Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)

Ben Stein examines the issue of academic freedom and decides that there is none when it comes to the debate over intelligent design.

Director:

Nathan Frankowski

Writers:

Kevin Miller, Ben Stein

Stars:

Ben Stein, Lili Asvar, Peter Atkins

2 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ben Stein	...	Himself - Host
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lili Asvar	...	Sara
Peter Atkins	...	Himself
Hector Avalos	...	Himself
Doug Axe	...	Himself
Adam Behr	...	Multiple animation voices (voice)
David Berlinski	...	Himself
Walter Bradley	...	Himself
Bruce Chapman	...	Himself
Anderson Cooper	...	Himself (archive footage)
Caroline Crocker	...	Herself
Richard Dawkins	...	Himself
William Dembski	...	Himself (as William Albert Dembski)
Daniel C. Dennett	...	Himself (as Daniel Dennett)
Michael Egnor	...	Himself

Storyline

Academic freedom is being suppressed, says Ben Stein. He contends that professors from around the United States are being fired from their jobs for promoting, or even exploring the possibility of, intelligent design as an alternative to Darwinism. Stein interviews the expelled academics and other supporters of intelligent design. He also interviews the scientists in the mainstream, who support Darwinism. Stein links Darwinism to Nazism, Communism, eugenics and abortion. Vintage clips of educational films and Hollywood movies are used to illustrate points in a satirical way.

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Plot Keywords:

christian fundamentalism | religion versus science | propaganda | paranoia | creationism | 

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Taglines:

Big science has expelled smart new ideas from the classroom...What they forgot is that every generation has its Rebel!

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

18 April 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Crossroads

Filming Locations:

Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$3,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$2,970,848, 20 April 2008, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$7,690,545

Company Credits

Production Co:

Premise Media Corporation,Rampant Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min (European Film Market)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor) Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Preview screenings for the movie were held for churches and other Christian groups months in advance, and by invitation only. After a movie critic was inadvertently allowed to view the film early, resulting in a negative review, a policy of requiring viewers to sign nondisclosure agreements was implemented at these screenings. Closer to release, an "RSVP" site was set up to allow members of the public to view the movie in a near-finished state. One of these was evolutionary biologist and Expelled interviewee Paul Zachary Myers. Although ejected from the screening, his anonymous guests - including fellow interviewee, biologist Richard Dawkins - were able to view the movie.

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Goofs

When entering a building, a plastic/glass divider (clearly motion activated) opened for Ben Stein, but then also spontaneously opened again for the camera man.

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Quotes

Ben Stein: We are losing our freedom in one of the most important sectors of society: science. I have always assumed that scientists were free to ask any question, to pursue any line of inquiry, without fear of reprisal. But recently I've been alarmed to discover that this is not the case.

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Connections

Referenced in Creation Today: The Origin of Life, Part 1 (2013)

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Soundtracks

All These Things That I've Done
Written by Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, and Ronnie Vannucci
Performed by The Killers
Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Published by Universal-Polygram Int. Publ. Inc. on behalf of Universal Music Group Publ. Ltd.

User Reviews

Dramatic fiction

This movie is interesting in that it's done very dramatically and is able to raise strong emotions. Good merits end there.

Bad merits of this piece of fiction comes from posing as a document. This "intelligent design" is not taught simply because it's not science in any sense of the word, and the makers seem to know it well. They had to come up with desperate conspiracies of some big science (first time I've heard such a term) and accusations of destroying freedom of speech in order to make it effective to the regular religious American viewer. If their "studies" don't get through scientific peer-reviewing and are not published in Nature, it's not because "big science" suppresses "freedom of speech", it's because their "studies" spell out FAIL! in huge orange letters that are self-illuminating All they ever do in the movie is make the theory of evolution look like root of all the evils ever done. It's pure fiction, dressed in a fancy whore-costume and sold as a documentary.

I don't recommend this movie to anyone, but if you absolutely must see it, then keep in mind that it's pure fiction with no roots in reality what so ever.