It�s a sadly rare occasion when I get the chance to watch an old classic, even one starring the always-magnificent Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly. In fact I might never have watched Inherit the Wind if it wasn�t for an odd conversation I had with a customer recently, a conversation which revolved around the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the 1925 Scopes Monkey Trial. Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized version of said trial, with the names and certain events changed but the basics kept in place. While writers Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (no, not that one) meant it as an allegory towards any form of government control on freedom of speech, it�s a great representation of one of the most famous court cases in American history.
To give a little background, the Scopes Monkey Trial (or in the film, the Cates Monkey Trial) was a case prosecuted by the state of Tennessee against a schoolteacher, John Thomas Scopes, who dared to teach the theories of Darwin, which at the time were against State law. With God-fearing types easily offended (some things never change) it was deemed that anything that went against the teachings of Biblical creation must be outlawed, and Scopes made an example of. Two of the most famous lawyers of the time lined up on either side and commenced battle. It was, until recently, one of the last gasps of the backward religious movement, and though it ended with a State victory it was a Pyrrhic one. The theory of evolution eventually triumphed and creationism returned to the Dark Ages.
Back to the movie. Dick York (of Bewitched fame) stars as Bertram Cates, the protagonist. Arrested in his own school for violating state law he is imprisoned, though in the small town of Heavenly Hills this is something of a friendly joke. The local authorities, determined to make the town a bastion of religious revival, bring in 3-time Presidential nominee Matthew Brady (March) to prosecute. Cates meanwhile is represented by Henry Drummond (Tracy), a long-time frenemy of Brady�s, who is brought in by cynical, wisecracking journalist E. K. Hornbeck (Kelly) to fight the good fight. The film then alternates between less-than-cordial courtroom scenes on the one hand and the equally tense township on the other.
Like a similarly-aged classic courtroom drama, 12 Angry Men, Inherit the Wind benefits mostly from its strong cast. While York seems a bit formulaic in his portrayal of Cates, Tracy, Marsh and Kelly are magnificent in their roles and are thoroughly enjoyable throughout. With the possible exception of Drummond all three are well-rounded characters with greatness and flaws in abundance. Brady is ostensibly played by March as an over-the-hill joke yet redeems and damns himself in equal amounts as the plot progresses. For a movie on the fringes of the overwrought, quick-talking early Hollywood blockbusters it splashes shades of gray all over, and while you always know who you�re rooting for (especially in my case) you see both sides plainly, something rare in any legal drama even now. |
