Yes, of course. Jeff Allen. Owen Kellogg found him a position with the TT. Evidently Jeff wasn't quite ready to throw the whole thing over--or else Owen would have showed up with Jeff by his side, and Jeff would have gotten the shock of his life, meeting John Galt once again.

I always think of the former motor company employee who tells the story of how people turned against each other when well-meaning owners set up an ill-conceived plan where workers would vote on who had the greatest need. Everyone was incentivized to come up with the best sob story and be angry at their neighbors who out-sob-storied them. The administrator of the program ended up on massive ego-trip doling out alms to needy (thanks to the program) workers.

Anyway, I was thinking of the guy who recounted that story.

The Gulch had quite a few bright-idea men--abstract theorists, I mean--who didn't so much go on strike as got "fired." They finally could come to the Gulch to stay, only after Ellis Wyatt, Dick McNamara, and a few others of that caliber could hire them. And hire them to do some pretty menial work. Remember the economist who became a lineman?

"It needs to be pointed out that the first tier of "heroes" are not desert islands. They need reliable people working for them and with them"
Yes. I like to think people who took the oath didn't think of themselves as first tier or second tier. They were just people, people who sometimes needed/wanted things from one another and were free to trade what they had to get them.

The movie’s Eddie Willers Rescue was a major compromise of principle. While I can understand a blot of “practical reasons for the movie producers to make that change, I can also understand Rand’s reasons for wiring the story as she did. I’d probably use the descriptor “cheap” rather than “cheat”, ‘tho.

e Koch Bros. could probably handle that financing ... or are they religionists? I think Charles attended Andrew Galambos’ Volitional Science seminars in the 60’s-70’s.

Remember that Eddie did not get "stranded"...he refused to leave the train, of his own free will. He was given an opportunity and turned it down.

It's a cheat. Rand meant for Eddie Willers to represent every man who knew how to work, while not being one of her supermen who could produce like a Rearden or a d'Arconia. She envisioned at the end of her story when the collapse happens that there would be many such men.

Yes, Galt definitely had golden strands of hair. I also remember that Dagny was brunette. But the casting of Galt was great, forget hair color!

I remember clearly that Eddie made his own choice in the novel

Randy is right. I watched the credits from Part I

Well said, Lucky...

As I learned in the Army, NEVER leave your men behind...

Oh, they did WAY more than that!

If you read the book, most of the primary male characters (with the exception of Francisco) had blond hair. Even Ragnar was blond and had a "beautiful" face.

I realize that...however, there is a Cherryl Brooks credited at the end of Part I (actress Mercedes Connor).

It was probably a "deleted scene" that never actually made it into the movie, but they neglected to remove the credit. It also shows up on the IMDB Website.

In the novel, Dagny and Eddie were clear in their relationship. When Eddie left to go west, it was clear that he knew that Dagny would leave with Galt and that while she had reached the ability to walk away from the railroad, he hadn't. Eddie is one of the tragic characters in the novel, the others to my mind being Cheryl and Tony, the wet nurse -- the people who should have been rebels but found their principles [and their heroes] too late to save them.

Remember that, unlike Eddie, Gwen Ives left when Reardon did. I have no doubt that Dagny would have made sure that Eddie Willers made it to safety in the gulch had he been willing to go. The choice was his to make, and he chose to set out on his own [at last?] rather than ride her coattails [as always?]. Cheryl and Tony died, but at least with Eddie there was the ambiguous chance that he could have survived.

However, I think that the implication is clear that Eddie's survival would depend upon his finding a stronger, more decisive person to follow. He was an able second but his career and ultimately his life was always as a follower. Without a strong leader he floundered.

looked forced to me

I should have read this first. yes.

it was also an important plot device in the novel. It was supposed to bother us. It wasn't for Dagny to choose, it was Eddie's choice and he made it. Good people will be hurt when the motor of the world stops. It was a disappointing giveaway in my opinion.

I was very pleased that they added the rescue of Eddie almost as an afterthought. It was the one grievous wound in the novel that always bothered me, to have a loyal, valuable and competent assistant, Dagny's place holder at headquarters, just thrown away with the riffraff. It always looked to me that Rand wanted to wind up the book quickly at that point and didn't want to spend more text on Eddie. Or was abandoning him a moral choice, that he just wasn't important or worthy enough because he was not of the Galt/Rearden/Francisco echelon and so was dispensable?

It needs to be pointed out that the first tier of "heroes" are not desert islands. They need reliable people working for them and with them, whether in mines or factories or railroad management or any other enterprise, to make the heroes' vision a success in the world. Those good people, like Rearden's secretary, provide value and deserve to be valued in return.

Of course, although Eddie, hopelessly in love with Dagny, had been willing to live for her sake (without being asked), that did not put an obligation on Dagny to lift a finger for him. The movie makers did right by him.

Movies, like everything else is run by money. We would all like to see A.S. as a TV series, but one would have to be able to show it could be profitable, unless it is financed by people willing to put out big bucks without a profitable return. Even then, if it doesn't attract a big enough audience, it most likely wouldn't even finish one season, let alone 5 or 6 which would likely be needed to do the book justice. However, when the book was published, no one gave it much of a chance to succeed. And that, would be its biggest selling point.

I like it!

Call it what you want, but Eddie getting stranded in Arizona was sad. To me, they fixed that. It was a gift to those of us who felt that way.

They did more than make Eddie black. They made him more of a no-nonsense character, much less self-effacing, much less petulant.

They introduced Cheryl Brooks in Part Two, not ONe.