Inherit the Wind

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Han R Feb 21, 2019 This film is not good. It hardly merits review, save for the high and mighty Hollywood actors who come to engage in its roles. An invention of Dayton, Tennessee, to publicize the town, the Broadway play came at the time of the real Russian (Communist) witch hunt, executed by Sen. Joseph McCarthy and his henchman Roy Cohn, the man who started Donald Trump on the road to irascible pride, obsequiousness to oligarchy, and the idea that permeated his life: that he was above the law. The play mixed anti-McCarthyism with the Scopes trial, making a jumbled mess out of the screenplay. Almost nothing is accurate. This is a mistake that modern day films have corrected. Most writers and actors seek accuracy in what they do and what they portray. This film is characterized by emotional speeches from windbags -- no one really believes what they are spouting. As with most films which deliberately lie and obfuscate the truth, the film comes off as screeching and wailing to little effect. It is much ado about nothing. See more

Feb 1, 2019 The best courtroom movie ever made!

Finn P Jul 18, 2018 I was not impressed with how much this movie made christians look dumb.

Poe S Mar 25, 2018 Stanley Kramer's 1960 film is a searing indictment of religious fundamentalism and anti-intellectualism. Inherit the Wind's relevance continues beyond its immediate parallels with McCarthyism. See more

Anakin W Oct 20, 2017 Watching these actors act was a pleasure.Fine courtroom drama.

Draco W Oct 3, 2017 The cast of Inherit the WInd is the kind of thing that instantly makes me smile. I mean, of course I want to see a defendant played by Dick York, whose lawyer is Spencer Tracy, and the case is covered on the news by Gene Kelly, while Harry Morgan presides over it all. So many iconic actors who I love to see on screen, and they all gave me something to enjoy while watching. Of course, any time I see Gene Kelly I’d rather see him singing and dancing, but this isn’t that type of film. The cocky character who spends most of the movie delivering sarcastic lines was something I didn’t expect from him, but he was probably the one with my favorite performance in the whole movie. I wasn’t as familiar with Fredric March, but he is the zealous prosecutor the film needed to counterbalance the understated Spencer Tracy. A good troupe of actors only gets you so far, and at some point I have to talk about the plot of Inherit the Wind. To say I was frustrated by this movie is a major understatement. It’s more interesting to tell a story like this where you see even a small amount of validity on each side. But here we are treated to only the most extreme and horrid of fundamentalist christians. It made me want to pull my hair out, and there were very few moments of relief from this theme. Aside from Donna Anderson who actually went through some conflict, everyone else in the movie is just painted as 100% right and good or 100% wrong and evil. I know there are people like this in the world, I’m not trying to be naive, but the lack of perspective and variety of opinions felt artificial. I shouldn’t want to punch 90% of the characters in a movie. However, my frustration with the characters in Inherit the Wind was nothing compared to how angry I got with the courtroom scenes. I’m willing to give some leeway to movies so they can dramatize trials to make them more entertaining than they are in real life. But it turns out there’s a limit to how far my suspension of disbelief is willing to go. The excessive way that these lawyers just start pontificating while barely talking to witnesses is ridiculous. They constantly go off on rabbit trails that have nothing to do with the case being tried. It all culminates in the most absurd back and forth when one lawyer calls the other lawyer to the stand. I haven’t done the research to see how closely they tried to mirror the actual trial, but I’d be shocked if it was as dopey as this in the way testimony was given. This didn’t feel like an actual court, but like elementary kids having a mock trial. Inherit the Wind has that great list of actors, but doesn’t give them a good script to utilize their talent, so I failed to appreciate it. See more

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Inherit the Wind

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