The Fountainhead(1949).

The Fountainhead(1949). film based on the book of the same name by Ayn Rand. Cast: Gary Cooper, Patricia Neal, Raymond Massey, Robert Douglas and Kent Smith. The film was directed by King Vidor, with the screenplay written by Rand.

Banner Critic Ellsworth Toohey, does not care for architect Roark new ideas and begins to write articles against him. Because of the articles, Roark can not find anyone who is willing to give him the oppertuity to build his own designs. He takes a job as a day laborer on a construction site, so he can make a living.

In my favorite scene Francon watches Roark from a distance and becomes immediately attracted to him and tricks Roark into her home on a pretense of a job, but is angered by his cool manor. She has no idea that he is Howard Roark, the brilliant architect.

He finally lands a job with Henry Cameron, unfortunately, within a few years Cameron drinks himself to death, warning Roark that the same fate will happen to him unless he compromises his dreams. Roark is determined to keep his integrity at all costs even when he goes on trial.

I thought the very young Patricia Neal was wonderful in this film. I also thought The handsome, Gary Cooper, was wonderful with his cool demeanor. You really can see the sparks fly between them. I have not read the book so I really do not know how the two compare.

Roark (Gary Cooper)'s courtroom speech was the longest in film history up until that time.

Patricia Neal, was best known for her roles as World War II widow Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), wealthy matron Emily Eustace Failenson in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and middle-aged housekeeper Alma Brown in Hud (1963), for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.