Dis-Inherit the Wind: Film Debunks Hollywood’s Icon of Evolution

On this ID The Future from the vault, host David Boze interviews filmmaker Fred Foote, writer and producer of the feature-length drama Alleged, which seeks to tell the real story behind the infamous 1925 Scopes Trial in Dayton, Tennessee, which pitched Darwinian evolution against belief in God. After seeing the 1960 film Inherit the Wind, starring Gene Kelly and Spencer Tracy, Foote did his own research into the trial and discovered that Inherit the Wind was highly misleading on many crucial points, an assessment corroborated by the 1997 Pulitzer-prize winning book about the trial, Summer for the Gods. So Foote set out to make another movie that would set the record straight and explore how media can influence, and profoundly distort, society’s view of historical events. Boze and Foote discuss the making of the film, the talented cast, and Foote’s decision to strive to present both sides in the famous trial as fairly as possible. The film, featuring several well-known Hollywood actors, is available for purchase or rental online, and can be viewed for free, with commercials, at Amazon Prime.