Inherit the Wind

In Kansas, the state Board of Education passed new standards that downplay the scientific importance of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Kentucky's education department now no longer teaches "evolution" but the more politically correct "change over time." And in New Mexico, teachers no longer have to teach creationism along with evolution. So the timing couldn't be better for this third film adaptation (produced for the Showtime cable network) of Jerome Lawrence's 1955 play that dramatized the 1925 Scopes trial. Tom Everett Scott stars as the schoolteacher who is arrested for teaching Darwin. Prosecuting him is pious Matthew Brady (the late George C. Scott in a hellbent for glory performance). Defending him is Henry Drummond (a subdued Jack Lemmon), who is just as righteous in fighting for a schoolteacher's right to think. In his Emmy Award-winning performance, Beau Bridges gets the best lines as the cynical reporter whose newspaper recruits Drummond. As in the original film, the broad, heavy-handed portrayal of the offended townspeople as narrow-minded fundamentalist yahoos (as well as the ironic use of the spiritual "Give Me That Old Time Religion") is a drawback. But what a pleasure to see venerable warhorses Scott and Lemmon rise to the occasion of these classic roles. Recommended, especially in Kansas. (K. Lee Benson)