The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead.
1949 Warner Bros. Pictures & Turner Entertainment.
Starring: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Kent Smith
Director: King Vidor
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Gary Cooper Signature Collection set.

A 1949 movie based on Ayn Rand's first bestseller; she also wrote the screenplay for the film. Rand also made sure that a six minute speech at a trial was filmed in its entirety, and included in the final film after learning that director King Vidor was going to trim it down because it was "long, rambling and confusing". Gary Cooper also didn't understand the entire speech as it was written.

Gary Cooper is Howard Roark, an architect patterned after Frank Lloyd Wright. Roark often works as a quarryman to finance his ambitious projects rather than compromise his ideals. He also falls in love with a heiress named Dominique (Neal), but chooses to end the relationship after the opportunity to construct buildings to his wishes comes up. Dominique ends up married to a newspaperman named Gail Wynand (Massey), who uses his position to blast the "radical" Roark, but comes around in due time and becomes the architect's biggest supporter.

Despite being assured at first that his plans will be followed 100 percent, Roark is horrified to find out that his designs will be radically altered. So, he sneaks in late at night and blows the building to smithereens. Roark is put on trial, and all seems lost until he delivers a passionate testimony that wins him an acquital. Despite this, Wynand is distraught enough that he could do nothing to help Roark during his trial that he commits suicide. Roark and Dominique end up rekindling their romance, fittingly near the architect's latest building site.

Recommended.