As I write this, I am 64 years old. There are two movies I watched as a boy of perhaps 10 or 11, that struck emotional chords inside of me, and which have remained with me all of my life. "To Kill A Mockingbird," and "Judgment at Nuremberg." I think that in both instances, it was hard for the boy in me to understand the evil that men do, but, more importantly, comforting to know that there are men who would stand toe-to-toe with that evil with an immense amount of resolve.
In my lifetime, those same 2 movies were the 1,2 punch in cinema, along with “The 10 Commandments”, “The Manchurian Candidate”, The Quiet Man”, “Inherit the Wind”, “Soylent Green”, “The Andromeda Strain”, and so many other great classics. We, as older generations, will never see the likes again. 😢
@@redbarchetta8782 If you mean the GOP, you're deluded by the same party to which you adhere and who's lies you believe. Read some history, try "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" and "Hitler's Willing Executioners" for starters.
Well said Mr S. When I was a boy,I watched to Kill a Mockingbird on tv with my Grandma. At the time it was the best film I had seen. My Grandma had trouble sleeping after the film. She was an old school girl . Thanks for sharing.
Yes, this judge is telling it straight. Nearly brought to tears at the horrific acts of inhumanity displayed by the people inhabiting Earth. I can't describe how I truly feel, but in a nutshell it is awful. I will never find peace until injustice is reversed and the evil is crushed. I still have not brought myself to understand such cruelty and malice towards one another. I guess I am not meant to grasp the random nature of the wicked.
I want to believe that you loathed what you did, but I can’t convince myself. I have faith that some voice says to you every morning how ashamed you should be.
I've watched this wonderful film every year for the last 50-years, and it still never fails to move me. Although I've learned that this was the not the actual closing speech, it managed to encompass the all of the most important elements of the case, not an easy thing to do. From the historical, to the moral, to the political aspect of this landmark trial, this final verdict-in my opinion the finest courtroom speech ever written-not only secured the greatness of this film for all time, but also served as a fitting tribute to the long and revered career of Spencer Tracey, who in his twilight years was the ONLY actor capable of uttering such great words.
I am appalled and sickened personally. No amount of repenting can atone for the human atrocities and the fall out we see today. It is often sad to call yourself a human being. I just can't fathom how these people look at themselves in the mirror every morning. Utterly shameful.
My dad made me watch this movie a decade ago. A moving, brilliantly acted courtroom drama. Spencer Tracey exuded gravitas. Monty Clift brought me to tears.
My father worked at Ft. Sam Houston’s medical film library after serving 30 years in the Army, during the mid 1950’s. I was a teenager at the time. One weekend he borrowed several films and showed them to my brother and me. The were films of the U.S. military liberating concentration camps. Those films brought home to me what WW2 was about. The memory of seeing all those bodies has remained with me today. Those films showed in the movie are real. Some of you younger people have been taught we are the Nazis today. That is pure propaganda and false. Many people have given their lives so we can be free. You need to ask what is the real motive of anyone to espouses such lies. We are being infested by some people in authority who no longer believe in this country and they have evil motives. Be warned now or suffer the same results as the people in North Korea, China and South America.
@@e.l.daniel1565 As a high school froshmen, 1974, my social studies teacher showed some of the liberation footage...I had to leave the room. It makes me sick to watch some of our "leaders" today returning to the very white supremacist and voter suppression policies that nearly half a million Americans sacrificed their lives to fight save us from. Today I watched a clip of an American politician referring to our citizens who are gay or non-binary as demons, imps, and abominations...are pink triangles next...in America?!
"You must believe it when I say to you, I never knew it would come to this." "Herr Janning, you knew it would come to this the moment you sentenced to death a man you knew to be innocent."
We don't do moral clarity in the United States because it hurts so many white people's feelings. State classification of human beings along "racial" lines? Yup, we did it here in the United States of America long before the Nazis came up.
The trials actually found one guy not guilty. He'd been a particular friend of Hitler's but H. took care that he never knew of the atrocities '-- which makes me wonder. The man found innocent had helped run the war, but "only" that. These trials addressed the extraordinary atrocities, not "normal" war making.
Spencer Tracy was just a man, with weaknesses and vices just like any one of us. Yet, as an actor, he was unequaled...his gift enabled him to actually become the individual he was portraying. There have been so many great actors, over the years, but there is only one Spencer Tracy... THE master of his craft.
Yes you are right, but today we are throwing it away because we do not like it. If we ignore it we never learn from what happened. I have no patience with revisionism history.
@Brian Johnson - I'm 68 now. For over 40 years now, I have believed that Spencer Tracy is the greatest actor to have ever graced the cinema. No one yet has ever come to change my mind. This, Inherit The Wind etc. There was also a mediocre film in 1956, The Mountain. That was actually the film that convinced me of Tracy's supreme talent. He turned the mediocre into something constantly engaging.
Rumour had it that he was cheating on his wife, with Katherine Hepburn. At the very least, it seemed that he was having an emotional affair with her. If any of that was true, then I have to say that cheating men suck. Church.
"The value of a single human being." I think of Liam Neeson's portrayal of Oskar Schlinder, when he realizes he could have added one more person to the list...and he didn't.
Oskar Schindler...an imperfect man who pursued money and pleasurable vices...yet rose to a height few have ever so much as aspired to...the wrong man, at absolutely the right place and the right time.
At 91, William Shatner is the last surviving main cast member. Spencer Tracy's eleven-minute closing speech was filmed in one take using multiple cameras shooting simultaneously. “Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.” - Ernest Hemingway, 1946
I'm a Civil War reenactor and a combat veteran [Central and South America, mid 80s]. Hemmingway's quote is essentially what I teach when I go to schools. It pisses some people off, but the truth is **supposed** to piss people off. The truth strips away all those rationalizations and convenient lies that we tell ourselves and confronts you with the stark reality of whatever you're studying. What I teach is this: 'War' is what happens when industrialists, statesmen, publishers, and other people who think they're better than you completely fail at their jobs. What's more, almost none of these people will ever actually pay for their errors... some will actually prosper from it. The person who gets to pay for it is the kid on top of Hill 123 somewhere in the back ass of nowhere. They, their buddies, and one unit of fire will pay the price. "And men in Washington in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump their chests and say what a brave charge it was!" -- Sam Elliot [as BGen John Buford] 'Gettysburg' 1993
Keep this in mind: At aged 61 and not in the best of health, Tracy had to memorize about six pages of dialogue. He got it on the first take. I have seen Robert De Niro using idiot cards that contained less than what Spencer did here. The man was a beast.
I’m sure you know the stories about his drinking binges. Which actually makes his acting all the more amazing. Apparently, he would go on these binges and would rent a hotel room. He’d drink hard liquor in the bathtubs, and just puke and shit all over himself. He was so tortured over his…I dunno, I guess infidelity to his wife, and his inability to completely stop drinking, that he’d basically punish himself with his addiction. Odd, but it makes a weird tragic logic. Anyways, while it probably killed him early in the end, he is one of the greatest actors we have ever had. I hope he found some sort of peace in the ether where we go after we expire.
This movie so applies to us today in the 21st Century that it's utterly amazing. Things that are happening now today, we should be all over them! Why are we not? We were all over the Germans back then. Where are we at now?
WAKE UP!! 'WE' now - ARE Nazis! Since winning WW2 for their so callled 'FREE Christian Democracy' U$/UK/OZ have MA$$ MURDERED over 20 MILLION VICTIMS - ONGOING in 37 countries!!! www.google.com/search?q=us+has+killed+20+million+since+ww2&rlz=1C1GCEA_enBE880BE880&oq=us+has+kil&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j69i60.10616j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
@@johnmcdonald9304 There are too many sects in Islam for it to be one thing. Oh! I forgot my manners. Fuck you too. Isn't that what crass, ill educated Americans use to greet each other?
This is one of the many scenes that shows why Spencer Tracy is one of the greatest actors in cinema history. Need more proof ? Check out the courtroom scene in Inherit The Wind.That scene also shows the great talent of Frederick March.
You could add the speech he gives at the end of Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner to the list. Probably my favorite. And another that should be shown in every classroom.
absolutely riveting!! don't think any other actor could have portrayed it better than spencer tracy! each and every human being should see this video clip! at least that's what I think.................
Spencer Tracy is in my estimation the finest actor in movie history. His legendary partner Katherine Hepburn also claimed that Tracy was the tops. This speech is a four-year course and acting consolidated into one speech. Bravo Tracy
Tracy was a chronic alcoholic who went on uncontrollable binges that lasted for weeks at a time. His so-called "romance " with Hepburn was completely contrived by their PR agents to glorify their individual careers and make them appear "normal" to the public . In reality, Hepburn was a dyed in the wool lesbian who had an insatiable appetite for young women aspiring to "make it " in Hollywood .
Nothing against Maximillian Schell, but I simply cannot understand how the academy chose him over the great Spencer Tracy for Best Actor of 1961...particularly in light of Mr. Tracy's most eloquent performance in this film....
Perhaps it's because Max was young and new, and Spencer had already enjoyed a stellar career. Many Oscars are given to actors who on the way UP, not DOWN. It all about commerce.
Listen to his words. As relevant today as it was then. As others have commented, if you don't think history can repeat itself - then you're not paying attention to what is happening today. What does our conscious say? What do we stand for as nation? If we don't stand up and speak out against hate - about injustice then we ill likely see history repeat itself - not in another country - but in ours.
This is a must have movie for any serious collector of movies. This dark tale is about people, good and bad, those who get caught up in what some some think is the greater good,... or bad and evil. It is tales of individuals, it is sad, it is about coming to grips with a terrible time and terrible people and trying to correct the wrongs that happened. All of the performances in this film ranged from good to excellent. This film is an example of why History should be a primary subject in all schools instead of a nearly forgotten subject that is minimized today.
Why aren't these kind of movies made any more? What happened to brilliant speeches, unforgettable dialogs, impeccable performance? An exceptional movie which inspired people to think and rethink answers to questions like: who is the greater patriot--the one who rebels and leaves in trying times or the one who stays behind to make sure things do not get worse.
Great films (and TV series) are being made. They're just not being made by the mainstream industry for theatres. Superhero movies, romcoms and children's movies make money and that's the focus. The new version of All Quiet on the Western Front shows that good films are being made and there's an audience, but it's mostly for the streaming services.
Great part of an Excellent Movie!.... almost forgot about this! Thanks James! Excellent Quote from Judge Dan Heywood, "The principal of Criminal Law, In every civilized society, has this in common, Any person who sways another to commit murder, any person who furnishes a lethal weapon for the purpose of the crime, any person who is an accessory to the crime, is guilty...." Wow, Spencer Tracey acts this so well.. Great movie. If you haven't seen it...Gotta watch it!... Along with Jimmy Stewart's, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
+Mick Krug So right you are! And also about "Mr. Smith". As I partially stated in a new comment, we are now in the position the Tracy's character was discussing, and I think we are failing. We are allowing the threat of terrorism to cause us to abandon our values. People in the USA are fond of saying that "freedom isn't free", but they won't accept the bill. They are happy to send others to combat, but are willing to sacrifice their own freedoms, and keep desperate refugees out of this country in return for a marginally improved chance at survival.
Between this speech, Tracy’s penultimate address to the court a year earlier in Inherit the Wind, and his final performance and speech in 1967 in Guess Whose Coming to Dinner are amongst the most powerful and definitively memorable acting performances of all time. All of them were rooted in demanding and fighting for justice, be it about race, equality, morality, opposing bigotry in all of its forms. That Tracy, Hepburn, and countless others in Hollywood fought against the unjust blacklist brought about by McCarthy, Nixon, Reagan, Menjou, and other craven and politically motivated individuals is a matter of public record. The fact that we are still confronted today with many of the same injustices and bigotries six decades later proves a powerful line delivered by Tracy from Inherit the Wind: “…bigotry and ignorance are forever busy, and need feeding.”
@@MarkHarrison733 too bad that your lack of historical knowledge shines through your troll reply. Hundreds of innocent people were targeted unjustly by the blacklist as a means of score-settling with rivals (Elia Kazan was particularly vicious in testifying before HUAC against actors with whom he’d had run-ins on set). It was a complete fraud and resulted in needlessly destroyed careers and lives.
@@JosephFerreiraJr None were innocent. John Wayne was correct to support blacklisting so strongly. Patton was right - we "fought the wrong enemy" in World War II.
"and the value of a single human being". That's the problem - they didn't feel it was wrong because they had been taught they weren't dealing with human beings.
I'm shocked that most of the comments are about what a great actor Spencer Tracy was, without a word about the content of his speech. Thank you commenters that talk about the content and morality of the court and the free world.
This is one of the greatest film speeches of all time, performed by one of the greatest film actors of all time. It never fails to move me, and I've watched it dozens of times. But I wonder... is this the actual speech given by the real judge??
Almost 66 years old, and I'd add " The Oxbow Incident !"A particularly chilling look at hatred,fear, and mob justice ; ⚖️, they find out too late they hanged an innocent man! I saw this movie and others like it ; sadly, we haven't stopped human genocide yet ! Cambodia 🇰🇭-Pol Pot, Rwanda. And how many more past that 🤔 ?
You’re a moron, he couldn’t have stood trial because if he did the US would have to stand trial!!! Right now in the US our prisons are full to the brink, overflowing, unmarked graves plot the ground all around them. Closed down prisons from back then even, we are still finding mass graves you fool. You should really think before you try to get on your soap box.
You think of Stalin I think of how the U.S. turned a ship full of Jews away and sent them back to Germany to die. I think about how we then saved a ton of Nazis and brought them into our government. I think of how we are still finding decommissioned prisons in the US full of mass graves.
A very powerful movie and most appropriate for us Americans today, as we face a former president, his enablers and his followers who know nothing of Fascism and know little of history and yet without realizing it are opening the gates for a Fascist dictatorship through their rabid emotions of rage and the emptiness of their ignorant, depraved minds masquerading as patriotism.
I heard about it on IMDB for the 11 minute speech but not as usually as you'd see in one take scenes where it doesn't cut. I assume that there are a bunch of cameras for this scene and edited it smoothly for continuity because the audio doesn't slightly shift. For example: Gregory Peck's speech in To Kill A Mockingbird.
I read somewhere that Tracy did this is one take, like a great stage actor. It does look like a one-take shot. Why can't they make films like this anymore?
@@leestamm3187 ...and, NO Steroid-Head actors, no CGA. The Hero and Monster movies...they bring in the Dough. It shall Always be thus. Although the Early, "Classic" XXX films had a HUGE profit/cost ratio, as did a few Indie flicks, like "Clerks."
Paul, people choose to suffer under their authorities and governments. I'm talking about the whole population. America has produced the Declaration of Independence and it's constitution. Fine and worthy documents, but they have to be lived up to and enforced. That's the role of the public ultimately and most of the time the public don't want to know.
I notice that this comment was made 5 years ago. Isn't it interesting how it addresses the atmosphere of the United States today, 2019? We are not doing such a good job learning from historic example.
@@shirleywhitt8740 America became an Orwellian, Technocratic, Neo-fascist, Surveillance state long before DJT, if _HE'S_ who you're refering to. I'm no Trump-ite, btw. But let's stay within the realm of reality, folks. Please. Now that people are crying out for their Sovereignty to be returned, people are claiming America is becoming fascist. What a sick joke *that* is..... My point being; Trump ain't your enemy. Blame the billionaires (who are the REAL people in charge). Blame the Bush's, the Clintons and Obama for their complicity in this whole fiasco.
Spencer Tracy... for me, he was the greatest actor America produced. Guess who's coming to dinner his last film he made his own and what a great way to bow out at 67
It is such a fascinating movie. Did you know, that of all of the people involved in the American concentration camp system, including those who shot Japanese who tried to escape, not one of them was ever brought to justice? They retired add received their veterans benefits and Military pensions. All civilian authorities who ensured that the camps were properly laid out and built for never prosecuted. No one involved in the American concentration camps was ever tried, convicted, or executed
Thank you for posting this. Today, in the wake of the Paris attacks, which saddened me deeply, I posted the link to this an more than one thread where people were denigrating the German Chancellor for still being willing to take in refugees, or supporting Poland for balking at doing that. Those people don't know the lesson of this speech. What is important is what you stand for when standing for something is the most difficult. I have seen this movie many times, and that is the thrust of the entire thing. If our values are not worth risking our safety for, then they are not values at all.
+ Jan Bittner No, it does not - not unless your idea of self preservation is merely the biological functioning of your body. There was a theater shooting a few years back - four men died covering their girlfriends in that shooting - one had only been dating his girl for a couple of weeks. To preserve his body, he would have had to abandon his "self". Any one of them could have pulled the girls down on top of themselves and let them take the bullet - self preservation. But they chose instead to risk their lives for what they thought was right. If you sacrifice your values for self preservation whatever remains alive is not you - unless you were scum to begin with.
@@pdoylemi Your example is a bit absurd. The people making the sacrifice INDIVIDUALLY CHOSE to do so. Politicians forcing their citizens, using the power of the state, to sacrifice their personal safety and well being for others is collectivist authoritarianism. The state can ask me to sacrifice myself for my country's collective security when actual war threatens, and I can DECIDE to do it for those I care for, but to try and impose some rule that I must do so to satisfy YOUR sense of morality is something very few people are going to accept. This does not make people fascists. Laws protecting CITIZENS of a country are not invidiously prejudicial; they just acknowledge reality that societies are different and jurisdictions are limited by available resources and political realities.
Obviously there is an attitude of some people (who post comments on this video) that human rights violations and constitutional violations never cross party lines. If that is your mindset, then you do not see the point of this video.
"A country isn't a rock. It's not an extension of one's self. It's what it stands for....it's what it stands for when standing for something is the most difficult! Before the people of the world - let it now be noted that here in our decision this is what WE stand for: Justice, Truth....and the Value of a Single Human Being!"
All of us will be judged and be found guilty of failing to love one another. Punishment awaits us, some punished more harshly than others. But no one will be found completely innocent. May the Good Lord have mercy on us all.
there is a tape somewhere on YT where Heinrich Goering is allowed to conduct his defence, or at least it is the defendant's lawful given opportunity. During it, he made the case of the chief prosecutor, shake on its foundations quickly. I mean you know, the germans.... the poor US chief prosecutor was replaced for the remainder.
You say that as though 'Merica' was an individual. The same judges who presided here may well have abhorred racist practices in the US. The best of any nation is always going to be a minority. The virtue of the American system is that it at least allows for the best people and ideas to rise to a position of authority. The corruption of the Nazi system was that it allowed only for the worst to thrive.
From my viewpoint in 2023 - What an indictment of OUR times. We should all be ashamed, but seem to have lost the ability for shame... What a Great Movie...
