Inherit the Wind (1960) - Elliott Reid as Prosecutor Tom Davenport - IMDb.
Henry DrummondBertram T. CatesMatthew Harrison BradyE. K. HornbeckReverend Jeremiah BrownRachel BrownInherit the Wind/Characters
Inherit the Wind (1960) - Harry Morgan as Judge Mel Coffey - IMDb.
The play takes place in the small town of Hillsboro, in an unnamed state in the central part of the United States. (It is often assumed to be either Kentucky or Tennessee.) Scenes take place either in front of the county courthouse or in the courtroom. It takes place in the summertime "not too long ago".
The film's title was taken from the Biblical Book of Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind" - mentioned twice in the film.
prosecutor William Jennings BryanBrady is a caricature of the real-life prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. Like Brady, Bryan lost three presidential elections and died shortly after the Scopes Monkey Trial.
Melinda Loomis A twelve-year-old girl. Melinda believes in the Bible and fears the idea of evolution.
Hornbeck's character is static. He is as opinionated and iconoclastic, attacking institutions and firmly held beliefs, and he does not change throughout the course of the play. His character is also shallow and one-dimensional.
After reading On the Origin of Species by Darwin, Rachel admits to Cates and Drummond that she doesn't agree with the theory of evolution but realizes and understands the importance of having the freedom to think.
Golden Dancer, a rocking horse Drummond received from his parents as a child, represents the deceptiveness of external beauty. Despite its bright shine and color, the horse broke the first time Drummond rode it.
A verse, which is quoted twice in the play, reads, "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind" (Proverbs 11:29). This passage refers to the idea that someone who causes problems for mom and pop is going to get a whole lotta nothing come inheritance time.
rural Southsetting (place) A fictional town called Hillsboro, in the rural South; the playwrights imply that these events could have taken place in any small town in America.
oth Cates and Drummond experience a struggle against mainstream society. Lawrence and Lee place Drummond, the defense attorney, and Brady, the prosecuting attorney, side by side, thereby dramatizing the differences between the two characters.
Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which took place between July 10 and July 21, 1925, and resulted in John T. Scopes's conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law.
Reverend BrownRachel's budding emotions pull her away from her father, Reverend Brown, the religious leader of Hillsboro.
The mayor names Brady an honorary colonel in the state militia. Reverend Brown and the mayor discuss how they might prevent Drummond from entering Hillsboro.
Henry Drummond ( Spencer Tracy, left ) and Matthew Harrison Brady ( Fredric March, right) in the film version of Inherit the Wind (1960) Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes ' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution to a high school science class, ...
With Jones directing, Inherit the Wind premiered in Dallas on January 10, 1955, and received rave reviews.
The time is the day after the Brady/Drummond confrontation. It is early morning, and still very hot. Act Three consists of a single scene, and all the major characters are present. The courtroom is jammed with people, including several radio reporters and their bulky equipment. Cates asks Drummond if he will be found guilty. Drummond responds that when he was seven years old, he received a rocking horse named Golden Dancer as a gift. But it broke when he rode it the first time. Drummond advises him that appearances can be deceiving, and a clear-cut guilty verdict may conceal many things. He also implicitly criticizes Brady as all show and no substance. Their discussion ends. Before the trial begins, the Mayor speaks privately with the Judge in front of the bench. The mass media have been making the town look bad, and the Mayor asks the Judge to go easy on Cates should there be a guilty verdict.
The play begins with local high school student Howard Blair looking for worms in front of the Hillsboro courthouse. Melinda appears, and they have a discussion about evolution which helps inform the audience about the claims of evolution. They exit when Rachel enters. Rachel convinces Meeker, the bailiff, to bring Bertram Cates out of his prison cell so that Rachel and Bert can talk. Meeker does so. Bert and Rachel's conversation tells the audience about why Bert taught evolution to his students. Rachel and Bert are in love, and hug. Meeker comes in as they are hugging, saying he needs to sweep. Rachel exits. Meeker tells Bert that Matthew Harrison Brady is coming to town to help prosecute the case. Meeker talks about a time when he was a young man, and saw Mathew Harrison Brady during one of his failed presidential campaigns. Bert's lawyer is not revealed, but Bert says his attorney is being provided by the Baltimore Herald. Bert and Meeker exit.
Political commentator Steve Benen said of the play's inaccuracies: "Scopes issued no plea for empathy, there was no fiancee and the real Scopes was never arrested. In fact, the popular film that was nominated for four Academy Awards and has helped shape the American understanding of the 'Scopes Monkey Trial' for decades is an inadequate reflection of history." Lawrence explained in a 1996 interview that the drama's purpose was to criticize the then-current state of McCarthyism. The play was also intended to defend intellectual freedom. According to Lawrence, "we used the teaching of evolution as a parable, a metaphor for any kind of mind control [...] It's not about science versus religion. It's about the right to think."
Scene Two occurs in the courtroom two days after the prayer meeting. It is afternoon, and very hot. The scene opens with the trial already under way. Brady examines witness Howard Blair. Afterward, Brady and Drummond exchange heated words about speech-making during the trial. Drummond attempts to cross-examine Howard, but Brady repeatedly objects to Drummond's questions (which the Judge sustains). Drummond presents a monologue in which he declares morality is meaningless but truth is valuable, then dismisses Howard from the stand.
Hillsboro, United States. Inherit the Wind is an American play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which debuted in 1955. The story fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss the then-contemporary McCarthy trials.
Harry Morgan as the judge, Spencer Tracy as Drummond and Fredric March as Brady. Gene Kelly as Hornbeck. Stanley Kramer receives an Award at the 1960 Berlin Film Festival for Inherit the Wind.
The film was directed by Stanley Kramer. It stars Spencer Tracy as lawyer Henry Drummond and Fredric March as his friend and rival Matthew Harrison Brady.
The film includes events from the actual Scopes trial, such as when Darrow was cited for contempt of court when he denounced his perception of prejudice by the court and his subsequent act of contrition the next day to have the charge dropped. The film also expands on the relationship of Drummond and Brady, particularly when the two opponents have a respectful private conversation in rocking chairs, in which they explain their positions in the trial. Furthermore, the film has a sequence occurring on the night after the court recessed and Cates and Drummond are harassed by a mob even as the lawyer is inspired how to argue his case the next day.
Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which took place between July 10 and July 21, 1925, and resulted in John T. Scopes 's conviction for teaching Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law. The characters of Matthew Harrison Brady, Henry Drummond, Bertram Cates and E. K. Hornbeck correspond to the historical figures of William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, Scopes, and H. L. Mencken, respectively. However, Lee and Lawrence state in a note at the opening of the play on which the film is based that it is not meant to be a historical account, and many events were substantially altered or invented. For instance, the characters of the preacher and his daughter were fictional, the townspeople were not hostile towards those who had come to Dayton for the trial, and Bryan offered to pay Scopes' fine if he was convicted. Bryan did die shortly after the trial's conclusion, but his death occurred in his sleep five days later, on July 26, 1925, at age 65. Political commentator Steve Benen said of the drama's inaccuracies: "Scopes issued no plea for empathy, there was no fiancee and the real Scopes was never arrested. Lawrence explained in a 1996 interview that the play's purpose was to criticize McCarthyism and defend intellectual freedom. According to Lawrence, "we used the teaching of evolution as a parable, a metaphor for any kind of mind control ... It's not about science versus religion. It's about the right to think."
The preacher's daughter Rachel is conflicted because she and Cates are engaged. When Rachel cries out against her father's condemnation, Brady admonishes Brown by quoting Solomon: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.".
After the crowd has cleared out, Hornbeck talks with Drummond, wanting to use the Bible quotation from Brown's rally, where Brady had quoted the "inherit the wind" verse because Rev. Brown was about to damn his own daughter to hell.
Because the judge ruled that scientific evidence was inadmissible, a ruling which the movie depicted , Darrow called Bryan as his only witness and attempted to humiliate him by asking Bryan to interpret Scripture. When Darrow, in his closing remarks, called upon the jury to find Scopes guilty so that he could appeal the verdict, Bryan was kept from delivering his own summation. The guilty verdict was overturned two years later. Bryan suffered a heart attack and died in his sleep five days after the trial ended.
The Judge . The judge presiding over Cates’s trial. The judge conducts the trial impartially, although his personal views about the Bible’s legitimacy are in line with those of the rest of the townspeople of Hillsboro. At the mayor’s prompting, the judge gives Cates a lenient sentence after the jury’s guilty verdict.
The bailiff at the Hillsboro courthouse. Meeker lets Cates in and out of his jail cell and jokes that Cates is a threat to the community.
A soft-spoken and humble man, Cates has been arrested for teaching his students the theory of evolution from a biology textbook. His outlook on human knowledge is skeptical, and he wonders about the nature of the universe.
A farmer and cabinetmaker. Dunlap stands as a potential juror, but Drummond dismisses him because of his enthusiastic support of Brady.
A member of the jury. Bannister has read neither Darwin nor the Bible because he is illiterate.
The owner of a store across the square from the courthouse. The storekeeper professes not to have convictions about creation because they are not good for business.
The local district attorney. Davenport assists Brady during the trial. He attempts to stop Drummond’s humiliation of Brady at the end of the trial, but by the time he objects, Brady has already made a fool of himself.
Inherit the Wind is a fictionalized account of the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial, which resulted in John T. Scopes' conviction for teaching Charles Darwin's theory of evolution to a high school science class, contrary to a Tennessee state law. The role of Matthew Harrison Brady is intended to reflect the personality and beliefs of William Jennings Bryan, while that of Henry Drummond is intended to be si…
The play's title comes from Proverbs 11:29, which in the King James Bible reads:
He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
In Act Two, Scene One, Brady admonishes Reverend Brown with this Bible quote for alienating his daughter when he gives a fiery sermon against Cates.
• Matthew Harrison Brady, a three-time presidential candidate and nationally known attorney. He is a Populist and still a dynamic public speaker, even though he is in his late 60s or early 70s.
• Henry Drummond, another nationally known attorney who was once Brady's closest friend and political confidant. He is about the same age as Brady.
The play takes place in the small town of Hillsboro, in an unnamed state in the central part of the United States. (It is often assumed to be either Kentucky or Tennessee.) Scenes take place either in front of the county courthouse or in the courtroom. It takes place in the summertime "not too long ago".
The play begins with local high school student Howard Blair looking for worms in front of the Hill…
Lawrence and Lee’s play was rejected by eight Broadway producers before coming to the attention of Margot Jones, a theater director and producer in Dallas, Texas. With Jones directing, Inherit the Wind premiered in Dallas on January 10, 1955, and received rave reviews. The Broadway rights were soon acquired by Herman Shumlin, and the play opened at Broadway’s National Theatre on April 21, 1955. Shumlin directed, with actors Paul Muni, Ed Begley and Tony R…
• Inherit the Wind (1960 film), directed by Stanley Kramer; starring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, and Gene Kelly
• Inherit the Wind (1965 film), a television film starring Melvyn Douglas, Ed Begley and Murray Hamilton
• Inherit the Wind (1988 film), a television film starring Jason Robards, Kirk Douglas, and Darren McGavin
• List of American films of 1960
• Trial movies