Inherit the Wind (1960) based on the play Inherit the Wind (1955) by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee

We’re kicking off this season of From Page to Screen with Inherit the Wind—a powerful courtroom drama that felt especially timely to include, as 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the real-life Scopes “Monkey” Trial on which it’s based. Released in 1960 and directed by Stanley Kramer, the film dramatizes the clash between science and religion, free thought and tradition. Spencer Tracy and Fredric March star as opposing lawyers in a tense legal battle over the right to teach evolution in a small-town classroom.