Monday Night at the Movies "To Kill a Mockingbird"

Based on the 1961 Pulitzer Prize winning book by Harper Lee.  Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) a widowed lawyer raising two children in a racially divided Alabama town in the 1930's who agrees to defend Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) a young African American man accused of raping a white woman.  Knowing that a guilty verdict from an all-white jury is a foregone conclusion, many of the townspeople try to get Atticus to pull out of the trial, but as a matter of principle he decides to go ahead.  As told though the eyes of a feisty six-year-old tomboy, Scout (Mary Badham), the narrator recounts stories of daring neighborhood exploits, her father's confrontation with a drunken mob and then takes us inside the sweltering, tense courtroom.  The film was nominated for 8 Oscars including Mary Badham's nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Gregory Peck won for Best Actor. The film also won Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Art Direction.