The Fountainhead (1949)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bob S

  
  could really get one star, it's that overbaked

• Pierluigi P

  
  Although the message it carries is indeed powerful and still relevant, the execution seems to fall short, as cinema just can't get a hold on that much philosophy, therefore most characters look like stereotypes, they are all too smart and sensitive to be perceived as people we… More
  Although the message it carries is indeed powerful and still relevant, the execution seems to fall short, as cinema just can't get a hold on that much philosophy, therefore most characters look like stereotypes, they are all too smart and sensitive to be perceived as people we could identify with, this same issue affects King Vidor's direction, it feels a bit stagy. Nevertheless the script has great quoteable lines and the art direction and cinematography are impressive.

• Veronique K

  
  fountainhead the novel has tackled into the oppositional conflicts between individualism and collectivism through four characters: peter keating, the second-hander; ellsworth toohey, the crooked intellectual who patronizes collectivism for profits; gail wynand, the egoist who… More
  fountainhead the novel has tackled into the oppositional conflicts between individualism and collectivism through four characters: peter keating, the second-hander; ellsworth toohey, the crooked intellectual who patronizes collectivism for profits; gail wynand, the egoist who scrifices his own individuality for power; howard rourke, the man of men, the individualist who stands firm on his own ground, the sublime presentation of american modernism. ayn rand's literature has been degraded by some as propanganda since the characters in her novel could merely be representations of her philosophical notions in human forms, and all these together are etwined into an illustration of objectivist philosophy, an ayn rand utopia, which praises personal interests and the virture of selfishness, BUT the unique difference is rand's brand of individualism as well as selfishness is a responsible one, just like sartre's existentialism with an (russian-)american twist. as i mentioned in the review of gone with the wind, david o salznik once noted that any social problem would be solved in the movie as long as it's blended with a romance, which aims to consummate. so is the case of fountainhead the movie, which is a vehicle to demonstrate the mighty magnitude of gary cooper's machismo. audience probably walks off the theater in a pleasant mood due to the sparkling chemistry between cooper and the divinely sultry particia neal. in the original novel, howard rourke was acquited because the jury doesn't believe anyone who ernestly has such faith in individual integrity could be sane, thus rourke is not mentally prepared to pay the consequence of blowing off a building. ha. quite an irony, right? is ayn rand intended to provoke anarchy? beside the fact that fountainhead is a cinematic adaptation of tour de force by director king vidor, its failure to deliver its philosophical concepts just bares the limit of cinema as an apparatus to sharpen human wits, on the contrary, cinema could blunt the human wits due to its overt saturation of images (respresentation) and fluent narratology which aim to exhilarate your percpetive sentiments instead of triggering your mind into meditation. in the case of fountainhead, it simply becomes a sensual legend in the celebration of the potency of masculinity: it's about an architect who raises his chin up to cope with all the obstacles, and him alone against the world. at last, the phallic male is rewarded just like all the old-hollywood pieces. he succeeds and walks home with the most beautiful woman in the scene. seriously, would you probe the meaning of being an individual or american collectivism after viewing the movie? does cinema make you think? even it does guide you into thinking, could it be more than an elaborate indulgence of avant-garde aesthetism or blind-fold you into identifying with an ideology by this compelling aesthetics?

• moon r

  
  The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Ayn Rand's script based on her novel is not perfect by any means, nor is this film. But ... its point, its directness, its dynamic, its resonant impact is seldom seen and hard to ignore. A must see.

• AJ V

  
  A fantastic story about individuality in the industrial world, but the romance tries to steal the show. I liked it, but it would have been better if they could have balanced the drama and romance better.

• jay n

  
  Heavy handed psycho babble given the Hollywood treatment. Patricia Neal looks beautiful even though her acting here is often overwrought something that is rare for her, one of the great naturalistic actress. Cooper is adequate but he and Patricia Neal share very little on screen… More
  Heavy handed psycho babble given the Hollywood treatment. Patricia Neal looks beautiful even though her acting here is often overwrought something that is rare for her, one of the great naturalistic actress. Cooper is adequate but he and Patricia Neal share very little on screen chemistry, odd since they had a torrid affair off screen that almost destoyed Cooper's marriage. Massey is terribly wooden which may have been a choice the actor made to show the constriction of the character but it's distracting. There is one really fine performance contained herein and that's Robert Douglas as the venal and amoral writer, he oozes slime whenever he's on screen. The film itself isn't bad but it does get mired in long talky patches.

• Ken S

  
  A Rand-ian call to arms! Cooper is amazing (as usual) and the art direction is even better.

• Michael G

  
  I can't say exactly why I love this movie. The cinematography and set design are amazing. The philosophy'a also interesting. The hammy overacting and often extreme plot definitely help. But I think the "world" of this movie is great as is its dynamicism. Gary… More
  I can't say exactly why I love this movie. The cinematography and set design are amazing. The philosophy'a also interesting. The hammy overacting and often extreme plot definitely help. But I think the "world" of this movie is great as is its dynamicism. Gary Cooper is great and as much as I liked Patricia Neal, I would've loved to seen Barbara Stanwyck in that role.

• Anthony V

  
  Not even half as good as the book, but has its moments.

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