Original subtitles

(OLD TIME RELIGION PLAYING)

Good morning, young ladies and gentlemen.

Good morning, visitors.

For our science lesson for today,

we will continue our discussion of Darwin's theory

of the descent of man.

As I told you yesterday, Darwin's theory tells us

that man evolved from a lower order of animals.

From the first wiggly protozoa here in the sea

to the ape and finally to man.

Some of you fellas out there are probably gonna say

that's why some of us act like monkeys.

(CLASS LAUGHING)

But what Mr. Charles Darwin was trying to tell us, in his own way...

Bertram T. Cates?

Come off it, Sam. You've known me all my life.

Bert,

you're charged with violation of Public Act 31428,

Volume 37, Statute No. 31428 of the State Code,

which makes it unlawful for any teacher of the public schools

to teach any theory that denies the creation of man

as taught in the Bible,

and to teach instead that man has descended

from a lower order of animals.

Bertram Cates, I hereby place you under arrest.

"Monkey Trial!"

Here's another one, "Monkeyshines in Hillsboro."

The whole world's laughing at us.

Look, from Chicago, "Heavenly Hillsboro.

"Does it have a hole in its head, or its head in a hole?"

I'm telling you, we've gone too far.

Let them laugh. We're fighting the Lord's battle, ain't we, Reverend?

I'd a sight rather have some heathen laughing at me

than to have my sons laughing at my Bible.

They mocked the Lord, too. Didn't they? They smote him and they spat upon him.

-He turned to them his other cheek. -Amen.

Reverend, we don't want to smite them back. We just want to make them stop.

Tom, you're prosecuting attorney. Isn't there something we can we do?

In view of my position, I hardly think it ethical for me to express my opinion.

Then you'd better go back to law school.

Gentlemen, I ask you,

what do we care what a bunch of foreigners and city slickers think?

Frank, you ever had a Frenchman stayin' at your hotel?

You're missing the...

How long since you sold a pound of grits to some smart aleck from New York?

Heaven has chosen us to show the way, to light the road for others

back to the shepherd, back to the fold.

We're not sheep, Reverend.

I'd a sight rather be a sheep than a Judas goat.

Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

As mayor of Hillsboro,

I stand to uphold the laws of this community

no matter how it may affect my political future.

I shall just ignore these slanders just like water off a duck's back.

Now look, you only got two months more to go as mayor anyway.

You should never have been elected in the first place. You've been a lousy mayor.

(ALL SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)

My friends,

as you all know, I deal with figures,

accounts, checks, balances.

My bank operates on the principle of practical reality, and so do I.

Are you aware, my friends,

that the great big universities throughout the country

will consider student applicants from our state ineligible

because of this law?

I don't know whose idea it was to hang a shingle on Hillsboro

spelling "horse-and-buggy."

But as for me, I won't invest in antiquity.

I want my bank holding credit with New York,

Pennsylvania, Illinois,

and I may want my son to go to Yale.

Now, I believe, just as much as anyone in this room,

in a basic fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible,

but we can't close our eyes to all progress, to everything which represents...

Wait a minute! Wait a minute!

"Matthew Harrison Brady volunteers to prosecute in Monkey Trial."

Matthew Harrison Brady.

-The Lord has sent us his right hand. -And I'll be working with him.

They'll come pouring out of the hills.

This town'll fill up like a rain barrel in a flood.

It'll be bigger than the Chautauqua and Chattanooga.

People are gonna have to have someplace to stay.

And they gotta eat.

This'll put Hillsboro on the map of this country.

Let us give thanks to the Lord.

Let us pray.

You better start praying, son.

Imagine, Matthew Harrison Brady coming here.

I voted for him for President, twice.

Once in 1900 and again in '08.

I wasn't old enough to vote for him the first time he run

but my Pa did.

I seen him once at a Chautauqua meeting in Chattanooga.

When he spoke, the tent poles shook.

-Who's going to be your lawyer, son? -I don't know yet.

I wrote to that newspaper in Baltimore. They're sending somebody.

He'd better be loud.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Probably one of those newspaper reporters.

-You're a popular fellow. -Yeah.

Bert, you don't mind, do you? Just for the looks of it?

Can't tell who it might be.

Sure. Don't worry about it, Mort.

(KNOCKING CONTINUES)

(KNOCKING CONTINUES)

All right.

-Who is it? -WOMAN: Mort?

Rachel! Come on in.

You got a present for Bert.

Mort, don't let my father know I came here.

The Reverend don't tell me his business.

I don't see why I should tell him mine.

-Is Bert all right? -Of course he is.

The safest place in the world is in a jail.

Come on in. Come on.

Tell them you're sorry.

Tell them it was all a mistake.

Please...

Tell them if they let my body out of jail, I'd lock up my mind?

Could you stand that, Rachel?

-At least we'd be together. -It wouldn't be the...

It wouldn't be the same.

Rachel...

Do you remember those warm, dark nights down by the riverbank,

just watching the water,

wondering about the miracle of it,

wondering what the stars were for, what's on the other side of the moon?

There'd be no more of that, Rach.

-We could still have that. -No, we couldn't.

That would be in the locked-off part,

for both of us.

MAN: Well...

So, this is where the fate of learning will be decided for the next 10,000 years.

(SPEAKING LATIN)

Well...

I see we have both beauty and biology on our side.

-Who are you? -This your writing?

-Yes. -This is mine.

Hornbeck, E.K. Hornbeck, Baltimore Herald.

-I've been waiting to hear from you. -Read it.

My typewriter's been singing a sweet, sad song

about the Hillsboro heretic.

B. Cates, latter-day Dreyfus.

Romeo with a biology book.

Want a bite?

Don't worry. I'm not the serpent, little Eva.

This isn't from the tree of knowledge. Oh, no.

You won't find one growing in "Heavenly Hillsboro."

A few ignorance bushes, perhaps, but no tree of knowledge.

Ask Adam.

-You make me sound like a martyr. -You could be.

Martyrs always have a point to prove, and so do you,

but you haven't won your halo yet.

That won't come until they've tossed you into the arena with the lion.

-You mean Brady? -I don't want Bert to be a martyr.

What are you trying to prove, anyway?

Rach, I'm not trying to prove anything.

All I want to do is teach my students that man just wasn't planted here

like a geranium in a flowerpot, that life comes from a long miracle.

-It just didn't take seven days. -But it's against the law.

A schoolteacher's a public servant.

He should do what the law and the school board want him to.

Has the accused anything to say in his own defense?

If not, I sentence you to life as a public servant,

a silent butler in the service of your school board.

Wastebaskets for ideas on sale in the outer lobby.

I don't see anything funny in this, Mr. Hornbeck.

Objection sustained. Neither do I.

Then why don't you just leave us alone?

You newspaper people have stirred up enough trouble for Bert.

What do you want, anyway?

I came to tell boy Socrates here

that the Baltimore Herald is opposed to hemlock

and will provide a lawyer.

-Who? -Who?

I don't know yet, but what's the difference?

A new lawyer with old tricks, an old lawyer with new tricks.

Wake up, Copernicus.

The law is still on the side of the lawmakers

and everything revolves around their terra firma.

Then why bother, you and your newspaper?

Because I know that the sunrise is an optical illusion.

My teacher told me so.

You don't seem like the kind of person who'd want to bother.

-You seem So... -Cynical.

True. That's part of my fascination.

I do hateful things for which people love me

and I do lovable things for which they hate me.

I'm admired for my detestability.

Now, don't worry, little Eva.

I may be rancid butter,

but I'm on your side of the bread.

CROWD: (SINGING) Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

It was good for old Jonah

It was good for old Jonah

It was good for old Jonah

And it's good enough for me

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

It was good for little David

It was good for little David

It was good for little David

And it's good enough for me

(SINGING CONTINUES)

Matthew Harrison Brady,

as Mayor of Hillsboro, may I say that this municipality

is proud to have within its city limits

the warrior who has always fought for us ordinary people.

The ladyfolk of this town would not have the vote

if it hadn't been for you fighting to give them all that suffrage.

Mr. President Wilson would not have got to the White House

and won the war if it hadn't been for you supporting him

and being his Secretary of State.

In conclusion, the Governor of our glorious state

has vested in me the authority

to confer upon you a commission

as honorary colonel in the state militia.

(CROWD APPLAUDS)

If it's good enough for Brady.

(SINGING) If it's good enough for Brady

Then it's good enough for me

(ALL CHEERING)

Colonel Brady.

I like the sound of that.

(CROWD LAUGHS)

Friends,

Mrs. Brady and I are delighted to be among you.

We all voted for you.

Three times!

I trust it was in three separate elections.

(ALL LAUGHING)

I could only wish for one thing,

that you had not given us quite so warm a welcome.

-Mr. Brady? -Yes?

-Here you are. -Oh, bless you.

-And Mrs. Brady. -Thank you.

BRADY: And now then,

who, may I ask, is the spiritual leader of the community?

The Rev. Jeremiah Brown.

-Go on, Reverend. -How are you, Reverend?

Will you stand here at my side? Thank you.

My friends of Hillsboro,

you know why I have come here.

It is not merely to prosecute a lawbreaker,

a young man who has spoken out against the revealed word.

I have come here because what has happened in a schoolroom in your town

has unloosed a wicked attack from the big cities of the North.

We did not seek this struggle.

We are simple folk,

who seek only to live in brotherhood and peace,

to cherish our loved ones,

to teach our children the ways of righteousness and of the Lord.

But what would they teach them, these idolaters,

these priests of "evil-ution"?

What would they have them do?

They would have them measure the distance between the stars

and forget him who holds the stars in his hands.

They are lost, my friends.

For, I tell you, if man believes he is descended from the beasts

he must remain a beast!

And as the young wolf turns upon the old,

these innocent ones, corrupted and despairing of salvation

will turn upon their fathers

and our land will become a land of Sodom and Gomorrah,

of pestilence, of fire, of hatred, and of death.

I disagree.

(CROWD MURMURING)

Who are you?

Hornbeck.

E.K. Hornbeck of the Baltimore Herald.

Oh, yes.

Yes, I know your paper.

And your writings, sir.

Ladies and gentlemen, my paper is happy to announce

that it is sending two representatives to "Heavenly Hillsboro,"

the most gifted reporter in America today, myself...

(CROWD TITTERS)

...and the most agile legal mind of the 20th century,

Henry Drummond.

(CROWD GASPS)

-MAN: Who's Henry Drummond? -We'll send him back to hell!

Ride him out on a rail!

-Don't let him into town! -Keep him out!

(ALL CLAMORING)

No, no!

I believe we should welcome Henry Drummond.

If the enemy sends its Goliath into battle, it magnifies our cause.

Henry Drummond has stalked the courtrooms of this land for 40 years.

When he fights, headlines follow.

The whole world will be watching our victory over Drummond.

If St. George had killed a dragonfly instead of a dragon,

who would remember him?

(CROWD MURMURS)

We here in Hillsboro have not only the opportunity

to slay the Devil's disciple but the Devil himself!

If it's good enough for Brady.

(SINGING) If it's good enough for Brady

If it's good enough for Brady

If it's good enough for Brady

Then it's good enough for me

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

Give me that old time religion

It's good enough for me

(SINGING CONTINUES)

You're the stranger, ain't you?

Are you looking for a nice, clean place to stay?

I had a nice, clean place to stay, madam, and I left it to come here.

CROWD: (SINGING) If it's good enough for Brady

If it's good enough for Brady

If it's good enough for Brady then it's good enough for me

Give me that old time...

(ORGAN PLAYING)

REVEREND: Rachel.

I waited supper for you. It's on the table.

Peace will come, my daughter.

We must thank God that the sinner stands naked and exposed.

Stop preaching, Pa. I have something to tell you.

You're upset, daughter. Eat something and we'll talk in the morning.

No. Now!

I'm not leaving Bert.

I don't understand.

You heard what Mr. Brady said.

I love him, Pa. I love him.

No, no. That is the love of Judas.

This man has nothing to offer you but sin.

I told you that from the beginning.

What's he done? What's he done that's so terrible?

Why do you hate him so?

Because I love God, and I hate his enemies.

Bert loves God.

Then what is he doing with Henry Drummond?

Why is he bringing Henry Drummond here

to spew his atheistic filth into the ears of our people?

You're a schoolteacher.

You know how easy it is to mold minds for good,

or to twist them for evil.

Bert didn't twist any minds.

You're infected with the poison of his agnosticism.

Get down on your knees and pray for forgiveness.

-Forgiveness for what? -Because you have betrayed me.

-You have betrayed your faith. -I'm not betraying anybody.

I'm glad your mother isn't here to see what's become of you.

-Pa, please listen to me. -If she is looking down from heaven,

I ask her to forgive you, and to forgive me.

Pa, ever since I was a little girl,

I'd wake up in the middle of the night,

afraid of the dark, like the house was upside down

and if I didn't hang onto the mattress,

I'd fall out into the sky.

Forgive her, Mother, forgive her, dear God.

I wanted to run to you,

to have you tell me that I was safe,

that everything was all right,

but I was always more afraid of you than of falling.

-It's the same way now. -(SOBBING) I have failed.

Tell me what to do, dear Lord. Guide my faltering steps.

I love my daughter.

-How can I save her? -Pa, get up. Please get up.

And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean.

From all your filthiness and from your idols will I cleanse you

and a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit put within you

and I will tear out the stony heart of flesh

and I will give you a heart of flesh.

(BAND PLAYING OLD TIME RELIGION)

-Hello, devil. Welcome to hell. -Hello, Hornbeck.

Hillsboro, Heavenly Hillsboro, the buckle on the Bible belt.

Come on.

DRUMMOND: Where are we staying?

We're sharing a room at the Mansion House

like everything else in this town, misnamed.

Follow me, and I shall point out the unplumbed and plumbingless depths.

Bible? Bible?

Hot dogs, here. Get your red hots.

That poses a pretty problem. Which is hungrier, my stomach or my soul?

-Hot dog. -Yes, sir.

Tell me, what do you think of all these monkeyshines?

Got no opinion, sir. Opinions are bad for business.

Are you a evolutionist? A infidel? A sinner?

The worst kind. I write for a newspaper.

-Want a hot dog? -No, thanks.

Then you, sir, you must be a man of God.

No, no. Ulcers.

Ladies and gentlemen,

devolution is not a theory but a proven fact.

My friends, man did not evolve from the ape,

but the ape devolved from man.

Take a look at this creature sitting here.

There before you is an example of the ungrace

to which man can fall because of his own bestiality.

Look at those beady little brows. Look at those shifting eyes.

For as sure as the good Lord cast out Satan from heavenly glory,

so did he devolve this poor beast from man.

Quit looking at me, will you, son?

These are the wages of sin, my friends.

You take a lesson. Look and beware.

I thank you.

Your contributions will be gratefully received.

Grandpa.

Welcome to Hillsboro, sir.

Have you come to testify for the prosecution or the defense?

You.

Are you Henry Drummond?

-Yes, I am. -I'm Royce McHenry, farmer hereabouts.

Nice to know you, Mr. McHenry.

I want to tell you we're just plain folk down here.

We don't need no outsiders to tell us how or what to think.

That isn't my mission, Mr. McHenry.

Then why don't you go back where you came from?

DRUMMOND: Hmm.

-Pretty hot, aren't they? -Their messiah arrived yesterday.

Look, Drummond, why don't you give your ulcers a break and go home?

-You'll win no victories here. -I've been a lawyer long enough

to know there are no total victories anywhere.

There's only one man in this town who thinks at all, and he's in jail.

That's why I'm here.

Just plain folk, second generation.

Mr. Drummond?

We're all members of Mr. Cates' homeroom and biology class.

We all like Mr. Cates very much,

and we hope you do right by him.

Well, so do I, son. So do I.

-Sarah! -It's good to see you, Henry.

I only wish it were under different circumstances.

Sarah, you look lovelier than ever.

-You know Mr. Hornbeck? -How do you do, Mrs. Brady?

How do you do, Mr. Hornbeck?

(EXCLAIMS GLEEFULLY)

Excuse me.

Henry! Henry Drummond!

-How are you, Henry? -Hello, Matt.

I see you've made friends among the younger set.

Yes, youth appeals to me these days.

-MAN: Room 206, Mr. Drummond. -Thank you.

Neither of us is getting any younger, Henry.

Matt, you know what the doctor said about not overeating in this heat.

Don't worry, Mother. We need strength for the fight ahead.

-I'll take up your bags, Counselor. -DRUMMOND: Thank you.

It's you again, Mr. Hornbeck.

I read your article yesterday. Very biased reporting, I must say.

Mr. Brady, it's the duty of a newspaper

to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

I don't like that fellow. Oh!

Henry, I'd like for you to meet some of the good people of Hillsboro.

Mr. Carter, the Mayor.

-Welcome to Hillsboro. -Thank you, Your Honor.

Prosecuting Attorney for this district, Mr. Davenport.

We'll be working together.

Mr. Drummond, sir, let me assure you, while we may not agree with your ideas,

we respect your right to voice them.

Good boy.

Henry Drummond and I have worked side by side in many battles

for the rights of the common folk of this country.

Twice he campaigned for me when I ran for President.

-Isn't that right, Henry? -That's right, Matt.

Now, after all these years,

we find ourselves on the opposite side of an issue.

Well, that's evolution for you.

Good day, gentlemen.

Good day, young gentlemen, and thank you.

-Sarah. -Goodbye, Henry.

(CROWD TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

(CROWD CHEERING)

(CROWD BOOING)

JUDGE: I believe we can desist with the taking of photographs

for the time being.

Mr. Drummond, is the defense ready to proceed

with the selection of the next juror?

Defense is ready, Your Honor.

Colonel Brady, is the prosecution ready?

Prosecution is ready, Your Honor.

JUDGE: All right, Mort, call a venireman to fill the 12th and last seat on the jury.

-Jesse H. Dunlap! -Yes, Sir.

You're next, Jesse.

(SPECTATORS CLAMORING)

(GAVEL BANGS)

JUDGE: Order in the court!

Order in the court!

I want to warn the spectators that the court will not tolerate

any undue disturbance at any time.

REPORTER: The 11th juror has been selected...

JUDGE: Now, I thought I made myself plain.

I'm not going to warn you again about those photographs.

(REPORTER CONTINUES SOFTLY)

JUDGE: And you reporters have just one more minute on those telephones.

(REPORTERS TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

As you know, for all last night and today

the legion of the unwashed and holy

have been rivering out of the rustic back ways

to listen to their plump messiah coo and bellow.

Their high priest of mumbo jumbo, Matthew Harrison Brady,

has alternately been stuffing himself with fried chicken

and belching platitudes since his arrival here two days ago.

(GAVEL BANGS)

JUDGE: All right, can we continue, Colonel Brady?

Your Honor, before we continue, will the court entertain a motion

on a matter of procedure?

Will the learned prosecutor state the motion?

It has been called to my attention that the temperature in this courtroom

is now 97 degrees Fahrenheit

and it may get hotter.

SPECTATORS: Amen! (LAUGHING)

I do not think the dignity of this court will suffer

if we remove a few superfluous outer garments.

Does the defense have any objection to Colonel Brady's motion?

Well, I don't know if the dignity of this court can be upheld

with these galluses I've got on.

We'll take that chance, Mr. Drummond.

Those who wish to remove their coats may do so.

Is the counsel for the defense

showing us the latest fashion

from the great metropolitan city of Chicago?

(ALL LAUGHING)

Glad you asked me that. I brought these along special.

It just so happens I bought these in Peabody's general store

in your hometown, Mr. Brady,

Weeping Water, Nebraska.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

(GAVEL BANGS)

Let us proceed with the selection of the final juror.

Mort.

-State your name and occupation, Jess. -Jesse H. Dunlap, farmer.

Mr. Davenport.

You believe in the Bible, Mr. Dunlap?

I believe in the holy word of God

and I believe in Matthew Harrison Brady.

Amen!

Hallelujah, brother.

(SPECTATORS APPLAUDING)

(GAVEL BANGING)

This man is acceptable to the prosecution.

JUDGE: Mr. Drummond?

No questions. Not acceptable.

Does Mr. Drummond refuse this man a place on the jury

simply because he believes in the Bible?

If you find an evolutionist in this town, you can refuse him.

I object to the defense attorney rejecting a worthy citizen

without so much as asking him a question.

All right, I'll ask him a question.

How are you?

Oh...

Kind of hot.

Me, too.

Excused.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

You are excused from jury duty, Jesse. You may step down.

BRADY: Your Honor,

I object to the note of levity

which the counsel for the defense is introducing into these proceedings.

The court agrees with you in spirit, Colonel Brady.

And I object to all this "Colonel Brady" talk.

I am not familiar with Mr. Brady's military record.

Well, he was made honorary colonel

in our state militia the day he arrived in Hillsboro.

The use of the title prejudices the case of my client.

It calls up a picture of the prosecution astride a white horse

ablaze in the uniform of a military colonel

and with all the forces of right and righteousness

marshaled behind him.

Well, we certainly want to give you a fair hearing in this courtroom.

We don't want anything prejudicial to your client.

What do you suggest we do, Counselor?

Break him. Make him a private.

I have no serious objection to the honorary title of Private Brady.

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

You'd better do something about this, Jason.

-Get him up here. -Oh, Mr. Drummond.

-You know our mayor, Mr. Drummond. -Yes.

I believe he has a suggestion to make.

By authority of...

Well, I'm sure the Governor won't have any objection.

I hereby appoint you, Mr. Drummond,

a temporary honorary colonel in the state militia.

Well.

Well, gentlemen, what can I say?

It certainly is not every day that a man attains the exalted position

of temporary honorary colonel.

I thank you.

Colonel Brady, Colonel Drummond,

you will examine the next venireman.

Mort.

George Sillers!

You're next, George.

State your name and occupation, George.

George Sillers. I work at the feed store.

Tell me, sir, would you call yourself a religious man?

Well, I guess I'm as religious as the next fellow.

In Hillsboro, sir, that means a great deal.

(SPECTATORS MURMUR IN AGREEMENT)

Tell me, Mr. Sillers, do you have any children?

Not as I know of.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

If you had a son, Mr. Sillers, or a daughter, what would you think if that sweet child

came home from school and told you that a godless teacher...

Objection! We're supposed to be selecting jury members.

The prosecution is denouncing the defendant

before the trial has even begun.

Objection sustained.

Mr. Sillers, do you have any personal opinions

with regard to the defendant that might prejudice you on his behalf?

Cates?

I don't hardly know the man.

Oh, he bought some peat moss from me one time.

He paid his bill.

Mr. Sillers impresses me as an honest, God-fearing man. I accept him.

Thank you, Colonel Brady. Colonel Drummond?

Now, Mr. Sillers, you have just said that you were a religious man.

Do you work at it very hard?

Well, I'm pretty busy down at the feed store.

-My wife tends the religion for both of us. -Oh, I see. I see.

You take care of this life and she takes care of the next one, is that it?

That is objected to as immaterial and argumentative.

JUDGE: Objection sustained.

Now, tell me, Mr. Sillers,

while your wife has been taking care of the religion for the family

have you ever heard of a fellow called Charles Darwin?

Oh, not till recent.

DRUMMOND: Well, tell me something.

From what you've heard of this fellow Darwin, do you think he's the kind of a man

you might invite up for Sunday dinner?

Your Honor, my worthy opponent from Chicago

is cluttering up the issue with hypothetical questions.

DRUMMOND: I have already established

that Mr. Sillers is not working very hard at religion.

Now, for your sake, I'm trying to establish that he is not working at evolution.

Oh, I'm just working at the feed store.

(SPECTATORS LAUGHING)

(GAVEL BANGING)

Mr. Sillers, do you think you can render impartial...

Objection, objection! The prosecution has already accepted this man.

-But all I want is a fair trial. -So do I.

Unless the state of mind of the members of the jury

conforms to the laws and patterns of society...

Oh, conform, conform. What do you want to do?

Run the jury through a meat grinder to have them all come out the same?

Take a box seat, there, Mr. Sillers.

Your Honor! Your Honor, this is ludicrous!

Gentlemen, you are both out of order.

The Bench rules that the jury has been selected.

Due to the excessive heat,

court is adjourned until 10:00 tomorrow morning.

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

One moment, please. One moment.

Order in the court.

Reverend Brown has asked me to announce

that there will be a prayer meeting tonight at the picnic grounds.

"Pray for justice and guidance. All are invited."

Your Honor, I object to that commercial announcement.

Commercial announcement?

Of the Reverend Brown's product.

Why don't you announce that there's going to be an evolution meeting?

-I have no knowledge of such a meeting. -That's quite understandable.

It isn't enough that everybody who comes into this courtroom

has to pass under a sign which says "Read your Bible."

I want that sign taken down, Your Honor.

SPECTATORS: No!

Or else I want another sign put up just as big with just as big letters

which says "Read your Darwin."

(SPECTATORS BOOING)

That's what I mean about this man.

-(GAVEL BANGS) -JUDGE: Order!

Your Honor, we want the learned counsel from the North

to get every fairness and consideration in this trial.

We must not forget that he is our guest.

"Guest," hell! I'm a lawyer in a courtroom.

Then behave like a lawyer.

Stop using this courtroom as a platform for your obscene ideas.

Trying to dirty the minds of our young people here.

You are both out of order. Court is adjourned.

My conduct in this courtroom is not under question

and certainly not by you!

-Well, your language is! -I don't swear just for the hell of it!

Language is a poor enough means of communication.

I think we should use all the words we've got.

Besides, there are damned few words that anybody understands!

(SPECTATORS TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

Henry Drummond, atheist!

You! What are you going to say in your paper now?

"He that sups with the Devil must have a long spoon."

We'll fix you, Cates. We'll run you out of town.

Well, anyway, the Baltimore Herald is with you

right up to the lynching.

Bert.

Bert, you've got to call the whole thing off now.

-Who are you, young lady? -This is Rachel Brown. We're engaged.

Brown? Reverend Brown's daughter?

Don't you see what's happening, Bert?

They're using you as a weapon against your own people.

What you think or believe isn't the point anymore.

You're helping something bad.

Young lady, it's not as simple as all that.

Good or bad, black or white, day or night.

Do you know that at the top of the world the twilight is six months long?

Bert and I don't live on top of the world. We live in Hillsboro.

And when the sun goes down, it's dark.

Why do you have to come here to make it different?

I didn't come to make Hillsboro different.

I came here to defend his right to be different. And that's the point.

-How about it, boy? -I don't know what the point is anymore.

I tried to open their kids' minds. Their kids!

I tried to give them knowledge they could use.

They're using it as a stranglehold on me.

HORNBECK: You're learning, Cates.

Disillusionment is what little heroes are made of.

Where do I finish? Dead with a paper medal on my chest?

"Bert Cates, world's biggest chump, he died fighting."

Let's face it. To him, I'm a headline, to you, I'm a cause.

And to yourself?

All right, let's face it.

Now you chose to get into this by yourself.

You didn't get into it because of his headline

or because of my cause, or maybe even because of their kids.

You got into it because of yourself,

because of something you believed in for yourself.

I didn't believe it would happen this way.

It can get worse. Those people are in a lean and hungry mood.

-They look at me as if I was a murderer. -In a way, you are.

You kill one of their fairy-tale notions and they'll

bring down the wrath of God, Brady,

and the state legislature on you every time.

-You make a joke out of everything. -Young lady,

I know what Bert is going through.

It's the loneliest feeling in the world.

It's like walking down an empty street listening to your own footsteps.

But all you have to do is to knock on any door and say,

"If you'll let me in, I'll live the way you want me to live

"and I'll think the way you want me to think."

And all the blinds will go up, and all the doors will open

and you'll never be lonely ever again.

Now it's up to you, Cates.

You just say the word, and we'll change the plea.

That is, of course, if you honestly believe that the law is right

and you're wrong.

Now if that's the case, just tell me

and I'll pack my bag and go back to Chicago

where it's a nice, cool 100 in the shade.

Bert, I've gone to my father's church

every Sunday as long as I can remember.

This is where I live.

This is where my children will be born.

What kind of a life could we have?

What kind of a life could we have if I gave up now?

Your father's kind?

"Hallelujah," and "Ignorance, here we come"?

Rach, what goes on in this town is not necessarily

the Christian religion everyplace else.

Rach, I can't live the way you want me to.

You're the one who's got to decide.

It's his church or our house. You can't live in both.

MORT: Sorry, Bert.

I have to take you back now.

You ever been in love, Hornbeck?

Only with the sound of my own words, thank God.

I have been to their cities

and I have seen the altars upon which they sacrifice

the futures of their children to the gods of science.

And what are their rewards? Confusion and self-destruction.

New ways to Kill each other in wars.

I tell you, gentlemen, the way of scientism is the way of darkness.

Now, Mr. Brady, do you believe seriously

that the majority of the American people hold with your views?

Not just the views of Matthew Harrison Brady, Mr. Hornbeck.

There isn't one state in the union where evolutionists are in the majority.

It'll be the people themselves of our great land who will speak.

Mr. Brady, how do you account for the unfortunate comment

that your crusade has aroused?

The attacks upon me stem from a vociferous minority

which happens to control the press.

I hope you gentlemen, madam,

will not be influenced by this same negative bias.

Pardon me.

Thank you, O Lord, dear Father,

from whom all blessings flow, for thy bounty

make us worthy of thy grace, amen.

Go ahead, Henry. I said grace for you, too.

God may be a matter of indifference to the evolutionists

and the life beyond hold no charms for them.

DRUMMOND: Sarah.

BRADY: But the mass of mankind will continue to worship...

(BRADY CONTINUES)

-Here, sit with me. -Thank you.

He'll be busy for a while.

Wow! Where is it? Where is it? The hat with the little blue feather?

Blue feather?

You used to wear it to all the conventions. It was much too becoming.

(LAUGHS) Henry!

And whatever happened to that skinny black tie you used to wear?

Not very attractive, like an old shoelace.

It's back in the shoe.

How are you, Sarah? How are you?

A little grayer, Henry. And you?

A little grimmer.

I don't believe it. I watched you in court today.

You seemed to be enjoying it as much as ever.

That's Matt. He brings out the worst in me.

We've missed you, Henry.

You don't make many good friends in a lifetime.

I never dreamed our ideas would separate us.

BRADY: I have reason to be.

I have messages of encouragement from the governors of 22 states.

He still has a loud voice.

SARAH: He still has something to say, Henry.

You mean about how everybody else should live?

Oh, don't be cynical.

I think every man longs to be his brother's keeper

and to be cared for in return.

It sounds more convincing coming from you.

He doesn't have a blue feather in his hat, that's all.

You know, looking back,

I don't think Matt would have made a great President,

but I would have voted for him for king,

just to have you for queen.

And what would you have been?

Your Majesty's loyal opposition.

"I believe that Hillsboro..." (BELCHES) Pardon me.

"Will become the shrine of all those millions upon millions

"who find a rallying point for their expression of God's will."

Now, that's all for today, gentlemen.

Hearken to the Word! Hearken to the Word!

The Word tells us that the world was created in six days.

In the beginning, the earth was without form, and void

and the Lord said, "Let there be light."

(CROWD MURMURS IN AGREEMENT)

And there was light!

CROWD: Amen!

And the Lord saw the light, and the light saw the Lord

and the light said, "Am I good, Lord?"

And the Lord said, "Thou art good."

(CROWD SHOUTS AFFIRMATION)

MAN: And the evening and the morning were the first day.

REVEREND: And the Lord said, "Let there be a firmament."

And even as he spoke, it was so.

(CROWD MURMURS AFFIRMATION)

And the evening and the morning were the second day!

REVEREND: On the third day, brought he forth the dry land

and the grass and the fruit tree

and on the fourth day, the sun, the moon, and the stars

and he pronounced them good.

The fifth day peopled he the sea with fish and the air with fowl

and made he the great whale

and he blessed them all!

(CROWD SHOUTS AFFIRMATION)

But,

on the morning of the sixth day

the Lord rose, and his eye was dark

and a scowl lay across his face!

Why?

Why was the Lord troubled?

-Why? Tell us! -Tell us the troubles of the Lord!

Tell us the troubles of the Lord!

The Lord looked around him at all his handiwork

bowed down before him, and he said,

"It is not good! It is not enough!

"It is not finished!

"I shall make me

"a man!"

(CROWD CHEERS)

-Do we believe? -CROWD: Yes!

-Do we believe the Word? -CROWD: Yes!

-Do we believe the truth of the Word? -CROWD: Yes!

Do we curse the man who denies the Word?

CROWD: Yes!

Do we call down hellfire

on the man who has sinned against the Word?

CROWD: Yes!

Whatever happened to silent prayer?

REVEREND: O Lord of the tempest and the thunder,

strike down this sinner as thou did thine enemies of old

in the days of the Pharaohs.

Let him know the terror of thy sword!

Let his soul for all eternity

writhe in anguish and damnation!

No!

No, Pa! Don't pray to destroy Bert!

Lord, we ask the same curse

for those who ask grace for this sinner,

though they be blood of my blood and flesh of my flesh!

(STAMMERING) Reverend Brown, I know it's the great zeal of your faith

which makes you utter this prayer, but it is possible to be overzealous

to destroy that which you hope to save, so that nothing is left but emptiness.

Remember the wisdom of Solomon in the book of Proverbs,

"He that troubleth his own house

"shall inherit the wind."

The Bible also tells us that God forgives his children

and we as children of God should forgive each other.

My good friends, return to your homes.

Go home.

The blessings of the Lord be with you all.

We'll take you home, my dear.

I can't go home. He hates me.

He doesn't hate you.

He damned me. My own father damned me to hell.

-No man has the power to damn. -He's always done it.

He did it to Bert and the little Stebbins boy.

Stebbins boy?

That's how the whole thing started.

The Stebbins boy was just an innocent child.

BRADY: God has no wrath for the innocent, my dear.

That's what Bert said.

He used to say that when we were together.

If I could just explain it clearly,

then you'd understand.

-Mr. Brady, please, I... -We'll do all we can to help you.

Come. Now let's go home.

-I'll be right up, Sarah. -All right, Matt.

-Good night, Henry. -Good night.

You're up late.

Too hot to sleep.

No use trying to fool ourselves, Henry.

We're just not the men we used to be.

(DRUMMOND CHUCKLES)

By the size of that meal you packed away tonight

I'd say you hadn't changed in 40 years.

(LAUGHS)

Funny how two people can start from the same point

and drift apart.

It's the nature of the life process.

There used to be a mutuality of understanding,

admiration between us, Henry.

Why is it, my old friend,

that you've moved so far away from me?

All motion is relative, Matt.

Maybe it's you who have moved away by standing still.

Well...

If progress means abandoning God,

abandoning the faith of our fathers...

I saw a demonstration of that faith tonight.

It's a pretty deadly instrument, I'd say.

What you saw was a reflection of the violence and hate

in the world around them, Henry.

Your world.

But they were driven to it because their faith was challenged.

These are simple people, Henry, poor people.

They work hard and they need to believe in something...

Something beautiful.

They're seeking for something more perfect than what they have.

Window shopping for heaven.

Why do you want to take it away from them, Henry?

It's all they have.

Like a golden chalice of hope.

(CHUCKLES)

Like my Golden Dancer.

Your what?

Golden Dancer.

She stood in the big side window in the general store in Wakeman, Ohio.

I used to stand out on the street and say to myself,

"If I had Golden Dancer, I'd have everything in the world I ever wanted."

I was about seven years old at the time and a great judge of rocking horses.

Golden Dancer had a bright red mane, blue eyes

and she was gold all over with purple spots,

and when the sun hit her stirrups, she was a dazzling sight to behold.

But she was a week's wages for my father.

So Golden Dancer and I

always had a big plate-glass window between us.

And then.

Let's see,

it couldn't have been Christmas.

It must have been my birthday.

I woke in the morning, and there was Golden Dancer

-at the foot of my bed. -Ha-ha!

Mom had skimped on the groceries

and my father had worked nights for a month.

I jumped into the saddle, and I started to rock,

-and it broke. -No.

Split in two. The wood was rotten.

The whole thing was put together with spit and sealing wax.

All shine and no substance

and that's how I feel about that demonstration I saw tonight, Matt.

All glitter and glamour. You say you're giving the people hope?

-I think you're stealing their hope. -Now, Henry...

As long as the prerequisite for that shining paradise

is ignorance, bigotry and hate,

I say, "The hell with it."

BOY: We had to keep an open mind on the origin of species.

BRADY: Very interesting, Howard. Very interesting.

Now, go on, Howard.

Tell us what else Mr. Cates told you in the classroom.

Well, he said at first the Earth was too hot for any kind of life.

Then it cooled off a mite, and cells and things began to grow.

-Cells? -(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

Oh.

Mr. McKinnon. Mr. Galbraith.

I think you know the rest of these gentlemen.

(GAVEL BANGING)

(CLEARS THROAT)

-Cells, Howard? -Little bugs like, in the water.

Then the little bugs got to be bigger bugs,

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 professor?

Well...

Man was sort of evoluted from the old-world monkeys.

BRADY: Did you hear that, my friends?

"Old-world monkeys!"

(SPECTATORS LAUGHING)

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?

(SIGHS) Not as I remember.

Of the miracle he achieved in seven 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.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

Now, Howard,

I heard you say that the world used to get pretty hot.

That's what Mr. Cates said.

Any hotter than it is right now, do you think?

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 Colonel Brady, or Charles Darwin

or anyone sitting in this courtroom, or you, sir, has the right to think.

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.

Colonel Drummond, will you please rephrase your question?

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 hurt your baseball game any?

Did it affect your pitching arm?

No, sir. I'm a lefty.

A southpaw, 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.

(JUDGE CLEARS THROAT)

Counsel uses a word with which 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.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Ask him if his faith in the Holy Scriptures has been shattered.

When I need your help, Colonel Brady,

you may rest assured I shall humbly ask for it.

Anytime, Colonel Drummond, anytime.

He's the only man I know who can strut sitting down.

DRUMMOND: 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, 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.

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

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

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.

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, Colonel Drummond.

DRUMMOND: 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.

MORT: 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.

BRADY: Now, my dear, I just want you to repeat

some of the things you told me last night.

Please, Mr. Brady.

Rachel, you said you wanted the people here to understand, didn't you, my dear?

-Yes. -Then just answer my question.

Miss Brown,

you are an old friend of the defendant, Bertram Cates?

We're engaged to be married.

BRADY: Do you and Mr. Cates attend the same church?

RACHEL: Yes,

we did.

Do you now?

-What? -Attend the same church?

No.

Did Mr. Cates leave the church?

No, not really. Not the spirit of it.

But the body of it, correct?

Mr. Cates left the church you and he once attended together?

Yes.

Why?

-Because of the Stebbins boy. -The Stebbins boy.

-Would you tell us about that, please? -It was two summers ago.

The little Stebbins boy was 13 years old.

He was one of Bert's students.

He lived right next door to the boarding house

and he used to come over and look through Bert's microscope.

Bert said the boy had a bright mind

and he might even be a scientist when he grew up.

Yes?

He went to the river with the other boys and went swimming.

He... He got a cramp and drowned.

Go on.

At the funeral,

Pa preached that Tommy didn't die in a state of grace

because his father wouldn't allow him to be baptized.

Tell him what your father really said,

that Tommy's soul was damned, writhing in hellfire!

Cates, you sinner!

Religion's supposed to comfort people, not frighten them to death!

(GAVEL BANGING)

We will have order, please.

-Now, sit down, Bert. -Don't you see?

Bert thought it wasn't fair that a little child

couldn't go to heaven!

It wasn't God he abandoned, only the church!

Well, then, my dear, it is true, then,

that because of what happened to the Stebbins boy

Bert Cates left the church!

We've said nothing wrong.

We are merely beginning to gain some insight

into the experiences that sometimes will lead a young man astray.

Objection!

Whether my client went astray is a matter of interpretation.

-Strike it from the record. -Objection sustained.

The jury is directed to disregard the remarks of Counsel.

Very well.

Now, my dear, will you tell the jury some more of Mr. Cates' opinions

on the subject of religion?

Objection!

Hearsay evidence is not admissible.

The court sees no objection to this line of questioning.

Proceed, Colonel Brady.

Just repeat, in your own words, some of the conversations

you had with the defendant.

Rachel, you can't.

The things I said to you were questions you ask your own heart.

If you say those things out loud, he'll make them sound like answers.

I can't.

You won't hurt him, Rachel. This is for his good.

Speak up.

Mr. Brady, I confided in you...

We're here to serve the truth, Rachel, only the truth.

I can't remember.

Rachel, you are testifying under oath.

It is unlawful to withhold pertinent information.

Describe to the court your innermost feelings

when Bert Cates said to you,

"God did not create man. Man created God."

Bert didn't say that!

He was just bitter because of the little Stebbins boy!

He said man created a vengeful God out of his own bigotry

-and the devil out of his own hell! (SPECTATORS MURMURING)

When he wondered what's on the other side of the moon

did he ever mention the possibility of heaven? Did he ever mention that?

Or did he say there was nothing but a world of stars and moons,

and galaxies, and universal dust?

Tell us. Tell us some more. What did he say about the holy state of matrimony?

Did he compare it to the breeding of animals?

DRUMMOND: Objection!

You want the good people of this town to see what happened to his brain

so they can help bring him back to his senses, don't you?

Come on, tell it!

Tell it alll Tell it! Tell it! Tell it!

Matt!

(RACHEL SOBBING)

(RACHEL GROANS)

Under the circumstances,

I believe the witness should be excused.

(WHIMPERING)

Colonel Drummond, do you have any objection to excusing the witness

from cross-examination at this time, subject to later recall?

Well, Your Honor, the defense must have a chance

to challenge the words

put into the mouth of the witness by the prosecutor.

Don't plague her. Let her go.

May I have a moment, please?

Do you want every word he just put in her mouth

to go into the record?

It's not that important.

Not that... They just pulled you apart like a plucked chicken.

Please, do as I say. You've got to.

I've got to what? Send you to jail?

-Let her go. -You all-American idiot,

she just handed them your head on a silver platter.

Damn it, stay out of this! It's none of your business.

Don't tie my hands, son.

Let her go, or I'll change my plea to guilty.

(DRUMMOND SIGHS)

No questions.

For the time being, the witness is excused.

May I have your autograph?

JUDGE: Does the prosecution wish to call any further witnesses?

Not at the present time, Your Honor. The prosecution rests.

We shall proceed with the case for the defense,

Colonel Drummond.

I'd like to call Dr. Amos Keller...

(DRUMMOND CLEARS THROAT)

...head of the Department of Zoology, at the University of Chicago.

-Objection! -On what grounds?

I wish to inquire what possible relevance

the testimony of a zoology professor can have in this trial.

Why, it has every relevance. My client is on trial for teaching evolution.

Certainly, any testimony relating to his so-called infringement of the law

must be admitted.

-Irrelevant, immaterial, inadmissible. -But why?

If Bertram Cates were on trial for murder,

would it be irrelevant to call in withesses

to examine the weapon?

Would it rule out testimony

that the so-called murder weapon was incapable of firing a bullet?

I fail to grasp the learned counsel's meaning.

Oh.

Ah, well...

Your Honor, the defense wishes to place Dr. Keller on the stand

so that he can explain to the gentlemen of the jury

the exact meaning of the theory of evolution.

How can they pass judgment if they don't know what it's all about?

I hold that the very law we're here to enforce

excludes such testimony!

The people of this state have made it very clear

that they do not want this zoological hogwash

slopping around the schoolrooms.

I refuse to allow these agnostic scientists

to employ this courtroom as a sounding board

as a platform from which they can shout their heresies into the headlines.

Colonel Drummond,

the Bench rules that zoology is irrelevant to the case.

Agnostic scientists?

(CLEARS THROAT)

I call Dr. Allen Page, deacon of the congregational church

and professor of geology and archeology at Oberlin college.

-Objection. -JUDGE: Objection sustained.

Does Your Honor deny in one breath

the existence of zoology, geology, and archeology?

We do not deny the existence of these sciences

but they do not relate to this point of law.

(DRUMMOND SIGHS)

I call Walter Aaronson, anthropologist, philosopher, author

and one of the most brilliant minds in the world today. Any objection, Mr. Brady?

Objection!

Your Honor, the defense has brought to Hillsboro

at great expense and great inconvenience, six noted scientists.

Their testimony is basic to the defense of my client.

For I intend to show this court

that what Bertram Cates spoke quietly

one spring morning in the Hillsboro high school

iS NO crime.

It is incontrovertible as geometry

to any enlightened community of minds.

In this community, Colonel Drummond, and in this sovereign state

exactly the opposite is the case.

The language of the law is clear, Your Honor.

We do not need experts

to question the validity of a law that is already on the books.

DRUMMOND: What do you need? A gallows to hang him from?

That remark is an insult to this entire community.

And this community is an insult to the world!

-(SPECTATORS MURMURING) (GAVEL BANGING)

Your Honor, I request permission

to withdraw from this case.

Mr. Drummond, you can't quit now!

Why not? You were ready to five minutes ago!

(GAVEL BANGING)

Colonel Drummond, what reasons can you possibly have?

There are 200 of them!

(SPECTATORS MURMUR)

And if that's not enough, there's one more.

I think my client has already been found guilty.

(SPECTATORS EXCLAIM)

Is Mr. Drummond saying that this expression of an honest emotion

will in any way influence

the court's impartial administration of the law?

I say that you cannot administer a wicked law impartially.

You can only destroy. You can only punish.

And I warn you,

that a wicked law, like cholera,

destroys everyone it touches

its upholders as well as its defiers.

-JUDGE: Colonel Drummond... -Can't you understand

that if you take a law like evolution and you make it a crime

to teach it in the public schools,

tomorrow you can make it a crime to teach it in the private schools?

And tomorrow you may make it a crime to read about it?

And soon you may ban books and newspapers.

And then you may turn Catholic against Protestant

and Protestant against Protestant, and try to foist your own religion

upon the mind of man!

If you can do one, you can do the other!

Because fanaticism and ignorance is forever busy

and needs feeding.

And soon, Your Honor,

with banners flying and with drums beating,

we'll be marching backward!

Backward!

Through the glorious ages of that 16th century

when bigots burned the man who dared bring enlightenment

and intelligence to the human mind.

I hope counsel does not mean to imply that this court is bigoted.

Your Honor has the right to hope.

I have the right to do more than that.

You have the power to do more than that!

And I exercise that power.

Colonel Drummond, I order you to show cause tomorrow morning at 10:00

why you should not be held in contempt of this court.

And in the meanwhile, I order that you be held in custody of the bailiff.

Bail is fixed at $2,000.

$2,000?

Why don't you make it $4,000?

It's $4,000, Colonel Drummond.

-(SPECTATORS CHUCKLE) -Your Honor, my paper will post the bond.

Can you prove legal authorization

to make such a commitment for your employer?

Well, I'll wire my paper immediately.

Fine. Until then, Colonel Drummond can avail himself

of our municipal accommodations.

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

Your Honor?

Your Honor, sir?

I'll put up my farm for Mr. Drummond.

JUDGE: We have no way of ascertaining the value of your farm, sir.

It ought to be worth that much.

The law demands that bond be posted in cash.

Your Honor, my bank will honor the offer on the security of this farm.

He has considerably more equity in it than that.

(JUDGE CLEARS THROAT)

Very well.

You can make arrangements with the court clerk.

-Who are you? -My name is John Stebbins.

JUDGE: Court will adjourn and reconvene at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow.

CROWD: (SINGING) We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

Our God is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

She'll sleep all right tonight.

Give her these pills tomorrow and keep her in bed.

Thank you, John.

Rachel?

Rachel?

(SINGING) We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

Our God is marching on

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

His truth is marching on

We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Bert Cates

to a sour apple tree

Our God is marching on

We'll hang Henry Drummond

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Henry Drummond

to a sour apple tree

We'll hang Henry Drummond

to a sour apple tree

Our God is marching on

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

Glory, glory, hallelujah

(EXCLAIMS AGGRESSIVELY)

His truth is marching on

-Trick or treat. -Oh, for Pete's sake.

Hooligans of the world, unite!

You've got nothing to burn but your intellectuals.

Those are the boobs that make our laws. It's a democratic process.

DRUMMOND: I suppose you have something better to suggest.

(SINGING) We'll hang Henry Drummond

to a sour apple tree

(SINGING CONTINUES)

Looks like you're going out in a blaze of glory, Counselor.

Well...

You were pretty impressive for a while there today, Henry.

"Your Honor, after a while

"you'll be setting man against man,

"creed against creed, et cetera, et cetera,

"ad nauseam."

Henry, why don't you wake up?

Darwin was wrong.

Man's still an ape.

His creed is still a totem pole.

When he first achieved the upright position, he took a look at the stars.

Thought they were something to eat.

When he couldn't reach them,

he decided they were groceries belonging to a bigger creature.

That's how Jehovah was born.

I wish I had your worm's-eye view of history.

It'd certainly make things a lot easier.

Oh, no! Not for you!

No, you'd still be spending your time trying to make sense

out of what is laughingly referred to as the human race.

Why don't you take your blinders off?

Don't you know the future's already obsolete?

You think man still has a noble destiny.

Well, I tell you, he's already started on his backward march

to the salt and stupid sea from which he came.

What about men like Bert Cates?

Cates?

A monkey who tried to fly.

Cates climbed to the top of the totem pole, but then he jumped

and there was nobody there to catch him, not even you.

You were there. You saw what they did to my witnesses.

-What you need is a drink. -What I need is a miracle.

A miracle?

Here's a whole bagful.

Courtesy of Matthew Harrison Brady.

Your Honor.

Your Honor, I feel I owe you an apology.

Any remarks leading up to the contempt citation

I regret very much.

I realize Your Honor is trying to be fair.

I'm very sorry for any remarks that were made in the heat of the moment.

My friends,

Colonel Drummond, the man that I believe came into the world

to save mankind from sin taught that it was godly to forgive.

I believe in those principles.

I accept Colonel Drummond's apology.

-I withdraw the contempt citation. -Thank you, Your Honor.

Your Honor, I, too, should like to add that in the spirit of forgiveness,

I feel no animosity toward learned counsel from Chicago.

He is well known to have ridden hobbyhorses before.

Perhaps he'll return to his home having learned a lesson.

We commend him to learn in his heart the words of him who said,

"If you thirst, come unto me and I will give you life."

That's why he hasn't an enemy in the world.

Only his friends hate him.

(DRUMMOND CLEARS THROAT)

Perhaps there is much to learn

from the learned counsel for the prosecution.

Your Honor, there were some remarks I made yesterday

namely that I wish to withdraw from the case.

If it please the court, I shall like to withdraw my withdrawal

and continue as counsel for Bertram Cates.

JUDGE: I see no reason why Colonel Drummond

should not continue as counsel for the defense.

-Proceed, Colonel Drummond. -Thank you. Thank you.

Your Honor, the court has ruled out any evidence

as to scientific knowledge or the Darwinian theory.

Would the court admit evidence,

expert evidence on a book known as the Holy Bible?

(JUDGE CLEARS THROAT)

Any objection, Colonel Brady?

If counsel can advance the case for the defendant

through the use of the Holy Scriptures,

the prosecution will take no exception.

DRUMMOND: Good. I call to the stand one of the world's foremost experts

on the Bible and its teachings,

Matthew Harrison Brady.

Your Honor, this is preposterous!

Brother, let us pray.

(CHUCKLING) Well...

It's highly unorthodox. I've never known an instance

where the defense called the prosecuting attorney as a witness.

Your Honor, this entire trial is unorthodox.

But if the interests of right and justice will be served,

I will take the stand.

But, Colonel Brady...

The court will support you if you wish to decline to testify

as a witness against your own case.

Your Honor, I shall not testify against anything.

I shall speak out as I have all my life

on behalf of the living truth of the Holy Scriptures.

-Colonel Brady... -Oh, no, no, no.

That won't be necessary to swear him in.

I can make affirmation. I have no objection to swearing to God.

No. I take it you will tell the truth.

Now, sir,

I am right in calling upon you as an authority on the Bible, am I not?

I believe it is not boastful to say

that I have studied the Bible as much as any layman

and I have tried to live according to its precepts.

Bully for you.

I suppose you can quote me chapter and verse

right straight through the King James version.

There are many portions of the Holy Bible that I've committed to memory.

I don't suppose there are many portions of this book you've committed to memory,

The Origin of the Species.

I am not the least interested in the pagan hypotheses of that book.

-Never read it? -And I never will.

Then how in perdition have you got the gall to whoop up this holy war

about something that you don't know anything about?

How can you be so cocksure

that the body of scientific knowledge

systematized in the writings of Charles Darwin

is in any way irreconcilable with the book of Genesis?

Would you state that question again, please?

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

Well, now, let me put it this way.

On page 10 of The Origin of the Species, Darwin states...

I object to this, Your Honor.

Colonel Brady has been called as an authority on the Bible.

Now the gentleman from Chicago is using this opportunity

to read into the record scientific testimony which you, Your Honor,

have previously ruled irrelevant.

Now if he's going to examine Colonel Brady on the Bible

let him stick to the Bible, the Holy Bible and only the Bible.

You will confine your questions to the Bible.

DRUMMOND: All right. Forget it.

We'll play in your ballpark, Colonel.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

Now I'd like to get this part clear first.

This is the book. This is the book that you're an authority on, isn't it?

That is correct.

You believe that every word written in this book

should be taken literally?

Everything in the Bible should be accepted exactly as it is given there.

What about this part right here, where, uh...

It talks about Jonah being swallowed by the whale.

You figure that really happened?

The Bible does not say "a whale."

It says "a big fish."

(BOTH CHUCKLING)

-As a matter of fact, it says "a great fish." -(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

But I guess one's pretty much the same as the other.

What do you think about that business?

I believe in a God who can make a whale and who can make a man

and make both do what he pleases.

God bless you, Matthew Harrison Brady.

SPECTATORS: Amen.

DRUMMOND: I want those "amens" in the record.

I recollect a story about Joshua.

Joshua making the sun stand still.

As an expert, do you tell me that that's as right as the Jonah business?

That's a pretty neat trick.

I do not question or scoff at the miracles of the Lord

as do ye of little faith.

Have you ever pondered what would actually happen to the earth

if the sun stood still?

You can testify to that if I get you on the stand.

(SPECTATORS LAUGHING)

If, as they say, "The sun stood still"

they must have had some kind of an idea that the sun moved around the earth.

Do you think that's the way of things?

Or don't you believe that the earth moves around the sun?

I have faith in the Bible.

You don't have much faith in the solar system.

-The sun stopped. -Good.

Now, if what you say actually happened,

if Joshua stopped the sun in the sky,

the earth stopped spinning on its axis,

continents toppled over one another,

mountains flew into space,

and the earth, shriveled to a cinder,

crashed into the sun.

How come they missed that little tidbit of news?

They missed it because it didn't happen.

But it had to happen. It must have happened according to natural law,

or don't you believe in natural law, Mr. Brady?

Would you ban Copernicus from the classroom

along with Charles Darwin?

Would you pass a law

throwing out all scientific knowledge since Joshua?

Revelations, period?

Natural law was born in the mind of the Heavenly Father.

He can change it, cancel it, use it as he pleases.

It constantly amazes me that you apostles of science

for all your supposed wisdom,

fail to grasp this simple fact.

Now... (CLEARS THROAT) Now listen to this.

This is Genesis 4:16.

"And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord

"and dwelt in the Land of Nod,

"on the east of Eden.

"And Cain knew his wife."

Now, where the hell did she come from?

(SPECTATORS MURMURING SOFTLY)

-Who? -Mrs. Cain. Cain's wife.

If in the beginning there were just Cain and Abel and Adam and Eve,

where did this extra woman come from?

-Did you ever stop to think about that? -No, sir.

I leave the agnostics to hunt for her.

(SPECTATORS LAUGHING)

(GAVEL BANGS)

-Never bothered you? -Never bothered me.

-Never tried to find out? -Nope.

You figure somebody else pulled another Creation

over in the next county somewhere?

The Bible satisfies me.

It is enough.

It frightens me to think of the state of learning in the world

if everybody had your driving curiosity.

(SCATTERED LAUGHTER AMONG SPECTATORS)

Now this book goes into a lot of "begats."

"And Arphaxad begat Salah.

"And Salah begat Eber."

And so on and so on.

Now, are these pretty important people?

They are the generations of the holy men and women of the Bible.

How'd they go about all this begatting?

What do you mean?

I mean, did they... Did they begat in much the same way

as folks get themselves begat today?

The process is about the same.

I don't think your scientists have improved it any.

(SPECTATORS LAUGHING)

In other words, all of these folks were conceived and brought forth

by the normal biological function known as sex.

What do you think of sex, Colonel Brady?

In what spirit is this question asked?

(CHUCKLING) Well...

I'm not asking you what you think of sex as a father, as a husband,

or even as a presidential candidate.

You're up here as an expert on the Bible.

What is the biblical evaluation of sex?

It is considered original sin.

And all these holy people got themselves begat

through original sin?

Well...

All that sinning make them any less holy?

Your Honor, where is this leading us?

What has it got to do with The State v. Bertram Cates?

Colonel Drummond, the court must be satisfied

that this line of questioning has some bearing on the case.

You've ruled out all my witnesses. You must allow me to examine

the one witness you've left to me in my own way.

Your Honor, I am willing to sit here

and endure Mr. Drummond's sneering and his disrespect

for he is pleading the case of the prosecution

by his contempt for all that is holy.

I object! I object! I object!

On what grounds?

Is it possible that something is holy to the celebrated agnostic?

Yes.

The individual human mind.

In a child's power to master the multiplication table,

there is more sanctity

than in all your shouted "amens" and "holy holies"

and "hosannas."

An idea is a greater monument than a cathedral.

And the advance of man's knowledge

is a greater miracle than all the sticks turned to snakes

or the parting of the waters.

But now,

are we to forgo all this progress

because Mr. Brady now frightens us with a fable?

Gentlemen,

progress has never been a bargain.

You have to pay for it.

Sometimes I think there's a man who sits behind a counter who says,

"All right, you can have a telephone

"but you lose privacy and the charm of distance.

"Madam, you may vote, but at a price.

"You lose the right to retreat behind the powder puff

"or your petticoat.

"Mister, you may conquer the air,

"but the birds will lose their wonder

"and the clouds will smell of gasoline."

Darwin took us forward to a hilltop

from where we could look back and see the way from which we came.

But for this insight and for this knowledge,

we must abandon our faith in the pleasant poetry of Genesis.

We must not abandon faith!

Faith is the most important thing!

Then why did God plague us with the power to think?

Mr. Brady, why do you deny the one faculty of man

that raises him above the other creatures of the earth,

the power of his brain to reason?

What other merit have we?

The elephant is larger, the horse is swifter and stronger,

the butterfly is far more beautiful, the mosquito is more prolific,

even the simple sponge is more durable.

Or does a sponge think?

I don't know. I'm a man, not a sponge.

-(SPECTATORS LAUGH) (GAVEL BANGS)

Do you think a sponge thinks?

If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks.

Do you think a man should have the same privilege as a sponge?

Of course.

This man

wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge.

He wishes to think!

(SPECTATORS APPLAUD)

But your client is wrong!

He is deluded! He has lost his way!

It's sad that we don't all have your positive knowledge

of what is right and wrong, Mr. Brady.

How old do you think this rock is?

I am more interested in the Rock of Ages than I am in the age of rocks.

(SPECTATORS LAUGH)

Dr. Page of Oberlin College tells me this rock is at least 10 million years old.

Well, well, Colonel Drummond,

you managed to sneak in some of that scientific testimony after all.

Look, Mr. Brady.

These are the fossil remains of a marine prehistoric creature

found in this very county and which lived here millions of years ago

when these very mountain ranges were submerged in water.

I know. The Bible gives a fine account of the flood.

But your professor's a little mixed-up on his dates.

That rock is not more than 6,000 years old.

How do you know?

A fine biblical scholar, Bishop Ussher,

has determined for us the exact date and hour of the Creation.

It occurred in the year 4004 B.C.

(CLEARS THROAT)

-That's Bishop Ussher's opinion. -It's not an opinion.

It's a literal fact, which the good bishop arrived at

through careful computation of the ages of the prophets

as set down in the Old Testament.

In fact, he determined that the Lord began the Creation

on the 23rd of October, 4004 B.C.

at 9:00 a.m.

Is that Eastern Standard Time

or Rocky Mountain Time?

It wasn't daylight-saving time, was it?

Because the Lord didn't make the sun until the fourth day.

That is correct.

That first day, what do you think it was,

24 hours long?

-Bible says it was a day. -Well, there was no sun.

How do you know how long it was?

The Bible says it was a day.

Was it a normal day, a literal day, a 24-hour day?

I don't know.

DRUMMOND: What do you think?

I do not think about things that I do not think about.

Do you ever think about things that you do think about?

Isn't it possible that it could have been 25 hours?

There was no way to measure it. No way to tell.

-Could it have been 25 hours? -It is possible.

Then you interpret that the first day

as recorded in the book of Genesis

could have been a day of indeterminate length?

I mean to state that it is not necessarily a 24-hour day.

It could have been 30 hours, it could have been a week.

It could have been a month, could've been a year.

It could have been 100 years, or it could've been 10 million years!

I protest!

This is not only irrelevant, immaterial, it is illegal!

I demand to know the purpose of Mr. Drummond's examination.

-What's he trying to do? -I'll tell you what he's trying to do.

He wants to destroy everybody's belief

in the Bible and in God.

That's not true, and you know it.

The Bible is a book.

It's a good book, but it is not the only book.

It is the revealed word of the Almighty God,

spake to the men who wrote the Bible.

How do you know that God didn't spake to Charles Darwin?

I know because God tells me to oppose

the evil teachings of that man.

-Oh, God speaks to you? -Yes!

-He tells you what's right and wrong... -Yes.

-...and you act accordingly? -Yes!

So you, Matthew Harrison Brady,

through oratory or legislature or whatever,

you pass on God's orders to the rest of the world!

Well!

Meet the prophet from Nebraska!

Is that the way of things? Is that the way of things?

God tells Brady what is good!

To be against Brady is to be against God.

No! Each man is a free agent!

Then what is Bertram Cates doing in a Hillsboro jail?

Supposing Mr. Cates had the influence and the lung power

to railroad through the state legislature

a law saying that only Darwin

could be taught in the schools?

Ridiculous! Ridiculous!

There is only one great truth in the world.

The gospel, the gospel according to Brady!

God speaks to Brady, and Brady tells the world!

-Brady, Brady, Brady almighty! -The Lord is my strength!

Suppose that a lesser human being,

suppose a Cates or a Darwin

had the audacity to think that God might whisper to him,

that an un-Brady thought might still be holy?

Must a man go to prison because he differs

with the self-appointed prophet?

Extend the testaments.

Let us have a Book of Brady.

We shall hex the Pentateuch

and slip you in neatly between Numbers and Deuteronomy!

Now, my friends, Your Honor, my followers,

-ladies and gentlemen. -The witness is excused!

All of you know what I stand for, what I believe.

-(SPECTATORS CHATTERING) -I believe in the truth of the book of Genesis,

Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy,

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel

Second Samuel, First Kings, Second Kings,

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel.

JUDGE: Court is adjourned until 10:00 tomorrow morning.

(SPECTATORS TALKING INDISTINCTLY)

Matt?

Matt, dear?

Let's go home.

-Home? -Back to the hotel.

BRADY: Oh.

(KNOCKING AT DOOR)

(KNOCKING CONTINUES)

Who is it?

Where is he? I've got to talk to him.

Not now, Rachel. He isn't feeling well.

Yes, now. He's got to tell Bert it wasn't my fault.

Rachel, please be quiet. He's sleeping.

Why should I be quiet?

I want the whole world to know that Matthew Harrison Brady is a fake.

Rachel!

I'm sorry.

I found myself in bed today

in the middle of the day.

I was dreaming I was in the witness chair,

chained to it.

I kept begging him to let me go.

Rachel, Rachel, it's been a nightmare for all of us.

But mine was real. I turned to your husband for help.

He encouraged me to open up my heart to him

and then he twisted my words.

He tricked me.

Why? Why did he do it?

I don't know.

I don't know why he did it.

Maybe it meant too much to him.

Maybe he was tired or afraid.

I taught my pupils

that Matthew Harrison Brady was a great man,

next to God, almost.

What do you want me to teach them now?

He's still the same man.

No, if he could do such an evil thing,

then he must be an evil man

and everything he stands for must be evil, too.

Oh, stop it! Stop it!

Youth can be so pure.

What do you know of good or evil?

What do you understand of the sum of a man's life?

-He betrayed me. -You betrayed yourself.

You see my husband as a saint

and so he must be right in everything he says and does.

And then you see him as a devil

and everything he says and does must be wrong.

Well, my husband's neither a saint nor a devil.

He's just a human being.

And he makes mistakes.

-How can you defend him? -It's not he I'm defending.

I'm defending the 40 years I've lived with this man

and watched him carry the burdens of people like you.

If he's been wrong, at least he stood for something.

What do you stand for?

Do you believe in Bertram Cates?

I believe in my husband.

What do you believe in?

Matt.

I was asleep, but...

What can I do for you, child?

I'm not your child any longer, Mr. Brady,

yours,

or anyone else's.

(DOOR OPENS)

(DOOR SHUTS)

What?

What did she want, Sarah?

She's been hurt, Matt.

You hurt her.

Oh, Matt,

you were always a good man.

That's why I loved you, even from the very beginning.

People said you made mistakes, wrong decisions.

You could have been President three times over...

-Oh, Sarah. -...but I never doubted you, Matt,

because your decisions were honest.

You never sacrificed your principles just to win.

I didn't mean to hurt her. Sarah...

Sarah, a victory here would be a monument to God

that would last 1,000 years!

But, Matt, every man has to build his own monument.

You can't do it for them, Matt.

If you do, it becomes your monument, not theirs,

and they'll topple it the minute they find a flaw in it.

You mean a flaw in me, don't you, Sarah?

They turned away from you this afternoon, Matt.

They didn't understand.

I'll make them understand.

They'll have to understand.

My speech. Where's my speech?

Matt.

-I'll make them listen. -Matt!

Where's my speech? I must have it! I'll make them understand!

Matt, please don't get excited.

Here. Here it is. I have it all down on paper here.

Sarah. It isn't just this case.

It's God himself that's on trial. They'll have to listen to me.

They will listen to me.

They'll listen, dear.

-Mother, they laughed at me. -Shh, baby.

I can't stand it when they laugh at me.

It's all right, baby.

-It's all right. -They laughed.

-Baby. -(SOBBING SOFTLY)

Baby.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Testing, testing, one, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four, testing.

Testing, one, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

(SPECTATORS MURMURING)

You brought me some more clean shirts?

Bert, I left my father.

I messed things up pretty badly for us, didn't I?

It wasn't your fault, Rach. I know how Brady can twist things...

It wasn't his fault.

I should have done this from the beginning.

-l want... -Rach,

you don't have to say it.

I'm just glad you're here.

Come on, you sit down.

Well...

Welcome back to our side, Miss Brown.

-What's that? -Enunciator.

-Doing a broadcast? -Got a direct wire to WGN, Chicago.

As soon as the jury returns, we'll broadcast the verdict.

Radio.

God, that's going to break down a lot of walls.

You're not supposed to say "God" on the radio.

-Why the hell not? -You're not supposed to say "hell," either.

This is going to be a barren source of amusement.

Colonel,

there's a little toy you'll never have any use for,

-not with your lungs. -(MUTTERS)

The radio.

You whisper into it, and it shouts at a million people

through loudspeakers.

Get ready.

What do you think? Can you tell from their faces?

Everybody rise.

Hear ye, hear ye.

Court will reconvene in the case of The State v. Bertram Cates.

JUDGE: All right. Go ahead.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is Harry Esterbrook

speaking to you from the courthouse in Hillsboro

where the jury has just returned to render its verdict

in the historic Hillsboro "Monkey Trial" case.

The judge has taken the bench.

In a few moments, we will know whether

Bertram Cates will be found innocent or guilty.

I wish I could describe the tension in this courtroom today,

the verbal and legal elements...

-One moment, please. -Please stand by.

(MURMURING)

I've been on the phone with the Lieutenant Governor all morning.

The newspapers haven't been very kind to us.

The boys at the capitol seem to think it wouldn't do any harm

if you was just to let this whole thing kind of simmer down.

Well, now, wait a minute, Jason,

I have an obligation to the law.

Of course you have, Merle,

but don't forget, November's not too far off.

(CLEARS THROAT)

Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

Yes, sir, Your Honor. We have.

(JUDGE CLEARS THROAT)

The verdict of the jury is unanimous.

Bertram Cates is found guilty as charged.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, you have heard the verdict of the jury

as read by presiding Judge Coffey.

Bertram Cates, schoolteacher, keystone, and defendant

in one of the greatest ethical contests known to our country,

Bertram Cates has been found guilty.

The law has been satisfied. But what profound repercussions

of what has happened in this courtroom will be known only to the future.

Quiet, please. Order.

-Stand by, please. -This court is still in session.

You'll remove that now, please.

The prisoner will rise to hear the sentence of this court.

Bert, do you wish to make any statement before sentence is passed?

Your Honor, I'm not a public speaker.

I do not have eloquence as some of the men you've heard in the last few days.

I'm just a schoolteacher.

Not anymore, you ain't!

(SPECTATORS MURMUR IN AGREEMENT)

MAN: Boo!

I was a schoolteacher.

I feel that

I've been convicted of violating an unjust law.

I will continue in the future, as I have in the past,

to oppose this law in any way I can.

JUDGE: Bertram Cates, this court

has found you guilty

of violating Public Act Volume 37

Statute 31428, as charged.

This violation is punishable by fine

and/or imprisonment.

But since there has been no previous violation of this statute,

there's no precedent to guide the Bench passing sentence.

Court deems it proper

to sentence Bertram Cates to pay a fine of...

(CLEARS THROAT)

...$100.

(SPECTATORS EXCLAIMING LOUDLY)

Did...

Did Your Honor say $1007?

That is correct. That seems to conclude the business of the trial.

But, Your Honor, the prosecution takes exception.

Why, the issues are so titanic.

The court must mete out more drastic punishment!

DRUMMOND: I object.

To make an example of this transgressor, to show the world...

Just a minute. Just a minute.

The amount of the fine is of no concern to me

because Bertram Cates has no intention of paying this or any other fine.

If it were one single dollar, he would not pay it.

We are going to appeal this decision to the State Supreme Court.

Will the court grant us 30 days in which to prepare the appeal?

Granted. Court fixes bond at $200.

I believe that concludes the business of this trial.

Therefore, I declare this court adjourned.

Your Honor, with the court's permission, I should like to read into the record

a few short remarks which I have prepared.

I object to that.

Mr. Brady is free to read any remarks, long, short, or otherwise

in a Chautauqua tent or a political campaign

but our business in Hillsboro is completed.

-The defense moves court be adjourned. -But I have a few remarks...

JUDGE: And we are all anxious to hear them, sir,

but Colonel Drummond's point of procedure is well taken.

I'm sure everyone here will wish to remain after the court is adjourned

to hear your address.

I hereby declare this court is adjourned

sine die.

(GAVEL BANGS)

-(SPECTATORS MURMURING) -My dear friends, your attention, please.

Fellow citizens and friends of the unseen audience,

(SPECTATORS TALKING LOUDLY)

from the hallowed hills of sacred Sinai

in the days of remote antiquity came the law.

-(SPECTATORS TALKING LOUDLY) (GAVEL BANGING)

(BRADY CONTINUES INDISTINCTLY)

And here, here in this courtroom...

Oh, no, no.

As they would look to the mountains...

-(REPORTER TALKS INDISTINCTLY) -From time remembered,

wherever man's body has known the lash of hunger and oppression,

lost in darkness and despair, and here,

here in this courtroom, living still,

in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword...

MAN: Eskimo pies, five cents.

Eskimo pies!

Eskimo pies, sweet as honey.

Here's where you bring your money. Eskimo pies.

-(SPECTATORS TALKING LOUDLY) -(BRADY CONTINUES)

BRADY: From the hallowed hills of sacred Sinai

in the days of remote antiquity came the law

which has been our bulwark and our shield

and here, here in this courtroom,

we have seen vindicated the faith of our fathers.

Living still in spite of dungeon, fire, and sword

our hearts be high with joy, whenever we hear the glorious word

faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee

till death.

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(WHEEZING)

(THUDS)

Matt! Matt!

-Oh, dear God. Matt! -MAN: Get back. Let him have some air.

Oh, Lord, pass us a miracle and save our holy prophet!

MAN: Get a doctor.

DRUMMOND: I cannot imagine the world without Matthew Harrison Brady.

Get me the Baltimore Herald, please.

What did he die of? Did they say?

He died of a busted belly.

There was much greatness in the man.

Can I quote you in the obituary?

Write anything you damn, write anything you please.

How do you write an obituary for a man

who's been dead 30 years?

Operator?

Say, what did he say to the minister?

You know, that fits. He delivered his own obituary.

Where did you put that?

Here itis.

His book.

That was Proverbs, wasn't it?

"He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind.

"And the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart."

Well...

Well, Colonel Drummond, we're growing an odd crop of agnostics this year.

You know, Hornbeck, I'm getting damned sick of you.

Why?

You never pushed a noun against a verb except to blow up something.

You know, that's a typical lawyer's trick,

accusing the accuser.

-What am I accused of? -Contempt of conscience.

Sentimentality in the first degree.

Why, because I refuse to erase a man's lifetime?

No, because you know what I thought of him

and I know what you thought,

so let's leave the lamentations to the illiterate.

What is this, "Be Kind to Bigots" week?

Why should we weep for him?

Because he's dead? (CHUCKLING) No.

Besides, he cried enough for himself

during his lifetime.

The national tear duct from Weeping Water, Nebraska.

He flooded the nation like a one-man Mississippi.

You know what he was, that Bible-beating bunco artist.

A giant once lived in that body,

but Matt Brady got lost

because he looked for God too high up

and too far away.

Why, you hypocrite. You fraud.

The atheist who believes in God.

You're just as religious as he was.

Everything is grist for your mill, isn't it? Well, go ahead, grind it up.

Brady's past, Cates' future.

My God.

Don't you understand the meaning of what happened here today?

What happened here today has no meaning.

You have no meaning.

You're like a ghost pointing an empty sleeve and smirking

at everything that people feel or want or struggle for.

I pity you.

-You pity me? -Isn't there anything.

What touches you? What warms you?

Every man has a dream. What do you dream about?

What do you need?

You don't need anything, do you?

People, love, an idea, just to cling to?

You poor slob.

You're all alone.

When you go to your grave, there won't be anybody

to pull the grass up over your head,

nobody to mourn you, nobody to give a damn.

You're all alone.

You're wrong, Henry.

You'll be there.

You're the type.

Who else would defend my right to be lonely?

(EXHALES)

WOMAN: (SINGING) Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored

He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword

His truth is marching on

Glory, glory, Hallelujah

Glory, glory, Hallelujah

Glory, glory, Hallelujah

His truth is marching on