19 - "To Kill A Mockingbird" (1962)

     To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those true rarities where the book and film are of equal quality. The novel written by Harper Lee is the best book I have ever read. If I was doing this list for books, it would be number 1. The movie doesn't quite reach that level but I still think it's five stars worth of perfection and is a must-see for everyone. This film works for many reasons, but there is a primary one: Gregory Peck. Peck won the Best Acting Oscar for his role as Atticus Finch, a widowed father of two children in rural Alabama during the Depression. Atticus is perhaps the best father character ever created. He loves his children very much and spends most of his time teaching them to be moral, upstanding citizens. He wants them to avoid fighting and thinking ill of others. He is quick to give his children a hug or talk with them when needed. Atticus is also a lawyer and he is called upon to defend a black man who has been falsely accused of rape. Atticus takes the case, because that is his job, but it brings stress to the family as the town is still racially divided. Jem and Finch, Atticus's two children, keep watch of their father and the trial from a distance, but alas they are still kids and their minds wander. They spend most of their time wandering about the strange house down the road that supposedly has a wild man named Boo Radley who lives there but is never seen. The place is like a haunted house to the children who go running past it every day. Eventually they get up enough nerve to run up and knock on the door. This cat and mouse game goes on throughout the movie. Ultimately we learn one of the movies great secrets, that not all things are as they appear to be. To Kill A Mockingbird is a fabulous film, and one that is appropriate for all ages.