To Kill a Mockingbird (film) Quotes

To Kill a Mockingbird (film) is a television program that was first aired in 1970 . To Kill a Mockingbird ended its run in 1970.

It features Alan J. Pakula as producer, Elmer Bernstein in charge of musical score, and Russell Harlan; A.S.C. as head of cinematography.

To Kill a Mockingbird (film) is recorded in English and originally aired in United States. Each episode of To Kill a Mockingbird (film) is 129 minutes long. To Kill a Mockingbird (film) is distributed by Universal Studios.

The cast includes: Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, Phillip Alford as Jem, William "Bill" Walker as Rev. Sykes, Frank Overton as Sheriff Tate, Mary Badham as Scout, Estelle Evans as Calpurnia, Rosemary Murphy as Miss Maudie Atkinson, Brock Peters as Tom Robinson, James Anderson as Bob Ewell, John Megna as Dill Harris, Alice Ghostley as Miss Stephanie Crawford, Ruth White as Mrs. Dubose, Frank Overton as Sheriff Heck Tate, and Collin Wilcox as Mayella Ewell.

To Kill a Mockingbird (film) Quotes

Frank Overton as Sheriff Heck Tate

• (Frank Overton) "Didn't you know your daddy's the best shot in this county?"

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch

• (Gregory Peck) "If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view -- Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."

• (Gregory Peck) "I remember when my daddy gave me that gun. He told me that I should never point it at anything in the house; and that he'd rather I'd shoot at tin cans in the backyard. But he said that sooner or later he supposed the temptation to go after birds would be too much, and that I could shoot all the blue jays I wanted; if I could hit 'em; but to remember it was a sin to kill a mockingbird."
• (Phillip Alford) "Why?"
• (Gregory Peck) "Well, 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."

• (Gregory Peck) "There are some things that you're not old enough to understand just yet. There's been some high talk around town to the effect that I shouldn't do much about defending this man."
• (Mary Badham) "If you shouldn't be defending him, then why are you doing it?"
• (Gregory Peck) "For a number of reasons. The main one is that if I didn't, I couldn't hold my head up in town. I couldn't even tell you or Jem not to do somethin' again."
• (Gregory Peck) "You're gonna hear some ugly talk about this in school. But I want you to promise me one thing: That you won't get into fights over it, no matter what they say to you."

• (Gregory Peck) "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. Now, there is circumstantial evidence to indicate that Mayella Ewel was beaten; savagely, by someone who led exclusively with his left. And Tom Robinson now sits before you having taken the oath with the only good hand he possesses -- his RIGHT. 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's 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. The witnesses for the State, with the exception of the sheriff of Maycomb County have presented themselves to you gentlemen, to this court in the cynical confidence that their testimony would not be doubted, confident that you gentlemen would go along with them on the assumption -- the evil assumption that all Negroes lie, all Negroes are basically immoral beings, all Negro men are not to be trusted around our women. An assumption that one associates with minds of their caliber, and which is, in itself, gentlemen, a lie, which I do not need to point out to you. 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's. 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 of 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 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."

• (Gregory Peck) "Do you know what a compromise is?"
• (Mary Badham) "Bendin' the law?"
• (Gregory Peck) "Uh, no. It's an agreement reached by mutual consent. Now, here's the way it works. You concede the necessity of goin' to school, we'll keep right on readin' the same every night, just as we always have. Is that a bargain?"

• (Gregory Peck) "Did you rape Mayella Ewell?"
• (Brock Peters) "I did not, sir."
• (Gregory Peck) "Did you harm her in any way?"
• (Brock Peters) "I did not."

• (Gregory Peck) "Good Lord, I must be losin' my memory. I can't remember whether Jem is twelve or thirteen. Anyway, it'll have to come before the county court. Of course, it's a clear-cut case of self-defense. I'll uh, well I'll run down to the office --"
• (Frank Overton) "Mr. Finch -- do you think Jem killed Bob Ewell? Is that what you think? Your boy never stabbed him."
• (Frank Overton) "Bob Ewell fell on his knife; he killed himself. There's a black man dead for no reason. Now the man responsible for it is dead. Let the dead bury the dead this time, Mr. Finch. I never heard tell it was against the law for any citizen to do his utmost to prevent a crime from being committed, which is exactly what he did. But maybe you'll tell me it's my duty to tell the town all about it, not to hush it up. Well, you know what'll happen then. All the ladies in Maycomb, includin' my wife, will be knockin' on his door bringin' angel food cakes. To my way of thinkin', takin' one man who done you and this town a big service, and draggin' him with his shy ways into the limelight; to me that's a sin. It's a sin. And I'm not about to have it on my head. I may not be much, Mr. Finch, but I'm still Sheriff of Maycomb County, and Bob Ewell fell on his knife. Good night, sir."

Brock Peters as Tom Robinson

• (Brock Peters) "Looks like she didn't have nobody to help her. I felt right sorry for her. She seemed --"
• (Prosecutor) "You felt sorry for her? A white woman? You felt sorry for her?"

• (Brock Peters) "I can't use my left hand at all. I got it caught in a cotton gin when I was twelve years old. All my muscles were tore loose."

• (Brock Peters) "Well, I said I best be goin', I couldn't do nothin' for her, an' she said, oh, yes I could. An' I asked her what, and she said to jus' step on the chair yonder an' git that box down from on top of the chifforobe. So I done like she told me, and I was reachin' when the next thing I know she -- grabbed me aroun' the legs."
• (Brock Peters) "She scared me so bad I hopped down an' turned the chair over. That was the only thing, only furniture 'sturbed in the room, Mr. Finch, I swear, when I left it -- Mr. Finch, I got down off the chair, and I turned around an' she sorta jumped on me. She hugged me aroun' the waist. She reached up an' kissed me on the face. She said she'd never kissed a grown man before an' she might as well kiss me. She says for me to kiss her back."
• (Brock Peters) "And I said, Miss Mayella, let me outta here, an' I tried to run. Mr. Ewell cussed at her from the window and said he's gonna kill her."

Mary Badham as Scout

• (Mary Badham) "May I see your watch? "To Atticus, My Beloved Husband." Atticus, Jem says this watch is gonna belong to him some day."
• (Gregory Peck) "That's right."
• (Mary Badham) "Why?"
• (Gregory Peck) "Well, it's customary for the boy to have his father's watch."
• (Mary Badham) "What are you gonna give me?"
• (Gregory Peck) "Well, I don't know that I have much else of value that belongs to me -- But there's a pearl necklace; there's a ring that belonged to your mother. And I've put them away, and they're to be yours."

• (Mary Badham) "Jem is up in a tree, he said he won't come down until you agree to play football with the Methodists."

• (Mary Badham) "I said, 'Hey,' Mr. Cunningham. How's your entailment getting along?"
• (Mary Badham) "Don't you remember me, Mr. Cunningham? I'm Jean Louise Finch. You brought us some hickory nuts one early morning, remember? We had a talk. I went and got my daddy to come out and thank you. I go to school with your boy. I go to school with Walter; he's a nice boy. Tell him 'hey' for me, won't you? You know something, Mr. Cunningham, entailments are bad. Entailments --"
• (Mary Badham) "Atticus, I was just saying to Mr. Cunningham that entailments were bad but not to worry. Takes a long time sometimes --"
• (Mary Badham) "What's the matter? I sure meant no harm, Mr. Cunningham."

• (Mary Badham) "Mr. Tate was right."
• (Gregory Peck) "What do you mean?"
• (Mary Badham) "Well, it would be sort of like shooting a mockingbird, wouldn't it?"

• (Mary Badham) "You can pet him, Mr. Arthur. He's asleep. Couldn't if he was awake, though; he wouldn't let you. Go ahead."

• (Mary Badham) "Hey Miss Dubose."
• (Ruth White) "Don't you say "hey" to me, you ugly girl."

• (Mary Badham) "How old was I when Mama died?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Two."
• (Mary Badham) "How old were you?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Six."
• (Mary Badham) "Old as I am now?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Uh-huh."
• (Mary Badham) "Was Mama pretty?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Uh-huh."
• (Mary Badham) "Was Mama nice?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Uh-huh."
• (Mary Badham) "Did you love her?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Yes."
• (Mary Badham) "Did I love her?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Yes."
• (Mary Badham) "Do you miss her?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Uh-huh."

• (Mary Badham) "Why there he is, Mr. Tate. He can tell you his name --"
• (Mary Badham) "Hey, Boo."
• (Gregory Peck) "Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley. I believe he already knows you."

Phillip Alford as Jem

• (Phillip Alford) "Atticus says cheating a black man is ten times worse than cheating a white."

• (Phillip Alford) "There goes the meanest man that ever took a breath of life."
• (John Megna) "Why is he the meanest man?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Well, for one thing, he has a boy named Boo that he keeps chained to a bed in the house over yonder. Boo only comes out at night when you're asleep and it's pitch-dark. When you wake up at night, you can hear him. Once I heard him scratchin' on our screen door, but he was gone by the time Atticus got there."
• (John Megna) "I wonder what he does in there? I wonder what he looks like?"
• (Phillip Alford) "Well, judgin' from his tracks, he's about six and a half feet tall. He eats raw squirrels and all the cats he can catch. There's a long, jagged scar that runs all the way across his face. His teeth are yella and rotten. His eyes are popped. And he drools most of the time."

• (Phillip Alford) "Listen, no matter what she says to you, don't answer her back. There's a Confederate pistol in her lap under her shawl and she'll kill you quick as look at you. Come on."

Rosemary Murphy as Miss Maudie Atkinson

• (Rosemary Murphy) "Jem."
• (Phillip Alford) "Yes, ma'am?"
• (Rosemary Murphy) "I don't know if it will help saying this to you -- some men in this world are born to do our unpleasant jobs for us -- your father is one of them."
• (Phillip Alford) "Oh, well."

John Megna as Dill Harris

• (John Megna) "Let's go down to the courthouse and see the room that they locked Boo up in. My aunt says it's bat-infested, and he nearly died from the mildew. Come on. I bet they got chains and instruments of torture down there."

• (John Megna) "Hey."
• (Phillip Alford) "Hey yourself."
• (John Megna) "I'm Charles Baker Harris. I can read. I can read anything you've got."
• (John Megna) "Folks call me Dill."
• (Phillip Alford) "How old are you? Four and a half?"
• (John Megna) "Going on seven."
• (Phillip Alford) "Well, no wonder then. Scout's been readin' since she was born, and she's not even six yet. You're mighty puny for nearly seven."
• (John Megna) "I'm little but I'm old."

Collin Wilcox as Mayella Ewell

• (Collin Wilcox) "I got somethin' to say. And then I ain't gonna say no more. He took advantage of me. An' if you fine, fancy gentlemen ain't gonna do nothin' about it, then you're just a bunch of lousy, yella, stinkin' cowards, the; the whole bunch of ya, and your fancy airs don't come to nothin'. Your Ma'am'in' and your Miss Mayellarin'; it don't come to nothin', Mr. Finch, not -- no."

• (Collin Wilcox) "I was sittin' on the porch, and he come along. Uh, there's this old chifforobe in the yard, and I-I said, 'You come in here, boy, and bust up this chifforobe, and I'll give you a nickel.' So he-he come on in the yard and I go in the house to get him the nickel and I turn around, and 'fore I know it, he's on me, and I fought and hollered, but he had me around the neck, and he hit me again and again, and the next thing I knew, Papa was in the room, a-standin' over me, hollerin', 'Who done it, who done it?'"

James Anderson as Bob Ewell

• (James Anderson) "What kinda man are you?"

William "Bill" Walker as Rev. Sykes

• (William "Bill" Walker) "Miss Jean Louise. Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father's passing."

Alice Ghostley as Miss Stephanie Crawford

(We don't have any quotes for this character)

Estelle Evans as Calpurnia

• (Estelle Evans) "That boy is your company. And if he wants to eat up that tablecloth, you let him, you hear? And if you can't act fit to eat like folks, you can just set here and eat in the kitchen."

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