Inherit the Wind (1960)

Inherit the Wind (1960)

Produced and directed by Stanley Kramer (The Defiant Ones (1958)) this essential courtroom drama was based on the real events of (what’s come to be known as) the Scopes Monkey trial: John Scopes was a high school teacher in Tennessee that was arrested for teaching evolution in the classroom celebrated lawyer Clarence Darrow (and the ACLU) came to his defense whereas William Jennings Bryan a former Democratic presidential candidate and fundamentalist Christian sat with the prosecution. Spencer Tracy earned a Best Actor Academy Award nomination playing Henry Drummond a character based on Darrow opposite Fredric March as Matthew Harrison Brady based on Bryan who was put on the stand – these scenes between the two Oscar winning veterans squaring off is what makes this age old historical debate so compelling. The film based on the play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee features an Oscar nominated screenplay by blacklisted writer Nedrick Young (as Nathan E. Douglas) and Harold Jacob Smith (who’d shared an Oscar for writing The Defiant Ones (1958)); its B&W Cinematography (Ernest Laszlo’s first nomination) and Editing were also nominated. Gene Kelly plays the journalist who covered the events Dick York plays the schoolteacher and Harry Morgan plays the judge. Claude Akins Noah Beery Jr. and Norman Fell are among those who also appear in the credited cast.

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