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To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)

tomatometer

94

Average Rating: 8.8/10
Reviews Counted: 47
Fresh: 44 | Rotten: 3

No consensus yet.

80

Average Rating: 7.9/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 4 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

91

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 152,318

My Rating

Movie Info

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiographical novel was translated to film in 1962 by Horton Foote and the producer/director team of Robert Mulligan and Alan J. Pakula. Set a small Alabama town in the 1930s, the story focuses on scrupulously honest, highly respected lawyer Atticus Finch, magnificently embodied by Gregory Peck. Finch puts his career on the line when he agrees to represent Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), a black man accused of rape. The trial and the events surrounding it are

Unrated, 2 hr. 10 min.

Drama, Classics

Horton Foote

Apr 28, 1998

Universal International Pictur

Cast

All Critics (49) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (3) | DVD (26)

To Kill a Mockingbird is a time capsule, preserving hopes and sentiments from a kinder, gentler, more naive America.

July 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comments (15)
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Harper Lee's child's-eye view of southern bigotry gains something in its translation to the screen by Robert Mulligan, who knows exactly where to place the camera to catch a child's subjective experience.

July 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Minor shortcomings in a rewarding film.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Universally recognized as a classic, and the label is well deserved.

June 20, 2002 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Harper Lee's highly regarded first novel has been artfully and delicately translated to the screen.

February 13, 2001 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

One of those rare instances when a movie perfectly captures the essence of its source material without compromising it in any way.

January 23, 2012 Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | Comment
Creative Loafing

One of Hollywood's finest achievements, To Kill A Mockingbird is truly timeless.

July 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Since its release, this intelligent, atmospheric film has been warmly received by audiences responding not only to their own childhood, but also to the heroic image portrayed by Peck, a shining example of citizenship and affectionate fatherhood.

July 25, 2011 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A terrific central performance by Gregory Peck makes for an outstanding big screen adaptation of Harper Lee's classic novel.

July 25, 2011 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

So much of the novel's reckless atmosphere is missing...

October 29, 2010 Full Review Source: LarsenOnFilm | Comments (9)
LarsenOnFilm

Gregory Peck is ideal casting as Atticus, for his Lincoln-like integrity and intelligence perfectly serve the role.

July 21, 2010 Full Review Source: Cinemania | Comment

Uneven film whose strong point is anti-racism.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Classic Film and Television | Comment (1)
Classic Film and Television

To Kill a Mockingbird should make admirers of the novel weep many times over.

October 26, 2009 Full Review Source: Film and Felt | Comment
Film and Felt

Gregory Peck delivers an Oscar-winning performance as a righteous lawyer in one of the best American films of the 1960s, a Depression-era chronicle of race, prejudice, and justice--and coming of age.

March 1, 2008 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

This one is always just off the boil.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comments (23)

Universal's two-disc [Legacy Series] re-release ... delivers the film in a mostly spotless print with the correct 1.85:1 (anamorphic) aspect ratio.... Topping the [extras] list are two feature-length documentaries that delve into the film and its star....

April 4, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

With the Tom Robinson plot intertwining with Scout and Jem's education in the ugly flaws of a world they're only beginning to comprehend, today the film offers an extra accumulated layer of 'meaning.'

April 4, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com | Comment
DVDJournal.com

A classic adaptation of an American classic. Storytelling doesn't get much better than this.

December 6, 2005 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for To Kill A Mockingbird

Trivia: Scout and Jem's fanciful summer friend Dil was based on Truman Capote.

July 7, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

Film version of Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird is one of cinema's greatest classics. The book is one of my all time favourite novels, and this screen adaptation does it justice. Director Robert Mulligan directs a phenomenal cast of actors, most notably Gregory Peck in the role of Atticus Finch. Gregory

February 5, 2012
TheDudeLebowski65
Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

    1. Jean Louise "Scout" Finch: Hey, Boo.
    – Submitted by Becca H (2 months ago)
    1. Atticus Finch: I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house, and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted, if I could hit 'em, but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.
    – Submitted by Andrew A (6 months ago)
    1. Narrator: Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives.
    – Submitted by Chad E (6 months ago)
    1. Rev. Sykes: Jean Louise. Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing.
    – Submitted by Randal P (7 months ago)
    1. Atticus Finch: Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley.
    – Submitted by J.C. N (8 months ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • Wer die Nachtigall stört (DE)
  • To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (UK)
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