Editor’s note: Associated Press stated on Wednesday, February 4, 2015, that Publisher Harper will release the second novel by Harper Lee, author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Completed in the 1950’s, “Go Set a Watchman” was set aside, but the book will be released Tuesday, July 14. It “is essentially a sequel to [the first novel], although it was finished earlier. The new book is set in Lee’s famed Maycomb, AL, during the mid-1950’s, 20 years after ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’….” Lee’s first novel was released in 1960 and has sales topping 40 million copies.
Any list of compelling, classic films will surely include “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Anne Frame states, “‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is a masterpiece–both as a novel and a film. It is an ‘old’ friend. It still has lessons and values for us all, whether you are revisiting or are a newcomer to the story.”
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” a film starring the late Gregory Peck, will be shown at Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison Street, Morrison, IL, on Tuesday, February 10, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. in the Program Room. There is no charge. Refreshments will be provided.
Peck won a well-deserved Oscar for his role as the courageous Alabama lawyer, Atticus Finch. This inspirational portrayal was a highlight of Peck’s career.
The film begins by revealing the innocence and world of play of a six-year-old tomboy named Scout; her ten-year-old brother, Jem; their perceptions of their widowed attorney father, Atticus. They fantasize about a “boogieman” who lives in a mysterious house in their neighborhood.
Abruptly, their lives are changed by their father’s unpopular but courageous defense of a black man named Tom Robinson, who is falsely accused of raping a Southern white woman. Against a background of racial prejudice, social injustice, and intolerance, Atticus loves, guides, and teaches his children, Scout and Jem, with lessons of courage and morality.
Filmed in 1962, this well-loved and timeless movie depicts the Deep South during the Depression of the 1930’s.
The film is based on the book by the same name written by Harper Lee. Its semi-autobiographical story is about her life with her lawyer father and the social unrest of the time.
“Deeply embedded values do not change just because the times do,” she stated. Interestingly, “To Kill a Mockingbird” was Lee’s only novel. At the age of 88, she still lives in her ancestral home Monroeville, AL.
Gregory Peck died in June 2003, but the relationships he formed while making this film lasted a lifetime. Lee gifted him with her father’s pocket watch. He became the surrogate father to Mary Badham, who played Scout. Brock Peters (defendant Tom) delivered the eulogy at Peck’s funeral.