Sixty years later, Lee’s ‘Mockingbird’ still sings

Above : Mary Badham and Gregory Peck star in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” (Photo/Universal Pictures)

In the late 1950s, an unknown writer named Harper Lee submitted a manuscript to a literary agent.

There was nothing special about this. Writers submit their work to agents and publishing houses all the time.

But two things set this incident apart. One, Lee had contacted the agent at the recommendation of her friend Truman Capote .

And, two, the manuscript was the early collection of writings based on Lee’s memories of growing up in a small-Southern town. Those memories focused on a young girl and her lawyer father.

His name: Atticus Finch.

After a lengthy editorial process, the finished book – titled “To Kill a Mockingbird” – want to press in 1960. And it was an instant sensation.

It ended up winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. And thanks to a 1962 movie version, directed by Robert Mulligan and the Oscar-winning actor Gregory Peck , the book has never been out of print.

Speaking of the movie, which stars Mary Badham as Atticus Finch’s daughter, a special 60th-anniversary screening of “To Kill a Mockingbird” will be held on Sunday and Wednesday at two area Regal Cinemas theaters, NorthTown Mall and Coeur d’Alene’s Riverstone Stadium.

Sunday’s screenings will be a 1 p.m. while Wednesday’s will be at 7 p.m.

Universally acclaimed (the American Film Institute ranks it No. 25 on its list of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time ), the film has garnered numerous complimentary reviews.

Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader wrote, “Harper Lee’s child’s-eye view of southern bigotry gains something in its translation to the screen by Robert Mulligan, who knows exactly where to place the camera to catch a child’s subjective experience.”

James Powers of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, “ ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a product of American realism, and it is a rare and worthy treasure.”

Marc Lee of The Daily Telegraph wrote, “As Mulligan so deftly demonstrates, the story is in the characters, their failings and fragility, their heroism and nobility of spirit.”

If you go, remember what Atticus’ father told him, that it was a sin to kill a mockingbird.

And why? “Well,” Atticus explains, “I reckon because mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncrib, they don’t do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.”