History Theatre / InheritTheWind

The play revolves primarily around Bertram Cates, a schoolteacher in the small, "simple" town of "Heavenly" Hillsboro. Bert, based on John T. Scopes (from whom the real-life trial derives its popular name), is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in his class in violation of a state law, and the film opens with him being placed under arrest before his class by the police. The town's mayor initially wants to keep the whole affair quiet, and some of the more prominent members of the community urge him to drop the matter entirely...but others (especially in the film; see below) agitate for ''more'' publicity, hoping to raise their town's profile to the national stage. That side wins when Matthew Harrison Brady (the [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed analogue]] of UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan) announces that he's coming to Hillsboro to assist the prosecution. Cates writes to a newspaper in Baltimore for assistance, and is presented with Henry Drummond (Clarence Darrow by another name) as his defense attorney, and E. K. Hornbeck (standing in for Creator/HLMencken) [[LemonyNarrator as a chronicler]].

The 1960 film was directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, Creator/DickYork as Cates, Creator/HarryMorgan as the judge, and ([[PlayingAgainstType surprisingly]]) Creator/GeneKelly as the all-snarking, never-dancing Hornbeck. It takes a few more liberties with the real story than the play does, but also incorporates more of the actual trial's transcript; [[RealityIsUnrealistic today, most people thinking of the real trial instead remember details from the film]]. The film also has the distinction of being the first to be shown as an in-flight movie, according to the back of its DVD case and Website/{{Wikipedia}}.

The 1960 film was directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, Creator/DickYork as Cates, Creator/HarryMorgan as the judge, and ([[PlayingAgainstType surprisingly]]) Creator/GeneKelly as the all-snarking, never-dancing Hornbeck. It takes a few more liberties with the real story than the play does, but also incorporates more of the actual trial's transcript; [[RealityIsUnrealistic today, most people thinking of the real trial instead remember details from the film]]. The film also has the distinction of being the first in-flight movie, according to the back of its DVD case and Website/{{Wikipedia}}.

Originally a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, then [[TheFilmOfThePlay adapted as a feature film]] in 1960 (and for television three times between 1965 and 1999), ''Inherit the Wind'' is a (''very'') fictionalized account of the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial Scopes Monkey Trial]]," a 1925 Tennessee court case which revolved around the teaching of UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection in public schools. The whole thing was actually a publicity stunt by the backwater town of Dayton, Tennessee, leading to the trial being sensationalized beyond belief. It kind of went OffTheRails from there, bringing many (at the time) "incontrovertible" tenets of American thought, such as a literal interpretation of Literature/TheBible, into question.

Originally a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, then [[TheFilmOfThePlay adapted as a feature film]] in 1960 (and for television three times between 1965 and 1999), ''Inherit the Wind'' is a (''very'') fictionalized account of the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial Scopes Monkey Trial]]," a 1925 Tennessee court case which revolved around the teaching of UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection in public schools. The whole thing was actually a publicity stunt by the backwater town of Dayton, TN, leading to the trial being sensationalized beyond belief. It kind of went OffTheRails from there, bringing many (at the time) "incontrovertible" tenets of American thought, such as a literal interpretation of Literature/TheBible, into question.

The play revolves primarily around Bertram Cates, a schoolteacher in the small, "simple" town of "Heavenly" Hillsboro. Bert, based on John T. Scopes (from whom the real-life trial derives its popular name), is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in his class in violation of a state law, and the film opens with him being placed under arrest before his class by the police. The town's mayor initially wants to keep the whole affair quiet, and some of the more prominent members of the community urge him to drop the matter entirely...but others (especially in the film; see below) agitate for ''more'' publicity, hoping to raise their town's profile to the national stage. That side wins when Matthew Harrison Brady -- [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed the analogue of]] UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan -- announces that he's coming to Hillsboro to assist the prosecution. Cates writes to a newspaper in Baltimore for assistance, and is presented with Henry Drummond (Clarence Darrow by another name) as his defense attorney, and E. K. Hornbeck (standing in for Creator/HLMencken) [[LemonyNarrator as a chronicler]].

The play revolves primarily around Bertram Cates, a schoolteacher in the small, "simple" town of "Heavenly" Hillsboro. Bert, based on John T. Scopes (from whom the real-life trial derives its popular name), is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in his class in violation of a state law, and the film opens with him being placed under arrest before his class by the police. The town's mayor initially wants to keep the whole affair quiet, and some of the more prominent members of the community urge him to drop the matter entirely...but others (especially in the film; see below) agitate for ''more'' publicity, hoping to raise their town's profile to the national stage. That side wins when Matthew Harrison Brady -- [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed the analogue of]] UsefulNotes/WilliamJenningsBryan -- announces that he's coming to Hillsboro to assist the prosecution. Cates writes to a newspaper in Baltimore for assistance, and is presented with Henry Drummond (Clarence Darrow by another name) as his defense attorney, and E.K. Hornbeck (standing in for Creator/HLMencken) [[LemonyNarrator as a chronicler]].

* WorldOfJerkass: Hillsboro is portrayed this way in the play, with virtually all of the townspeople (except for Cates and a couple of his friends) being ignorant and bigoted, hate-filled religious zealots. The people of Dayton TN were considerably friendlier and more tolerant.

* AdaptationalVillainy: More a case of adaptational antagonism for Brady (compared to his real-life counterpart William Jennings Bryan). After Cates is found guilty and given a small fine, Brady complains that the nature of his offense requires a much higher penalty. In reality, William Jennings Bryan prosecuted Scopes for principle's sake, and had no desire to see Scopes being given an onerous fine. In fact, Bryan even said that he'd pay Scopes' fine out of his own pocket.

->''Whoever brings ruin on their family will inherit only wind, and the fool will be servant to the wise.''
-->-- '''Literature/BookOfProverbs''' 11:29 (NIV)

* VictoriousLoser: Brady wins the court case - Cates was found guilty of violating the statute forbidding the teaching of evolution and fined $100. However, Cates is likely to win his coming appeal to a higher court (and may even succeed in getting the statute overturned as unconstitutional). Meanwhile, Brady and his cause have become a national laughing stock, and even his enthusiastic supporters among the Hillsboro townspeople start to see him as a washed up has-been. The few who pay any attention to his final speech look on more in pity for him than out of interest or enthusiasm. And of course, shortly afterwards, Brady collapses and dies of a stroke or heart attack.

The 1960 film was directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, Creator/DickYork as Cates, Creator/HarryMorgan as the judge, and ([[PlayingAgainstType surprisingly]]) Creator/GeneKelly as the all-snarking, never-dancing Hornbeck. It takes a few more liberties with the real story than the play does, but also incorporates more of the actual trial's transcript; [[RealityIsUnrealistic today, most people thinking of the real trial instead remember details from the film]]. The film also has the distinction of being the first in-flight movie, according to the back of its DVD case and Wiki/{{Wikipedia}}.

* VictoriousLoser: Brady wins the case because Cates was found guilty of violating the statute forbidding the teaching of evolution. However, both Brady and his cause have become a national laughing stock, Cates is likely to win his appeal with a higher court (and perhaps get the statute he was convicted of overturned), and even his enthusiastic supporters among the Hillsboro townspeople start to see him as a washed up has-been. The few who pay any attention at all to his final speech look on more in pity than out of interest or enthusiasm. And of course, shortly afterwards, Brady collapses and dies of a stroke or heart attack.

In addition to the feature film, there have been two adaptations made for television: a 1988 version with Creator/JasonRobards as Drummond and Creator/KirkDouglas as Brady, and a later 1999 version with Creator/JackLemmon as Drummon and Creator/GeorgeCScott (in one of his last acting roles) as Brady.

* {{Irony}}: When Brady gives his final address after the trial is ended, the majority of the few people who are really listening to him with sympathy are his enemies.

* NiceGuy: The bailiff remains friendly with Cates and only locks him up to keep up the charade, in spite of the townspeople's anger and hysteria about him.

* CourtroomAntic: A lot of them. Badgering witnesses, limiting the defense's options by claiming areas of science irrelevant to the case at hand, and of course, direct-examining the prosecutor. TruthInTelevision for the real case too: it was an absolute ''circus''.

** The townspeople of Hillsboro (based on Dayton TN) are portrayed as hate-filled rubes, bigots and religious zealots. In fact, most of the people of Dayton found the whole thing amusing for its circus-like atmosphere and press/radio publicity. Nobody threatened Scopes ("Cates" in the play) or hanged effigies of Darrow ("Drummond"). In reality, even H.L. Mencken (on whom E.K. Hornbeck was based) admitted that he was pleasantly surprised by how clean and prosperous Dayton seemed and how cordial the townspeople were, completely contrary to his own pre-conceived stereotypes about the region, and how Hornbeck described and perceives Hillsboro.

** The townspeople of Hillsboro (based on Dayton TN) are portrayed as hate-filled rubes, bigots and religious zealots. In fact, most of the people of Dayton found the whole thing amusing for its circus-like atmosphere and press/radio publicity. Nobody threatened Scopes ("Cates" in the play) or hanged effigies of Darrow ("Drummond").

Originally a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, then adapted as a feature film in 1960 (and for television three times between 1965 and 1999), ''Inherit the Wind'' is a (''very'') fictionalized account of the "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scopes_Trial Scopes Monkey Trial]]," a 1925 Tennessee court case which revolved around the teaching of UsefulNotes/CharlesDarwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection in public schools. The whole thing was actually a publicity stunt by the backwater town of Dayton, TN, leading to the trial being sensationalized beyond belief. It kind of went OffTheRails from there, bringing many (at the time) "incontrovertible" tenets of American thought, such as a literal interpretation of Literature/TheBible, into question.

** The trial itself was hoax and a publicity stunt designed to put Dayton, TN back on the map. Scopes volunteered to be the defendant and was never in any real trouble, and the prosecutors and several lawmakers were in on the whole thing.

* SocietyIsToBlame: Name-checked. Drummond ''is'' an {{expy}} of the RealLife TropeCodifier.