Inherit the Wind

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

It was good for little David

It was good for little David

It was good for little David

and it's good enough for me

Oh, give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

It was good for old Jonah

It was good for old Jonah

It was good for old Jonah

and it's good enough for me

It was good for the Hebrew children

It was good for the Hebrew children

It was good for the Hebrew children

and it's good enough for me

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

Uh, Good morning, young ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, visitors.

For our science lesson for today,

We will continue our discussion of Darwin's theory

of the descent of man.

Now, as I told you yesterday,

Darwin's theory tells us

that man evolved from a lower order of animals,

from the first wiggly protozoa here in the sea

to the ape and finally to man.

Say now some of you fellas out there are probably going to

that's why some of us act like monkeys.

But what Mr. Charles Darwin was trying to tell us,

in his own way--

Bertram T. Cates

come off it, Sam.

You've known me all my life.

Bert, you're charged

with violation of public act 31428,

volume 37, statute no. 31428 of the state code,

which makes it unlawful

for any teacher of the public schools

to teach any theory that denies the creation of man

as taught in the bible,

and to teach instead that man has descended

from the lower order of animals.

Bertram Cates, I hereby place you under arrest.

Monkey trial!

Here's another one--

"Monkey shines in Hillsboro."

The whole world's laughing at us.

Look, from Chicago--

"Heavenly Hillsboro--

"does it have a hole in its head."

"or its head in a hole"

I'm telling you, we've gone too far.

Let 'em laugh.

we're fightin' the lord's battle, ain't we, Reverend.

Well, I'd a sight rather have some heathen a-laughin' at me

than to have my sons a-laughin' at my bible.

Well, they mocked the lord, too, didn't they

and they smote him and they spat upon him,

and he turned to them his other cheek.

Amen.

Look, Reverend, we don't want to smite 'em back.

We just want to make 'em stop.

Tom, you're prosecuting attorney.

Isn't there something we can do?

Well, in view of my position,

I...hardly think it ethical for me to express my opinion

then you'd better go back to law school.

Gentlemen, I ask you--

what do we care what a bunch of foreigners and city slickers think

Frank, you ever had a frenchman stayin' at your hotel

Now look, you're missing the--

and how long since you sold a pound of grits

to some smart aleck from New York

Heaven has chosen us to show the way,

to light the road for others,

back to the shepherd, back to the fold.

We're not sheep, Reverend.

Well, I'd a sight rather be a sheep than a Judas goat.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

As mayor of Hillsboro,

I stand to uphold the laws of this community,

No Matter how it may affect my political future.

Now, I shall just ignore these-- these slanders

just like water off a duck's back.

Now look, you only got 2 months more to go as mayor anyway,

and you shouldn't have been elected in the first place.

You've been a lousy mayor.

My friends,

as you all know, I deal with figures--

accounts, checks, balances.

My bank operates on the principle of practical reality

and so do I.

Are you aware, my friends,

that the great big universities throughout the country

will consider student applicants from our state

ineligible because of this law

Now, I don't know whose idea it was

to hang a shingle on Hillsboro

spelling "horse-and-buggy,"

but as for me, I won't invest in antiquity.

I want my bank holding credit

with New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois,

and I may want my son to go to Yale.

Now, I believe in-- just as much as anyone in this room--

in a basic fundamentalist interpretation of the bible,

but we can't close our eyes to all progress,

to everything which represents--

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

"Matthew Harrison Brady volunteers to prosecute

in monkey trial."

Matthew Harrison Brady.

the lord has sent us his right hand.

and I'll be working with him.

They'll come pouring out of the hills.

This town will fill up like a rain barrel in a flood.

It'll be bigger than the Chautauqua at Chattanooga,

And people are gonna have to have some place to stay...

and they gotta eat.

This'll put Hillsboro on the map of this country.

Let us give thanks to the lord.

Let us pray.

You better start praying, son.

imagine-- Matthew Harrison Brady coming here.

I voted for him for president,

Twice--

once in 1900 and again in 08

I wasn't old enough to vote for him the first time he run,

but my Pa did.

I seen him once at a Chautauqua meeting in Chattanooga.

When he spoke, the tent poles shook.

Who's going to be your lawyer, son

I don't know yet.

I wrote to that newspaper in Baltimore.

they're sending somebody.

well, he better be loud.

Ahh, probably one of those newspaper reporters.

You're a popular fellow.

Yeah.

Oh, Bert, you don't mind, do you.

Just for the looks of it

Can't tell who it might be.

Sure. Don't worry about it, Mort.

All right, All right.

Who is it

Mort

Rachel.

Come on in.

Ahh, you got a present for Bert, huh

Mort, don't let my father know I came here.

Well, the Reverend don't tell me his business.

I don't see why I should tell him mine

Is Bert all right

Oh, of course he's--

The safest place in the world's in the jail.

Come on in. Come on.

Tell them you're sorry.

Tell them it was all a mistake.

Please te--

tell them if they let my body out of jail

I'd lock up my mind

Could you stand that, Rachel

at least we'd be together.

It wouldn't be the...

It wouldn't be the same.

Rachel, do you remember

those warm, dark nights down by the riverbank,

just watching the water,

wondering about the...the miracle of it,

wondering what the stars were for...

what's on the other side of the moon

There'd be no more of that, Rach.

We could still have that.

No, we couldn't.

That would be in the locked-off part...

for both of us.

Well...

So, this is where the fate of learning

will be decided for the next 10,000 years.

O tempora, o mores.

Well, I see we have

both beauty and biology on our side.

Who are you

This your writing

Yes.

This is mine.

Hornbeck. E.K. Hornbeck,

Baltimore Herald.

I've been waiting to hear from you.