Scout, Boo and My Family: A To Kill a Mockingbird Saga
By Kevin Renick
“You just learned a simple 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. Till you climb inside his skin and walk around in it.”
— Atticus (Gregory Peck) to Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird
“Hey, Boo!”
There are certainly countless lines of dialogue from movies over the years that have stuck in viewers’ minds, but I’d wager that among two-word utterances, few have provoked as much of an emotional response as that simple greeting from Scout to Arthur Radley (Robert Duvall in his debut) in the classic 1962 film To Kill A Mockingbird. Particularly with the look on young actress Mary Badham’s face and the time she takes to get those words out, when spying the much-feared, much talked-about Boo Radley for the first time. He’s just saved her life, and that of her brother Jem, so the moment is fraught with all sorts of emotion: the surprise that he’s there, the realization that he’s not a scary monster at all, and maybe her first experience with genuine gratitude. Not to mention that for viewers, this is the emotional climax of a movie that is full of life and uncertainty, love and injustice, innocence and cruel cynicism. A child who has spent the movie trying to figure things out, is now regarding a mysterious individual that she’d only heard scary things about. And we are there with her to make the transition. It’s an incredibly beautiful, memorable scene…
My family had six strong-willed individuals in it: my parents Mark and Annabelle, my older brother Kyle, my sisters Pam and Therese, and me, the youngest. Like most families, we did plenty of things together growing up, including going on vacations, having pizza nights, and watching a fair number of movies. It wasn’t apparent in the early years how different we all were; we could enjoy seeing timeless classics together such as The Wizard of Oz, King Kong and even The Sound of Music, and I don’t recall any tension. It was simply part of what you did as a family: hoping for a decent movie to watch together. In later years, when Kyle proved how headstrong and sometimes snobbish he could be, when Pam developed a willingness to sometimes express an unexpectedly contrary opinion, and when Dad revealed how easily hurt or angered he could become when someone did NOT appreciate a movie he liked, arguments could develop. During the Blockbuster era, when we’d go to the video store to rent a few flicks, especially when everyone was home for Christmas or another holiday, the arguments were often over WHAT might even be worth renting. Kyle hoped we’d get at least one horror movie for after-hours viewing or something completely over the top to challenge our parents; Mom was into British-made films or traditional old classics. Dad liked action or silly comedies, but also shared Mom’s interest in all things British. The rest of us had various degrees of open-mindedness and MIGHT go along with anything. But not always. It simply wasn’t easy to get us to agree on what movie we should watch, and someone usually had to “give in” to avoid an argument. Very, very few movies satisfied all of us; very few were good enough to escape objections of some sort.
Except one. And that was To Kill a Mockingbird. What a miracle! All six Renicks enjoying and being moved by the same film? Was it possible? My memory bank says yes – at least two viewings of the Gregory Peck classic, directed by Robert Mulligan, made for a warm and wonderful family evening. One in particular was during later years, when I’d bought a deluxe DVD edition of the film. And I remember thinking to myself, Wow…we all really liked this one, and nobody ruined the mood for anybody else! A genuinely rare event for our often melodramatic sextet.
Every one of us, of course, had read Harper Lee’s Pulitzer-winning novel. There weren’t many schools around which didn’t have TKAM as required reading in either English or a “Classic Novels” type class, although that has been changing. And between Horton Foote’s remarkable screenplay and Robert Mulligan’s stunningly effective direction, Mockingbird became one of the best examples of the movie version proving just as popular as the original novel. Harper Lee herself approved of the casting of Peck as Atticus Finch and became friends with the entire Peck family. Peck won the Academy award for Best Actor. Mary Badham, who made her film debut as Scout, endeared herself to viewers on such a global scale that she found herself doing speaking tours and special appearances for decades, even though she didn’t pursue a film career beyond a few more movies. I was to meet Mary myself one day – but we’ll get to that later.
While Mom and Dad tended to get swept away by the entire story, it was Kyle and I who started talking about the beautiful soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein, probably the first movie score to genuinely get under my skin and show me how magical movie music could really be. That haunting opening theme, when an unseen Scout is toying with all the objects in a cigar box that Boo had left in a tree’s hole for her and Jem, still gets to me today as much as it did early on. Bernstein’s music, in fact, does a transcendent job of depicting the story from a child’s point of view: lilting, uptempo Americana when the kids are running around playing; ominous, low-register cues (featuring keyboard triads) when the youngsters are sneaking around near Boo Radley’s house or encountering his nasty father; and gorgeous, sweet melodic passages that underscore the love Atticus has for his children and a kind of aching nostalgia for how the adult Scout (who is heard in voiceover) looks back at her formative years: the friendships, the unknowable mysteries of the time, and of course, the reliable wisdom and decency of her father. The music adds so much to this amazing film and deepens the story throughout.
Another element which enhanced the Renick experience with this film was something that I think Therese started doing. She began to quote key lines from the film after a viewing, almost always things said by Scout, who was clearly a focal point for all of us. “Hey Boo!” “Hey Mr. Cunningham!” Or one of her favorites, “Folks call me Dill!” That one was spoken by young actor John Megna, playing Charles Baker (Dill) Harris, Scout and Jem’s summertime pal. I would learn in later years that the Dill character was based on Truman Capote, the legendary author who was a childhood friend of author Lee. Anyway, Therese had a knack for adding adorable theatricality to reciting these lines, and I would then respond with some of my own: “I go to school with your boy! I go to school with Walter!” Or, “What in the Sam Hill are you doing?” That one became popular enough that either one of us might say it at any random time. And it became an endearing and familiar ritual when such things kept happening with subsequent viewings of the film, when Therese would come home for her infrequent visits from Europe (she lived in Germany and had made a successful career as an opera singer). Almost all my friends who are movie fans got a kick out of reciting classic lines to each other, but I enjoyed this more with my siblings, for TKAM, than for almost any other film. Movies can be such a bonding experience, and though there were other films the four Renick kids enjoyed together (Indiana Jones and Die Hard come to mind), I simply can’t think of another where all six family members were united in enthusiasm.
One day my beloved mother dropped a bombshell on us. I can’t remember why this suddenly popped out of her, but she said “I remember long ago, watching the movie with Harper Lee when it first came out.” Wait…what? You wanna elaborate on that, Mom? It turned out that Mom had been friends with a teacher in the Webster Groves school district in the early 60s. Her name was Mae McCleavey. That alone wasn’t so surprising. Mom and Dad lived in a house in Webster when Kyle and Pam were young, and Mom had a knack for making friends everywhere. So yeah, she knew this teacher. BUT…that teacher happened to be personal friends with Harper Lee. And Mrs. McCleavey invited Mom to accompany her and Harper to a screening of the film in 1962. My brain nearly exploded at the thought of my own mother sitting next to this legendary author, who, not long after the book and movie made her a household name, became the most reclusive of recluses, unwilling to do most of the interviews or personal appearances that were requested of her. And here’s Mom talking casually about seeing the movie with her, unable to give us the kinds of intimate details we wanted, only saying that “she was nice.” Sigh.
But there was more Mockingbird drama to come. In late 2008 it was announced that the Edison Theatre at Washington University would be doing a new production of the fabled work. Mary Badham herself was going to appear to “host” the play when it opened in January 2009. At this time, I was writing for a publication called PlaybackSTL, and I snapped into action to set up an interview with Ms. Badham. I could not have been more excited! I prepared my questions carefully and could not WAIT to tell Mary how much the film had meant to my whole family. The interview was a phoner, but I transcribed it very carefully. She was a delightful interviewee, sharing several stories of how TKAM had stirred and influenced people around the world, and talking about how it was a continuing gift in her life. Gregory Peck had remained a lifelong friend and surrogate father. People were naming boys “Atticus” and girls “Scout” with increasing frequency. The whole experience of making the film had been joyous and fun, and Mary would tell some of the same anecdotes over and over. She had immense gratitude for being part of a film that had such a powerful impact on so many people, and used her position to talk about and draw attention to issues she cared about.
Thanks to my interview, I scored comp tickets to the new TKAM production, and I invited my mom to come with me. And I had arranged for us to meet.Mary Badham afterwards. I really, really wanted these two ladies to meet and I definitely wanted a photo. When it happened it was pure magic. Mary was used to meeting Mockingbird fans and soaking up their united enthusiasm. But boy, she was taken by Mom’s charming conversational style, and bowled over when Mom related the story of seeing the movie with Harper Lee herself. This whole encounter was to be seared into my memory forever. A classic photo was taken of me standing between Mom and the adult “Scout,” radiant after having seen a great new production and sharing a bit of enthusiasm and camaraderie. This was to be my last great outing with my mother. Just a month later, she took a bad fall that put her in the hospital. And she passed that April after complications.
I enlarged and framed the photo of Mom, Mary and me. It made me happy to look at it. But Mom was gone now, and Dad followed just a year later. There would be no more family viewings of To Kill a Mockingbird, and almost eight years would pass before I’d watch the film again, alone. It was just as involving as ever, but laced with melancholy. Such a rush of emotion…the beautiful Elmer Bernstein soundtrack. Scout, Jem and Dill running to and from Boo Radley’s house. “Hey Mr. Cunningham!” Atticus and Scout on the porch, with Gregory Peck’s quiet, Oscar-winning performance as comforting as ever. “You can shoot all the Blue Jays you want, if you can hit ‘em. But it’s a SIN to kill a mockingbird.” The hand-carved soap figures of Jem and Scout in the tree. The unsettling trial of Tom Robinson, raising questions and uncomfortable issues about racism which still dominate the news today. “Miss Jean Louise, stand up! Your father’s passin’” (a line my friend Kathy and others would tell me several times made them well up with emotion). Scout in the ham costume. The walk home in the woods with Jem, with danger lurking nearby. Sudden violence, with unanswered questions. There he is, he’ll tell you. “Hey, Boo!” And I realized that To Kill a Mockingbird could never be just another movie to discuss, for me. It could never be compared to anything else. The book and the movie made for a singular work of art, destined to be talked about by others for decades afterward. But for me it was to conjure memories of family togetherness, memories of watching Scout’s face as she tried to comprehend the significance of events around her (and what Atticus was relating to her), memories of my own childhood and a house a few blocks away with a supposedly sinister reputation, something evoked by the Boo Radley part of the story; memories of the music score, virtually every note of which I could apply to my own formative years; memories of playtime and summer and hearing whispered news about things that were alarming and scary, and yet taking shelter in the comfort of home and the shared bonds with neighborhood friends. All of that comes up when I think about To Kill a Mockingbird these days or watch it for the umpteenth time. It’s not necessarily notable in my life for raising important issues. Instead, it captures something of the intense drama of childhood in unforgettable style, and makes me feel deep, buried emotions.
The summer that had begun so long ago had passed, and another summer had come. I was to think of those days many times. Of Boo Radley, and Tom Robinson, and Atticus. And my parents watching this familiar film with their children once again, thoroughly engrossed. And Kyle absorbing how marvelous the Bernstein music cues were for every scene. And Pam and Therese sitting next to each other on the couch, their individual perceptions mostly kept inside, though I could count on at least a “Hey, Mr. Cunningham” from Therese later on. And me, so happy that my sometimes combative family had at least one movie we all agreed on, one movie no one felt a need to interrupt or depart from, one movie that had something to keep each of us riveted.
Injustice may have been one of the primary themes of Harper Lee’s story. But when I watch the movie now, I think about togetherness. The kind we all need more of, the kind I had with the other kids on my street, the kind I sometimes had with my family, and miss terribly. Oh, and I do love to hear Mockingbirds sing. As a lifelong birdwatcher, I’ve learned the songs of most common birds in the U.S. And the vast majority of them are as Atticus said in the movie: They don’t do one darned thing except make music for us to enjoy…
Author’s note:
I want to say here that my experience with To Kill a Mockingbird is my own, a deeply felt family experience that helped shape me and develop my movie-watching aesthetic. I am aware that controversy developed regarding this story in later years, with some libraries banning the original novel (something I find abhorrent) and the publication of a questionable literary work titled Go Set a Watchman bearing Harper Lee’s name but undermining some of the fairness with which I think she tried to portray the Atticus Finch character and the community he inhabited. It’s believed that the novel may have been a “blueprint” for the original TKAM work, and may have been released during her years of declining health, when her decision-making might have been impaired. Racism and its impact is only one of the themes that inhabit TKAM, and I believe that learning to respect many different kinds of people was one of Lee’s intentions with her original novel, as well as what it feels like to look back upon challenging formative years from the vantage point of being a wiser adult. All this said, I cherish both the novel and the movie and their impact upon my life, and absolutely believe the “novel into film” adaptation the work signifies bears study and understanding for both readers and moviegoers.
Editor’s note:
In recent years there has been a vigorous debate about To Kill a Mockingbird (the novel, film, and play adaption by Aaron Sorkin) and the challenges and controversies the work presents for modern audiences.
To read more about the important issues of racial injustice, fair representation, and the need to teach and discuss more books by authors of color in our schools, the following articles are recommended:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/the-debate-to-kill-a-mockingbird-1.4933427