Daily Dialogue — February 28, 2014

“Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin’.”

— To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), screenplay by Horton Foote, novel by Harper Lee

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is agony, suggested by Illimani.

Trivia: Despite the novel winning the Pulitzer Prize, the studios were not interested in buying up the film rights as they deemed it lacking in action, there was no love story and the villain doesn’t get a big comeuppance. Producer Alan J. Pakula disagreed however and persuaded director Robert Mulligan that it would make a good film. Together they were able to convince Gregory Peck who readily agreed.

Dialogue On Dialogue: There is a collective agony at work in this scene, the emotional aftermath of Tom Robinson’s unjust guilty verdict. It’s at work underneath the calm demeanor of Atticus Finch. It’s there amidst the entire African-American witnesses. Which is why the ending is so touching, Tom’s supporters standing one by one to honor the noble efforts of the defense attorney as he stolidly departs the courtroom. Yet more agony to come with what happens to Robinson… 

Comment Archive