The original version of 'Inherit the Wind' teamed two acting heavyweights, Spencer Tracy as Henry Drummond, and Fredric March as Matthew Harrison Brady. It was a fabulous film and boasted an intelligent script.

Now this script has come to television (for the second remake), and boasts two top actors who came to prominence in the 1950s - Jack Lemmon as Henry Drummond, and George C Scott as Matthew Harrison Brady. Both inhabit their characters perfectly, and it is always a joy to see two old-timers sparring on the screen when their styles gel so well.

Both looking old and tired (Scott died shortly after completing this, Lemmon in 2001), their battle in court has a different kind of emphasis than the original, where the leads appeared in better health and were that bit younger. However, even at the end of their careers, Scott and Lemmon are really excellent, and Beau Bridges is also memorable in a role first played by dancer-turned-actor Gene Kelly, while Piper Laurie provides good support.

TV remakes are often redundant but this one passes the quality test and is well worth a look, especially if you are a fan of either of the leads. It's also an interesting complement to the remake of Twelve Angry Men in which they both appeared a couple of years earlier.

This version is a very strong remake of the original. Through most of the film, I believe that George C. Scott's performance is much stronger than March's. Especially the ending scene. Scott's performance is much more in depth, especially towards the end.

I'm sure we'll see another version of Inherit The Wind with some of the players of a new generation. This story about religion being written into the civil law is sadly not out of style.

When the first version that starred Spencer Tracy and Fredric March came out it was heralded as the Broadway play it was based on. But in 1960 it was looked on as look back to another era where we presumably learned of the folly of imposing religious views on the body politic. I don't think anyone thought that the religious right would reawaken and become the force it has. Not in 1999 when this film came out or when another version that starred Kirk Douglas and Jason Robards, Jr. was made in 1988. All three versions have a chilling timeliness about them now.

Tom Everett Scott is the high school biology teacher who violates a newly passed law making the teaching of Charles Darwin's The Origin Of The Species a crime. He's the first charged under this new Tennessee statute and three times presidential candidate Matthew Harrison Brady modeled on William Jennings Bryan volunteers to be on the prosecution team.

Of course that generates a lot of publicity and Henry Drummond based on Clarence Darrow is brought in to defend.

In the original film Fredric March really got the Bryan character down pat. But George C. Scott is a fascinating Matthew Harrison Brady. Certainly the most fanatical of the group. Then again few actors could get as intense as George C. Scott.

Jack Lemmon is a more relaxed and low key Henry Drummond. He was not in real life as noble a character as Spencer Tracy played him in 1960. Jason Robards, Jr. in the 1988 film was the closest to the real Clarence Darrow. But closer than Robards is Orson Welles as Jonathan Wilk from the 1959 film Compulsion based on the Leopold/Loeb murder case.

Of course the highlight in the film and the real trial itself is the confrontation when Drummond(Darrow) calls Brady(Bryan) as an expert witness on the Bible. Then as now how willfully ignorant Lemmon shows Scott to be. Not just ignorant but determinedly so and determined to keep all views but his own out of our educational system.

I can hardly wait for this oft told tale to be told again. Till then this and the other version are to be seen and seen again.