Atticus´ Final Speech from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)’

Lawyer Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) defends Tom Robinson (Brock Peters), an African-American man innocently accused of rape. Take a seat in an Alabama courtroom, prepare yourself for cross-examination and learn more about this piece of movie history.

Interlude

Director Robert Mulligan instructed his camera operator, to film a man with rimmed glasses and two different names doing the work of his life for 6 minutes and 30 seconds. In just one single take. The man of the law is called Atticus Finch. He loses a case because of deep-rooted hatred toward black people in a small town in Alabama named Maycomb. Justice failed. However, the admiration of his two children is assured by the things he did. Gregory Peck on the other hand is a person who understands his job just as well. The profession of acting and his amazing will to deliver the performance of a lifetime earned him an Oscar and a not inconsiderable share of the status as an immortal actor. Enjoy my analysis of the most significant scene from the legendary drama ‘To Kill A Mockingbird (1962)’ and how ‘Making A Scene’ like this was possible.

A Monologue for us All

The importance of this scene can´t be overstated. Why? It shows courage in the purest sense. Even that Atticus (Gregory Peck) knows that winning this case would be a miracle, he does everything to try it. A very interesting thing about this fact is that someone else really tried it. Amasa Coleman Lee, a lawyer in Monroeville / Alabama, defended an innocent black man in 1923 and was the father of Harper Lee. She is the author of the novel on which this movie is based. There´s more to that. Lee´s hometown Monroeville was her template to Maycomb, the fictive town where the story takes place. The court room is a very detailed rebuild of the original one, in which a young girl, named Harper, watched her father countless times to separate true from untrue. ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ and especially ‘Atticus´ Final Speech’ as a whole are an important part of the international education sector for many years. The beginning of his plea will tell you why:

“To begin with … this case should never have come to trial. The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence that the crime, Tom Robinson is charged with, ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witnesses, whose evidence has not only been called into serious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. There is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewell was beaten … savagely … by someone who led almost exclusively with his left and Tom Robinson now sits before you taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses … his right.”

There are not many film scenes that portray the cold-blooded and serene manner of the Old South against African-Americans more forceful than this one. Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) fights against a deeply biased system. Blurred, in background on the right: Myella Ewell (Collin Wilcox Paxton) the instrumentalized victim and her father, Bob Ewell (James Anderson), who in truth inflicted the injuries on his daughter, because she developed sexual feelings for a black man.

Peck´s Masterpiece

Gregory Peck once said: “I put everything I had into it. All my feelings and everything I’d learned in 46 years of living, about family life and fathers and children. And my feelings about racial justice and inequality and opportunity.” This was part of his speech, after winning his first and only Oscar. His performance feels so real. So authentic that you can almost think “He really defends this man.” There are specific nuances in his play that are outstanding. For instance the nodding. You probably noticed it. It´s timed perfectly and is woven into his speech to give certain sentences even more weight. He nods the compromised system away. He nods courage to himself. He nods because he know that he´s right. Likewise his strong facial expressions and on point gestures. For example, waving deprecating towards the Ewells. Lifting the voice at exactly the right moments. Years later, Peck said that “To Kill A Mockingbird was his favorite movie.”

Atticus (Gregory Peck) just referred to the key witnesses without looking at them: “… And so a quiet humble respectable Negro who has had the unmitigated temerity … to feel sorry for a white woman … has had to put his word against two white people …”

Did you know that Peck visited the living example to his role? Amasa Lee, father of book author Harper Lee, was 82 years old and passed away before the films release. It influenced Peck´s performance tremendously to have spoken with the real Atticus. Lee also gave Peck his watch and chain, which he kept honorably.

I also have a short acting experiment for you. Speak the last words of Atticus´speech out loud and try to copy Peck´s performance as close as possible: „The defendant is not guilty … but somebody in this courtroom … is. Now gentlemen … in this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts all men are created equal. I´m no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and our jury system. That´s no ideal to me. That is a living working reality … Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review … without … passion … the evidence you have heard … Come to a decision … and restore this man to his family … In the name of god … do your duty … in the name of god believe … Tom Robinson.”

The Power of Words

In the rarest of cases, one person alone is responsible for the success of a particular thing. I don’t want to give all the credit to Gregory Peck. His influence on this scene is immense, no question about it. However, without one of the best books of the 20th century and an excellent adapted script as a foundation for his acting ‘Atticus´ Final Speech’ wouldn´t have the worldwide impact it had and still has. Novelist Harper Lee once said: “Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through, no matter what.” She didn´t relate this quote in particular to her Pulitzer price winning work ‘To Kill A Mockingbird.’ It´s her general opinion. Lee always remarked about her book: “It is and it isn’t autobiographical.” But you feel, during reading, that there´s so much power in it and you just need to come to the personal conclusion “It is as if someone has really experienced this.” Which I already explained above. A seamless transition into an astonishing screenplay was made possible by a man, who spent 60 years of his life creating very good written content for movies and television. The Academy made the right decision to grant Horton Foote the Oscar for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ at the ceremony in 1963.

I give you three examples of Atticus´ speech from the original novel and three from the screenplay for comparison and underline additional text or different words in comparison to the other one:

Novel: “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state, but my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man´s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with … She struck out at her victim – of necessity she must put him away from her – he must be removed from her presence, from this world. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. What was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was her daily reminder of what she did. What did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.”

Screenplay: “I have nothing but pity in my heart for the chief witness for the state. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance. But my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man´s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say guilt, gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so severe that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. She must destroy the evidence of her offense. But what was the evidence of her offense? Tom Robinson, a human being. She must put Tom Robinson away from her. Tom Robinson was to her a daily reminder of what she did. Now, what did she do? She tempted a Negro. She was white and she tempted a Negro. She did something that in our society is unspeakable: She kissed a black man. Not an old uncle, but a strong young Negro man. No code mattered to her before she broke it, but it came crashing down on her afterwards.”

Novel: “Which, gentlemen, we know is in itself a lie as black as Tom Robinson´s skin, a lie I do not have to point out to you.”

Screenplay: “…which is in itself, gentlemen, a lie which I do not need to point out to you.”

Novel: “I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this defendant to his family. In the name of God, do your duty.”

Screenplay: “I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family. In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of god, believe Tom Robinson.”

Harper Lee and Horton Foote found the right words and, which is also very important, the right tone for Atticus´ famous speech.

On Location?

The surroundings of a scene are essential for sustainable recognition. ‘Atticus´ Final Speech’ is no exception to this rule. It´s quite the opposite. Everyone who watched ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ has a courtroom in mind where all characters gather to experience Tom Robinson´s fate. Likewise, many people hold the thesis that the film must have been shot almost entirely on location. For three men, this sounds like the highest praise they can receive in their field. Art directors Alexander Golitzen and Henry Bumstead, as well as set decorator Oliver Emert, recreated the old courtroom of Monroeville´s court house entirely on a sound stage at Universal Studios. Production staff traveled to Harper Lee´s hometown and took measurements as well as photographs and familiarized themselves with the traditional building. There isn´t a better place for the law showdown than the premises where the author spent much time as a child watching her father, who, as you know, just like Atticus, defended an innocent convicted black man. The result is a detailed duplicate of the original one.

Alexander Golitzen, Henry Bumstead and Oliver Emert (three men on the left in order of the names mentioned) won on Oscar at the 1963 Academy Awards for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White. Their ingenious replica of the original Monroeville courtroom contributed to their victory.

Golitzen´s, Bumstead´s and Emert´s replica of the courtroom.

The original photographed many years later. It´s preserved as a museum in Monroeville, Alabama.

Far More than Twelve

“The cameras are the eyes of a director.” That´s a sure thing and Robert Mulligan´s Oscar nomination for ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ is more than deserved. With this scene, however, this pun is catapulted to a higher level. Let´s continue a bit differently. What´s your impression of the jury during Atticus´speech? Hasn´t it been disgusting when this old racist put on a sardonic face expression? Did it also give you the creeps, after one jury member rises and insulted the lawyer? Or that three of them where participants in the lynch mob against the wrongly accused Tom Robinson on the night before the trial? Two also played cards? … You haven´t seen anything of that? Then you´re absolutely right. And there´s a simple reason. None of these examples happened and if it would you still couldn´t see them. During the whole 6 minutes and 30 seconds of ‘Atticus´ Final Speech’ the jury is only visible for 16 seconds. 8 seconds at the start and 8 seconds at the end. Between that, the focus lies on Atticus. It´s very uncommon for a court room drama to give jury members such short screen time, especially during the closing arguments. For this one it doesn´t matter as the director did it on purpose. Twelve white racists filled with prejudices against black people aren´t important. The real jury is someone else. We all are! At first, look at the camera movements. They stick to Atticus like a strong magnet. Spectators, prosecutors, and witnesses are just bystanders to Atticus´ words. You could also say that the whole background is a living matte painting.

Atticus (Gregory Peck) talks to us. The real audience. You see the jury only for a few seconds on the beginning and end of his speech.

There are only five brief shots, during the whole scene, in which Peck is not in full focus of the camera:

One of the moments mentioned above. The movie jury is visible for a short time.

Tom Robinson (Brock Peters) is waiting for the things to come.

The African-American community of Maycomb needs to sit separately from the others. Sadly, a common procedure during this time

Jem (Phillip Alford), close to tears from emotion, watches his father from the balcony.

The end of Atticus´speech. Second and last screen time of the jury.

Rating:

‘Atticus´ Final Speech from To Kill A Mockingbird’ is one of the best monologues in movie history. This is not an exaggeration, it is a fact. Atticus caught my full attention just seconds, after his plea started and had it steady until the end. Script and acting are so powerful, so strong that you get hooked instantaneously. A reason why this speech is just perfect for ‘Making A Scene’ is the fact that it has the same impact when watched alone and not as part of the whole movie. Even when you don´t know anything about how this comes to trial and who the persons in the courtroom are, you´ll enjoy the scene nevertheless.

The subject matter is exciting and sad. Once it strikes you that Tom Robinson is found innocently guilty, anger automatically sprouts up in you. You get angry at xenophobia, at the stupidity of many people, the impressionability through the most primitive means and the inertia of an outdated, corrupted system. This is reinforced, once it becomes clear that Robinson is shot ‘on the run’ only a short time after the trial. It smells like a covered up execution against the law to suppress Finch´s announced revision.

Is evoked anger really a positive aspect while watching a movie? In my opinion it is, if it fulfills the purpose that anger is pointed against something literally bad or wrong. Anger is a strong feeling. When a film can trigger this, it’s almost certain that the picture has done something or everything right. Movies are all about feelings.

‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ and this scene in particular, are ‘Must Sees’ for all fans of courtroom dramas. Also for everyone who enjoys quality cinema and is interested in a dignified reappraisal of racial hatred.

Enough said? To put it in the words of Atticus: “Mockingbirds don’t do one thing, but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat up people’s gardens, don’t nest in corncribs, they don’t do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That’s why it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird.” These famous words are a clear reference to Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley (Robert Duvall´s film debut). But tragically, also for Tom Robinson (Brock Peters).

Complete rating for ‘Atticus´ Final Speech from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962):’

‘Atticus´ Final Speech from To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)’ reached the ‘Perfect Peak’ on the ‘Rating Mountain:’

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