History Theatre / InheritTheWind

The film version was well received, directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, [[TheOtherDarrin Dick York]] 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 trial 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 Wiki/TheOtherWiki.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Brady may be a self-aggrandizing religious opportunist, but he is still the one who publicly tells Rachel's hateful pastor father, with his usual eloquence and biblical knowledge, to stop condemning his own daughter.

Originally a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, then filmed in 1960 (and adapted for television three times between 1965 and 1999), ''Inherit The Wind'' is a very (''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 Bert Cates, a schoolteacher in the small, "simple" town of Hillsboro. Bert 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]] William Jennings Bryan -- 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 film version was well received, directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, [[TheOtherDarrin Dick York]] 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 trial 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 TheOtherWiki.

* AntiVillain: The worst you could say about Brady is that he's a pompous blowhard. Despite his posturing and sanctimonious oratory, he's a decent enough man, especially when compared to the madly fanatical Reverend Brown. Likewise with Hornbeck; he may be a misanthropic {{Jerkass}}, but he's only barely antagonistic enough to qualify as a villain at all.

** Hornbeck goes too far with his [[HollywoodAtheist cynicism]] when he refuses to show [[DueToTheDead due respect after the death]] of [[spoiler:Brady]] at the end of the movie.

** Drummond is portrayed as an old friend of Brady and his wife. In real life, Darrow nursed a serious grudge against Bryan due to a political rivalry early in their careers and his hatred of fundamentalism on principle. Bryan himself didn't think much of Darrow and for her part, Mary Bryan absolutely despised Darrow. Darrow expressed little of Drummond's reverence at [[spoiler: Bryan/Brady's death.]]

** Brady loses it in court and starts yelling the names of all the books in the Old Testament even though no one is listening to him anymore. The breakdown continues to the next day and [[spoiler: up to his death. As he dies, all the pent-up speeches he was to make if elected President finally come out]]. This may also count as a HeroicBSOD.
** Hornbeck, previously a DeadpanSnarker with no real emotional attachment to anything, gets really pissed off when Drummond chews him out for [[spoiler: insulting Brady after his death]]. He even slips up in insulting Drummond, calling him an "atheist who believes in God!"

* PunchClockVillain: One interpretation of Brady. This was certainly true of his real life counterpart (the "Punch-Clock" part, anyway): as much as Bryan was an anti-evolutionist crusader, the affair in Dayton was more or less something to occupy his time in retirement.

* BadassPacifist: Drummond is an aging man who takes a lot heat from everybody, but he never loses his cool demeanor and instead turns words into weapons to defend his cause with a respect-worthy dignity. All in the middle of a hostile town where death threats are matter-of-factly sung.

* CoolTeacher: The implication is Cates is one and well-respected by his students. There is even a switch moment when Drummond and Hornbeck see a group of young men staring at them and approach, ask if they are there to help Mr. Cates, then ask if they need help carrying their luggage.

* EurekaMoment: When Hornbeck jokingly notes the only book and area of expertise Brady and the prosecutor would permit to be allowed in the court is the Bible, Drummond realizes his next attack should be on the literal interpretation of the Bible and breakdown Brady's view.

* HeelRealization: While it doesn't stop him from participating in the trial in any sense, Brady has a serious OhCrap moment when his wife screams at him in the middle of his verbal beat down of Rachel. On snapping out of his righteous fury and realizing that he's driven her to tears, Brady sheepishly backs away and suggests the witness should be excused.

* PrayerOfMalice: Reverend Brown delivered a fiery sermon praying God will damn Cates to Hell for teaching "evil-lution" and later a mob crowd uses a hymn's tune to claim they want to hang Cates and Drummond from a sour apple tree, because their God is right.

** Scopes was not a lone renegade teaching evolution in open defiance of the law. Every teacher in the state taught from the same biology textbook -- Civic Biology -- and thus every teacher in Dayton was violating the law. Any of them could have been a potential defendant. When the law passed, the state university openly declared they would not stop teaching evolution, and were never punished for it. The law itself seems to have simply a means of "looking" good by the politicians to the fundamentalist Tennesseans.

** Likewise, Bryan eagerly jumped on the bandwagon despite not having practiced law for 36 years by that point. The extent of his political failures is exaggerated as well, although he did participate in the trial in the twilight of his career, with his voice and oratory both fading.

* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: Attorney Henry Drummond tells a story about a rocking horse he wanted when he was a child. It was far too expensive for his family to get for him, but his father scrimped and saved and managed to purchase the rocking horse for Drummond as a Christmas present. And the first time Drummond got on it to ride, it fell apart from dry rot. The Horse looked shiny, new and wonderful on the outside, but was really rotten to the core. This is a metaphor for his view on the fundamentalist literal interpretation of the Bible. The scrimping and saving, and the grief of the realization, might also be part of the analogy, respectively standing for the hardship and hopes stored up in the struggle for salvation, and the possible overwhelming sadness that comes from realizing that work was wasted and those hopes false if it turns out they were.

* AntiVillain: The worst you could say about Brady is that he's a pompous blowhard. Despite his posturing and sanctimonious oratory, he's a decent enough man, especially when compared to the madly fanatical Reverend Brown. Likewise with Hornbeck; he may be a misanthropic {{Jerkass}}, but he's only barely antagonistic enough to qualify for this trope.

[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inherit_the_Wind Speaking of what the other wiki says,]] the play was intended as a criticism of of the [[RedScare anti-Communist hysteria]] of TheFifties. However, with the newly-reborn debate on evolution versus creationism, the film is often shown at face value without the [=McCarthyism=] subtext being considered. ''And it still works beautifully.''

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Play is based on the actual Scopes Monkey Trial in the 1920s, but is supposed to be an allegory for the then-current McCarthy witch-hunts that dominated the headlines.

* PunchClockVillain: One interpretation of Brady. This was certainly true of his real life counterpart: as much as Bryan was an anti-evolutionist crusader, the affair in Dayton was more or less something to occupy his time in retirement.

* AmoralAttorney: Brady's more interested in preaching than prosecuting and his religious devotion is more or less a way to be famous, compensating for all the times he's failed to become president. In contrast, the town accuses Drummond of taking the case solely to denounce religion, though Drummond is an agnostic who has nothing against religion save for the fundamentalists' literal interpretation of the Bible.
** The ending, by showing Drummond's familiarity with Biblical passages and Hornbeck's disgusted reaction, shows that the former is quite familiar with and respectful of the Bible, having taken up the case not out of hostility to religion but because of his devotion to freedom of thought. Earlier, Drummond makes this plain: "The Bible is a book. It's a good book, but it is not the ''only'' book."

* 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''.

* HolierThanThou: Reverend Brown.

* HollywoodLaw: There are so, so many instances of this (however much of it's actually TruthInTelevision (the entire trial was staged).

* PenultimateOutburst: Drummond's brush with a contempt charge.

* PunchClockVillain: One interpretation of Brady.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Deliberately dramatized from the actual trial, which naturally means that many aspect of the film contradict the actual facts of the Scopes trial:

** H.L. Mencken's participation in the whole affair is magnified. In reality, he merely commentated irreverently from the sidelines for the ''Baltimore Sun'' and actually left Dayton before the trial was over. He thus also missed Darrow's examination of Bryan, something he sorely regretted.

* WantingIsBetterThanHaving: Attorney Henry Drummond tells a story about a rocking horse he wanted when he was a child. It was far too expensive for his family to get for him, but his father scrimped and saved and managed to purchase the rocking horse for Drummond as a Christmas present. And the first time Drummond got on it to ride, it fell apart from dry rot. The Horse looked shiny, new and wonderful on the outside, but was really rotten to the core. This is a metaphor for his view on the fundamentalist literal interpretation of the Bible. The scrimping and saving, and the depressiveness of the realization, might also be part of the analogy, respectively standing for the hardship and hopes stored up in the struggle for salvation, and the possible overwhelming sadness that comes from realizing that work was wasted and those hopes false if it turns out they were.

* YouCanNotKillAnIdea: Works both ways. The Fundamentalists do their spiteful best to "kill" the concept of evolution because, for some, they fear science will come and "kill" their literal view of the Bible.

** Scopes was not a lone renegade teaching evolution in open defiance of the law. Every teacher in the state taught from the same biology textbook -- Civil Biology -- and thus every teacher in Dayton was violating the law. Any of them could have been a potential defendant.

** H.L. Mencken's participation in the whole affair is maginified. In reality, he merely commentated irreverently from the sidelines for the ''Baltimore Sun'' and actually left Dayton before the trial was over. He also missed Darrow's examination of Bryan, something he sorely regretted.

Originally a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee, then filmed in 1960 (and adapted for television three times between 1965 and 1999), ''Inherit The Wind'' is a very (''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, to question.

The play revolves primarily around Bert Cates, a schoolteacher in the small, "simple" town of Hillsboro. Bert is arrested for teaching the theory of evolution in his class in violation of a state law, and the film opens with him being hauled bodily out of his classroom by the police. The town's mayor initially wants to keep the whole affair quiet, 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]] William Jennings Bryan -- 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 film version was well received, directed by Creator/StanleyKramer with Creator/SpencerTracy as Drummond, Creator/FredricMarch as Brady, [[TheOtherDarrin Dick York]] 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 from the real trial than the play does, but also incorporates more of the trial 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 TheOtherWiki.

* AlasPoorVillain: Brady's downfall is played completely tragically, as he inadvertently makes himself look like a fool in front of the courtroom audience, suffers a massive VillainousBreakdown, and suffers a heart attack right in the court room. Drummond especially doesn't take any joy in seeing his WorthyOpponent die in such a pathetic fashion.
* AntiVillain: The worst you could say about Brady is that he's a pompous blowhard. Despite his posturing and sanctimonious oratory, he's a decent enough man, especially when compared to the madly fanatical Reverend Brown. Likewise with Hornbeck; he may be a misanthropic {{Jerkass}}, but he's only barely antagonistic enough to qualify for this trope..

* CollapsedMidSpeech: Brady is giving his closing speech, which his old and weary voice tries and fails to make sound passionate. After the microphone is taken away from him, he desperately tries to continue, but suddenly falls silent and collapses. As he is carried out of the courtroom in a semi-conscious state, he strangely starts speaking on being inaugurated as President. He dies offstage soon after. TruthInTelevision, as Bryan actually did die (in his sleep) five days later.

* CourtroomAntic: A lot of them. Badgering witnesses, limiting the defense's options by claiming areas of science not relevant to the case at hand, and of course, direct-examining the prosecutor.

* FamedInStory: Brady and Drummond are respectively the champions of tradition and secularism in the United States.

* HeelRealization: While it doesn't stop him from participating in the trial in any sense, Brady has a serious OhCrap moment when his wife screams at him in the middle of his verbal beatdown of Rachel. Upon snapping out of his righteous fury and realizing that he's driven her to tears, Brady sheepishly backs away and suggests the witness should be excused.

* HollywoodAtheist: Hornbeck. Interestingly, his views aren't all that different from his real life counterpart.

** Also, Brady badgering Rachel (though that may have been allowed because the town adores him).

** The cross-examination is mis-characterized as well. The point of the the cross-examination was not to reveal Bryan's ignorance of the Bible, but to make the point that a literal interpretation of the Bible was at odds with common sense and well-established facts, that Bryan himself did not actually believe in a literal interpretation in many areas, and that many of Bryan's beliefs were not based on the Bible, but traditions that emerged centuries later. This was legally relevant, as the statute required the offender to teach the theory of evolution '''and''' contradict the Bible; if it could be proven that the theory of evolution did not necessarily contradict the Bible, then Scopes was not guilty.

* AntiVillain: Brady and Hornbeck.

** Hornbeck, previously a DeadpanSnarker with no real emotional attachment to anything, gets really pissed off when Drummond chews him out for [[spoiler: insulting Brady after his death]]. He even slips up in insulting Drummond, calling him an "atheist who believes in God!" Er, Hornbeck, Drummond is an ''agnostic'', not an atheist, remember? And agnostics can be either theist or atheist.

** Scopes was not a lone renegade teaching evolution in open definace of the law. Every teacher in the state taught from the same biology textbook -- Civil Biology -- and thus every teacher in Dayton were violating the law. Any of them could have been a potential defendant.

** H.L. Mencken's participation in the whole affair is maginified. In reality, he merely commentated irreverently from the sidelines for the 'Baltimore Sun' and actually left Dayton before the trial was over. He also missed Darrow's examination of Bryan, something he sorely regretted.
** Likewise, Bryan eagerly jumped on the bandwagon despite not having practiced law for 36 years by that point. The extent of his political failures is exaggerated as well, although he did participate in the trial at the twilight of his career, with his voice and oratory both fading.

** Drummond complains about Brady being addressed as Colonel, as this honorary treatment makes Brady appear superior. The judge concedes the point and Drummond is made ''temporary'' honorary Colonel.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Deliberately dramatized from the actual trial, which was a hoax and a publicity stunt designed to put Dayton, TN back on the map. Clarence Darrow had announced publicly that he would defend, ''pro bono'', anyone who was arrested for teaching evolution in a state where it had been outlawed. Scopes agreed to claim to have taught evolution and be tried, though nobody could prove that he had actually taught it (he did use a textbook with evolution in it, but all science teachers used that text). Likewise, Bryan eagerly jumped on the bandwagon despite not having practiced law for 36 years by that point. The teacher on "trial" also never spent any time in jail, instead only receiving a fine that was ultimately waived by the judge. Brady is shown as totally and willfully ignorant of Darwin's book and evolution in general. In the actual case Bryan quoted parts of it from memory. [[QuoteMine Cherry-picked quotes completely out of context]], but definitely not total ignorance. Bryan, like Brady, was called to testify as an "expert" on the Bible. This was not, however, due to his claims of actual expertise (he claimed no such thing), but because of his theology. He embraced literal interpretation because he felt a "democratic" religion required an interpretation of the scripture that anyone could make sense of, not just a handful of experts. Given his views, he could not decline on the basis of lacking sufficient expertise.

* BigEater: Brady; yet another way of coping with his inferiority complex after losing three bids for president.
** This was also true for his real life counterpart Bryan as well.
* CharlesDarwin: The BigBad and the BigGood, depending on the camp, on account of being the historical proponent of evolution.
* CollapsedMidSpeech: Brady is giving his closing speech, which his old and weary voice tries and fails to make sound passionate. After the microphone is taken away from him, he desperately tries to continue, but suddenly falls silent and collapses. As he is carried out of the courtroom in a semi-conscious state, he strangely starts speaking on being inaugurated as President. He dies offstage soon after.
** Semi- TruthInTelevision: Bryan actually did die (in his sleep) five days later.

* CourtroomAntic: A lot of them. Badgering witnesses, limiting the defense's options by claiming areas of science not relevant to the case at hand.

* HamToHamCombat: The plot.
* HeatWave: The characters are soaked with sweat and most of the courtroom audience are fanning themselves with hand-held fans, which display in-universe ProductPlacement ("Courtesy of X's Funeral Service"), a reflection of the tradition of funeral homes giving out free fans as promotional items. Some people even collect them.

* HollywoodAtheist: Hornbeck.

* {{Hypocrite}}: The town and Reverend Brown believe themselves to be good Christians for following the Bible. They fail to realize one ought to forgive a man his transgressions, not sing in a mob to hang the man from an apple tree.
** For basing their whole position on Biblical literalism, the townsfolk are weirdly loose in their wording when quoting it. For instance, in the prayer meet where they recite Genesis the days of creation are marked by "the morning and the evening" when the Bible says the opposite.

* LawProcedural

* SimpleCountryLawyer: Played with.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Deliberately dramatized from the actual trial, which was a hoax and a publicity stunt designed to put Dayton, TN back on the map. Clarence Darrow had announced publicly that he would defend, ''pro bono'', anyone who was arrested for teaching evolution in a state where it had been outlawed. Scopes agreed to claim to have taught evolution and be tried, though nobody could prove that he had actually taught it (he did use a textbook with evolution in it, but all science teachers used that text). Likewise, Bryan eagerly jumped on the bandwagon despite not having practiced law for 36 years by that point. The teacher on "trial" also never spent any time in jail, instead only receiving a fine that was ultimately waived by the judge.
** Brady is shown as totally and willfully ignorant of Darwin's book and evolution in general. In the actual case Bryan quoted parts of it from memory. [[QuoteMine Cherry-picked quotes completely out of context]], but definitely not total ignorance.
** Darrow was actually more anti-religious and atheistic than is portrayed in the play, where that role falls to H. L. Mencken's {{expy}} Hornbeck.
** Bryan, like Brady, was called to testify as an "expert" on the Bible. This was not, however, due to his claims of actual expertise (he claimed no such thing), but because of his theology. He embraced literal interpretation because he felt a "democratic" religion required an interpretation of the scripture that anyone could make sense of, not just a handful of experts. Given his views, he could not decline on the basis of lacking sufficient expertise.

** The ending, by showing Drummond's familiarity with Biblical passages and Hornbeck's disgusted reaction, shows that the former is quite familiar with and respectful of the Bible, having taken up the case not out of hostility to religion but because of his devotion to freedom of thought. Earlier, Drummond makes this plain: "The Bible is a book. It's a [[TheGoodBook good book]], but it is not the ''only'' book."