the relationships between Mayella Ewell and her father and Tom Robinson... Of course that was probably because of the taboo sexual issues - had to be subtle about that in the early 60s. It is one of my top favorite movies of all time... I need to see it again

[zeemike]

10. I have read the book and watched the movie at least 3 times

And that is good for me because I seldom watch a move more than once.
But it had great acting and I marveled at how well it was constructed.
But it was the message that really outed the racist condition of the deep south, which was a surprise to many northern liberals. (or so they say_

[Captain Hilts]

14. The soundtrack is also great. nt

[Callalily]

12. That is my all time

favorite movie and my all time favorite book.

Kudos to Harper Lee!

"I never expected any sort of success with Mockingbird. I was hoping for a quick and merciful death at the hands of the reviewers but, at the same time, I sort of hoped someone would like it enough to give me encouragement. Public encouragement. I hoped for a little, as I said, but I got rather a whole lot, and in some ways this was just about as frightening as the quick, merciful death I'd expected."

– Harper Lee, quoted in Newquist—1964

[Captain Hilts]

13. We always will. Don't forget short people or those who are overweight.

And in the northeast, people don't worry about driving through black neighborhoods, they worry about driving through Portuguese neighborhoods. It's always something.

[truth2power]

15. "Stand up, Miss Jean Louise. Your father's passin'"....

Brings tears, every time.

[blondeatlast]

21. one of the reasons the movie is even better than the extraordinary book.

Yup, that scene invokes buckets for me.

My father was very Atticus-like; he even resembled Gregory Peck as Atticus.

[bluedawg12]

25. I thought of that during PE Obama's acceptance speech in Chicago

agree, I get choked up at that line.

[Lint Head]

16. I read the book and saw the movie when it came out.

It changed my life. I know it is just a movie. But as it is said, "It's not the singer, it's the song." The story moved me.
I was young and impressionable and this hit me at a prefect time. I became active and spoke out in the 1960's when racism raised it's ugly head. It wasn't easy for a Caucasian living in the south at that time that considered Martin Luther King a hero. It's still not easy. I have immediate relatives that I visit during the holidays that are racist and bigoted.

:dem:

[Ezlivin]

19. "Cured" me of my prejudice

My father was a Southern-born and -bred racist and I was raised in the South.

He tried to bring me up to be like him, but I saw "To Kill a Mockingbird" and found a better father figure in Atticus Finch.

My wife found an original first edition of the book and gave it to me for Christmas. It's one of my favorite books and movies.

[jbane]

17. One of the great films of all time

I saw it when I was about 10 years old and I still watch it.

[Imalittleteapot]

18. "To Kill..." has a permanent home in my TIVO box.

When read in 9th grade, the book brought me out of the bigoted mindset of my family and changed me forever. The movie is one of my all time favorites and I have seen it many times. It's the only film that I have had any desire watch over and over and over again. So, when it came on the TCM channel several months ago, I recorded it to live forever in my life and show to my
granddaughter when she is a little older.

[Ilsa]

22. We read the book in high school and then saw the movie: our teacher

used her giant video camera to film the movie on TV. Not very pretty, but certainly workable. This was before VHS, Beta, etc in the 1970's.

TKaM should be a must-read for everyone to give them a sense of life in the US not so long ago.

[raccoon]

23. One of my favorite books of all times. Atticus Finch is my favorite fictional character. nt

[melm00se]

24. these themes

and their depictions are among the reasons that this book (and possibly the movie) falls into the "classics of American literature" category.

While the names and groups have changed, the themes of equality, inequality and Man's inhumanity to Man go back to the deepest mists of time.

[babydollhead]

26. my teen and I are reading it aloud to each other