Raphael Pinheiro

Inherit the Wind

Extra Credit Paper

Inherit the Wind is the story of the Scopes Trial with some of the names changed. The

movie starts with Bert Cates being arrested while teaching his class about evolution. He believed

he did nothing wrong by teaching the Darwinian theory of evolution to his students. After that,

the movie follows to the heart of the small town of Hillsboro; the people are ready for the arrival

of Brady, a three-time Presidential candidate. Brady arrives together with his wife on the train

and is welcomed by the mayor and Rev. Brown, as well as a crowd of townspeople and press.

While he’s addressing the city for the first time, Hornbeck introduces himself and informs him

that the will be in dispute with Henry Drummond in court. Brown rails against Drummond as an

evil defender of the guilty and urgently seeks way to bar him from town. Drummond and

Hornbeck walk around the small town and are approached by one farmer who is really angry

with they coming to the city to defend Bates. Shortly after that, they are welcomed by Cates’s

biology students who help them to accommodate in the mansion house. There he meets Brady,

the city mayor and one of Brady’s assistant. Brady points out that they worked along in the past,

with Drummond helping him twice in his Presidential campaigns. However, they are in opposite

sides this time. Drummond answers sarcastically saying that this is evolution.

The following day, in the hot courtroom, juror selection is taking place while Brady

seeks witnesses who profess strong religious belief and cannot help but begin making speeches

against Cates already. On the other hand, Drummond looks for jurors with open minds, including

an illiterate man who has read neither the Bible nor Darwin. The judge recesses the court after an
argument about this juror and announces a prayer meeting that evening, which Drummond thinks

it’s prejudicial and proposes a meeting to discuss the Darwinian theory of evolution. After the

others leave, Drummond, Rachel and Cates speak and Cates ask her to choose between the

Church and their house. Drummond tells Cates if he truly believes he has done wrong, he will

change his plea, but Cates stands firm. When Cates leaves, Rachel reveals Brady is making her

testify and the she is terrified of her father. Drummond tells her it takes strength to stand by a

great man like Cates. On the courthouse lawn that night, Brady leads an impromptu press

conference before the prayer meeting. Brown begging preaching to a fervent crowd, retelling the

Creation story and then condemning Cates as sinner and calling down God’s wrath upon him.

When he condemns anyone who tries to help Cates, including his own daughter, Brady stops

him, quoting Solomon, “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind," and speaking of

a God of forgiveness. The meeting is over and Brady asks his friend Drummond how he has

moved so far away from him. Drummond replies saying that Brady has moved away by standing

still.

Two days later, Howard is on the witness stand, testifying about being taught evolution

by Cates in school. Brady makes a speech about the boy being torn from his faith by the

teachings of science. When Drummond questions him, Howard says that the right to think is on

trial. Davenport calls Rachel next and she testifies that Cates dropped out of church two years

ago, after her father testified that a little boy who died without being baptized was damned to

hell. Brady twists her words about things Cates has told her and finally she breaks down on the

stand. Brady dismisses her, and at Cates’ urging, Drummond says he has no questions for her.

The defense opens its case by calling experts on evolution, zoology, and anthropology, but the

judge upholds Brady’s objections to all of them, saying that the townspeople have already stated,
through their law, that they don’t want to hear about evolution. A desperate Drummond calls

Brady to stand to testify on the Bible. Brady’s pride leads him to answer Drummond’s challenge.

His faith reveals him to be closed-minded and he has no answers about Biblical incidents that

contradict natural law back to Copernicus, demonstrating him to be more unthinking and

unquestioning than faithful. He challenges Drummond’s sanctity, and Drummond says that he

finds the individual human mind sacred. Finally, he admits that the “days” of creation need not

have been twenty-four hour days at all. But Brady goes too far, saying he knows that Darwin is

wrong because God speaks to him and he acts according to God’s words. Drummond makes fun

of Brady’s presentation of himself as a diviner. When the courtroom clears, a shaking Brady

becomes worries that the crowd laughed at him and he is comforted by his wife.

The next day, Cates and Drummond await the jury’s to come back, while Brady drowns

his sorrows with food. Cates worries about what will happen to him and Drummond compares

practicing law to horse racing, recalling about a shiny rocking horse from his childhood that

turned out to be rotten inside. The mayor warns the judge about a wire from the state capitol

about the effect of the verdict on upcoming elections. Meanwhile, a radio man prepares his

equipment to broadcast the verdict. The jury, by unanimous decision, found Cates guilty. In the

rush, the judge almost forgets to let Cates make a statement. However, he does, standing up for

his actions and saying he did no wrong. The judge passes sentence on Cates simply a hundred

dollar fine. The judge adjourns court, telling Brady he will have to make his speech after the trial

concludes. Brady speaks but in the bustle of talk few people listen. Brady suddenly goes silent

and collapses. He is carried out of the courtroom to the doctors, reciting the Inaugural Address he

never had the chance to give. Drummond tells Cates he won in the eyes of the nation. Meeker

tells Cates that Hornbeck paid his bail. Rachel rushes in, telling Cates she has read Darwin and
realizes she should not be afraid to think. The judge returns, announcing that Brady is dead.

Hornbeck and Drummond argue Brady, Hornbeck calls him an ignorant and Drummond calls

him a misguided great man. They agree that the last words he spoke to Rev. Brown were an

appropriate epitaph for him. At the end, Drummond is left alone in the courtroom with a copy of

Darwin and copy of the Bible, which he puts together in their briefcase.

The movie was a great surprise for me. It is a movie about ideas, and in the hands of

master actors like Spencer Tracy, the ideas are well delivered. Brady and Drummond bring the

full force of their talents to their roles as opposing lawyers, and one time friends, who face off on

one of the greatest issues of the last century: evolution vs. Creation. The fact that this is based on

a real life court case only adds to the drama. The movie is full of dialogue, and is obviously

based on a stage play, but the ideas are so strong, the actors so dynamic, and there are enough

scenes away from the court case, so that the movie doesn't drag. And of course, the issues raised

about freedom of speech and thought are still relevant today. This is a movie and a story to learn

from. One needs to understand the political climate that prevailed when the play from which the

movie was adapted was written. The play was written in 1950, in the middle of what has we

know as the “McCarthy Era.” The anti-communist hysteria of the time was seen by many as a

threat to intellectual freedom. It was politically dangerous, at that time, to directly take on those

threats to freedom of ideas, so I believe it was a good idea to use the Scopes Trial, which was

safely in the past, as a vehicle to express the importance of the constitutional guarantees of such

things as freedom of speech.

One thing that we still see today and it was clearly portrayed in the movie is that faith

and religion are at the core of human emotion. The movie taps into this emotion, spilling and

dispersing it throughout the film. Gripping courtroom drama, fierce debates, bigotry and tender
human compassion are manifested again and again. The movie suggests that in order to grow as

a society we must challenge that what is taken from granted, be it Creationism or evolution. We

must keep asking questions, not matter how uncomfortable the answers may make us feel. I was

really impressed with the last scene of the movie. As Drummond is preparing to leave the

courthouse for the last time. He picks up all of his papers and the copy of Darwin’s book he has

been using for reference during trial. Then he spots a copy of the Bible on the table. He picks it

up, and holding Darwin’s book in one hand and the Bible in the other he seems to be weighing

them against each other as if to see which one is physically heavier. In the end, he simply puts

them together and walks out of the courthouse with them both. What I took from this scene and

from the film itself was that it was never necessary to completely reject one thing in order to

embrace another, and that seemingly disparate ideas could co-exist as long as the mind that held

them was willing to contain them both. Creationism vs. Evolution, Christianity vs. Atheism is

like seeing things as black white when everything is really in different colors. It was worth

seeing from several perspectives. As a well acted movie; as one that creates an atmosphere that

makes the viewer feel that he is in that hot, humid courtroom; and as one that expresses how

important and vital our freedoms really are.