The Christian fundamentalist townsfolk are not best pleased and bang him in the slammer. The case is prosecuted by the renowned Matthew Harrison Brady (Fredric March) a failed presidential candidate and an expert on all things pertaining to the Bible. He's a bit of a guy and has some majorly crowd-pleasing witty quips up his sleeve. In fact he comes across more like Bob Monkhouse. If he'd been an attorney. Spencer Tracy plays Henry Drummond, Cates' defence lawyer. There is a certain level of antagonism between these two courtroom heavyweights so the stage is set for an interesting bout of legal fisticuffs.