Why do you want to say "(except the Peck character and his immediate circle)" as if they don't count? Racism WAS rampant, most whites were either racist or silent, and it took people standing up to say it was wrong.
The movie had no good guys except the hero? Well duh! The hero needs the bad guys to be called the hero.
What do you want? a movie set in the old south where all the white men were fair, and the black man would have been assumed to have a fair trial? That wouldn't be a credible and believable story.
No, that would be a stereotype too. But the movie, instead of showing a realistic mix of human types, made all whites look evil, except for Peck and about three others. I'm just wondering how Southerners respond to the movie and book. That's the question in my post.
It is an excellent book and a very good movie. I bought it on VHS a long time ago and all of my children have watched it.
The story is about intolerance, not necessarily racism. Boo Radley is the lesson, not the rape trial. Bob Eueal is the villian, killed by the previously scary Boo Radley who has made many generous gestures to the Finch children and, indeed, saves their lives.
A fantastic read.