To Kill a Mockingbird

"A father must expose his children to a small town's outraged passions… and can only protect them with his love."

1962 2h 9m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

🔥

93%

CERTIFIED FRESH

💯

METACRITIC

⭐

8.2

IMDB

★8.0TMDB · 2,975🍅93%Rotten Tomatoes●88Metacritic★8.2IMDB · 350,117

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their reclusive and mysterious neighbor, Boo Radley. When Atticus, their widowed father and a respected lawyer, defends a black man named Tom Robinson against fabricated rape charges, the trial and tangent events expose the children to evils of racism and stereotyping.

“A father must expose his children to a small town's outraged passions… and can only protect them with his love.”

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Cast

Gregory Peck
Atticus Finch
Mary Badham
Scout Finch
Phillip Alford
Jem
John Megna
Dill Harris
Frank Overton
Sheriff Heck Tate
Brock Peters
Tom Robinson
Rosemary Murphy
Maudie Atkinson
Ruth White
Mrs. Dubose

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Mulligan
Writers: Horton Foote
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.6× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

64 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Mulligan, shot by Russell Harlan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Aaron Stell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Gregory Peck and Mary Badham and Phillip Alford carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "A father must expose his children to a small town's outraged passions… and can only protect them with his love.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Mulligan directs. Russell Harlan behind the camera. Elmer Bernstein scores. Aaron Stell cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $2.0M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Made its money back 6.6× over at the box office.
364 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Directed by Robert Mulligan, shot by Russell Harlan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Elmer Bernstein. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Aaron Stell shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Gregory Peck and Mary Badham and Phillip Alford carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "A father must expose his children to a small town's outraged passions… and can only protect them with his love.".
9IMDB entry: tt0056592 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 31 themes, including "right and justice", "rape", "sibling relationship", "based on novel or book".

The technical file

Cinematography: Russell Harlan
Original score: Elmer Bernstein
Editing: Aaron Stell
Costume design: Rosemary Odell
Makeup / hair: Bud Westmore
Runtime: 129 min · 2h 9m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $2,000,000
Box office: $13,129,846
Return: 656% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 88/100
IMDB rating: 8.2/10 · 350,117 votes
MPAA: Approved

Awards

Won 3 Oscars. 14 wins & 16 nominations total

Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Black and White
Golden Globe Award for Best Film Promoting International Understanding
Academy Award for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay
Academy Award for Best Actor

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Robert Mulligan

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2014-10-20
★ 7/10
If you like children's story, you would love this movie about how the world is shaped from their eyes. If you don't ... you may find some entertainment in the picture of Southern US and the racial fight that was taking place at the time ...
barrymost2019-08-07
★ 9/10
The part Gregory Peck played in this was reportedly his most favorite role. And he does a marvelous job of it too, as Atticus Finch, the Southern lawyer who agrees to take on the case of a black man falsely accused of rape. The story, from Harper Lee's classic novel, is in itself wonderful. It's filled with brilliant and iconic sequences, just a couple memorable ones being the dramatic courtroom scenes where Finch tries his best to make the prejudiced townsfolk see sense, and the intriguing side-plot of his children's growing curiosity and involvement with their eccentric, hermit-like neighbor that no one's ever actually seen. He is, of course, Arthur (Boo) Radley, played by none other than Robert Duvall in his feature film debut. Would I recommend? Yes, without a doubt, to anyone and everyone who knows how to enjoy a great film.
Filipe Manuel Neto2022-11-17
★ 10/10
A striking, culturally relevant and indisputably important film. It is not very rare to see that an actor's career, however prolific it may be, ends up being especially remembered thanks to his participation in a very small set of films, or even for his participation in a single film. I don't see this as a demerit, but as something unavoidable: only a very limited set of films ends up surviving the test of time and becoming culturally and historically relevant. Gregory Peck was an actor of great importance in his time, one of the faces of honesty and fairness, since he almost always played characters imbued with great honesty and nobility of intentions. As such, he took place in a wide range of films... but let's be honest, it is with this film that the actor reaches the peak of his career, and it is here that he achieves the greatest recognition and relevance as an actor. The film brings to the screen the slightly autobiographical novel by Harper Lee. Strongly inspired by the figure of her father, and by passages from her childhood, the author conceived a story in which an honest and committed lawyer struggles to defend a black prisoner, convinced of his innocence in the face of accusations of rape and aggression against a white minor. Of course, it all takes place in the American South, where racial prejudice runs rampant, as everyone knows. In the midst of all this, a sub-plot also develops, involving a reclusive, mentally weak neighbor, who creates a liking for the lawyer's daughter. I'll start by saying that I've never read the original book, so I'm not sure if the movie does justice to its content. However, when preparing this text, I concluded that the writer watched some footage at the invitation of the production and participated in the works with her collaboration, which leaves me with the conviction that the film sought to respect the literary work. Directed by Robert Mulligan, the film is a very convincing drama, but it takes a while to get into gear and to captivate our attention, which is initially invited to focus on children, on the way they behave and interact with the world around then. It will be, moreover, through the eyes of one of them, that we will observe the events. As I said, it is in this film that Gregory Peck reaches the highest point of his career, giving us an inspired, profound and emotional interpretation of the main character. He was one of the most relevant actors of his time and there are a number of other films where he shines and deserves a closer look from us, but this is where he immortalizes himself. Without coincidence, this is where the actor receives his Oscar for Best Actor, after being nominated four times. Despite being very young, Mary Badham's performance and a silent appearance by a young Robert Duvall are also worth noting. Technically, the film is quite discreet and gives the audience plenty of room to focus on the story told. There are no great visual gimmicks, there are no noteworthy effects, but we have excellent black-and-white cinematography with occasional artistic notes and a good filming work. The editing was also very well done, and gave the film a pleasant pace. It takes a while to really become interesting, but if we give the film the opportunity it requires, it will give us an enjoyable story, which we will gladly follow until the end. The soundtrack also deserves praise for its apparent ingenuity, as well as the opening credits and its graphics and visuals.