This new adaptation of Inherit the Wind is pretty weak. It's supposed to tell the story of the famous Scopes "Monkey Trial", but it glorifies the whole thing into a preachy non-reality that the real trial never was. The dialogue is painful in its wordiness, with Lemmon and Scott seeming to make the whole thing up as they go along. Apparently, learning your script is a lost art. In this version, the Scopes character is overdramatically ripped away from teaching evolution and thrown in the slammer. In reality, Scopes was never in a jail cell, and the entire trial was kind of a bet between Scopes and the townspeople on who would win (the penalty for teaching evolution was only $100, which was to be paid by a newspaper if Scopes lost). The entire trial was a premeditated media circus conceived with the specific intent of attracting people to move to town. Instead, with Scopes' loss in court the town was considered ignorant by most and the trial was only an ephemeral economic interest. The REAL story, I think, is far more interesting. This contrived version basically rips on the law itself--something which is easy to do and boring to watch.
Review of Inherit the Wind
