Directed by: Robert Mulligan
Starring: Brock Peters, Frank Overton, Gregory Peck, John Megna, Robert Duvall, Rosemary Murphy
Revealing mistake: When Atticus kills the mad dog, you can see its hind legs being pulled by someone off screen. (00:43:05)
Revealing mistake: Scout's hand is made of fiberglass as can be seen in the close up when they are attacked.
Revealing mistake: In the final wide shot of the courtroom scene, as Atticus sits down, Phillip Alford (Jem) seems to think the shot has cut, as he suddenly hops up from his position slumped against the banister and playfully drums his hands on the railing.
Continuity mistake: Early in the courtroom scene there is a shot of Gregory Peck that is reversed. The part in his hair is not on the same side of his head that it is in the rest of the film.
Atticus Finch: Did you rape Mayella Ewell?
Tom Robinson: I did not, sir.
Atticus Finch: Did you harm her in any way?
Tom Robinson: I did not.
Trivia: Mary Badham was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Scout. At the age of nine, Badham became the youngest ever nominee in that category.
Question: Why did everybody in the courtroom go silent when Tom said that he did chores for Mayella because he felt sorry for her?
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Answer: At that time in history, Tom, a black man, was considered inferior to Mayella, a white woman. When he says he "felt sorry" for her, it is interpreted as him thinking he is above her or better off in some way. Regardless of his good intentions, for him to think of himself as being in a superior position to help her was considered unacceptable because it was seen as a black person rising above their lower place in society.
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