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The Fountainhead movie with Gary Cooper

Posted by Dobrien 8 years, 11 months ago to Entertainment
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The book was tremendous .The movie left a lot to be desired. The best part was the courtroom scene with Roark speaking in his defense. I just watched it for the first time and am curious what you all have to say about it.


All Comments

  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks for sharing Dags ,
    Work must have come easy to him. I couldn't imagine being a lead character or any character for that matter and not reading the story 1st.
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  • Posted by Dags 8 years, 10 months ago
    I hear an interview with Gary Cooper years ago. He regretted that he had not read the book before he did the movie. He said if he had, his courtroom scene would have been more passionate.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    If I channeled her I think she would say" what do you think your doing idiot, you can't channel" and I would have to agree.:) LOL
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  • Posted by Enyway 8 years, 10 months ago
    I think I heard this during an interview with Rand, probably on Netflix. When asked about 'The Fountain Head', she told of rewriting Roarke's summation scene (from some input from someone) to make it shorter. She rewrote the speech adding several minutes. Don't try to argue with Ayn Rand. If she thought she was right, you probably wouldn't win.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thank you xba739,
    Your contribution is appreciated. I will have to check out Razor's Edge.
    regards,
    DOB
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  • Posted by xba739 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Gary Cooper probably represented a Roark character when this movie was made I did love the upward direction of the camera work when Roark and Dominique see each other at the Stone Quarry (then the following almost rape scene very risqué for the time) then repeated at the very end. Ivor King did ok
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  • Posted by xba739 8 years, 10 months ago
    I agree spent a great wet afternoon with the Fountainhead then the Razor's Edge with Tyrone Power and Gina Turniey. every now and then for a top up
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  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It also began an affair with Gary Cooper that ended in an abortion and Cooper unwilling to leave his wife and family. She went on to have five children the last was a girl and she suffered a serious stroke while pregnant .Having to learn to walk and talk again. She in an interview later in life said she had always regretted the abortion. She won he academy award for best actress in "Hud" .edit for error.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    She was not an experienced actress. I have learned this was her third film and had professionally acted for about 4 years before playing Dominique Francon.
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  • Posted by cranedragon 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    A time machine to take us back 40 years so that we could cast Clint Eastwood as John Galt would be a great invention.
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  • Posted by mccannon01 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Agreed, Temlakos! Patricia Neal didn't fit this role. She appeared "wooden" to me as though she froze in place and read her lines off cue cards. She did a much better job in the 1951 "Day The Earth Stood Still".
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  • Posted by Stormi 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Absolutely, if you like 1953 film noir movies. Anne Baxter, Ann Southern, Richard Conte, and Raymond Burr as a well off, ladies man who likes to force himself on them, until one of them kills him. It is classic film noir, dark, deep, mysterious, all the while with the haunting song in the background, Nat King Cole singing "Blue Gardenia" 9 hooks you, as did Marilyn Monroe in :Niagra, alos film noir" - maybe her best acting..
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  • Posted by Flootus5 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You're right. Forgot about that one. I've seen it once and had a tough time with it. I think I will give it another try because I think I was tired at the time. Had a hard time concentrating on the dialogue and the flow of the scenes. I thought the book is great.
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  • Posted by RTM2301 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Robert Picardo played Stadler in AS2, not 3. Also, I noticed that AS1 has a credit for Mercedes Connor as Cherryl Brooks, even though she was never seen in the film. Anyone have a clue how that came about?
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  • Posted by 8 years, 10 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Hi Stormi ,
    Thanks for sharing. I have not seen the Blue Gardenia. Do you recommend it?
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  • Posted by Stormi 8 years, 11 months ago
    I read the book first, and usually find movies fall short of the book. I thought it was good, Gary Copper was a good choice, but I also felt Patricia Neal was not quite it. Agree with Paul Newman, he always did well. in a part. For the assessment of Raymond Burr, did you ever see him in "The Blue Gardenia" - really different from Perry Mason.
    I really can't think of the right man or woman for the part today, that could project with honesty the objectivist beliefs. We have all these childish male actors today, and the limited talent females. Not too many Myrna Loys, Cagneys or Gables. Joseph Cotton and Charles Boyer always could project what was needed.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 8 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    I could have written a better script than the Atlas Shrugged movie. Not bragging that I am a great writer, but, in a way, that is the point. It would be a matter of knowing what to cut and what to leave in.A lot (and I mean a lot) of it could be straight copy from the book, as Ayn Rand had already done most of the book herself. Some of the matter in the scenes reads like instructions to the camera man (logical, since she was a screen writer before her success as a novelist).
    For instance, that scene where Philip Rearden
    tries to get a job with Rearden (most likely to
    get himself installed in the place as a spy),
    Rearden turns him down, and Philip makes a
    not-so-subtle threat to have the government in-
    stall him; Rearden looks at him; Philip sees the
    industrial dangers right in front of him, and breaks out into a cold sweat.

    In a mini-series, that Winston Tunnel incident
    could make an excellent morality-play episode
    all by itself; of course, dialogue or some sort of
    flashbacks, or both, would have to be added to
    explain the motivations of the road foreman,
    trainmaster, etc. Also maybe some written ma-
    terial across the screen identifying the guilty
    passengers who deserve what they get.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 8 years, 11 months ago
    Often movies are not as good as the books on which they are based. I think I read in Letters of
    Ayn Rand
    that she agreed with a letter-writer that
    the movie was not as good as the book, but that it
    was good enough, and she was pleased with it.
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  • Posted by $ jdg 8 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It's in Italian with subtitles, but surprisingly well made. Mussolini's propaganda people hired good actors.
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  • Posted by 8 years, 11 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Thanks jdg,
    I tried the book and put it down as I felt it might be to depressing. I will need to try it again. The movie was an Italian Production is it in English or subtitled?
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