Inherit the Wind Page #7

cells

Oh... oh!

Mr. McKinnon.

Mr. Galbraith.

I think you know the rest of

these gentlemen.

Ahem.

Cells, Howard.

Little bugs, like in the water.

then the little bugs got to be bigger bugs,

and sprouted legs and crawled up

on the land.

How long did this take according to

Mr. Cates

Couple million years... maybe longer.

Then comes the fishes and the reptiles

and the mammals.

Man's a mammal.

Along with the dogs...

and the cattle in the field

Did he say that

Yes, sir.

Now, Howard,

How does man come out of this slimy mess

of bugs and serpents,

according to your, uh, professor

Well, man was sort of evoluted...

from the old-world monkeys.

Did you hear that, my friends

old-world monkeys!

Ha!

According to Mr. Cates,

you and I aren't even descended

from good American monkeys.

Now Howard, listen, carefully.

in all this talk of bugs and evolution

of slime and ooze,

did Mr. Cates ever make any reference to God

not as I remember.

of the miracle he achieved in 7 days

as described in the beautiful book

of genesis

No, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen...

Objection!

I ask the court to remind

the learned counsel

that he is not in a Chautauqua tent.

He's supposed to be submitting

evidence to a jury.

There are no ladies on the jury.

Your honor... I have no intention

of making a speech

there is no need.

I am sure that everyone on the jury,

everyone within the sound of

this boy's voice

is moved by his tragic confusion.

He has been taught

that he wriggled up like an animal

from the filth and muck below.

I say that these bible haters,

these evolutionists, are brewers of poison!

and the legislature of this sovereign state

has had the wisdom to demand

that the peddlers of poison,

in bottles or in books,

clearly label the product

they attempt to sell.

I say that if this law is not upheld,

this boy will become one of a generation

shorn of its faith by the teachings

of godless science!

But, if the full penalty of the law

is meted out to Bertram Cates,

the faithful the whole world over

who are watching us here and listening

to our every word

will rise up and call this courtroom

blessed!

Your witness, Sir.

I sure am glad the colonel didn't make

a speech.

Now, Howard...

I heard you say that the world used

to get pretty hot.

Well, that's what Mr. Cates said.

Any hotter than it is right now,

do you think

Well, I guess it must have been.

Mr. Cates read it to us from a book.

This the book

Charles Darwin's theory

of the evolution and the descent of man

Yes, sir.

That's right, Howard.

That's the very book

He read to you in your classroom.

Now, Howard, tell me,

do you think there was anything

wrong in that

Well, I don't know

Objection, your honor.

The defense is asking that

a 15-year-old boy hand down an opinion

on a question of morality.

I am trying to establish that Howard,

or Col. Brady, or Charles Darwin,

or anyone sitting in this courtroom,

or you, sir,

has the right to think.

Col. Drummond, the right to think

is not on trial here.

Well, with all due respect

to the court, sir,

I think the right to think

is very much on trial here...

and it is fearfully in danger in

the proceedings of this courtroom.

A man is on trial!

A thinking man!

and he's faced with fine and imprisonment

because he chooses to speak what he thinks.

Col. Drummond,

will you please, ah, rephrase your question

Well now, let's put it this way, Howard...

all this fuss and feathers

about evolution...

do you think it hurt you any

Sir

Did it do you any harm

Still feel reasonably fit

what Mr. Cates told you,

Did it, ah, did it hurt

your baseball game any

did it affect your pitching arm

No, sir.

I'm a lefty.

A south paw, huh

Still honor your father and your mother

Sure.

Haven't murdered anybody

since breakfast, have you

Objection.

This is an absurd piece of jactitation.

Ahem.

Counsel uses a word

with which, ah, the bench is not familiar.

Jactitation...

A specious or false premise.

in this instance,

as to the murder of known

or unknown persons.

Objection

Sustained.

Ahem.

Ask him if his faith in the holy scriptures

has been shattered.

When I need your help, Col. Brady,

you may rest assured

I shall humbly ask for it.

Anytime, Col. Drummond, anytime.

He's the only man I know

who can strut sitting down.

Now, Howard, tell me something...

did you believe everything Mr. Cates

told you

I'm not sure.

I gotta think about it.

Good for you.

Good for you.

Now, uh, uh, your Pa's a farmer, isn't he

Yes, sir.

Got a tractor

Brand-new one.

You think there's anything sinful

about a tractor

because it isn't mentioned in the bible

No.

You know, Moses never made a phone call.

You figure that makes the telephone

an instrument of the devil

I never thought of it that way.

Neither did anybody else!

Your honor, the defense makes

the same old error

of all godless men...

he confuses material things

with the great spiritual value

of the revealed word.

Why do you bewilder this child

Does right have no meaning to you, sir

Realizing that I may prejudice

the case of my client,

I must tell you

that right has no meaning for me whatsoever.

But truth has meaning... as a direction!

But...

it is one of the peculiar imbecilities

of our time

that we place a grid of morality

upon human behavior

so that the action of every man

must be measured against a...

an arbitrary latitude of right

and a longitude of wrong

in exact minutes, degrees,

and seconds, so...

Howard, do you know what the heck...

do you understand what I'm talking about

No, sir.

Maybe someday you will.

That's all, son.

Thank you. you're excused.

This boy may not

understand, but I do.

I've seen what you can do to a jury...

twist and tangle them.

Nobody's forgotten the Endicott

publishing case,

where you made the jury believe

the obscenity was in their own minds

It was immoral, what you did to the jury.

tricking them, judgment by confusion.

you think you can get away with it here

I'm not trying to get away with anything!

I am simply trying to prevent

the clock-stoppers

from dumping a lot of medieval nonsense

into the United States constitution.

this is not a federal court, Col. Drummond.

Well, damn it, you have to start

from somewhere!

Your honor, it's obvious

what he's trying to do...

he is trying to make us

forget the lawbreaker

and put the law on trial

Well, we have the answer

for you in our next witness.

Call miss Rachel Brown to the stand.

Rachel Brown!

Rachel Brown, come to the stand, please!

Did you know about this

He didn't, but we should have.

Rach

Rach, what did you tell him

Take it easy, son.

Sit down, Samson.

You're about to get a haircut.

Rachel, do you solemnly swear

the testimony you're about to give

is the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth,

so help you God

I do.

Now, my dear,

I just want you to repeat

some of the things you told me last night.

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