Review of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) by Ethan A — 27 Jun 2011

For some reason that I have yet to understand, film adaptations of books sometimes get a bad rap for not following the source material close enough. I don't understand that logic, if you wanted to watch the book...read the freaking book. A movie adaptation is not a movie TRANSLATION...it is adapted, to make it come to life on film, and you cannot do that if you are exactly like the novel. Look at the Watchmen film, all together a really great movie, but almost pointless to watch due to the fact that it is so close to the book. Why don't you just read the book? What was the point of filming it? I believe the Harry Potter films are perfect book adaptations, they are close enough to satisfy those who read the books, and original enough to stand on there own. The 1975 masterpiece JAWS doesn't follow the book very closely (and doesn't follow the ending at all), yet millions upon millions of people love and adore that film, why? I think it is because back then, no one cared, they just wanted a great movie. For some reason, people have a hard on for straight to the material adaptations, and I just don't get that...ok, enough of my ranting...time to review a book adaptation that is worthy of the title masterpiece, To Kill a Mockingbird.

The 1962 adaptation of the award-winning 1960 novel by Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a stunning achievement in film-making, mainly due to the phenomenal screenplay and the legendary performance by the fantastic Gregory Peck. It doesn't follow the novel to a T (which is a good thing!), instead, it makes it it's own. It still follows a white lawyer defending a black man of raping a white woman, and the first half of the story still follows his children, Scout & Jem, but where this film shines is the courtroom scenes. This film is legendary because of its powerful courtroom scenes, which are not that many...there are only like 20 minutes, if that, of courtroom footage, yet the American Film Institute called it the greatest courtroom drama of all time, that tells you how good it is.

Films like To Kill a Mockingbird, JAWS, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, etc. all totally nail the film adaptation. They take you to the world that you know and love from the novel, and they don't just retell it, they expand it, make it come alive...make it a cinematic experience, not just words on a screen if you know what I mean. Perhaps the wanting of strictly following the book films are showing the world's distrust in film makers. They don't expect them to make great adaptations on their own, they need the source material's help...and that is a shame, because there are gifted film makers out there...they just need to be found.