Inherit the Wind
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| Inherit the Wind Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Dick York, Donna Anderson |
Cates is arrested for his beliefs
Bertram T. Cates (Dick York) has
been arrested. He was not only arrested, but an entire production was made of
it.
Led by Reverend Jeremiah Brown
(Claude Akins), a group of townsmen arrived in Cates’s classroom with a
photojournalist. They interrupted his lesson, planted the camera in front of
him, and took pictures of him as he got arrested. Cates’s crime? Teaching
Darwin’s theory of evolution.
It is against the law to teach
about evolution. Therefore, Cates is arrested and put into jail.
Cates’s arrest gains attention
from around the country. Concerned about the attention, the townsmen—and I do
mean men because women weren’t at this meeting or probably any others—get
together and wonder if this trial should go forward. (Maybe they shouldn’t have
brought the photojournalist if they wanted to keep this situation quiet.)
The case is now being referred to
in the papers as “The Monkey Trial.” Some believe this will harm the reputation
of the town. A banker is particularly concerned. Because if the town has a bad
reputation, banks from around the country may no longer want to do business
with him.
Others believe the attention is
proving that their town is taking a stand. Doing what is right for all mankind.
This trial is going to show everyone just who they are. Now that they have
former politician and renowned religious man Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric
March) working for the prosecution, there is no stopping them. The trial will
go forward.
The prosecution and defense arrive
Brady arrives in town with a lot
of fanfare. The town stands strongly behind him, celebrating that religion has
come to town to eliminate the “evil” Darwin. Even the governor of the state is
thrilled to have Brady help with the trial. He honors Brady with the rank of colonel for the state militia. Brady is the man everyone loves. When he speaks,
everyone cheers and hangs onto his every word. Everyone except for one man.
Baltimore Herald
journalist E.K. Hornbeck (Gene Kelly) dares to speak out amongst the cheering
crowd. While Brady stands on the stage during his welcoming ceremony, Hornbeck
speaks an opposing opinion to all Brady has to say. This does not please Brady.
Nor does it please the townspeople. Hornbeck doesn’t care. He likes stirring
things up.
For the defense, attorney Henry
Drummond (Spencer Tracy) comes to town. He quietly arrives on a bus with only
Hornbeck to greet him. That is fine with Drummond.
On the way to his hotel, Drummond
encounters people who do not want him in town. He also encounters a group of
teenage boys happy to show their support for Cates.
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| Storm Kate Dorsey |
A struggle with jury selection
When the trial starts, it is not
easy to choose a jury. Some potential jury members are all too willing to state
how much they support and believe in Brady. To make the process worse, Brady
starts to pontificate in a way that could taint the jury.
Drummond will have none of this.
He objects to Brady’s behavior. He objects to Brady being called Colonel
without a military record. He objects to the sign above the courtroom doors
telling people to read their bible. Fed up with all the bias, Drummond demands
either take down the sign or else put up another sign telling people to read
Darwin. This does not go over well.
Even Brady has a limit
After the jury selection, a rally
led by Reverend Brown is held. He preaches about condemning people to Hell.
Anyone who does not believe as he does is a sinner and is condemned to Hell.
Anyone who supports these sinners are condemned to Hell. Even his own daughter,
Rachel (Donna Anderson), is condemned to Hell because she supports Cates
against her father’s wishes. To Hell they will all go.
It is at this point Brady sees
things have gone too far. He speaks up, taking the wind out of the reverend’s
sails. Brady and his wife, Sara (Florence Eldredge), console a distraught
Rachel. This gives Rachel the feeling she can confide in them about Cates.
Explain what was going on in his mind when he did what he did. She is engaged
to Cates and has inside knowledge of his thoughts. Surely, she can make others
understand. It is a decision Rachel comes to regret.
The trial takes a bad turn
In court Rachel is unexpectedly
called to the stand. Brady brings up what Rachel has told him, but he uses it
in a way other than Rachel intended. Rachel tries to explain Brady is twisting
her words, but he will not listen. He verbally pounds at her on the stand to
the point she breaks and falls apart. It is only Sara’s calling out to him that
gets Brady to stop. When he does, he seems shaken. He was so caught up in his fervor,
he did not realize what he was doing.
Seeing how upset Rachel is, Cates
refuses to allow Drummond to cross-examine her.
With the prosecution rested,
Drummond tries to call his own expert witnesses. They are all objected to by
Brady and denied by the judge.
At this point Drummond loses his
cool. He says the trial is rigged, something Judge Merle Coffey (Harry Morgan)
takes great offense to. Of course, Judge Coffey is not going to admit how very
accurate Drummond’s statement is.
Drummond says he is done with the
case because of how it is being run. He would have probably stormed out except
Judge Coffey puts a contempt charge on him. Drummond is forced to stay in town
for one more night.
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| A Roll of the Dice Kate Dorsey |
Drummond takes control of the trial
It’s a good thing Drummond was
forced to stay. That night, while people march and sing in the streets for the
deaths of Cates and Drummond, Drummond figures out how to mount his defense.
The next day, Drummond calls Brady
to the stand as an expert witness on the Bible. This causes some confusion as
it is unorthodox to have the opposing council as a witness. Still, Brady, full
of confidence, agrees to be a witness.
With Brady on the stand, Drummond
reveals all the conflicting concepts of the Bible Brady follows so faithfully.
Some of these contradictions and Brady’s non-answers make the gallery
spectators laugh. This does not sit well with Brady.
It is also revealed while Brady
is on the stand that the book Brady so strongly objects too, Darwin’s On the
Origin of Species, is a book Brady has never read. In fact, he has never
even opened it. Yet he calls it evil.
Drummond’s main point in his
examination is the fact that God gave humans the power to think, yet people
like Brady are trying to deny that right to Cates. Deny this right simply
because Cates is not thinking what they want him to think. Brady would much
rather have everyone follow him. Follow his beliefs and thought processes.
Follow him because, according to Brady, God speaks to him, and only he speaks
the word of God.
This is where everything unravels
for Brady. Upset over how Drummond bested him and that the trial spectators
laughed at him, Brady decides he is going to write a speech for the day the
jury’s verdict comes in. It is a very long speech. A speech that is not heard.
After the verdict and punishment
are announced (which Drummond says he is going to appeal), Brady insists on
giving his speech. Except no one stays around to listen to it. All the spectators
and media get up and move around. They talk to each other while Brady shouts
his speech louder and louder until he dies.
In the final scene, Hornbeck is
alone with Drummond. It is revealed Drummond does not disagree with religion as
a whole, which is what is believed. What he disagrees with is how others apply
religion and force it on people to do the same. There is nothing that says you
cannot believe in Darwin and in God. They can go together, but they need to be
allowed to go together, as Drummond does when he walks out with the Bible and
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species under his arm.
The problems we are facing today
While Brady was on the witness
stand, Drummond talked about the dangers of following only one way of thinking.
It leads to banning books, fighting religions, and evil laws. These are all
things we are facing now.
Today we have laws that force
women to suffer and face bodily infections as they are denied life-saving
treatment.
Politicians are calling for
interracial and same-sex couples to lose their right to marry whom they love.
School boards are denying education,
or even speaking, about people from the LGTBQ+ community.
Laws are being put into place
denying transgender people the right to go to doctors and become who they know
they are meant to be.
Books are being banned for the
slightest infractions. Book primarily about LGBTQ+, race, and non-Christian
experiences.
People are calling upon the
United States, a country which prides itself on freedom of religion, to declare
itself a country of one religion. A stance that will lead to discrimination of
other religions, and laws put into place because of one religious set of beliefs.
It would not be long before the different denominations of this one religion
begin to battle, creating a war to determine whose is the one true religion.
To make everything worse, we have
judges who no longer hide their bias. Judges who practically announce their
decisions before a case is even before them, making it obvious their rulings
are based on their own desires and personal opinions. Their rulings are no
longer about the law or the people they have sworn to serve. It is about what
they want, and what they want only. They leave their benches proud of the havoc
they have created, while the rest of us are forced to deal with the
consequences.
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| Changing Times Kate Dorsey |
The smallest detail can mean something
Throughout the entire film, Brady
and his followers fanned themselves with fans promoting the local funeral
parlor. I wondered if this was an intentional bit of foreshadowing or
symbolism. It is also in the play, which leads me to think even more this was a
symbolic detail.
I took this symbolism to mean
that those who refuse to move forward and see other points of view are destined
to be left behind, watching as their views die, far away from the views of the
masses. Society, as a whole, will move on without them.
Drummond even has a line about
how Brady has moved away from him, his old friend, by standing still. In the
end, that is what always happens.
Those who are determined to stand
still remain where they are. They become forgotten as others move, or they end
up being seen in the worst possible light. It is up to all of us to determine
whether or not we are going to be a person who moves forward or stands still.
This does not mean a person must
agree with everything that happens in the world. No one is going to agree on
everything all the time. But to stand still and not even acknowledge, learn, or
let others come to their own conclusions and have their own freedoms hinders
movement for all. While that may work in the short term, it won’t for long. People
always break free. Once one person breaks free, others will follow. Those who
refuse to grow will be left behind.
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