Inherit The Wind

            
             The film "Inherit the wind" is about a young schoolteacher who dares to introduce his students to Darwin's theory of evolution in Hillsboro. Hillsboro is a small bible town whose citizens not only reject the evolutionist point of view but deny the existence of evolution itself. They have been taught that the universe and all it contains was created by God; that any other point of view is blasphemous. In Hillsboro, it is unlawful to teach other than what is in the bible. The people there are very old fashioned and not open to questioning what has been written. Thus, the story surrounds the trial of the State vs. a schoolteacher; evolution vs. creation; religion versus science.
             The film was originally written as a play in 1955 by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The focus of the story mirrors the events of what became known as the Scopes Monkey Trial where Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan squared off in a small town to determine the guilt or innocence of a schoolteacher, Scopes, who attempted to teach evolution in his science class. The movie's characters are represented by defense attorney Henry Drummond, prosecutor Matthew Harrison Brady, and defendant Bertram Cates, respectively. All are gathered in the courtroom, including the press, to attend what seems to be an open and shut case. But as the story unfolds and the trial proceeds, there are many twists and surprises that further polarize and make impossible to exist the two points of view.
             Henry Drummond attempts to call several expert witnesses to aide his defense of Cates. The presiding judge, who happens to be running for political office and not wanting to rock the boat with the townspeople, easily disallows any and all witnesses presented by Drummond. However, when left with no other alternative, Drummond calls the only expert witness he knows will be acceptable, not only to the court but to the local population.