Inherit the Wind (1960) on Netflix
Passed19602h 8mBiographyDramaHistory
In 1920s Tennessee, schoolteacher Bertram Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin's theory of evolution. His case brings Henry Drummond in for the defense and Matthew Brady for the prosecution.
- Netflix3.9/5
- IMDb8.1/1035,943 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes93%
Trailer
Plot summary
Bertram Cates teaches school in Hillsboro, Tennessee, and gives a lesson on Charles Darwin's Descent of Man. The state has a law against it, and he is charged with breaking it. The arrest becomes news around the world. Matthew Brady, who has run three times for president and is known as a Biblical scholar, offers the prosecutor, Tom Davenport, his help. E.K. Hornbeck, a newspaperman from the Baltimore Herald, brings in Henry Drummond, a controversial attorney and an agnostic, to defend Cates. Tourists arrive in town, and Hornbeck shows Drummond around. Rachel, who is engaged to Cates, is the daughter of Rev. Jeremiah Brown, a preacher who leads the townspeople against the teacher. Brady and Drummond once were close friends.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Inherit the Wind (1960)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The script was adapted by Nedrick Young, who had been blacklisted and was forced to work under the pseudonym Nathan E. Douglas; Stanley Kramer was commended for bringing him in.
- Stanley Kramer offered the role of Henry Drummond to Spencer Tracy, who initially turned it down; Kramer then sought Fredric March, Gene Kelly and Florence Eldridge as co-stars. Tracy eventually agreed and was the first actor signed, after which the others signed too.
- Inherit the Wind fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial: its Brady, Drummond, Cates and Hornbeck stand for William Jennings Bryan, Clarence Darrow, John T. Scopes and H. L. Mencken. The play's authors warned it was not a historical account, the preacher and his daughter were invented and Bryan offered to pay Scopes's fine.
