Robert Mulligan is worth seeking out for the seriousness with which he treats children’s fears and discoveries. His patience draws fine performances, though his warmth towards Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird takes attention away from the racial injustice.
Fi1m perspective
In To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), Robert Mulligan lets the children take their fascination with Mr Radley’s house seriously. Mary Badham’s Scout and Phillip Alford’s Jem make childhood seem busy enough without adults supplying things to do. Mulligan recognises the pleasure of frightening ourselves, but does not dismiss what frightens them. We were moved by his patience with their worries, which Badham and Alford make as pressing as any adult concern. Mulligan is worth seeking out for that care, and for performances that hold our interest without needing the director to keep drawing attention to himself.
The career was broader than those childhood scenes might suggest. His first feature, Fear Strikes Out (1957), began his partnership with producer Alan J. Pakula, which ran to seven films. Love with the Proper Stranger (1963), with Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen, was a downbeat romance. By Summer of '42 (1971) and the Gothic thriller The Other (1972), he was moving between nostalgic coming-of-age drama and a darker genre.
Yet To Kill a Mockingbird gives us the clearest reason to return to him. Horton Foote’s screenplay approaches the town’s racial injustice through Scout and Jem, making their curiosity and their understanding of Atticus central. John Megna’s Dill belongs easily in their company. Gregory Peck and Badham give the father and daughter a warmth that matters to our recommendation. Mulligan gets the relationships between these people right, so we are willing to spend time with them before the trial begins.
There is a cost to all that warmth. Atticus’s goodness claims too much of our attention, leaving the handling of racism less satisfying than the scenes of childhood. Peck’s appeal makes the emphasis understandable, but the film gives us too much opportunity to admire one decent man when it should be attending more closely to the injustice around him.
His final film, The Man in the Moon (1991), returned to youth and small-town life and introduced Reese Witherspoon. That is a sensible next stop for anyone drawn to his work with Badham. Start with To Kill a Mockingbird, but give the children at least as much attention as their father.
Biography
Robert Mulligan was an American film and television director and producer. Born in New York City, he studied at Fordham University after serving in the US military during the Second World War. He began his career in television at CBS before making his feature debut with Fear Strikes Out (1957).
Mulligan is best known for directing To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), which he also produced. The film earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Mulligan for best director. He frequently collaborated with producer Alan J. Pakula in the 1960s. Other notable films include Summer of '42 (1971), The Other (1972), Same Time, Next Year (1978) and The Man in the Moon (1991). He was the brother of actor Richard Mulligan.
