To Kill a Mockingbird

Gregory Peck won an Oscar for his brillan perforamnce as the southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film. Set in a dusty souther town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forwad to defend him--except Atticus Finch, the town's most distinguished citizen. His compassionate but doomed defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect of his two motherless children.