Review of Inherit the Wind (1960) by Thomas Y — 13 Nov 2009

Two big acting powerhouses, Spencer Tracy and Fredrich March, go head-to-head in this film based on the real-life 1925 case about a science teacher accused of the crime of teaching evolution. Fredrich March plays Matthew Harrison Brady, a character based on William Jennings Bryan.

He's a loud (exceedingly loud) political figure who ran for president three times (and lost three times), and invites himself to be special prosecuter in the case against the teacher, partly to uphold his good creationist/christian beliefs and partly to publicize and celebrate himself.

A cynical reporter covering the case manages to get his paper to hire Henry Drummond (Spencer Tracy), a character based on Clarence Darrow, to represent the school teacher. This sets up a clash of titan attorneys, although both men are friends and former co-workers (Drummond worked on Brady's presidential campaigns).

It's no help to Drummond that the entire town is biased against the school teacher, all they know from Darwin and evolution is that it claims man descended from the apes and that God didn't create the world in seven days.

Those expecting the movie to be an even-handed debate on the subject will be disappointed (I'm not sure an even-handed debate on the subject even exists though), as the movie takes the firm side of evolution.

The Brady character can only yell and scream bible passages and call people sinners and blasphemers. But he's the level-headed creationist in the group, the real extremist comes in the form of the Reverend Jeremiah Brown (Claude Akins).

He goes into ecstatic fits when condemning people to hell, especially when condemning his own daughter (Donna Anderson). But does he condemn her because he thinks her to be a sinner, or is it because he can't control her or the fact that she's in love with the wicked heathen school teacher (played by Dick York, TV's "Darrin" from "Bewitched").

Obviously, for a film made in 1960, this is pretty heavy stuff. It's not that faith is wrong, Drummond argues, but laws against thinking are. It's a timely and pointed reference to the blind "red" hysteria of the Joseph McCarthy era.

Faith and science aren't mutually exclusive, but in a society where religious faith supercedes rational science and thought, where do we draw the line? Sadly, Inherit the Wind is just as relevant today as it was in 1960.