The Fountainhead

Movie based on Ayn Rand's book. Idealistic architect Howard Roark (Gary Cooper) won't compromise his designs for society. He also falls for beautiful Dominique Francon (Patricia Neal).Now the original novel is brilliant...but over 1,000 pages and quite dense. The studio... Full review

Unless one really digs Ayn Rand's philosophical theories, THE FOUNTAINHEAD will leave you pretty cold. Yet the film has it's fascinations. Cooper, Massey, and Neal manage to make their ridiculous dialog sound meaningful (particularly Cooper's courtroom defense). King Vidor was... Full review

One of the biggest mistakes in film history was allowing Ayn Rand to write the screenplay adaptation for her own novel. Boy does she like to hear herself talk or what? There is not one line of dialogue in this... Full review

It's not surprising that Warner Bros was tempted by a big best-seller, but it's amazing that a bunch of film professionals like WB, King Vidor et al ever let this screenplay get filmed as it was written. Ayn Rand had... Full review

This overheated potboiler attempts to make a social comment on the corrupt nature of conforming to the wishes of the masses, when its most interesting aspect these days is the teaming on screen (and off) of gruff-voiced Patricia Neal and... Full review

One of the major problems with "The Fountainhead" not mentioned by any of the IMdB reviewers is the time period the film is set in. The novel makes no bones about being set in the 1920s, but the film seems... Full review

Ayn Rand called her style of writing "Romantic Realism". As far as her film adaptation of her famous novel "The Fountainhead" is concerned, "Bodice-Ripper with Philosophical Pretensions" would be a more accurate description.Despite an enormous budget, an accomplished director and... Full review

Fades and splitscreens are clumsily done, but most other aspects of this film aren't too distracting. In producing the book and screenplay, Rand wound up laying the foundation for Objectivism, the viewpoint that occupied most of the rest of her... Full review

Not too many films can grab your attention with an atypical discussion of individualism, inspire you with a character's strength of will, disturb you with that same character's cold attitude towards humanity, and make you laugh at the script's stiffness... Full review

Gary Cooper is much too mature for the role of the idealistic architect, but everyone else in the cast is fine. Cooper and Patricia Neal were supposedly involved in a passionate off-camera romance at the time, and some fans of... Full review

But the picture is weirdly fascinating.....The Fountainhead is a visual masterpiece.....Director King Vidor interprets Rand's intellectual ideas with complimentary images of power and vitality not seen since the days of silent expressionism..... ... Full Review

The Fountainhead's saving graces are the solid direction by King Vidor, the rhapsodic musical score by Max Steiner, and the symbolism inherent in Cooper's manipulation of his power drill when he first lays eyes on Patricia Neal! The hero of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is Howard Roark (Gary Cooper ... Full Review

Ayn Rand and the World She Made . By Anne C. Heller. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. 567 pp. $35 Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right . ... Full Article

My friends text-message me during the show, which I love. I even think it's hilarious when people feel the need to brag about how much they can't stand "American Idol," like they're at home reading "The Fountainhead" instead. ... Full Article

W hen ABC's Lost premiered in 2004, the show's premise-that a group of plane-crash survivors found themselves stranded on a strange and apparently uninhabited island-exhibited all the trappings and clich?s of an archetypal, humdrum Hollywood drama: mortal danger, a tropical... ... Full Article

In 1949 Ayn Rand's surprise bestseller 'The Fountainhead' was made into a major motion picture by Warner Brothers, starring Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal.Rand herself wrote the screenplay. ... Full Article

Burbank, California-Premiering on DVD, Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead is included on Warner Bros. highly anticipated boxed set, Gary Cooper: The Signature Collection . The other motion pictures included are The Wreck of the Mary Deare , Springfield Rifle , Dallas... ... Full Article

The hero of Ayn Rand 's The Fountainhead is Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), a fiercely independent architect obviously patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright. Rather than compromise his ideals, Roark takes menial work as a quarryman to finance his projects. ... Full Article