Although this was based on the Scopes trial, the authors were very clear that this amazing play is a metaphor for the McCarthy era. On trial is the ability to THINK.
perhaps the film is--but the real trial had a different agenda William Jennings Bryan was NOT necessarily against evolution. Bryan was a great populist and what he feared about Darwin was eugenics and social darwinism! If you read Darwin you will see the seeds of social darwinism in origin of species.
Actually, Bob McGahey, I think Bryan WAS opposed to evolution because for most of his life, he held to a strong fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Where the film was incorrect was in the scene where Brady (Frederic March) cites Bishop Usher's determination that God created the earth on a certain date in 4004 B.C. Bryan did not actually cite that in the trial. He probably did oppose Social Darwinism as well, but religion had become central to his public creed by the time of that trial. As for "The Origin of Species" planting the seeds of Social Darwinism, Darwin himself would have been aghast at how his explanation of biological evolution was applied for social, economic, and political purposes. Of course, he did not live to see the full flower of Social Darwinism, because he died in 1882.
Actually, Bob, I stand corrected. Bryan DID quote Bishop Ussher (spelled with two s') at the historic trial when Darrow asked him about the date of the Flood. However, I stand by what I wrote previously; Bryan did oppose evolution on religious as well as social and humanitarian grounds.
@@richardboettger6761 The only problem is that most of today's young people (especially here in the U.S.) don't believe in God and think it's only a fable or a myth about who started the world! What is it going to take for them to realize they're wrong? I won't go any further with this but I do believe because it's True!!!!!
@@scottmiller6495 That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I would ask that you try not to foist it on others though because frankly it's none of your business, and a true Christian would not try to force their own ideas off on others.
@5:34 These are actual quotes from the Scopes Monkey Trial when William Jennings Bryan said, "I do not think about things that I do not think about." And Clarence Darrow responded with: "Do you ever think about things that you do think about?"
"There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns." Donald Rumsfeld Princeton University grad.
@@andrewjohn2124 Both the screenwriters and the playwrights that wrote the original theater play were explicit that this was not historical but simply used the trial as a basis on which to construct a story. It was more a commentary on the McCarthy era.
@@andrewjohn2124 I've known this play since childhood and was lead to think that the play was an accurate, though dramatized, version of the actual events including verbatim lines from the trial transcripts. On returning to examine the transcripts, the play scripts and the actual historic records of the times I have concluded that the play is far more fiction than I had thought. Not withstanding the notable passage that ends with "Do ever think about things you do think about?" Reading the transcripts of the Scopes trial reveals an articulate and well-informed advocate in Bryan and a rather blunt and bigoted adversary in Darrow while H.L. Mencken, the character that was portrayed as E.K. Hornbeck was, in life, just mean and nasty. It was nothing like this electrifying scene performed by Frederick March and Spencer Tracy.
@@TylerDWard AI scares the hell out of me, particularly in its current form! But let's face it the criminal faction and there will always be a criminal faction will certainly take advantage of it in every possible way. The speed of technology has far exceeded human evolution.
Frederic March was my all-time favorite Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the 1931 film. (Coincidentally, ten years later Spencer Tracy played the same role!)
The energy and the dialogue they presented in their portrayal in this scene at the stage of their lives is Spectacular. Till the end of their days, they were true natural experts of their profession.
Yes, you are 190,% correct. And I just saw him the other day, in the 1933 comedy ' Design For Living' he was a very good looking. Gentleman with class,. Very likeable.
ACTORS:....... - > YOUR < ASS!---- The MONKEY - SCOPES TRIAL -- 1899! INHERIT the WIND --- 195? TUNE IN --next week -- SAME -- piecea[t]RRUMMPP LLC/INC * TIME -- SAME ____ piecea[t]RRUMMPP CHANNEL!
This is number four on my list of my favorite movies of all time (the highest one that wasn't nominated for Best Picture), and this might be the most intense confrontation in the history of cinema. Spencer Tracy's acting in this scene is one of very few things I have ever seen in a movie that still sends shivers down my spine, and I was initially incredulous when I learned that he lost Best Actor in a Leading Role, until I saw "Elmer Gantry" for myself (which was also an excellent movie, and Burt Lancaster was phenomenal).
Boy, old actors back then were something else. Look at how they just go right at it. That fire, that passion. Saying words in the script like they're what they mean, right from their own minds, not someone else's hand. And if this was filmed in a southern courthouse in summer with no AC imagine the conditions. Back then this was normal. There's no beating this.
@@richardl772 Forget these actors??!! Are you serious? Yes, the writing of Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee was superb, but it demanded the very strongest of interpretations. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March each thought the other was the greatest actor of their generation. I'd say it was a tie. If you don't know about them, you should familiarize yourself with them and many of their contemporaries at once.
I saw this as a child on TV. These performances were unforgettable. Even today, this is, for me, the definitive recorded version of the play. I especially love Frederic March's portrayal of the Brady character. Even though the story calls for Brady to be defeated in this scene, and even though the director's cutaways suggest that the townspeople have lost respect for Brady, March's portrayal is also a sympathetic one. We care about Brady, even though many disagree with him.
Actually, what's "forgettable" is the true factual history of the actual trial. You might as well be watching "Mary Poppins" or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". They're both as much a fantasy as this film. HELLywood's version of Creation vs Evolution.
H. L. Mencken, who covered the trial (character played admirably by Gene Kelly) would beg to disagree. Look up what he wrote about William J. Bryan, obituary the Baltimore Sun, 1925.
Yes, I have always found that character and Mr March's portrayal of it to be very sympathetic, at times even pitiful. I loved his acting and Spencer Tracy's.
"An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes thru the parting of the waters." As true then as it is now.
Idea greater monument than a cathedral? True. The advance of man's knowledge a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes thru the parting of the waters? Now that's debatable. Advancements of man are truly amazing, but if a man raised his arms above a sea and asked God to part waters for him and all the waters of the sea parted before him, even Einstein would shit his pants.
I had the good fortune to play Henry Drummond in the stage version of Inherit the Wind. It took a while to convince our community theater/college theater director to decide to do it. When we opened we had protesters for and against. We got a lot of bad press, but we were close to being sold out every night of the performance. It was one of my greatest roles. I wish I could do it again. Also, nobody ever figured out that it was a protest against Mcarthyism. We had to explain it.
@@gigiis526 you can no more prove that to be true than you can prove the existence of fairies or goblins. You wish to believe in the Bible? That's fine. But don't state something is true that you cannot prove.
rhowar1, I'm glad you got the opportunity to play the role of Drummond. I dream of playing that role. I couldn't have done it when I was younger, but now that I am in Drummond's age range, I believe that I have the gravitas to do it.
@@carealoo744 Greatest quote I've ever seen about the Bible was spoken by none other than Malcolm X, who said: "The one thing I know about the Bible is that most people don't know how to read it." THAT is 100% spot-on truth!!
"not the only book"... truth in that might still be found on what others have beared witness to. Reveling all things through nature is another language not yet entirely discovered. What a conversation that would be.
Some of the best acting you'll see by two of the best actors ever to grace a movie set. This is truly one of the great movies and should be recognized as such.
I totally agree, Inherit the Wind should have won Best Picture of 1960, it wasn't even mentioned or nominated in the awards ceremony, it is much better than Elmer Gantry! Spencer Tracy deserved an Oscar for his performance, again not even mentioned, what was the academy thinking that year? Are you kidding me!!!!!
@@scottmiller6495 In fact the movie was nominated for four Oscars : Spencer Tracy for best actor, best b&w cinematography, best editing and best screenplay after a source. Tracy was also nominated for a Golden Globe. Both Tracy and March were nominated for BAFTAAs. And Fredric March won the 'Silver Bear' for best actor at the Berlin film festival. So the movie was considerably recognized actually.
"Is that the way of things?! Is that the way of things?!". ....."Brady, Brady, Brady almighty!" What an intense performance by Spencer Tracy. Frederic March was outstanding too.
What is really on trial is the ability to THINK and INQUIRE FREELY!! (ANY belief system that doesn't allow an individual to do this is a belief system to run as far away from as possible!!) Incredible scene from an incredible film. The themes are timeless!!
100% This. IF your belief system is so weak that it must extinguish the abilities of other human being to think for themselves, it is something to get out of as fast as you can.
Claude Aikens was superb as the overzealous southern preacher who condemned his own daughter. I've seen that play out in real life where a high school classmate had her preacher father say she was dead and going to hell.
I live in Chattanooga, TN, maybe one hour from Dayton (Rhea County) where the Scopes-Monkey Trial took place. I went up there for the first time three years ago and it was incredible to see the scene of one of the most pivotal and important court trials in US History. We are now sadly repeating this same history nearly one hundred years later in America in the year 2022… ignoramuses have taken control of certain levels of government (legislatures, governorships, higher-level judiciaries) and are attempting to litter our education systems and laws with intellectual ignorance, fanaticism and theological bigotry instead of logic, reason and empirical objectivity as the framers intended with our secular constitution. If they think they are unopposed in their efforts, they are sorely mistaken. I will stand up to and expose this arrogant, cancerous filth for what it is, an attempt to rid the world of any sense of intellect and trying to bring us back to the Dark Ages… vote, Vote, VOTE!!!
I share your view and am pessimistic about OUR future. Seems to me that as eyewitnesses to history pass away we get ever closer to repeating the past. Today we are subjected to many "stable geniuses", who have studied other "only I can fix it" types. They have history as their playbook and therefore less likely to make the mistakes of a Hitler or Mussolini. The opposition to them is less ruthless and self righteous and unwilling to engage in the manner necessary? I hope I am wrong.
GodsFavoriteBassPlyr I agree with you about Spencer Tracy he was probably one of the top five actors ever and Frederik March is just as awesome this was such a brilliant movie and this was a fantastic scene
The dialogue in this one is out of this world, and both actors work wonders to bring it to life. Literally every line out of Tracy's mouth can be hanged on a wall as banner of human progress. Extend the testaments! Let us have a book of Brady! We shall hex the Pentateuch and fit you in neatly between Numbers and Deuteronomy.
I actually read this play for English class sophomore year, and I'm surprised at the number of people that see this play as being a debate of evolution vs. creationism, which may be true of the Scopes trial it was based on. Drummond emphasizes that Cates was on trial because he was thinking for himself, that which the play conveys is a fundamental human right and that which no human on this planet should be arrested and imprisoned for.
Yeah, the problem is, a whole lot of religious people actually considers free thinking as an attack on their belief system. See, if you're dependent on your faith, any suggestion that things might not be the way you believe them to be is a threat. This has always been true for royalty, extremist governments, monetary systems, and so on.
@@jorgesegniniaguirre I’m not Christian, I’m Conservative, and you’re brainwashed. All of you liberals are brainwashed. You voted in vaccine tyranny, called us all Nazis for six straight years, publicly shamed us for our beliefs, burned down cities when you couldn’t have your way, forced pedophile agendas on kindergarteners, and you have the AUDACITY to say you stand for justice? FOH! You’ve been the Nazis all along and the democrats you vote for are openly destroying this country!
Never before or since has there been any higher mastery of the art of acting as there is on display in the 6 minutes of cinema that was committed to film when this scene was made. Stories of other actors coming to this set from other film productions simply to watch are an indication of how mesmerizing Tracy and March were when they were in their element.
Just realized this. Drummond said that in order to understand Darwin, the price was to give up our faith in the "pleasant poetry of Genesis." Of course, Brady jumps to the conclusion that Drummond is advocating atheism, but that's not what Drummond said. What he's saying is that we can no longer take Genesis at face value as a literal account. The difference is there, but subtle.
Some people would definitely abandon the poetry of holy books and embrace atheism. However, the vast majority is able to somehow smash Religion and Science together, cherry picking useful or beautiful passages from holy books and disregarding passages they don't find useful, beautiful or relevant. Even professional scientists can be religious people, which tells me that Religion is not driven by rationality or evidence or scientific formalism... definitely not!... but driven by emotions. People resort to Religion due to indoctrination since early age and because Religion can be comforting, serving as an emotional support, or source of hope or even relief from desperation.
Like many of the highest educated, truest agnostics or atheists, Drummond would of course have read the Bible. But that's true: I do not think Drummond is even trying to suggest people shouldn't have faith or religion -- only that they have no right to legislate that opposing viewpoints be ILLEGAL. Even to this day, religious right-wing people cannot fathom this concept. All who oppose them must perish, must be burned as heathens and apostates, must die to the glory of their God.
@@richardgomes5420 No, there is quite a bit of evidence both historical and Biblical that the Bible wasn’t meant to be taken literally. The reason this isn’t commonly known or accepted is because there have been several Christian leaders and theologians who rejected the notion in favor of a literal interpretation but just like in this trial said Christians can’t answer some of the simplest questions about the very obviously poetic and allegorical language in the Bible.
A Book to provide guidance to treating with our fellow humans and perhaps provide solace to the lost. But as a natural history/science text? Not so much.
I'm on the side for evolution but when they talk about the increment time a day is before the sun was created, before translated to English, the word for day in Hebrew was yom. Yom can mean a period of time without specified length.
The word yom (יום) is used almost exclusively to refer to regular day, similar to how we understand a day. A day according to the Bible is defined in Genesis 1 as a light to dark sequence. In prophetic passages יום is used on occasion to represent a season, such as "the day of the Lord" which is a reference to the time of the apocalypse. But this is nothing indicative of long geological ages. Such a belief is a wishful attempt to harmonise the text with a fully naturalistic interpretation of origins.
At the time in Tennessee (my home!) young earth creationism was taught in public school AS SCIENCE and fundamentalist Christians did not want evolution to be taught, as it obviously contradicted their religious belief. Even Scopes initially lost the battle to teach evolution in science class. It was ruled much later again that teaching evolution in science class violated the rights of Christians, who believed every creature was handmade by God less than 12k years ago. So while sure, YOM can mean anything from a blink of the eye to a day to a century, it was the Christians then who insisted it meant solely "day".
Some biblical scholars suggest that a "day" - before there was a way to calculate such a thing - was equivalent to 1,000 years according to how we measure days now.
Yes Bishop Ussher... The infallible man that nobody is allowed to question. I wish the premise of this story and people's antiscience was fictional however they plague our society.
Awesome movie. Makes it's point sharply, and show just how an argument backed by knowledge can easily triumph over the erroneous claim of the dogmatic and ignorant.
These two actors, Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, have captured one of the most incredible moments in film history. And it’s all done in a simple court room setting with nothing but their words and actions to bring it alive. And make it into something that will last!
"I don't know as I was ever in a community in my life where my religious ideas differed as widely from the great mass as I have found them since I have been in Tennessee. Yet I came here a perfect stranger and I can say what I have said before that I have not found upon any body's part - any citizen here in this town or outside the slightest discourtesy. I have been treated better, kindlier and more hospitably than I fancied would have been the case in the north." Clarence Darrow, 1925
After Brady loses his God-like stature it was amazing to see the vulnerable man underneath. Later, at his house, the way he was almost child-like. "They laughed at me Mother." and he collapses in his wife's arms. I'll admit I shed a tear, but at the same time thought it was weird that he referred to her as "Mother" and she referred to him as "Baby" in that moment.
Its a bit of a shame that William Jennings Bryan is remembered only for the Scopes Trial. He was a hardcore creationist (ironically, less fundamentalist than some modern day creationists), yes. But as a politician, he advocated for the worker's rights, 8 hour workdays, unions, women's rights etc. He was more a champion of the poor than he was radical Christian. Still love this play - I got to play Henry Drummond once on stage.
Also, part of his dislike of evolution came from the prevalence of the idea Social Darwinism during that time period, which misread Darwin in order to justify economic inequalities.
Brady: "I do not think about things I do not think about." Drummond: "Do you think about things that you DO think about?" Two of my favorite lines from this movie. So funny, but the logical arguments from Drummond are awesome. If you haven't seen this movie you should check it out.
The Bible is a book. It’s a good book. But it’s not the only book. Two giants acting their behinds off. People who weren’t in the film used to crowd in just to see Tracy and March do their scenes. And off camera applause wrecked many takes. Gene Kelly was awesome, way out of his comfort zone.
The problem is that the word "better" is useless without standards. The standards are ours, intelligence has allowed us to survive, so we look down on creatures of lesser intelligence, even though they are by no means less survivable, even though they will outlast us by countless thousands of years.
I can't disagree with you. Spencer Tracy is the all time greatest actor along with James Cagney. But a close second is Spencer Tracy's almost 8 minutes soliloquy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner go on with the late Great Katharine Hepburn
@@rossrivero7516 oh my God yes I haven't seen that movie for years I think I will go try and find it. And thank you for the reminder. Spencer Tracy is one of the greatest actors of all time. He could do everything. And Katharine Hepburn was his equal.
One of my all time favorite movies. The characters, of course, were based on Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. The writing was brilliant, though some of the courtroom dialog was taken right out of the minutes from the Scopes "monkey" trial itself. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, the two greatest screen actors of their generation, embodied their roles superbly. In fact, they are so great, it is a humbling experience to watch and listen to them, especially Tracy. My favorite line of his, as Darrow/Drummond (not in this scene): "I want those amens in the record."
Davedio's comment on this startling scene is spot on. Never before or since have two actors of such talent been assembled in the same film. Tracy's powerful oratory seems to stretch to the portals of heaven itself. Clarence Darrow might have been envious of such bombastic power. What this true to life movie conveys is the tragedy of empathy in the world. Or rather the lack of it. An inability to comprehend and care for anyone remotely different than ourselves. This primitive mindset is the basis of all prejuduces. All of our wars. I will love my neighbor, so long as he looks, thinks and acts exactly like myself. In so many ways man is as primitive now as the pusillanimous paramecium Darwin claimed we evolved from. There is so much more evolving to do. These two great actors displayed the evils of ignorance in it's most grotesque nature. I cant choose which actor is greater. Call it a split decision. Unlike the theme of this movie. God gave us the power to think. And to love. These words are not mutually exclusive.
Which was also the point of Contact (1997). When Jodie Foster the agnostic scientist realizes that, it is one of the most poignant moments on film. Much like this movie …
@TheCb1010 Pascal's wager is a philosophy of cowards. The only life to live where there is nothing to be lost is one of open-minded consideration and thought. That is certainly not one of the greatest values of religious culture. Why should we believe there is a Heaven, just in case. If God is as religions proclaim, why would he punish me merely for not having faith. Wouldn't being a decent person, despite a lack of divine incentive, be more substantial and sincere than faith 'just in case'?
I don't think you understand the context of Pascal's Wager nor the meaning of it. If you have time please read this short article. www.peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm
during the filming of these scenes between tracy and march...the sound stage was filled to the brim...with people rushing for places to watch these two great actors going at it....
pascal's wager assumes that christianity is the only religion in existance. maybe YOU should consider it from the perspective of a different religion. what if YOU are wrong & the muslims, jews or hindus etc are right? pascal's wager fails on EVERY level. do you believe in appolo, anubis, zeus, allah, krishna, shiva, haties etc? of course you don't. an atheist takes it one step further & dosn't believe in yaweh either. pascal's wager isn't relevant to anything...
I am a life long atheist and also a huge admirer of the thought and philosophy of Blaise Pascal, who was surprisingly humanistic and even existentialist in his views and inquiries. While his famous Wager is incorrect and indeed can be refuted by applying the same logic to other gods and religions, to call the exercise "dumb AF" betrays an astounding level of ignorance, and lack of free thinking. Defend what you say with an argument of your own when you attack the ideas of those who think deeper than you do, even if, especially if, they are wrong.
It's okay that these two actors can be fantastic masters, and there can be phenomenal actors today. They are not mutually exclusive. There are definitely masters today.
I learned how mutations happen during cell replication and what types of changes can occur in the DNA sequence in ninth grade biology. Those questions have well established answers.
Now about the video... We might do this play in Drama next year. I'm pretty excited, it's great. I just hope that creationists don't misunderstand it and misinterpret it, even though they seem to do that to EVERYTHING.
I really want to thank whoever put this clip on youtube. I am doing a project about EVOLUTION VS CRATIONISM, and I am using this clip in my project. Thanks.
@@bjb7587And that's your answer , the fact is evolutionism is a fairytale for adults and is also the most dangerous one at that it destroys everything it touches and I mean everything .
This is what really good acting looks like. Not the kind of roles that get awards, the ones where you cannot tell the difference between the actor and the character. Spencer Tracy is not acting as a lawyer, he IS a lawyer.
Both are brilliant in this great film. March along with the incomparable Paul Muni created the film acting art form in the early 1930s. Both March and Tracy also played Jekyll & Hyde with March doing it first in a magnificent performance in 1932. Tracy's greatest performance was his essentially one man performance in The Old Man and the Sea (1958).
The Tracy version of Jekyll and Hyde suffered from it being made during the reign of the Code and MGM's generally wholesome approach to film making (though it is not without its sinister sexual innuendoes). March's had the advantage of pre-code (and his scenes with Miriam Hopkins are very pre-code) and Paramount's more artsy approach to film making at that time.
@ysbaddaden2003 If you have any evidence to support you claim, then it is a theory. I presume you do not. The evidence as the the origin of the universe is circumstantial, but nevertheless revealing. Is it concrete? No. However it is far more satisfying than the over-used "God did it".
If it's a claim built around evidence, then it's an hypothesis. It graduates to become a theory if it survives enough rigorous testing that the scientific community can reaffirm its accuracy with a high degree of certainty, having directly tested to see if any central aspect of it is falsifiable.
What a powerful and thought provoking video. I have never heard of "Inherit the Wind" before. The words of the proscecutor seem to echo what I have said to many people many times. Especially that about the beauty and sanctity of human thought. It seems to me that anyone who claims that thier veiw of the origens of existance is the "truth" (be they creationist or evolutionist) is guilty of tapering human thought. I would much rather someone phrase thier beliefs as "this MIGHT be true"
William Jennings Bryant (Brady)was a great populist and Progressive politician who ran 4 times for president. He was in the Cabinet of Woodrow Wilson and fought to keep America out of World War 1. Delivered the famous "Cross of gold Speech" as he campaigned for free Silver. He was Champion of the working man and should be remembered for that instead of the one time he played for the wrong team.
One says things have evolved by the hand and design of God. Evolution just says it evolved and doesn't really have anything to say about God's role in it. If you want to see the evolution of animals and plants and man as the work of God, you are completely free to do so.
@@DrownedInExile Absolutely. Science and evolution only deals with what can be proven. Creation-heads only deal with matters of faith and not whether or not anything can be proven. Apparently they don't like being called on that point.
Stanley Kramer was without a doubt one of the best directors Hollywood ever had. Spencer Tracy's acting is more than remarkable. The topic is an all time classic, it is as actual today as it was hundreds of years ago. Maybe it should be made compulsory in 8th grade school education. Because, what we need in these days are new ideas to move mankind ahead, and out of the misery we face. He is absolutely right: "An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral". .."and a free individual human spirit is the only holy thing on earth"! I rest my case.
HI It is the only book mapping our exact history from it's Beginning to it's everlasting Outcome, 6000 years of the history of death, to be followed by the thousand year reign of the resurrected Christ, from Jerusalem, which is about to break forth on us, check out Book of Revelation and many End Time vids on You Tube. Shalom to you in Christ Yeshua.
@@Warhero1171 I guess it can be considered as we consider Greek literature with its mythology. Hebrew bible may be seen as Hebrew literature with Hebrew mythology.
@Rizal Disraeli Ramos It's also the book that teaches us to discriminate against nonbelievers and homosexuals. Christianity and Islam are contradictory. They claim to have an all loving god that sends people to hell if they make one minor infraction. They claim that anyone who doesn't believe in God will burn in hell for eternity. Decent human beings don't massacre entire cities in the name of God, or burn thousands at the stake. Religion is foolish, but religions such as Christianity and Islam are detrimental to humanity. Secular humanists manage to be far more decent than religious people, while denying the existence of God.
Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond. Fredric March as Matthew Harrison Brady. Gene Kellyas E. K. Hornbeck. Dick Yorkas Bertram T. Cates. My pervious comments are not in anyway directed at these actors or any others in this movie. Great movie thank you for posting it, I have just downloaded the complete movie.
The beauty of this movie, as revealed by the writer who got an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, was that almost all the court dialogue you hear is the ACTUAL words spoken by the parties AT THE ACTUAL TRIAL. He didn’t change it because he realized he could NEVER write anything better
Although this was based on the Scopes trial, the authors were very clear that this amazing play is a metaphor for the McCarthy era. On trial is the ability to THINK.
perhaps the film is--but the real trial had a different agenda William Jennings Bryan was NOT necessarily against evolution. Bryan was a great populist and what he feared about Darwin was eugenics and social darwinism! If you read Darwin you will see the seeds of social darwinism in origin of species.
The error is to pin on Darwin what one should pin on Spencer. Scientific facts do not necessarily dictate human morality.
“Free to think” like a marxist or end up in a gulag or executed.
Actually, Bob McGahey, I think Bryan WAS opposed to evolution because for most of his life, he held to a strong fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Where the film was incorrect was in the scene where Brady (Frederic March) cites Bishop Usher's determination that God created the earth on a certain date in 4004 B.C. Bryan did not actually cite that in the trial. He probably did oppose Social Darwinism as well, but religion had become central to his public creed by the time of that trial. As for "The Origin of Species" planting the seeds of Social Darwinism, Darwin himself would have been aghast at how his explanation of biological evolution was applied for social, economic, and political purposes. Of course, he did not live to see the full flower of Social Darwinism, because he died in 1882.
Actually, Bob, I stand corrected. Bryan DID quote Bishop Ussher (spelled with two s') at the historic trial when Darrow asked him about the date of the Flood. However, I stand by what I wrote previously; Bryan did oppose evolution on religious as well as social and humanitarian grounds.
"Do you ever think about things you DO think about?" No truer words were ever spoken. A brilliant scene from a brilliant movie.
That one is a direct quote from the actual Scopes transcript (Darrow speaking)
So much of the text of this movie is still very valid in today's world.
@@richardboettger6761 The only problem is that most of today's young people (especially here in the U.S.) don't believe in God and think it's only a fable or a myth about who started the world! What is it going to take for them to realize they're wrong? I won't go any further with this but I do believe because it's True!!!!!
@@scottmiller6495
That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. I would ask that you try not to foist it on others though because frankly it's none of your business, and a true Christian would not try to force their own ideas off on others.
@@richardboettger6761 Ok.
@5:34 These are actual quotes from the Scopes Monkey Trial when William Jennings Bryan said, "I do not think about things that I do not think about." And Clarence Darrow responded with: "Do you ever think about things that you do think about?"
"There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say there are things that we now know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns." Donald Rumsfeld Princeton University grad.
Zing.
Tracey was brilliant in this...because he meant every word of it.
@@andrewjohn2124 Both the screenwriters and the playwrights that wrote the original theater play were explicit that this was not historical but simply used the trial as a basis on which to construct a story. It was more a commentary on the McCarthy era.
@@andrewjohn2124 I've known this play since childhood and was lead to think that the play was an accurate, though dramatized, version of the actual events including verbatim lines from the trial transcripts. On returning to examine the transcripts, the play scripts and the actual historic records of the times I have concluded that the play is far more fiction than I had thought. Not withstanding the notable passage that ends with "Do ever think about things you do think about?" Reading the transcripts of the Scopes trial reveals an articulate and well-informed advocate in Bryan and a rather blunt and bigoted adversary in Darrow while H.L. Mencken, the character that was portrayed as E.K. Hornbeck was, in life, just mean and nasty. It was nothing like this electrifying scene performed by Frederick March and Spencer Tracy.
That is an incredible line:
"Mr, you can conquer the air! But the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline!"
One of favorites too
The writing, cast and acting is top notch in this film, especially between the principle actors. There isn't a bad line between them.
One of the all time great movies
Such a great philosophical idea. It’s coming back around today with the invention of AI.
@@TylerDWard
AI scares the hell out of me, particularly in its current form! But let's face it the criminal faction and there will always be a criminal faction will certainly take advantage of it in every possible way. The speed of technology has far exceeded human evolution.
Fredric March is almost unrecognizable here, but demonstrates his mastery of his craft. Great acting jobs by Tracy and March in this film.
Frederic March was my all-time favorite Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the 1931 film. (Coincidentally, ten years later Spencer Tracy played the same role!)
Yeah I love old movies like this
The energy and the dialogue they presented in their portrayal in this scene at the stage of their lives is Spectacular.
Till the end of their days, they were true natural experts of their profession.
4 Best Actor Oscars Between Them!
Yes, you are 190,% correct. And I just saw him the other day, in the 1933 comedy ' Design For Living' he was a very good looking. Gentleman with class,. Very likeable.
Brilliant. So many actors could learn from the intensity of Tracy and March in this scene alone.
That's the only good acting in this movie everyone else is so fake and obvious
Those two actors are giants.
ACTORS:....... - > YOUR < ASS!---- The MONKEY - SCOPES TRIAL -- 1899! INHERIT the WIND --- 195? TUNE IN --next week -- SAME -- piecea[t]RRUMMPP LLC/INC * TIME -- SAME ____ piecea[t]RRUMMPP CHANNEL!
This is number four on my list of my favorite movies of all time (the highest one that wasn't nominated for Best Picture), and this might be the most intense confrontation in the history of cinema. Spencer Tracy's acting in this scene is one of very few things I have ever seen in a movie that still sends shivers down my spine, and I was initially incredulous when I learned that he lost Best Actor in a Leading Role, until I saw "Elmer Gantry" for myself (which was also an excellent movie, and Burt Lancaster was phenomenal).
@@matthewmulcahy4402 Tracy was fabulous in each role .
Boy, old actors back then were something else. Look at how they just go right at it. That fire, that passion. Saying words in the script like they're what they mean, right from their own minds, not someone else's hand. And if this was filmed in a southern courthouse in summer with no AC imagine the conditions. Back then this was normal. There's no beating this.
Forget the actors for once, what about the scriptwriters……..
@@richardl772 Forget these actors??!! Are you serious? Yes, the writing of Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee was superb, but it demanded the very strongest of interpretations. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March each thought the other was the greatest actor of their generation. I'd say it was a tie. If you don't know about them, you should familiarize yourself with them and many of their contemporaries at once.
Fredric March should have gotten an academy award for his role as the fundamentalist Matthew Harrison Brady
@@thomasmayk. Suggest you pay attention to the words ‘for once’……
@@robertklose2140 He sure knows how to grumble and fume every time Drummond bests him!
I saw this as a child on TV. These performances were unforgettable. Even today, this is, for me, the definitive recorded version of the play. I especially love Frederic March's portrayal of the Brady character. Even though the story calls for Brady to be defeated in this scene, and even though the director's cutaways suggest that the townspeople have lost respect for Brady, March's portrayal is also a sympathetic one. We care about Brady, even though many disagree with him.
Yes. I agree with you.
Actually, what's "forgettable" is the true factual history of the actual trial. You might as well be watching "Mary Poppins"
or "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang". They're both as much a fantasy as this film. HELLywood's version of Creation vs Evolution.
H. L. Mencken, who covered the trial (character played admirably by Gene Kelly) would beg to disagree. Look up what he wrote about William J. Bryan, obituary the Baltimore Sun, 1925.
Yes, I have always found that character and Mr March's portrayal of it to be very sympathetic, at times even pitiful. I loved his acting and Spencer Tracy's.
@@ralphadamo1857 Well put .
"An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral. And the advance of man's knowledge is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes thru the parting of the waters."
As true then as it is now.
timeless, would you say?
Kurt Vonnegut said that Voltaire was the secular version of Abraham.
So I guess Clarence Darrow was Samuel. Or maybe Nehemiah.
Idea greater monument than a cathedral? True. The advance of man's knowledge a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes thru the parting of the waters? Now that's debatable.
Advancements of man are truly amazing, but if a man raised his arms above a sea and asked God to part waters for him and all the waters of the sea parted before him, even Einstein would shit his pants.
@@PeterDB90 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. Proverbs 9:10
@@PeterDB90 Wrong. At least the second part. The sticks turned to snakes, etc. is mythology. The advance of Man's knowledge is not.
I had the good fortune to play Henry Drummond in the stage version of Inherit the Wind. It took a while to convince our community theater/college theater director to decide to do it. When we opened we had protesters for and against. We got a lot of bad press, but we were close to being sold out every night of the performance. It was one of my greatest roles. I wish I could do it again. Also, nobody ever figured out that it was a protest against Mcarthyism. We had to explain it.
Gods word as the standard for creation is not Mcartyism but it is merely the absolute truth.
@@gigiis526 Look -- if you can't keep up, just stay out.
@@gigiis526 you can no more prove that to be true than you can prove the existence of fairies or goblins. You wish to believe in the Bible? That's fine. But don't state something is true that you cannot prove.
You would have to bc this scene looks like it could be about creationism on trial js
rhowar1, I'm glad you got the opportunity to play the role of Drummond. I dream of playing that role. I couldn't have done it when I was younger, but now that I am in Drummond's age range, I believe that I have the gravitas to do it.
"Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?"
"Yes! The individual human mind."
Mike K Spencer Tracy’s delivery gives me goosebumps every time I hear him say it
@@collinbarry-kamp4146 Me too. One of my all-time favorite scenes in one of my all-time favorite movies.
Mike K Nice dude! It’s my all time favorite movie!
The mind may be amazing but that is because God created it! But it is far from holy. There is only one that is holy and that is triune Lord
@@gigiis526 And just what is "triune" Lord? Apparently, Christians don't spell check.
This is one of the most underrated movies in existence! :D What a powerful scene!!
Even now, we are so many years later, graced by the presence of 2 of the greatest actors in film history. That is the magic and persistence of film.
“The Bible is a book. It’s a good book, but it is not the only book.” Probably my favorite line from the film and one I’ve quoted many times.
Except it's not a good book.
@@carealoo744 Greatest quote I've ever seen about the Bible was spoken by none other than Malcolm X, who said: "The one thing I know about the Bible is that most people don't know how to read it."
THAT is 100% spot-on truth!!
"not the only book"... truth in that might still be found on what others have beared witness to. Reveling all things through nature is another language not yet entirely discovered. What a conversation that would be.
@@carealoo744 Except it's actually the written word of God.
My thoughts exactly. Poorly written and laid out.
Some of the best acting you'll see by two of the best actors ever to grace a movie set. This is truly one of the great movies and should be recognized as such.
March was no slouch, either. This is one of my favorite movies...because of these two acting titans.
I totally agree, Inherit the Wind should have won Best Picture of 1960, it wasn't even mentioned or nominated in the awards ceremony, it is much better than Elmer Gantry! Spencer Tracy deserved an Oscar for his performance, again not even mentioned, what was the academy thinking that year? Are you kidding me!!!!!
Absolutely agree, Scott!@@scottmiller6495
@@scottmiller6495 This is probably my favorite film of all time but in defense of "Elmer Gantry" it's a truly great film as well.
@@scottmiller6495
In fact the movie was nominated for four Oscars :
Spencer Tracy for best actor,
best b&w cinematography,
best editing
and best screenplay after a source.
Tracy was also nominated for a Golden Globe.
Both Tracy and March were nominated for BAFTAAs.
And Fredric March won the 'Silver Bear' for best actor at the Berlin film festival.
So the movie was considerably recognized actually.
Why this didn't make it to the top 100 movies is a travesty
Still top 250. If I had 100 movies to watch I probably would pick it. I have it on DVR. It is one that grabs your attention.
Too many downvotes from christans
@@quantummusicde If this thread was Brits only , it wouldn't be tainted with tiresome teligious comments .
They sure don't make em like they used to.
Only one Spencer Tracy.
Same can be said for March. Two old pros at the top of their game!
There was even an Inherit the wind in 1988... seriously botched of this one
So true
boi
"Is that the way of things?! Is that the way of things?!". ....."Brady, Brady, Brady almighty!" What an intense performance by Spencer Tracy. Frederic March was outstanding too.
What is really on trial is the ability to THINK and INQUIRE FREELY!! (ANY belief system that doesn't allow an individual to do this is a belief system to run as far away from as possible!!) Incredible scene from an incredible film. The themes are timeless!!
100% This. IF your belief system is so weak that it must extinguish the abilities of other human being to think for themselves, it is something to get out of as fast as you can.
Both March and Tracy were awesome!
Claude Aikens was superb as the overzealous southern preacher who condemned his own daughter.
I've seen that play out in real life where a high school classmate had her preacher father say she was dead and going to hell.
Ah, this is my favorite scene from my favorite movie. I could see it a thousand times and not tire of it.
I live in Chattanooga, TN, maybe one hour from Dayton (Rhea County) where the Scopes-Monkey Trial took place. I went up there for the first time three years ago and it was incredible to see the scene of one of the most pivotal and important court trials in US History.
We are now sadly repeating this same history nearly one hundred years later in America in the year 2022… ignoramuses have taken control of certain levels of government (legislatures, governorships, higher-level judiciaries) and are attempting to litter our education systems and laws with intellectual ignorance, fanaticism and theological bigotry instead of logic, reason and empirical objectivity as the framers intended with our secular constitution.
If they think they are unopposed in their efforts, they are sorely mistaken. I will stand up to and expose this arrogant, cancerous filth for what it is, an attempt to rid the world of any sense of intellect and trying to bring us back to the Dark Ages… vote, Vote, VOTE!!!
I share your view and am pessimistic about OUR future. Seems to me that as eyewitnesses to history pass away we get ever closer to repeating the past. Today we are subjected to many "stable geniuses", who have studied other "only I can fix it" types. They have history as their playbook and therefore less likely to make the mistakes of a Hitler or Mussolini. The opposition to them is less ruthless and self righteous and unwilling to engage in the manner necessary? I hope I am wrong.
Beautifully said! Thank you. And VOTE BLUE! Religion does not have a place in our educational system. 💙💙💙
Trump '24 🇺🇸🗽🙏💥✊️
@@maryelaine-blinstrubchambe6083 don't be such a chump; take control, vote for Trump 🗽🇺🇸
This is one of the greatest movies of this, or any other time...
And this is one of the best scenes in any movie, ever.
Tracy was beyond brilliant!
GodsFavoriteBassPlyr I agree with you about Spencer Tracy he was probably one of the top five actors ever and Frederik March is just as awesome this was such a brilliant movie and this was a fantastic scene
One of the greatest scenes in movie history and based on the actual transcript. Wow!
You cannot go wrong with Mr Tracy ...
No you can not he's my favorite actor
"Do you ever think about things that you do think about?"
Absolutely sick burn...
One of the finest example of acting. One of the best movies ever made. Still relevant in 2022. Perhaps even more today that when it was made.
The dialogue in this one is out of this world, and both actors work wonders to bring it to life. Literally every line out of Tracy's mouth can be hanged on a wall as banner of human progress.
Extend the testaments! Let us have a book of Brady! We shall hex the Pentateuch and fit you in neatly between Numbers and Deuteronomy.
I actually read this play for English class sophomore year, and I'm surprised at the number of people that see this play as being a debate of evolution vs. creationism, which may be true of the Scopes trial it was based on. Drummond emphasizes that Cates was on trial because he was thinking for himself, that which the play conveys is a fundamental human right and that which no human on this planet should be arrested and imprisoned for.
Yeah, the problem is, a whole lot of religious people actually considers free thinking as an attack on their belief system. See, if you're dependent on your faith, any suggestion that things might not be the way you believe them to be is a threat. This has always been true for royalty, extremist governments, monetary systems, and so on.
@@jorgesegniniaguirre orange man too
@@jorgesegniniaguirre I’m not Christian, I’m Conservative, and you’re brainwashed. All of you liberals are brainwashed. You voted in vaccine tyranny, called us all Nazis for six straight years, publicly shamed us for our beliefs, burned down cities when you couldn’t have your way, forced pedophile agendas on kindergarteners, and you have the AUDACITY to say you stand for justice? FOH! You’ve been the Nazis all along and the democrats you vote for are openly destroying this country!
Didn't think for a second there wouldn't be someone dragging _him_ into the comments.
Two of the finest actors in the world.!
Fredric March and Spencer Tracy.
It doesn't get any better.
Never before or since has there been any higher mastery of the art of acting as there is on display in the 6 minutes of cinema that was committed to film when this scene was made. Stories of other actors coming to this set from other film productions simply to watch are an indication of how mesmerizing Tracy and March were when they were in their element.
Just realized this. Drummond said that in order to understand Darwin, the price was to give up our faith in the "pleasant poetry of Genesis." Of course, Brady jumps to the conclusion that Drummond is advocating atheism, but that's not what Drummond said. What he's saying is that we can no longer take Genesis at face value as a literal account. The difference is there, but subtle.
Some people would definitely abandon the poetry of holy books and embrace atheism. However, the vast majority is able to somehow smash Religion and Science together, cherry picking useful or beautiful passages from holy books and disregarding passages they don't find useful, beautiful or relevant. Even professional scientists can be religious people, which tells me that Religion is not driven by rationality or evidence or scientific formalism... definitely not!... but driven by emotions. People resort to Religion due to indoctrination since early age and because Religion can be comforting, serving as an emotional support, or source of hope or even relief from desperation.
Like many of the highest educated, truest agnostics or atheists, Drummond would of course have read the Bible. But that's true: I do not think Drummond is even trying to suggest people shouldn't have faith or religion -- only that they have no right to legislate that opposing viewpoints be ILLEGAL.
Even to this day, religious right-wing people cannot fathom this concept. All who oppose them must perish, must be burned as heathens and apostates, must die to the glory of their God.
@@richardgomes5420 No, there is quite a bit of evidence both historical and Biblical that the Bible wasn’t meant to be taken literally. The reason this isn’t commonly known or accepted is because there have been several Christian leaders and theologians who rejected the notion in favor of a literal interpretation but just like in this trial said Christians can’t answer some of the simplest questions about the very obviously poetic and allegorical language in the Bible.
@@tylergannon7398 Can you provide some links to the evidences you mentioned, please? Thanks
A Book to provide guidance to treating with our fellow humans and perhaps provide solace to the lost. But as a natural history/science text? Not so much.
"Is is possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?" And how Drummond growls: "YES!"
I'm on the side for evolution but when they talk about the increment time a day is before the sun was created, before translated to English, the word for day in Hebrew was yom. Yom can mean a period of time without specified length.
The word yom (יום) is used almost exclusively to refer to regular day, similar to how we understand a day. A day according to the Bible is defined in Genesis 1 as a light to dark sequence. In prophetic passages יום is used on occasion to represent a season, such as "the day of the Lord" which is a reference to the time of the apocalypse. But this is nothing indicative of long geological ages. Such a belief is a wishful attempt to harmonise the text with a fully naturalistic interpretation of origins.
But as you said in the beggining, "yom is used almost exclusively to refer to regular day". So that means that it could have another interpretation.
At the time in Tennessee (my home!) young earth creationism was taught in public school AS SCIENCE and fundamentalist Christians did not want evolution to be taught, as it obviously contradicted their religious belief. Even Scopes initially lost the battle to teach evolution in science class. It was ruled much later again that teaching evolution in science class violated the rights of Christians, who believed every creature was handmade by God less than 12k years ago. So while sure, YOM can mean anything from a blink of the eye to a day to a century, it was the Christians then who insisted it meant solely "day".
Right, but biblical literalists insist it was 24 earth hours.
Some biblical scholars suggest that a "day" - before there was a way to calculate such a thing - was equivalent to 1,000 years according to how we measure days now.
Brady ..Brady..Brady...Belichik speaks to Brady, and Brady wins the Super Bowl..again..
Probably not the same family, but good one. Cheers!
I just stumbled upon this and I have had these types of discussions with my parents for the past few years. What an amazing piece.
My middle school did this play, and I absolutely loved it🤗
Yes Bishop Ussher... The infallible man that nobody is allowed to question. I wish the premise of this story and people's antiscience was fictional however they plague our society.
I like how a devout Protestant such as Mr. Bryan would quote a Catholic Bishop (Which Darrow was a Catholic).
@@hansstrudel9614 Actually Ussher was an Archbishop of the Church of Ireland, which was part of the larger Anglican Communion.
@@friscowolf2917 Protestants in Ireland? IMPOSSIBLE
@@hansstrudel9614 Before the Republic .... They had control!
@@hansstrudel9614 Darrow was agnostic.
“We’ll ‘hex’ the Pentateuch and slip you in neatly between Numbers and Deuteronomy! The witness is excused.”
"I am a man, not a sponge."
Love. It.
I've seen 3 versions of this movie this to me by far is the best!! Tracey and March killed their roles😊😊
Awesome movie. Makes it's point sharply, and show just how an argument backed by knowledge can easily triumph over the erroneous claim of the dogmatic and ignorant.
2:12
The subtle hesitation before he says they must abandon their faith was a nice touch.
I love how Brady is finally given a taste of his own medicine
These two actors, Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, have captured one of the most incredible moments in film history. And it’s all done in a simple court room setting with nothing but their words and actions to bring it alive. And make it into something that will last!
Dick York's finest performance too.
"I don't know as I was ever in a community in my life where my religious ideas differed as widely from the great mass as I have found them since I have been in Tennessee. Yet I came here a perfect stranger and I can say what I have said before that I have not found upon any body's part - any citizen here in this town or outside the slightest discourtesy. I have been treated better, kindlier and more hospitably than I fancied would have been the case in the north." Clarence Darrow, 1925
Imagine if there was actual film of Clarence Darrow putting William Jennings Bryan on the stand. That would be something to see.
I cant imagine it would be any better than this.
After Brady loses his God-like stature it was amazing to see the vulnerable man underneath. Later, at his house, the way he was almost child-like. "They laughed at me Mother." and he collapses in his wife's arms. I'll admit I shed a tear, but at the same time thought it was weird that he referred to her as "Mother" and she referred to him as "Baby" in that moment.
I absolutely love that line:
"Mister, you may conquer the air ... but the birds will lose their wonder and the clouds will smell of gasoline."
Its a bit of a shame that William Jennings Bryan is remembered only for the Scopes Trial. He was a hardcore creationist (ironically, less fundamentalist than some modern day creationists), yes. But as a politician, he advocated for the worker's rights, 8 hour workdays, unions, women's rights etc. He was more a champion of the poor than he was radical Christian. Still love this play - I got to play Henry Drummond once on stage.
Also, part of his dislike of evolution came from the prevalence of the idea Social Darwinism during that time period, which misread Darwin in order to justify economic inequalities.
I loved March's performance in Hombre. He and Diane Cilento's performances were outstanding.
Brady: "I do not think about things I do not think about."
Drummond: "Do you think about things that you DO think about?"
Two of my favorite lines from this movie. So funny, but the logical arguments from Drummond are awesome. If you haven't seen this movie you should check it out.
Man, this script was so well written!
The Bible is a book. It’s a good book. But it’s not the only book. Two giants acting their behinds off. People who weren’t in the film used to crowd in just to see Tracy and March do their scenes. And off camera applause wrecked many takes. Gene Kelly was awesome, way out of his comfort zone.
The problem is that the word "better" is useless without standards. The standards are ours, intelligence has allowed us to survive, so we look down on creatures of lesser intelligence, even though they are by no means less survivable, even though they will outlast us by countless thousands of years.
"I don't think about things... I don't think about." "Do you ever think about things you do think about?" haha
Spencer Tracy’s greatest moment as an actor
I can't disagree with you. Spencer Tracy is the all time greatest actor along with James Cagney. But a close second is Spencer Tracy's almost 8 minutes soliloquy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner go on with the late Great Katharine Hepburn
@@robertlongwill8856 also his closing monologue in Judgment at Nuremberg
@@rossrivero7516 oh my God yes I haven't seen that movie for years I think I will go try and find it. And thank you for the reminder. Spencer Tracy is one of the greatest actors of all time. He could do everything. And Katharine Hepburn was his equal.
@@robertlongwill8856 definitely
One of my all time favorite movies. The characters, of course, were based on Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan. The writing was brilliant, though some of the courtroom dialog was taken right out of the minutes from the Scopes "monkey" trial itself. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March, the two greatest screen actors of their generation, embodied their roles superbly. In fact, they are so great, it is a humbling experience to watch and listen to them, especially Tracy. My favorite line of his, as Darrow/Drummond (not in this scene): "I want those amens in the record."
Clarence was my Great Uncle.. The Darrow family has a long history of debate and fighting for causes
Davedio's comment on this startling scene is spot on. Never before or since have two actors of such talent been assembled in the same film. Tracy's powerful oratory seems to stretch to the portals of heaven itself. Clarence Darrow might have been envious of such bombastic power. What this true to life movie conveys is the tragedy of empathy in the world. Or rather the lack of it. An inability to comprehend and care for anyone remotely different than ourselves. This primitive mindset is the basis of all prejuduces. All of our wars. I will love my neighbor, so long as he looks, thinks and acts exactly like myself. In so many ways man is as primitive now as the pusillanimous paramecium Darwin claimed we evolved from. There is so much more evolving to do. These two great actors displayed the evils of ignorance in it's most grotesque nature. I cant choose which actor is greater. Call it a split decision. Unlike the theme of this movie. God gave us the power to think. And to love. These words are not mutually exclusive.
Wisely seen and said!
This is just simply such a breath-takingly terrific scene and I hope it makes theist and atheist alike think.
The acting is downright mesmerizing. March is great but Spencer Tracy might be the greatest actor of all time-he is certainly my favorite.
My favourite Movie of all time, I am 65 and I watched Daniel Day Lewis at his Craft , But for me Spencer Tracy is my all time Great. 📽
"I do not think about things that I do not think about." that's classic!
That seems to be the Mindset of Every Republican in Congress!
@@jamesalexander5623 😂
Love this line: “The Bible is a book. The Bible is a good book. But, it is not the only book.”
Master class in acting: March & Tracy at the top of their game. Other productions at the studio visited this set to watch the filming.
Nice post!!! Very informative and good to see again. This was such a great movie in every way, acting, dialogue and message
Who gives a shit about the religious aspect. Just watch great actors at work. Actors today are awarded Oscars for much lesser performances.
Michael Garfield Oscar Ńüñêz
today actors are rewarded for ability to adjust to special effects. In old days great actor should be a special effect itself.
Spencer Tracy vs. Frederick March
Put two acting titans together like this.....
......and "lightning in a mason jar" is sure to happen.
Agreed. I love the ending where it clearly says it's possible to believe both in religion and scientific knowledge.
sure, through compartmentalization. if you reject every part of religion that contradicts scientific knowledge you're gonna end up nonreligious
Which was also the point of Contact (1997). When Jodie Foster the agnostic scientist realizes that, it is one of the most poignant moments on film. Much like this movie …
I always get so emotional at 3:20 when John Stebbins applauds.
@TheCb1010 Pascal's wager is a philosophy of cowards. The only life to live where there is nothing to be lost is one of open-minded consideration and thought. That is certainly not one of the greatest values of religious culture. Why should we believe there is a Heaven, just in case. If God is as religions proclaim, why would he punish me merely for not having faith. Wouldn't being a decent person, despite a lack of divine incentive, be more substantial and sincere than faith 'just in case'?
I don't think you understand the context of Pascal's Wager nor the meaning of it. If you have time please read this short article.
www.peterkreeft.com/topics/pascals-wager.htm
An acting master class by these two guys. Classic.
Two Dr Jekyll’s and Mr Hyde’s unite
during the filming of these scenes between tracy and march...the sound stage was filled to the brim...with people rushing for places to watch these two great actors going at it....
Burt Reynolds mentioned that he was one of them.
pascal's wager assumes that christianity is the only religion in existance. maybe YOU should consider it from the perspective of a different religion.
what if YOU are wrong & the muslims, jews or hindus etc are right?
pascal's wager fails on EVERY level.
do you believe in appolo, anubis, zeus, allah, krishna, shiva, haties etc? of course you don't.
an atheist takes it one step further & dosn't believe in yaweh either.
pascal's wager isn't relevant to anything...
Even if you replace Muslim or Hindu for Christian Pascal's wager is pointless
You believe in Zeus you just don’t know it.
@@Diamondraw4Real
"Even if you replace Muslim or Hindu..."
Yeah, that's what I said. Pascal's wager is dumb AF.
I am a life long atheist and also a huge admirer of the thought and philosophy of Blaise Pascal, who was surprisingly humanistic and even existentialist in his views and inquiries. While his famous Wager is incorrect and indeed can be refuted by applying the same logic to other gods and religions, to call the exercise "dumb AF" betrays an astounding level of ignorance, and lack of free thinking. Defend what you say with an argument of your own when you attack the ideas of those who think deeper than you do, even if, especially if, they are wrong.
Thank you! It's so good to see that someone else feels the same about that issue.
Those two great actors make "monkeys" out of all the actors today. Not even close
It's okay that these two actors can be fantastic masters, and there can be phenomenal actors today. They are not mutually exclusive. There are definitely masters today.
Years later Harry Morgan said that this was the best job he ever had. He got to sit down every day and to watch two master screen actors at work.
I learned how mutations happen during cell replication and what types of changes can occur in the DNA sequence in ninth grade biology. Those questions have well established answers.
coming form a guy with a username of poop fingers
Two of the great screen actors gave a clear education on the art here. It s one of the very best of the old style movies.
Now about the video...
We might do this play in Drama next year. I'm pretty excited, it's great. I just hope that creationists don't misunderstand it and misinterpret it, even though they seem to do that to EVERYTHING.
I really want to thank whoever put this clip on youtube. I am doing a project about EVOLUTION VS CRATIONISM, and I am using this clip in my project. Thanks.
Sadly, in 2024, we still fight against this religious bigotry.
Pleaee explain , there's nothing more bigoted than the fairytale of evolutionism .
@SuperPatrick777 Oh dear. I insist that any debater I encounter shares my perception of reality. You, sir, do not. Good day to you.
@@bjb7587And that's your answer , the fact is evolutionism is a fairytale for adults and is also the most dangerous one at that it destroys everything it touches and I mean everything .
This is what really good acting looks like. Not the kind of roles that get awards, the ones where you cannot tell the difference between the actor and the character. Spencer Tracy is not acting as a lawyer, he IS a lawyer.
So... the method?
I LOVE this scene!!!
I just bought this movie for our classic movie collection. Fantastic movie.
Early on,the sheriff calms the girlfriend:"The safest place on Earth is in jail."Tell that to Epstein.
Both are brilliant in this great film. March along with the incomparable Paul Muni created the film acting art form in the early 1930s. Both March and Tracy also played Jekyll & Hyde with March doing it first in a magnificent performance in 1932. Tracy's greatest performance was his essentially one man performance in The Old Man and the Sea (1958).
The Tracy version of Jekyll and Hyde suffered from it being made during the reign of the Code and MGM's generally wholesome approach to film making (though it is not without its sinister sexual innuendoes). March's had the advantage of pre-code (and his scenes with Miriam Hopkins are very pre-code) and Paramount's more artsy approach to film making at that time.
@ysbaddaden2003 If you have any evidence to support you claim, then it is a theory. I presume you do not.
The evidence as the the origin of the universe is circumstantial, but nevertheless revealing. Is it concrete? No. However it is far more satisfying than the over-used "God did it".
If it's a claim built around evidence, then it's an hypothesis. It graduates to become a theory if it survives enough rigorous testing that the scientific community can reaffirm its accuracy with a high degree of certainty, having directly tested to see if any central aspect of it is falsifiable.
What a powerful and thought provoking video. I have never heard of "Inherit the Wind" before. The words of the proscecutor seem to echo what I have said to many people many times. Especially that about the beauty and sanctity of human thought. It seems to me that anyone who claims that thier veiw of the origens of existance is the "truth" (be they creationist or evolutionist) is guilty of tapering human thought. I would much rather someone phrase thier beliefs as "this MIGHT be true"
The best screen actor in history. Spencer Tracy.
William Jennings Bryant (Brady)was a great populist and Progressive politician who ran 4 times for president. He was in the Cabinet of Woodrow Wilson and fought to keep America out of World War 1. Delivered the famous "Cross of gold Speech" as he campaigned for free Silver. He was Champion of the working man and should be remembered for that instead of the one time he played for the wrong team.
Very true. Bryan was forward looking in his earlier days. This is a great film, but it portrays him as out of touch, which he was by that time. 😊
Actually creationism and evolution are mutually exclusive, in almost every way.
One says things have evolved by the hand and design of God. Evolution just says it evolved and doesn't really have anything to say about God's role in it. If you want to see the evolution of animals and plants and man as the work of God, you are completely free to do so.
@@brendanmcnally9145 Evolution is a demonstrable fact. Creation is not.
@@DrownedInExile Absolutely. Science and evolution only deals with what can be proven. Creation-heads only deal with matters of faith and not whether or not anything can be proven. Apparently they don't like being called on that point.
@@DrownedInExile Creation is documented history. Evolution fails the 1st step of the Scientific Method and is therefore not even scientific.
@@DrownedInExileOne single example please , one will do and no mantra thank you .
Stanley Kramer was without a doubt one of the best directors Hollywood
ever had. Spencer Tracy's acting is more than remarkable. The topic is
an all time classic, it is as actual today as it was hundreds of years
ago. Maybe it should be made compulsory in 8th grade school education.
Because, what we need in these days are new ideas to move mankind ahead,
and out of the misery we face. He is absolutely right: "An idea is a
greater monument than a cathedral". .."and a free individual human
spirit is the only holy thing on earth"! I rest my case.
"The Bible is a book. It is a good book. But it is not the only book!"
HI
It is the only book mapping our exact history from it's Beginning to it's everlasting Outcome, 6000 years of the history of death, to be followed by the thousand year reign of the resurrected Christ, from Jerusalem, which is about to break forth on us, check out Book of Revelation and many End Time vids on You Tube. Shalom to you in Christ Yeshua.
Plot twist: It isn't really a good book.
@@Warhero1171 I guess it can be considered as we consider Greek literature with its mythology. Hebrew bible may be seen as Hebrew literature with Hebrew mythology.
@Rizal Disraeli Ramos It's also the book that teaches us to discriminate against nonbelievers and homosexuals.
Christianity and Islam are contradictory. They claim to have an all loving god that sends people to hell if they make one minor infraction. They claim that anyone who doesn't believe in God will burn in hell for eternity.
Decent human beings don't massacre entire cities in the name of God, or burn thousands at the stake.
Religion is foolish, but religions such as Christianity and Islam are detrimental to humanity.
Secular humanists manage to be far more decent than religious people, while denying the existence of God.
Rizal Disraeli Ramos w
The best script amd amd the finest actor america ever produced the astonishing reality of Spencer Tracy....living the role
@fdssg
Stop using logic! It makes their heads hurt.
Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond.
Fredric March as Matthew Harrison Brady.
Gene Kellyas E. K. Hornbeck.
Dick Yorkas Bertram T. Cates.
My pervious comments are not in anyway directed at these actors or any others in this movie. Great movie thank you for posting it, I have just downloaded the complete movie.
Love this movie. Acting is phenomenal.
The beauty of this movie, as revealed by the writer who got an Academy Award for Best Screenplay, was that almost all the court dialogue you hear is the ACTUAL words spoken by the parties AT THE ACTUAL TRIAL. He didn’t change it because he realized he could NEVER write anything better