The Fountainhead (1949)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I have long heard of the wisdom and cultural significance of Ayn Rand and "the Fountainhead." I finally had an opportunity and the time to watch it thanks to the library and "movie recycling" machine of TBS. The plot emphasizes the conflict between the Individual and Collective. It is pure ideological stupidity. What Ayn Rand describes as Individuality is egotism and stupidity. What she describes as the Collective is the symbiosis of the group for its mutual benefit. It is almost like she is fulfilling the dictum of Erik Hoffer in that the most fervent Communists become the most fervent anti-Communists. Except that she has no understanding of either Communism (which became an authoritarian attempt to replace the inherited royalty with criminals) versus Democracy where the leaders (and their wealth) are held accountable by the members of society. The acting sucks. The plot sucks. The sense of how and why people in society make economic decisions sucks. The value of seeing the movie is that it might be useful as a benchmark for ineptitude by anyone who advocates it or speaks highly of it.

Movie is faithful to the book since Ayn Rand wrote the screenplay. Deserves 10 for content. The miscasting of Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, and Raymond Massey prevented it from being the great movie it deserved to be.

There are many ways to watch this movie, and the way you choose to watch it will tend to determine how you rate it. You might compare it to the book, or set it against a standard of expression for a philosophical idea. Or, you just might watch it absolutely for itself, in a sort of self-defined manner. Everything depends upon the standard of judgment.I admit that there were parts of this movie that seemed awkward or condensed from a story perspective. However, such as each his or her own, we tend to like a movie that hooks us, often by attaching to something inside ourselves. Something in the movie with which we identify.What I loved about the movie is the essential message: the man's own belief in himself was a stronger force than the attacks could break down. Make the man an outcast, ridicule him, take his money. Take away everything society offers. Then we see what makes the man. Such as it was for Socrates, Jesus, and many others. Take it all away and there is nothing left, but the man and the principle that the man holds. This is the integrity of the man, and it is what holds the man together, from the inside out, not the outside in.The strength of the many is not the truth, the strength of the many is simply the many. The truth can stand alone, naked, and all by itself. The less adorned, the more essential. All strength comes from the inside, that is the only true source of strength, and nothing is as strong if reliant upon an external.Roark listens to the kingdom that is inside of him, and he wins without ever attacking, simply by staying true to himself.

This monumental piece of pretentious twaddle has been well served by the many excellent criticisms posted on IMDb. I cannot add to that body of work other than to point out a curious and unusual coincidence that The Fountainhead has with the 1952 remake of The Prisoner of Zenda.The definitive version of Zenda was made in 1937. It starred Ronald Colman and Madeleine Carroll along with an outstanding cast of supporting actors----including Raymond Massey as the evil Prince Michael. Better known as Black Michael, he is the principal villain in the story.We now go forward to 1949 and The Fountainhead. As noted in the cast listing, Raymond Massey appears as the newspaper publisher (a William Randolph Hearst stand in) and Robert Douglas plays the major villain in the story (Massey's newspaper architecture critic who can't abide Gary Cooper's Frank Lloyd Wright-like designs).Now we complete the circle and move on to the remake of Zenda in 1952. Remember now-- --Prince Michael was played in the original version by Raymond Massey. Who ends up acting out this character in the remake of Zenda? None other than Robert Douglas---who co- starred with Massey in The Fountainhead!I will leave it to you as to which actor gave us the better Black Michael portrayal in the two versions of Zenda. Was his scene-chewing architecture critic in The Fountainhead but a warm up for what Robert Douglas did in the remake of Zenda? It is a matter worth pondering over.