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The Fountainhead (1949)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Release Date:
2 July 1949 (USA)
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Tagline:
No Man Takes What's Mine ! more
Plot:
An uncompromising, visionary architect struggles to maintain his integrity and individualism despite personal, professional and economic pressures to conform to popular standards. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
NewsDesk:
(4 articles)
Who Isn't John Galt?
(From Huffington Post. 27 August 2009, 3:35 PM, PDT)
The Insanity of Ayn Rand: The Fountain-Brain-Dead.
(From Huffington Post. 4 June 2009, 3:09 AM, PDT)
(From Huffington Post. 27 August 2009, 3:35 PM, PDT)
The Insanity of Ayn Rand: The Fountain-Brain-Dead.
(From Huffington Post. 4 June 2009, 3:09 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
King Vidor Does the Impossible with Ayn Rand's Help
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | Gary Cooper | ... | Howard Roark |
 | Patricia Neal | ... | Dominique Francon |
| Raymond Massey | ... | Gail Wynand |
| Kent Smith | ... | Peter Keating |
| Robert Douglas | ... | Ellsworth M. Toohey |
| Henry Hull | ... | Henry Cameron |
| Ray Collins | ... | Roger Enright |
| Moroni Olsen | ... | Chairman |
| Jerome Cowan | ... | Alvah Scarret |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
114 min
Country:
Language:
Colour:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
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Filming Locations:
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Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Ayn Rand was furious when she heard that Howard Roark's speech at the trial was being trimmed, chiefly because it was considered long, rambling and confusing, especially to Gary Cooper who didn't understand it. She got the studio to make sure that the speech was untouched and in its entirety in the finished product.
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Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: When Cameron smashes the window in Roark's office, you can see that the flag outside the window flying in the skyline is not rippling and therefore is part of a photographic backdrop rather than a live location.
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Quotes:
Dominique Francon:
I wish I had never seen your building. It's the things that we admire or want that enslave us, I'm not easy to bring into submission.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Angels in America" (2003)
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This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (138 total)
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Veteran director King Vidor was assigned the impossible project by Warner Brothers - Make a film out of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. Broadly supported by actors and other subversive elements in the film industry, The Fountainhead is sort of a grandfather to the well-budgeted, big-studio supported "Independant" film so often made today. Gary Cooper, who was close to the pinnacle of his career at the time, all but volunteered to play Howard Roark after reading Rand's novel. Rand herself wrote the screenplay, and offered the same deal Roark so often repeated in the film - "It's my way or the highway".
Remarkably, Vidor managed to hybridize Rand's intensely philosophical and political dialogical essay (in the guise of a novel) with his own superb visual skill, and came up with a movie which, though it has its problems, remains interesting, entertaining and relevant.
Like Rand's novel, the film is about the noble struggle of the individual against society - and amounts to a socratic dialog between several intensely powerful intellects: Visionary modern architect Howard Roark (Cooper); erstwhile defeatist social critic Domenique (Neal); Contemptuous nihilist Wynand (Massey) and brilliant sociopath Toohey (Douglas). Although the film, like the book, contains a lot of overblown soliloquies and philosophical prose which places components of the story fairly far from reality, Vidor's visual style and uncompromising directing made the film work.
Howard Roark is a modernist amidst an increasingly collectivist neo-classicist society. Roark will compromise nothing of his own integrity, and will not lie, compromise or entertain any notions about doing anything for the common good. He is an embodiment of Rand's individualist-capitalist political philosophy, and eventually inspires even those who defy him to question themselves. But what will Roark have to sacrifice to fulfill his calling? And will he be able to do so despite his uncompromising approach to life?
Although many have derided Cooper's performance and have stated that he was miscast,I do not really agree. Cooper himself was disappointed in the lengthy soliloquy he delivered near the end of the film, and it is clear that he was not given enough time to make this scene as good as it could have been. By the standards of the time, a one-day shoot for a scene like this must have seemed like an eternity. However, today, I would not be surprised if a contemporary director would give an actor of Cooper's ability and stature several days and multiple cuts. Roark is a man of deeds, not words, and Cooper's unassuming, almost humble, matter-of-fact approach to the character is a surprising and consistent take on Rand's great protagonist. Nevertheless, Cooper is, in terms of acting, the weakest member of the principal cast. Neal is excellent, and Massey and Douglas are both unforgettable in their support roles.
Recommendation: Great fun for Rand fans, and those who enjoy politically and philosophically charged dialog. Not recommended for art-film fans as anything but an historic curiosity. Not recommended for fans of action films.