The Fountainhead (film)

1949 film

The story follows the life of Howard Roark, an individualistic architect who chooses to struggle in obscurity rather than compromise his artistic and personal vision. Roark fights to design modern architecture despite resistance from the traditionally minded architectural establishment. Roark's complex relationships with the individuals who assist or hinder his progress allow the film to be both a romantic drama and a philosophical work. Roark represents Rand's embodiment of the human spirit, and his struggle represents the struggle between individualism and collectivism. The film opened to negative reviews and was panned by critics; though it has since been reappraised and received positive reception from critics in the 2010s.

Howard Roark is an individualistic architect who follows his own artistic path in the face of public conformity. Ellsworth Toohey, the architecture critic for The Banner newspaper, opposes Roark's individualism and volunteers to lead a print crusade against him. Wealthy and influential publishing magnate Gail Wynand pays little attention, approving the idea and giving Toohey a free hand. Dominique Francon, a glamorous socialite who writes a Banner column, admires Roark's designs, and opposes the paper's campaign against him. She is engaged to an architect, the unimaginative Peter Keating (Kent Smith). She never has met or seen Roark, but she believes that he is doomed in a world that abhors individualism. Wynand falls in love with Francon and exposes Keating as an opportunist. Roark is unable to find a client willing to build according to his vision. He walks away from opportunities that involve any compromise of his standards. Broke, he takes a job as a day laborer in a quarry that belongs to Francon's father and is near the Francon summer home. The vacationing Francon visits the quarry on a whim and spots Roark, and they share a mutual attraction. Francon contrives to have Roark repair some white marble in her bedroom. Roark mocks her pretense, and after the first visit, he sends another worker to complete the repair. Francon is enraged and returns to the quarry on horseback. She finds Roark walking from the site. He again mocks her, and she strikes him across the face with her horsewhip. He later appears in her open bedroom, forcefully embracing and kissing her passionately. In his room, Roark finds a letter offering him a new building project. He immediately packs up and leaves. Francon later goes to the quarry and learns that Roark has quit. She does not know that he is Howard Roark, the brilliant architect whom she had once championed in print. Wynand offers to marry Francon, though she is not in love with him. Francon demurs and soon learns Roark's true identity when she is introduced to him at a party opening the Enright House, a new building that Roark has designed. Francon goes to Roark's apartment and offers to marry him if he gives up architecture, saving himself from public rejection. Roark rejects her fears and says that they will face many years apart until she alters her thinking. Francon finds Wynand and accepts his marriage proposal. Wynand agrees and commissions Roark to build him a lavish but secluded country home. Wynand and Roark become friends, which drives Francon to jealousy. Keating, employed to create an enormous housing project, requests Roark's help. Roark agrees, demanding that Keating must build it exactly as designed in exchange for permitting Keating to take all of the credit. With prodding from the envious Toohey, the firm backing the project alters the Roark design presented by Keating into a gingerbread monstrosity. Roark, with Francon's help, rigs explosives to destroy the buildings and is arrested at the site. Toohey pressures Keating into privately confessing that Roark had designed the project. Roark goes on trial and is painted as a public enemy by every newspaper apart from The Banner, in which Wynand now publicly campaigns on Roark's behalf. However, Toohey has permeated The Banner with men loyal to him. He has them quit and uses his clout to keep others out. He leads a campaign against The Banners new policy that all but kills the newspaper. Faced with losing, Wynand saves The Banner by bringing back Toohey's gang, joining the rest in publicly condemning Roark. Calling no witnesses, Roark addresses the court on his own behalf. He makes a long and eloquent speech defending his right to offer his own work on his own terms. He is found innocent of the charges against him. A guilt stricken Wynand summons the architect and coldly presents him with a contract to design the Wynand Building, destined to become the greatest structure of all time, with complete freedom to build it however Roark sees fit. As soon as Roark leaves, Wynand pulls out a pistol and kills himself. Months later, Francon enters the construction site of the Wynand Building and identifies herself as Mrs. Roark. She rises in the open construction elevator, looking upward toward the figure of her husband. Roark stands triumphant, his arms akimbo, near the edge of the tall skyscraper as the crosswinds buffet him atop his magnificent, one of a kind creation.

Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead was published in May 1943. Barbara Stanwyck read it and wanted to play the novel's heroine, Dominique Francon, in a movie adaptation. She asked Jack L. Warner to buy the rights to the book for her. Warner Bros. purchased the film rights in October 1943 and asked Rand to write the screenplay. Rand agreed, on the condition that not a single word of her dialogue be changed. Cooper criticized Neal's audition as badly acted, but she was cast against his judgment; during the production, Cooper and Neal began an affair. Stanwyck was upset, both about losing the role and that no one from the studio spoke to her about it. This led to her leaving Warner Bros.

Rand completed her screenplay in June 1944. The setting of The Fountainhead is a collective society in which individuals and new ideas of architecture are not accepted, and all buildings must be constructed " like Greek temples, Gothic cathedrals and mongrels of every ancient style they could borrow", in the deathbed words of Roark's patron Henry Cameron. Rand's screenplay criticized the Hollywood film industry and its self imposed mandate to "give the public what it wants". Roark, in his architecture, refuses to give in to this demand "by the public". He refuses to work in any way that compromises his integrity and in which he would succumb to "popular taste". While communism is not explicitly named, the film is interpreted as a criticism of the communist ideology and the lack of individual identity in a collective life under a communist society. However, the novel's criticisms were aimed at Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, which is reflected in Rand's endorsement of modernism in architecture in both the book and the film. In adapting her novel, Rand used the melodrama genre to dramatize the novel's sexuality and the aesthetics of modernistic architecture. Patricia Neal remembered that Rand often visited the set to "protect her screenplay". However, Rand altered the film's plot slightly to be approved by the Production Code Administration. In the novel, Wynand divorces Dominique, but because the Motion Picture Production Code prohibited divorces, Rand opted to have Wynand commit suicide instead.

Rand's screenplay instructed, "It is the style of Frank Lloyd Wright and only of Frank Lloyd Wright that must be taken as a model for Roark's buildings. This is extremely important to us, since we must make the audience admire Roark's buildings." According to Warner Bros., once it was known that the film had gone into production, the studio received letters from architects suggesting designs; Wright turned down an offer to work on the film. and says that Steiner's cues "immediately call to mind the story of Howard Roark". For the film's Warner Hollywood Theatre premiere, Warner Bros. erected two banks of bleachers on Hollywood Boulevard to accommodate the expected mob of fans.

Sales of Rand's novel increased following release. and "It was a real triumph."

According to records, the film earned $2,179,000 domestically and $807,000 in foreign markets (thus $2,986,000 worldwide), against a cost of $2,375,000. John McCarten of The New Yorker deemed the film to be "the most asinine and inept movie that has come out of Hollywood in years". Cue described it as "shoddy, bombastic nonsense".

While The Fountainhead opened to negative reviews upon initial release, the film has since been reappraised and received significantly more positive reception in the early years of the 21st century. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 12 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. Film critic Emanuel Levy described it as a "highly enjoyable, juicy Freudian melodrama", praising Vidor's technical virtuosity and imagery. Dave Kehr wrote "King Vidor turned Ayn Rand's preposterous 'philosophical' novel into one of his finest and most personal films, mainly by pushing the phallic imagery so hard that it surpasses Rand's rightist diatribes."

In the United States, the film was released on DVD by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on November 7, 2006. The title was released as both a standalone DVD, as well as part of a 5 film Gary Cooper DVD box set.

Architect David Rockwell, who saw the film when he visited New York City in 1964, has said that the film influenced his interest in architecture and design and that at his university, many architecture students named their dogs Roark as a tribute to the protagonist of the novel and film. Various filmmakers have expressed interest in new adaptations of The Fountainhead, although none of these potential films has begun production. In the 1970s, writer director Michael Cimino wanted to film his own script for United Artists. In 1992, producer James Hill optioned the rights and selected Phil Joanou to direct. In the 2000s, Oliver Stone was interested in directing a new adaptation; Brad Pitt was reportedly under consideration to play Roark. In a March 2016 interview, director Zack Snyder also expressed interest in a new film adaptation, but revealed in 2021 that he had put the project on hold, for the time being. In February 2020, the film was shown at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival as part of a retrospective dedicated to King Vidor's career.