To Kill a Mockingbird

Like Harper Lee’s novel on which it is based, To Kill a Mockingbird is rooted in the America of the early 1960s with its gathering struggle for civil rights, yet the film’s message of tolerance—told from the point of view of a child, yet never childish—hasn’t grown old. In pristine black-and-white, the adaptation skillfully captures both the quiet rhythms of small-town Southern life in the 1930s and the currents of racial violence beneath the surface. Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his portrayal of courageous lawyer Atticus Finch; Mary Badham beautifully plays his daughter Scout, and Robert Duvall made his debut as mysterious recluse Boo Radley.