Inherit The Wind (Blu-ray) PG

The classic courtroom play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is given another film treatment (the first was in 1960 with Spencer Tracy) in this first-rate made-for-cable version from director Daniel Petrie; the story is based on the real-life Scopes Monkey trial that made history in 1925 and brought a small town teacher to the forefront of a great political and social debate. In the small southern town of Hillsboro, the "trial of the century" erupts when a young and idealistic school instructor, Bertram Cates (Tom Everett Scott), is arrested for teaching Darwinism and the theory of evolution in his classroom. Hillsboro becomes a media hot spot as two of the nation's legal masterminds take up the case. George C. Scott stars as Matt Brady (based on real-life orator and politician William Jennings Bryan), a Bible-thumping political zealot who preaches against Darwin and the practices of the young teacher, while Jack Lemmon stars as Henry Drummond (based on legal legend Clarence Darrow), a liberal atheist who defends Cates and the notion of free speech. Drummond and Brady are long-time friends and political peers who find themselves fiercely divided over this issue. After heated political and spiritual debates, the trial is decided, making national headlines and changing the course of free speech and scientific theory forever. Beau Bridges costars as E.K. Hornbeck, a roving reporter who brings the story of Hillsboro to the American public. George C. Scott (in his final role) and Lemmon give impassioned performances in this gripping courtroom drama.