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Inherit the Wind

1960

Stanley Kramer

Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York ...

7.5

4,168

Drama Teacher B.T. Cates is arrested for teaching Darwin's theories. Famous lawyer Henry Drummond defends him; fundamentalist politician Matthew Brady prosecutes. This is a very thinly disguised rendition of the 1925 "Scopes monkey trial" with debates between Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan taken largely from the transcripts.

	Author	Review
United States	TV Guide	"'Inherit The Wind 'acutely captures the farcical Monkey Trial and offers the awesome talents of two double-Oscar winners, Tracy and March, in their only film together."	POS
United States	Bosley Crowther The New York Times	"One of the most intelligent, respectable and entertaining motion pictures of this year."	POS
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"Spencer Tracy does his cuddly curmudgeon turn as Clarence Darrow; it's a lazy, vague performance, but its wit provides the only crack of light in the film's somber, gray overcast."	NEU
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"It is 'Inherit the Wind' among all of Kramer's films that seems most relevant and still generates controversy. (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"This is a rousing and fascinating motion picture. Producer-director Stanley Kramer has held the action in tight check"	POS
United States	Pauline Kael The New Yorker	"The case itself had so many dramatic elements that the movie can't help holding our attention, but it's a very crude piece of work, totally lacking in subtlety"	NEU
United Kingdom	Time Out	"Tolerably gripping in its old-fashioned way, thanks chiefly to old pro performances from Tracy and March as the rival lawyers and ideologists"	POS

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