My friend Stephen recently reminded me of this movie.
My favorite quote from Scout:
"One time Atticus said, 'You never really know a man until you've stood in his shoes. And walked around in them.'
Just standing on The Radley Porch was enough for me."
Scout.
1 comment:
I forgot to tell you this story was one that I would read again and again for a few Summers in my childhood. This story, Steinbeck's "East of Eden," and Madeleine L'Engle's "Many Waters" were my Summer-pulp-with-substance.
I've seen the movie a bunch of times on video, but seeing it on the huge screen at the Fremont in SLO was overwhelming with emotion. It's been a couple days now and the movie is still resonating. And your mention of the courtroom scene is definitely part of things going through my mind. Brock Peters, who plays Tom Robinson, brings so much dignity and humanity to his performance. One would wonder how jurors couldn't see that and acquit him. But he made a mistake in 40's era Alabama. He felt sympathy for a white woman.
Watching the courtroom scene Tuesday night, the whole audience was silent. And, when Tom describes his motivation for being on the Ewell property, he reaches this point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QejIcJxmWCM&feature=related After which the audience, like Tom, stops and holds its collective breath with a grimace. Despite all the evidence justifying him, he felt sorry for a white woman...
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