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Movie Review - Inherit the Wind

 

            Stanley Kramer's Inherit the Wind (1960) is an adaptation of the play that explores the Scopes Monkey Trial (1925), in which two lawyers dispute the fate of the high school science teacher who had explained Darwins theory of human evolution to his students as opposed to the theory of creationism laid out in the Bible and Tennessee law. Instead of John Scopes, the movie uses the character of Bertram Cates as the schoolteacher. .
             The action of following more modern ways then brings Cates much criticism, specifically from people like Reverend Jeremiah Brown, whose daughter Rachel becomes romantically attached to Cates. Cates is tried for a crime that seems trivial to us today, but at the time brought much controversy. Matthew Brady, a well-known attorney and politician, serves as the prosecutor and holds onto his conservative views in an attempt to stop teachers like Cates from spreading such ideas. Henry Drummond serves as Cates defendant and is a harsh critic of Brady. This film explores the conflict between the two lawyers as they each defend their own ways of evolution and creationism, or on a broader level, the willingness to embrace the future versus the stubbornness in clinging to the past. Ultimately, the tension mounts to an unbearable level causing Brady to become hysterical and then die in the courtroom. This films intense acting and words make this movie enthralling to the viewer no matter what the time period, making it seem a timeless and classic movie. .
             One strength of this movie is its use of weather and heat to parallel the intense discussions happening within the courtroom. For example, Drummonds most intense speech happens during an excruciatingly hot day that causes the lawyers to be in short sleeves and fan themselves. Drummond becomes furious delivering his speech, claiming that this community is an insult to the world, for if the court makes the teaching of Darwinian evolution a crime then it will next start to ban books and newspapers.


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