Philadelphia Daily News from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 89

PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS PAGE 89 Lemmon and Scott 'Inherit' roles from Tracy and March FRIDAY, MAY 28, 1999 ri 1 i V. 1 hIWriimrii il( i Mj-thumimmmlmmmimmmtMm iiTiimnirlninT imr iiiniiii linii inininiiiniriiiiil by Kinney Uttlefield Orange County Register A righteous old wind is blowing across cable the classic drama "Inherit the Wind." "Today it's as timely as ever," master actor Jack Lemmon, 74, says of Showtime's reprise of the venerable play about free speech, premiering at 8 p.m. tomorrow. Lemmon stars as eloquent defense attorney Henry Drummond in this latest replay of the infamous real-life Scopes "Monkey TriaL" In 1925, in rural Tennessee, high school teacher John Scopes was arrested for the crime of teaching the theory of human evolution from apes. His community was staunchly Christian fundamentalist.

God-created-the-universe was taken literally there. Thirty years later at the time of the Cold War and Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Communist witch-hunts Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee penned the acclaimed "Inherit the Wind" as a cautionary tale about fanaticism. Then, in 1960, Stanley KrameF and Spencer Tracy made "Wind" even mightier in a searing black-and-white film version.

Kramer directed Tracy as Drummond and Fredric March as prosecutor Matthew Brady. Brady, himself a Christian fundamentalist, is based on real-life three-time presidential nominee and "Monkey Trial" prosecutor William Jennings Bryan. Veteran actor George C. Scott plays Brady in the Showtime version. Tom Everett Scott plays Bertram Cates, the Scopes character.

Beau Bridges stars as newspaper reporter and ironic commentator E.K. Hornbeck, based on real-life Baltimore Sun editor H.L. Mencken and improbably played in the Kramer film by hoofer Gene Kelly. Daniel Petrie directed the Showtime film. As titles go, "Wind's" resonates deeply.

It comes from Proverbs 11:29: "He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: And the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart." In the current climate of contentiousness over perceived TV and movie violence and free speech plus our perpetual strife over family values "Inherit the Wind" feels fresh as ever. That, despite its slightly stagey, stand-around-and-talk tenor. Words wonderfully crafted words are the only weapons as Lemmon and Scott do battle for Cates' fate. "It's a play about human rights," Lemmon says. "It's obvious Drummond was a fairly liberal man for the times, which -appeals to me.

I love the point where he says, 'If today you can take a thing like evolution and make it a crime to teach it in the public schools then you may ban books and newspapers, and soon you may set Catholic against Protestant and Protestant against That passage ends with "Ignorance and fanaticism is forever busy and needs feeding." Lemmon: "And when Drummond is trying to make his case with the jury about the freedom he feels is inherent in the First Amendment, about Cates God-given right to teach what he wants well, it's just my opinion, but I did think of the religious right and what it does very quietly, that it tries to suppress things it doesn't think are right." Showtime's screenwriters Nathan E. Douglas and Harold Jacob Smith have expanded Lawrence and Lee's original script. But the issues have not changed. Once again, Lemmon and Scott argue from the heart, as they did in Showtime's 1997 remake of another classic legal drama "12 Angry Men." In that superb telefilm, they played two hard- pressed jurors deadlocked in opposing views of a young man's guilt and innocence. In "Wind," their flights of ver- biage are more flamboyant.

Drummond and Brady are easily two old windbags. But they play buddies of a sort vicious 'l adversaries in court but caring I colleagues outside. "George is a good friend, but '12 Angry Men' was the first time I'd worked with him and now I'd like to spend the rest of my life working with him," Lemmon says. "Anyway, for years, Jerry Lawrence, who co-wrote the play 'Inherit the and I would see each other socially, and he kept saying to me, 'One of these days you're going to do "Inherit the Wind" like it or And then, one day fter '12 Angry Men' I was walking down the street and thinking of George. He was in New York doing 'Inherit the Wind' on stage, playing Drummond, and I said, 'Do you want to do it for He said 'Yes, but I think you'd be better as Think Jack Lemmon.

His name conjures class-A films, from "The Days of Wine and Roses" to "The Odd Couple" and "Missing." So it's surprising to hear him sound modest about his Drummond turn: "I don't think well, I'm certainly not any Spencer Tracy. "But his performance I don't think affected me. Preparation? When I was younger, I think I did a lot more research than now. Now I rely more on gut instinct. I think that's more reliable, with experience behind it.

There were a few points I asked Dan Petrie and a couple of lawyer friends about, about how lawyers act in court. "But other than that, I really don't think the part needs a great deal of exploring." During production, Lemmon Jack Lemmon (right) is happy to work with George C. Scott is very unusual. It's a magnificent piece of writing. In my own memory this will be one of the better films I've had the pleasure of being in." Indeed, the film is rife with zling prose.

Among the pithier tidbits are Drummond's remark to cynical reporter Hornbeck: "You never pushed a noun against a verb except to blow up something." "I do feel myself that there are strengths in this version that makes it better than the Tracy picture. Beau Bridges is much better as Hornbeck than Kelly. It's really a matter of casting. I do think Kelly was miscast." thought Darrow, not Drummond. "Darrow was a fascinating man and a great lawyer.

There were times when he spent two days in a row in front of the jury. He was an agnostic an avowed one but by the same token, he would have been the first to defend a Brady. In the film, he says the Bible isa book, that's all but it's a good book. "What I felt within myself and what I think came over is that there is much more compassion in this version than in past versions, and that the true friendship of Brady and Drummond came through. "I must say, 'Inherit the Wind' May sweeps bombardment leaves Channel 6 on top by Ellen Gray Tonight Show with Jay Leno" dropping from a 6.217 to a 5.514 and ABC's 'Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" slipping from a 5.316 to a 4.713.

Only CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," which did big numbers locally with a Philadelphia-themed show May 14, showed slight growth, increasing its ratings from a 3.2 to a 3.5. ABC's "Good Morning America" dream team, Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson, don't seem to be driving ratings locally. Although Philadelphia remains "GMA's" strongest market, with a comfortable lead over the national leader, NBC's "Today Show," ratings for the revamped ABC morning show dropped from an 8.426 to a 724. You can react! Ellen Gray by e-mail fax (215-854-5852) or mail (Daily News, Sol 788, Philadelphia, Pa. 19101).

Channel 10 did get a boost in the morning with its local news growing from, a 3.917 to a 4.720 from 5:30 to 7 a.m. while ratings on Channels 6 and 3 declined. On WTXF (Channel 29), ratings were up slightly between 6 and 7 a.m., but essentially flat for the chronically underperforming "Good Day Philadelphia," which finished May with a 1.24. The news at noon is that more people are watching the news at noon, with both Channel 6 and Channel 3 up significantly, while NBC's "Days of Our Lives," which Channel 10 airs against the noon newscasts, dropping from a 3.110 to a 2.38. In Philadelphia, where Ted Koppel remains the true king of late night, the post-11 p.m.

news ratings were generally down, too, with ABC's "Nighttine" dropping from a 7.819 to a 716, NBC's "The share to an 11.120. (Each local ratings point equals 26,675 TV households. Share is the percentage of sets in use tuned to a particular show.) Channel 6, which like 'CAU saw its network lead-in erode significantly from a year ago, dropped a bit at 11, too, from a 13.325 to a 12.823. Meanwhile, third-place KYW (Channel 3) is pleased to report that its 11 p.m. newscast now anchored solo by Larry Kane actually increased its audience, from a 6.111 a year ago to a 6.512.

(Its lead-in from CBS, while still No. 3, was also up from a year ago.) Other than the 10 p.m. news on WPHL (Channel 17), which saw its ratings grow a mere tenth of a ratings point, it's the only growth in sight for late news. Other highlights and lowlights i of the May sweeps ratings report: Daily News Television Writer A year ago, not even the "Seinfeld" finale and Renee Chenault's pregnancy announcement were enough to propel the 11 p.m. newscast on WCAU (Channel 10) past that of its its entrenched rival, WPVI (Channel 6).

Now we know that a "Noah's Ark" with pirate ships' couldnt stop the flood of channel-switching "PVI viewers, either. After a month that brought viewers more mini-series than all but the most dedicated couch potatoes could possibly track, May sweeps ended yesterday the way most sweeps periods in Philadelphia do: with Channel 6 on top. At 11 p.m., Channel 10, which a year ago had narrowed 'PVTs lead to one ratings point, dropped from a 12.3 ratmg23.