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Big Screen Dads

by Brian Caulfield 

Envelope, please (drum roll). The winner in the “Best Dad” category is …

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird!

Well, not this year, and probably not any year soon will there be a “Best Dad” or “Faithful Father” category at the Academy Awards. But we can do the job ourselves, starting with Gregory Peck for his role in the 1962 film that was based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee. (If you have not read the book, you must do so before seeing the movie!) Of course, Peck did get his just recognition for his memorable role, winning the “Best Actor” Oscar for that year. The American Film Institute also named Atticus Finch the greatest movie hero of the 20th century. Not a bad review.

Somewhat less notably, he also received the most votes in an informal poll of the members of the Fathers for Good Facebook group (which everyone should join), and thus he receives the first Fathers for Good “Best Dad” award.

It is heartening for us fathers that such a good dad, a widower, has gained the highest plaudits from the mainstream film industry. But Peck’s character is not always remembered first for his fatherly qualities. Rather, Atticus Finch is famous for his righteous resistance to the racial prejudice and small-minded bigotry of the South in the 1930s. A lawyer, Atticus chooses to defend a black man accused of raping a white woman, and for that reason alone is reviled by many townsfolk. He risks his life, standing guard at the jail house when a lynch mob approaches to take Tom Robinson at night. Even though Atticus proves Robinson’s innocence in the courtroom, he is convicted by the jury, which was decidedly not of his peers.

Since the story is told in the voice of Atticus’s daughter, the tomboy “Scout,” he is portrayed throughout the film in his fatherly role. She paints a loving portrait of Atticus as a strict and tender father, raising a boy and a girl after the death of his wife. With every action, word and decision, he teaches them good from evil, justice from prejudice, right from wrong, and his children know he does more than talk. He has the courage of his convictions.

My favorite scene is when a rabid dog staggers into town and even the sheriff is afraid to shoot, fearing he may miss and send the dog on a rampage. As the sheriff hands the gun to Atticus, his daughter screams that her daddy can’t shoot since she has never seen him handle a gun. Atticus pulls the trigger and stops the dog dead in its tracks with one clean shot through the heart. “Didn’t you know your daddy is the best shot in the county?” the sheriff tells the children. It was a perfect example of confident masculine strength; Atticus was a man of reason and compassion, but also a man of decisive action when it came to protecting his children and community.

A number of other father characters received numerous votes from the Facebook group. Let me break them into categories:

Best Dad in an Animated Film – Marlin the clownfish in Finding Nemo.

Best Actor in Multiple Father Roles – Henry Fonda as Frank Beardsley in the original Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) and also as Clay Spencer in Spencer’s Mountain (1963).

Best Father in a Large Family – Frank Gilbreth (Clifton Webb) in Cheaper by the Dozen. (One voter commented, “Gave not a care when others chided him for being quiverful.” Another commented about his dealings with a small family advocate.)

Best Father in a Foreign Film – Guido Orefice (Roberto Benigni) in the Italian release Life is Beautiful.

Best Father in a Recent Film – Chris Gardner (Will Smith) in The Pursuit of Happyness (and reaching back to the ‘90s, many voters picked Steve Martin in Father of the Bride.)

There were some votes for those better known for their TV characters: Bill Cosby, Andy Griffith and Hugh Beaumont, the classic Ward Cleaver in Leave It to Beaver.

With the Academy Awards scheduled for March 7, we have time for a reader’s poll. Are there fine father figures among the current crop of Oscar nominees? Write your comments below.

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(The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Headline Bistro or the Knights of Columbus.)