Inherit the Wind (1960 film)

In the small Southern town of Hillsboro, in the 1920s, a school teacher, Bertram Cates, is about to stand trial for teaching Darwinism, which is a violation of state law. Cates is denounced by town leaders including Reverend Jeremiah Brown.

The town is excited because Matthew Brady, a noted statesman and three-time presidential candidate, will be assisting in the prosecution of Cates. A staunch foe of evolution and a Biblical scholar, Brady will sit beside prosecuting attorney Tom Davenport, in the courtroom of Judge Coffey.

Spencer Tracy, Harry Morgan, and Fredric March during the questioning of Brady by Drummond

The teacher's defense is to be handled by the equally well-known Henry Drummond, one of America's most controversial legal minds and a long-standing acquaintance and adversary of Brady. An influential newspaperman, E.K. Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald, has persuaded Drummond to represent Cates, and ensured that his newspaper and a radio network will provide nationwide coverage of the case.

Rev. Brown publicly rallies the townspeople against Cates and Drummond. The preacher's daughter Rachel is conflicted because she and Cates are engaged. When Rachel cries out against her father's condemnation, Brady admonishes Brown by quoting Solomon: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind."

The courtroom takes on a circus atmosphere with radio broadcasting, newspaper photography and spectator outbursts during the trial. Each time Drummond calls a scientist or authority figure to discuss Darwin's theories, the judge sustains the prosecution's objections and forbids such testimony, ruling that Cates, not evolution, is on trial. Drummond grows frustrated, feeling the case has already been decided. When he asks to withdraw from the case, the judge holds Drummond in contempt of court, orders him jailed, and tells Drummond to show cause the next morning why he should not be held in contempt of court. John Stebbins offers his farm as collateral for Drummond's bail. Stebbins' son was a friend and protege of Cates who drowned after developing a cramp while swimming. Brown had said the child was damned to hell because he was not baptized. This led to Cates abandoning the church, as he felt it was not fair that a child could not enter Heaven due to an action that was beyond his control.

That night, mocking crowds go by the jail and then to the hotel where Drummond is staying. Drummond is trying to decide how to present his defense without his witnesses and states that he needs a miracle. Hornbeck throws him a Bible from Brady, stating "There are plenty in there." As Hornbeck pours some drinks and turns to Drummond, he is surprised by Drummond holding the Bible and smiling.

Drummond calls Brady himself to the witness stand. Brady's confidence in his Biblical knowledge is so great that he welcomes this challenge, but becomes flustered under Drummond's cross-examination, unable to explain certain Biblical events, until he is forced to confess that at least some Biblical passages cannot be interpreted literally. Drummond hammers home his point — that Cates, like any other man, demands the right to think for himself, and those citing divine support as a rationale to silence him are wrong.

The jury finds Cates guilty, but, the judge, concerned with political embarrassment, only fines him $100. Brady is furious and tries to enter a speech into the record, but Drummond persuades the judge to disallow it as the trial has concluded. As court adjourns, Brady tries to give his speech but most ignore him outside of his wife and his opponents at the defense table — Cates, Rachel, Hornbeck, and Drummond. As he becomes increasingly hysterical, he suffers a "busted belly" and dies.

After the crowd has cleared out, Hornbeck talks with Drummond, wanting to use the Bible quotation from Brown's rally, where Brady had quoted the "inherit the wind" verse because Rev. Brown was about to damn his own daughter to hell. Drummond quotes the verse verbatim, shocking Hornbeck, who states, "Well, we're growing an odd crop of agnostics this year!" They argue over Brady's legacy, Drummond accuses Hornbeck of being a heartless cynic, and Hornbeck walks out, leaving Drummond alone in the courtroom. Drummond picks up the Bible and Darwin's book (On the Origin of Species), balancing them in his hands before walking out with both of them.

Uncredited roles include Richard Deacon, George Dunn, Snub Pollard, Addison Richards, Harry Tenbrook, Will Wright[6] Actress and singer Leslie Uggams sings both the opening and closing songs by herself a cappella.

Kramer offered the role of Henry Drummond to Spencer Tracy, who initially turned it down. Kramer then sought March, Kelly and Eldridge as co-stars, and Tracy eventually agreed to make the film. However, none of the other co-stars had been signed at the time; Tracy was the first. Once Tracy signed on, the others signed too.[7]

The film had its World Premiere at the 10th Berlin International Film Festival on June 25, 1960.[1] Its U.S. premiere was in Dayton, Tennessee on July 21, 1960.[1]

Critical reception

Harry Morgan as the judge, Spencer Tracy as Drummond and Fredric March as Brady

Gene Kelly as Hornbeck

Stanley Kramer receives an Award at the 1960 Berlin Film Festival for Inherit the Wind

The film opened to a storm of praise with Kramer and company applauded for capturing the essence of the Scopes trial. Upon the film's release, Variety described it as "a rousing and fascinating motion picture ... roles of Tracy and March equal Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan who collided on evolution ... a good measure of the film's surface bite is contributed by Gene Kelly as a cynical Baltimore reporter (patterned after Henry L. Mencken) whose paper comes to the aid of the younger teacher played by Dick York. Kelly demonstrates again that even without dancing shoes he knows his way on the screen."[15] The movie was also lauded by film critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times.[16]

In 2006, film critic Roger Ebert rated the film four stars, referring to it as "a film that rebukes the past when it might also have feared the future".[17]

As of June 18, 2018, the website Rotten Tomatoes had given the film a 92% approval rating, based on 24 reviews with an average rating of 8/10.[18]

Golden Globes[22]

• Nominated: Best Film
• Nominated: Best Actor (Tracy)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Inherit the Wind (1960 film).

• Inherit the Wind at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Inherit the Wind on IMDb
• Inherit the Wind at the TCM Movie Database