I have seen this movie too many times to count but I have never been able to figure out why Hornbeck says this:
Townswoman: You're the stranger, ain'tcha? Are you looking for a nice, clean place to stay?
E. K. Hornbeck: Madam, I had a nice clean place to stay... and I left it, to come here.
It seems like he is just being a douche-bag without any reason here. Anybody have any idea why this is?
I think one of his primary motivations is to amuse himself. And another is to inflict misery on those he sees as narrow-minded. So in Hillsoboro, he is in what military folks would call a "target-rich" environment and is firing at will.
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Whats wrong with the comment by Hornbeck? He just passing comment on a town full of bigots and bible bashing creationists . Hornbeck, my sort of guy. Anyway if it bugs you ask whoever wrote the screenplay. I've also seen the movie dozens of times.
shareI think you mean "bible-thumping" creationists. Although the other way would require a lot more creativity and could be very interesting.
Also, I think the point of the original poster's question is that Hornbeck makes his smart-alecky comment to someone who had not shown any bigotry or thumped any bibles. She just politely asked a question. I know I always smile at the scene myself, thinking how confused that poor woman must be.
Now if he had said something smart-alecky to the preacher played by Claude Akins ....
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She has "not shown any bigotry or thumped any Bibles"? A few minutes earlier, when Hornbeck annonced that Drummund would be defending Scopes, she shouted "We'll send him back to Hell!"
shareOops. I didn't remember that. I was just focusing on her brief exchange with Hornbeck. Does he know she said that? If so, that would put a different spin on it.
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As you no doubt know, Hornbeck is H. L. Mencken. When Hornebeck says his job is "to comfort the afflicted and aflict the comforatable" he ain't whislin' Dixie.
shareThat guy Hornbeck was a real rude, obnoxious jerk. His continuous snide little remarks really got on my nerves.
shareI see the inclusion of Hornbeck (and remarks like that one) as serving two purposes:
1. Representing an actual historical figure, as others have pointed out -- Mencken.
2. As part of the drama, making Spencer Tracy's character more sympathetic, and creating an extra layer.
Besides "creationists vs. science," it also gives us "close-minded obnoxious people on one side of the argument against close-minded obnoxious people on the other side." :-)
It helps make it clear that Tracy's character, and the teacher himself, are not mindlessly scornful of home-town folks who have religious beliefs. They have just learned more, through open-minded thought and keeping track of scientific progress.
Unlike Hornbeck, they do not believe that knowledge and belief are necessarily contradictory, and they are not taking advantage of their further knowledge to condemn a whole group of people.
I saw the film for the first time today and I too was sort of confused by that scene. But my take on it is that Hornbeck pretty much assume that everyone in the town is a backwater reject and that he therefor hold his defenses high. Which makes the scene that follows that much better, the one where he meets the school boys. At first his hostile, on absolute defense until the boys state their reason. After which Hornbeck smiles, sort of realizing; while there might be loads of backwater reject in the town all is not lost.
shareAs mentioned above, Hornbeck's character is based on H. L. Mencken, who was scornful of the Scopes trial (he is the source of the pejorative label "Scopes monkey trial") and was notoriously hostile toward fundamentalist Christianity.
He also provides one excellent function in Inherit the Wind: Drummond is a heroic figure; Cates and Rachel are innocent and sympathetic characters and the noisy cadre of townspeople demanding Cates' head (rather overdone in my view, on of the few faults of this movie) are vindictive and bigoted antagonists. This puts all of the unlikeable characters on one side of the argument and all of the the likable ones on the other. Hornbeck is witty and articulate, but cynical and contemptuous of the town's population, disclosing a comparable closed-minded bigotry of his own (his argument with Dummond in the last scene paints that especially clearly). That and the handful of the populace who are not aligned with the lynch-mob mentality give some balance and avoid putting all of the white hats on one side of the issue and all of the black hats on the other.
As mentioned above, Hornbeck's character is based on H. L. Mencken, who was scornful of the Scopes trial (he is the source of the pejorative label "Scopes monkey trial") and was notoriously hostile toward fundamentalist Christianity.Very well put. Yes the last scene was there to strike a balance. While Drummond may not have been a true believer as Brady and the towns folk were, he believed in believing in something -- for him it was standing up for the oppressed. Unlike Hornbeck, Drummond wasn't willing to throw away a man's entire life for mistakes he'd made toward the end of it, when he'd lost sight of his own purpose. Evidenced by what he did to Rachel.
He also provides one excellent function in Inherit the Wind: Drummond is a heroic figure; Cates and Rachel are innocent and sympathetic characters and the noisy cadre of townspeople demanding Cates' head (rather overdone in my view, on of the few faults of this movie) are vindictive and bigoted antagonists. This puts all of the unlikeable characters on one side of the argument and all of the the likable ones on the other. Hornbeck is witty and articulate, but cynical and contemptuous of the town's population, disclosing a comparable closed-minded bigotry of his own (his argument with Dummond in the last scene paints that especially clearly). That and the handful of the populace who are not aligned with the lynch-mob mentality give some balance and avoid putting all of the white hats on one side of the issue and all of the black hats on the other.
I thought that was a pretty funny line.
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