Inherit the Wind (1960)

In the historic 1925 Scopes "monkey trial" in backwoods Dayton, Tennessee, two grand old lions of the screen, Spencer Tracy and Frederic March, play two grand old lions of the law, Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan.

The film is a dramatized story based on a 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee. The characters' names have been changed, however slightly (Tracy's Darrow is Henry Drummond, and March's Bryan is Matthew Harrison Brady).

However, much of the testimony in the courtroom was taken directly from the trial transcript. Americans haven't progressed much either; a federal judge in Pennsylvania was forced to rule on "intelligent design" 80 years later.

Trivia: “He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.” Proverbs 11:29

Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Dick York