On Thursday, October 21st, we gathered at the Regency South Coast Village Theater to watch an American classic.
Based on the Pulitzer Award winning book written by Harper Lee fifty years ago this month, the Academy Award nominated film featured A-list actors of the day, like Gregory Peck, and also unknowns like Robert Duval as Boo and Mary Badham who didn't do much after this film but certainly showed skills beyond her years in her stunning performance as the lead character and our narrator of events, Scout.
The movie was preceded and followed by some backgrounder information by producer Robert Kline who has had a long and storied career in Hollywood and
currently continues his winning ways with his wife, Stephanie Heredia, in many documentary formats.
Kline has been featured at screenings of this film and as an Annenberg chair holder at USC brings a tremendous amount of veracity and interesting information about films in general and this film in particular to any discussion.
The evening was well-attended. Sponsored by Orange County Screenwriters Association and the Southern California Writers Association (website) and outreached to area high schools, the audience demographic represented those ranging groups and ran the gamut from teens to people who had actually seen the film first run in 1962.
Kline sprinkled his presentation with anecdotes from his years as a top level studio executive and the audience appreciated his quick wit and willingness to answer any question that came to mind. One audience member noted that all the violence in this film took place off-screen. Kline nodded and commented that he hadn't thought about that before but it was true. It was a different era of filmmaking that relied on story and not visual special effects to tell a tale.
The movie itself was a truly moving experience. Seeing it in the format in which it was intended - the big screen - made a tremendous difference to the power and impact of the challenging themes of rape, racism, incest, justice and coming of age during the edge of the explosion that was the 60's in America. 
The Regency South Coast Village Theater is one of the few venues in Orange County where you can see classic films like this on the big screen on a regular basis. In addition to their normal slate of first run films, The Regency's Larry Porricelli has committed to bringing these classics back to life.
On Wednesday nights, this fine movie house plays films like "Blade Runner" "Ghosthunters" "Night of The Living Dead" "Lawrence of Arabia" and many more. We may think we know what the big screen experience is like with our 60" screens and home theater sound systems but trust me, seeing "To Kill A Mockingbird" in the theater remains a step beyond.
Hopefully, the Orange County Screenwriters Association will be able to do another event like this soon. It was worth the modest attendance fee to see an American classic like "To Kill A Mockingbird."
