The Fountainhead

So bad it's good, so strangely fascinating, Ayn Rand was obviously insane

The scene where Patricia Neal throws a statue out of a window because she doesn't want to be attached to things makes me think that Randian thought is really a strain of Buddhism where instead of meditation and incense you take a lot of amphetamines and die alone.

Terrible writing. As we are being CONSTANTLY reminded that Roark is too genius and original for the mediocre sheeple, the dialogue could not possibly more literal or didactic. It's mind-bogglingly awful and laughable. I wouldn't even mind that the movie's themes are so offensive, if they were at least conveyed with some degree of subtlety. King Vidor's direction actually is pretty good in terms of visual stylization, but it's not nearly enough to save this steaming pile of horseshit.

Let's get this out of the way: Rand's philosophy is awful and naive and Roark acts like a petulant child incapable of any form of human compassion. The script is terrible which stunts the acting considerably, maybe Rand's uncompromisable vision could have used another draft. That said King Vidor directs the hell out of this and it's art design is phenomenal. The story at it's core is interesting and you get used to the weirdness of it all. I actually enjoyed it to a good degree.

The only redeeming aspect of this movie is that it stars Gary Cooper. I understand the underlying issues of this movie, but, A) It was boring, B) I hate Ayn Rand.

I generally despise Rand, and anything associated with her, but this was not bad. The acting was solid, and even though the script sucked, I wanted to know what fate was in store for the characters. Not because I sympathized with them, but because I disliked all of the characters so much that I hoped communists would invade and rape whichever female character Rand wrote herself into in this piece.

This movie is unfit for any kind of grading system. It's not a good movie - the script is downright terrible - but on the other hand there's the fun of watching Ayn Rand trying to write a screenplay; it's like watching a building collapse in slow motion. All characters are concepts and about as far from real people as you can get. All dialogue is Rand shouting her crooked worldview into your ear. And yet, I found myself enjoying quite a lot of it. As a bonus, it looks rather pretty.

The script--like the author--is pretentious, arrogant, and silly--but King Vidor directs with such imagination and conviction that it almost transcends its source. Add to this the fact that Cooper and Neal fell in love during the shoot and that their passion for each other is almost palpable in every scene. (While we're on the subject, this film is filled with the most outrageous phallic imagery ever seen in a feature film. Check out Cooper with that pounding jackhammer between his legs!)

Although I appreciate the ideas presented, they are not "conveyed",but spitted out in overly obvious and ridiculous dialogues.The script is also pretty ridiculous - with the"hero" going through all those "tests"(of public acceptance, career, romance, friendship, justice etc).This felt like watching a parabole. I'm not going to protest against the theatrical approach, say it's the stamp of the era. Still, they would have been better off doing an adaptation of the novel and not letting Rand do it.

"70? Really? This man is really into that thinking." Absolutely not, but this movie is so convinced with its message that it didn't even try to beautify it. Is that good? Yeah, it makes it self-parodic of the idea. And can be used for both, people so individualist and liberalist won't see the absurds, and people who believes in collectiveness and team-work can watch it as a fun parody. It's Poe's Law. And if you know Rand's fight to protect this easy to improve script, even more laughs.

Rand's ideas ignore gray areas & humanity's inherent emotionalism, but it's easy 2 find such an unsual tale,& hero, interesting. Roarke's a solitary, humorless fort of integrity who's also fortunately possessed of both a groundbreaking genius & the ability 2 ALWAYS b right. True, he bears no resemblance 2 any human in history but he makes 4 a heck of a superhero & its a kick 2 watch him & the equally supercilious Dominique stride the earth like Gods, belittling the rest of us by simply existing

A ruthlessly terrible hodgepodge of short shots consisting of bad acting and/or pointless scenes. I blame this on Ayn Rand's obvious ineptitude as a writer, and King Vidor's strange ability to make every single actor speak as if they were talking robots unaware of other robots being in the shot. Perhaps if Ayn Rand didn't spend so much time preaching to the audience this movie wouldn't be so terrible. No one could ever take her views in it seriously.

This movie has smoldering sexual themes. Both Patricia Neal and Gary Cooper give the best performances of their careers. Uses beautiful architecture as a theme and as part of the message. Heavy on a controversial philosophical point of view. I find a movie from that era so firmly focused on philosophy unusual and very enjoyable.

Well done (minus the dialogue) but extremely unsubtle statement about the importance of individuality and lack of compromise of ideals. As I said, it comes on a little strong, which adds to it at points but detracts at others. The self-awareness of the antagonists is unbelievable, as their dialogue is a bit too on point. The ideological ideas are bad, and the court stuff/outcome is absurd, but it's entertaining enough.

Great acting, unlikable story. Is that a good way of describing The Fountainhead (1949)? I mean, the key moral is good and Gary Cooper speech in court was amazing, but was this compelling from a movie experience point-of-view? Felt like high and low-brow at the same time, and that for a drama!

Read the book.

Viewed June 16, 2020. So many contradictory impulses that make it hard to figure out how to approach this, but the combination of King Vidor's high style and sensual camp, and Ayn Rand's horrifically didactic dialogue, makes this surprisingly compelling. Vidor's emotional expression is constantly at odds with Rand's attempts to flatten said emotions.

This is STYLE with all capitals and CONTENT with all capitals and they both mix and intertwine and it's sublime, even if extremely silly at times.

Pure propaganda. By using Gary Cooper as her avatar, Ayn Rand shoves her idiotic ideology down our throats for 2 hours. This film's script just confirms the fact that Rand is a terrible writer. Vidor, however, does a commendable job trying to make this a watchable experience with exquisite art design and high production values.

Wow some absolutely amazing direction. But looking back it was a huge mistake to let Rand write the script. She doesn't know how to write how an actual human would talk. Wait....Roark...you are...going...to...go...against.....PUBLIC OPINION?!...

It looks beautiful but the rest is reprehensible dog shit. The dialogue is painful and I feel sorry for Cooper, having to wallow in this shit. More Our Daily Bread plz.

Deadeningly literal minded and obvious political parable is admittedly fun for about an hour, thanks to a fine performance from Neal, and some outrageously camp phallic imagery (during Neal and Cooper's pursuit of each other). The screenplay turns to bad soap opera in the second half, not helped by Cooper's painfully constipated performance (never the most charismatic leading man at the best of times). At least it's attractively shot, and Vidor does his best to bring some spark behind the camera

Ayn Rand was fascinating and insane, and this film is the same. So much of it seems to be read off cue-cards, or the actors had no idea what any of it meant, that the delivery is static, passionless and wooden. The story is hilarious, and the characters are hilarious. I enjoyed watching it because Objectivism is so childish and simple it's fun to try and think that way and guess how the characters would act (I had not read the book). The closing shot is comical to the point of self-parody

I'm not a Rand expert by any means, but I know that I'm not a fan of her philosophy at all. That would be fine if this film was any good, but alas. Most of this is just poorly performed speeches in which Rand's views are almost directly stated to us. There's no subtlety and barely any entertainment to be found. I guess it's interesting to see an "ideas" film made in the studio system but in the end the ideas and the filmmaking are both crap.

A very dated feel to it, melodramatic, extreme build up of emotive music but the issues that the film tackles are still relevant and worthy of consideration and there are some strong cinematic moments and witty dialogue.

Read the book.

#845

The flat dialogue and calm characters ensure that nothing distracts a story that's well-calculated to shock.

815

This movie gets flamed a lot, probably more so than any old movie this side of _Plan 9 from Outer Space_. I found the book too hard to digest, but I rather like this movie. Excuse the heck outta me :-)

814

# 785