Movie Scripts  >   Fountainhead, The (1949)

Fountainhead, The (1949) Movie Script

 

Springfield! Springfield!

Movie & TV Scripts

 

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Do you want to stand alone

against the whole world?

There's no place

for originality in architecture.

Nobody can improve on the buildings of the

past. One can only learn to copy them.

We've tried to teach you

the accepted historical styles.

You refuse to learn. You won't consider

anybody's judgment but your own.

You insist on designing buildings

that look like nothing ever built before.

This school has no choice

but to expel you.

It is my duty as your dean

to say you will never become an architect.

You can't hope to survive

unless you learn how to compromise.

Watch me. In just a few short years

I'll shoot to the top...

...of the profession because

I'm gonna give the public what it wants.

You'll never get anywhere.

So you want to work

for Henry Cameron, huh?

Oh, I know. He was a great

architect 30 years ago.

But he fought for modern

architecture...

...and he's done for. What do you get?

Why do you wanna work for me?

You're setting out to ruin yourself.

You know that?

I ought to throw you out of here

right now before it's too late.

l... I wish I'd done this

at your age.

Why did you have to come to me?

I'm perfectly happy

with the drooling dolts I've got.

I don't want any fool visionaries

starving around here.

You're an egotist. You're impertinent.

You're too sure of yourself.

Twenty years ago, I'd have punched

your face with the greatest of pleasure.

You're coming to work for me

tomorrow morning at 9:00.

No, no, no.

Now, leave these here. Now get out.

Wait.

What's your name?

Howard Roark.

Paper here. Read all about it.

Paper, mister?

Get your morning Banner.

Read all about it.

Morning Banner.

Paper, mister?

Get your Banner.

Read all about it.

Morning Banner, sir.

Read all about it.

Give me that paper.

Now give me another one.

Give me all of them.

I said, give me all of them.

You... You all think

I'm beaten, don't you?

That's all the money I've got,

but I can still do this with my money.

I can still do this...

Howard. Look at... Look here.

In this paper, won't you...

It's no use, Howard.

Why don't you give up?

Come inside.

It's no use.

You... You took over

when I gave it up.

My... My heir, eh?

And look at it.

You haven't got

any further than I did...

...and you won't.

- We'll see.

How many years have you

been on your own now?

And what have you got

to show for it?

You've done four buildings

in all these years.

That's quite a good deal

to show for it.

After the kind of struggle you've had?

I didn't expect it to be easy,

but those who want me will come to me.

They don't want you, son. Don't you

understand? This is what they want.

Gail Wynand's Banner the foulest

newspaper on earth.

You hold to your own ideas

and you'll starve.

Gail Wynand gives people

what they ask for:

The common, the vulgar,

and the trite.

And he's maybe the most

powerful man living.

- Can you fight that?

- I never notice it.

Look. You see those people down there?

You know what they think of architecture?

I don't care what they think

of architecture or anything else.

l... I don't want to see

what they'll do to you.

Me, I am... I'm through.

I've had enough.

I don't want any part

of Gail Wynand's city!

Get me an ambulance.

Howard, look

at those buildings.

Skyscrapers, the greatest structural

invention of man.

Yet they made them

look like Greek temples...

...Gothic cathedrals and mongrels

of every ancient style they could borrow...

...just because others had done it.

I told them.

I told them that the form of a building

must follow its function.

That new materials demand new forms.

That one building can't borrow

pieces of another's shape...

...just as one man can't

borrow another's soul.

Howard, every new idea in the world

comes from the mind of some one man...

...and you know the price

he has to pay for it?

I built that.

Howard, you do me a favor.

All my things that you're keeping

for me, I want you to burn them.

All my... My papers,

my drawings, my contracts.

- Everything. Burn them, will you?

- Yes.

I don't want to leave anything

to the world.

How sorry, I'm leaving you

to face them.

Howard, it's no use!

Give in. Compromise.

Compromise now.

You'll have to later, anyway.

Why are you saying that to me?

That's not what you did.

That's why I'm saying it.

Because it's not what I did.

Do you want to end up this way?

It's your future.

- Do you want it?

- Yes.

Then may God bless you, Howard.

You're on your way into hell.

- Hello, Howard.

- Hello, Peter.

Just passing by. Thought I'd drop in.

I haven't seen you for such a long time.

Did you know Guy Francon

made me his partner last week?

No.

You see, you don't keep track

of my career, but I've watched yours.

Yes, it's Francon and Keating now.

I don't have to tell you that Guy Francon

is the leading architect.

No, you don't have to.

Remember? I told you once I'd rise.

- Hello?

- Western Union?

No. You have

the wrong number.

Are you waiting for

something, Howard?

You were telling me

about Guy Francon.

I was just reminding you

of what I once predicted.

I hate to see you brought down to this.

Remember how we started?

And look at us now.

Haven't you had enough of it?

Why did you

come here, Peter?

Because we're old friends...

...and I hate to see you being beaten.

- I'm not.

Oh, it's no use pretending now.

You haven't had any clients for a year.

You're wrong, Peter.

For a year and a half.

Well, you might have a couple

of hundred dollars left and then it's the end.

I have $ 14 left and...

...57 cents.

And all those bills?

It's an unpaid electric light bill?

It's a disconnect notice and in the drawer,

you'll find an eviction notice.

How do you expect to go on?

That's my concern and not yours.

Now, don't protest, Howard.

You can pay me back anytime.

You need it.

Thank you, Peter.

I don't need it.

But I want to help you.

I don't give or ask for help.

Oh, why don't you drop it?

- What?

- The pose.

Or the ideals, if you prefer.

You can't stand alone. Give in.

Learn to get along with people.

Design the kind of buildings everybody

does, then you'll be rich, famous.

You'll be admired.

You'll be one of us.

Is that what disturbs you

about me, Peter?

That I want to stand alone?

Is that it?

I don't know.

Go home, Peter.

It's getting late.

- Have you lost your watch, Howard?

- I hocked it.

Good night.

Good luck.

- Hello?

- Mr. Roark?

- Yes.

- I promised our answer today, Mr. Roark...

...but unfortunately, the board of directors

hasn't reached a decision yet.

I know you've been

kept waiting a long time...

...but the drawings you submitted

for our building are so unusual...

...that we

find it difficult to decide.

I think I can promise you

a definite answer tomorrow.

If not, it'll have

to wait over the weekend...

...but by Monday we'll know.

You've been wonderfully

patient with us, Mr. Roark.

Can you wait

a little longer?

Yes, I'll wait.

Thank you.

Mr. Roark, the commission is yours.

The Board of Directors...

...of the Security Bank of Manhattan has

chosen you as the architect for our building.

My congratulations.

You've done a beautiful job.

The board was quite impressed

by the project.

It's a tremendous assignment,

an unusual opportunity for an architect.

You're unknown but you'll be famous

when this is erected.

It's a chance you've wanted for years.

- Yes.

- It's yours.

On one minor condition.

Oh, it's just a small compromise...

...and when you agree to it,

we can sign the contract.

- What is it?

- Well, of course...

...we wouldn't alter

your plans in any way.

It's the ingenuity of your plans

that sold us on the building.

But its appearance is not

of any known style.

The public wouldn't like it.

It'd shock people.

It's too different, too original.

Originality is fine, but why go to extremes?

There's always the middle course.

So we want to preserve

your beautiful design...

...but just soften it

with a touch of classical dignity.

Here.

We've had this made to show you

our general idea.

It's very simple. All you do is copy it.

We want you to adapt

your building like this.

Now there's a touch of the new

and a touch of the old...

...so it's sure to please everybody.

The middle of the road.

Why take chances when you

can stay in the middle?

You see? It doesn't

spoil anything, does it?

And we must always compromise with the

general taste. You understand that.

No.

If you want my work,

you take it as it is...

...or not at all.

- But why?

A building has integrity,

just like a man.

And just as seldom.

It must be true to its own idea, have

its own form and serve its own purpose.

But we can't depart from

the popular forms of architecture.

Why not?

- Because everybody's accepted them.

- I haven't.

Do you wish to defy

our common standards?

I set my own standards.

- Do you intend to fight against the world?

- lf necessary.

But after all, we are your clients,

and it's your job to serve us.

I don't build in order to have clients.

I have clients in order to build.

Mr. Roark, we can't argue about this.

The decision of our board was final.

We want these changes.

Will you accept the commission

on our terms, or not?

You realize, of course,

your whole future is at stake.

This may be your last chance.

Well?

Yes or no, Mr. Roark?

No.

You realize what you're doing?

Quite.

Roark, this is sheer insanity.

Can't you give in just once?

After all, you have to live.

- Not that way.

- How else?

Don't you have to work?

I'd rather work as a day laborer,

if necessary.

- Well, can you beat that?

- No.

It was you who recommended

Roark in the first place.

You chose him.

You said he would be good.

- Wasn't he?

- You suggested those changes.

You said he'd accept them.

Oh, yes, so I did.

I told you, Mr. Gail Wynand wants buildings

that show a classical influence.

- Then why did you pick this man?

- An experiment, gentlemen.

A very interesting experiment.

But what are we going to do?

Pick another

architect, of course.

Yes, Mr. Toohey.

I'm sure you know that I seek nothing

for myself, Mr. Wynand.

My only motive is a selfless concern

for my fellow men.

The new building of the Security Bank

is such an important undertaking...

...and you hold

the controlling interest, Mr. Wynand.

The board of directors has attempted

to pick an architect quite unsuccessfully.

They will accept anyone you choose.

And I felt it my duty

to offer you my advice.

- Whom do you recommend?

- The rising star of the profession...

...Peter Keating.

No other architect can equal his ability.

That, Mr. Wynand, is my sincere opinion.

I quite believe you.

- You do?

- Of course, but, Mr. Toohey...

...why should I consider your opinion?

Well, after all, I am

the architectural critic of the Banner.

My dear Toohey,

don't confuse me with my readers.

l... I took the liberty of bringing you

some samples of Peter Keating's best work.

You may judge for yourself.

- lf you have seen any of these buildings...

- I have.

They were excellent 2000 years ago

when they were built for the first time.

But surely you're not in favor

of so-called modern architecture?

It's worthless because it's merely the work

of a few unbridled individualists.

Artistic value is achieved collectively...

...by each man subordinating himself

to the standards of the majority.

- I read that in your column yesterday.

- You did?

Thank you.

The greatness in Peter Keating's personality

lies in the fact that there's no personality...

...stamped upon his buildings.

- Quite true.

Thus he represents not himself

but the multitude of all men together.

And produces great big

marble bromides.

I believe I am failing

to sell you Peter Keating.

Why, no.

You're succeeding.

Your Keating is worthless...

...so he's probably

the right choice for that building.

He's sure to be popular.

You wouldn't expect me

to pick a man of merit, would you?

I've never hired a good architect

for any of the banks, hotels...

...or other commercial

structures I've built.

I give the public what it wants,

including your column, Mr. Toohey.

Am I to understand

you will choose Peter Keating?

I really don't care. One of those fashionable

architects is just as inept as another.

I think you have a good idea, however.

I think I will decide according to the advice

of the Banner's "Architectural Experts."

Yes, indeed, Mr. Wynand.

But you're not my only expert,

Mr. Toohey. You have a rival.

I should consult Dominique Francon,

as well.

- Yes, sir?

- Ask Miss Francon to come in.

- Miss Francon and I do not always agree.

- I'm sure of it.

- Yes?

- Mr. Wynand, I know it's inexcusable...

... but Miss Francon is not in the building.

Shall I telephone her home

and ask her to come here at once?

No.

You're not going in person...

You know, Toohey?

One of these days, you'll bore me.

I shall endeavor not to do so

until the right time.

How did you come in?

Your maid let me in.

Without an announcement?

You can't expect her

to share your attitude.

You're the only person in New York

who'd refuse me admittance.

Why did you come here?

I needed you at the office.

I found you absent.

Isn't it unprecedented for you to come

in person after one of your employees?

I hoped you'd take note of that.

I wanted to ask your advice...

...about a matter which

will be of great interest to you.

I must pick an architect for the Security

Bank building. Whom would you recommend?

No one.

I don't know a single architect of ability.

And you're not looking

for ability, Mr. Wynand.

And if I left the choice up to you?

- I wouldn't care to make it.

- No?

Ellsworth Toohey is very anxious

to get the commission for Peter Keating.

Peter Keating is

a third-rate architect.

- Is he? He's your father's partner.

- Oh, yes.

- Aren't you engaged to Peter Keating?

- Yes.

If you found it amusing to tempt me

by offering to help Peter's career...

...you miscalculated.

I have no desire

to help his career.

I was trying to tempt you,

but I didn't find it amusing.

I should like to meet Peter Keating.

Will you have dinner with me this

evening? We'll discuss the commission.

- lf you wish.

- Incidentally, I'd have fired anyone else...

...for being absent from the office.

I know it.

- Shall I consider myself fired?

- You want to be?

Don't really care

one way or another.

You know, you could do much more

than write a small column about buildings.

You could make a brilliant career

on the Banner...

...if you asked me for it.

I never wanted a career

on the Banner.

Tell me, what would you

consider as tempting?

I'd like to find

something you could want.

Don't try to, Mr. Wynand.

I'll never want anything.

Do you know what I was doing

when you came in?

I had a statue which I found in Europe,

the statue of a god.

I think I was in love with it...

...but I broke it.

- What do you mean?

- I threw it down the air shaft.

- Why?

So that I wouldn't have to love it.

I didn't wanna be tied to anything. I wanted

to destroy it rather than let it be...

...part of a world where beauty and

genius and greatness have no chance.

The world of the mob

and of the Banner.

Do you still want me to have

dinner with you tonight?

More than ever.

It's such a magnificent opportunity.

I'll do my best to please you.

- I take it you want this commission.

- Want it?

I'd sell my soul for it.

That may be the right phrase.

Everything in life has its price.

In this instance, the price is that you

break your engagement to Miss Francon.

My engagement?

Why?

For any reason

you care to imagine.

You may think what you wish about my

motives but that is the condition I demand.

- Dominique?

- No, I'm not going to help you.

I'd like to see it decided

between Mr. Wynand and yourself.

- But would you agree?

- The choice is yours.

Our engagement helped you

to become my father's partner.

Mr. Wynand's patronage

will help you much more.

I'm sure this is a joke, Mr. Wynand.

Things like this aren't being done.

They're done all the time

but not talked about.

I grant you that

I'm behaving abominably.

It's extremely cruel to be honest.

I...

I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

It's simple. You're supposed

to slap my face.

You were supposed to do that

several minutes ago.

No?

You don't wanna do that?

Of course, you don't have to

and you don't have to accept.

Would you rather refuse the commission?

- No.

- Fine, Mr. Keating.

Now I think it would be best if you left.

Call up my office in the morning,

and we'll sign the contract.

If that's what you want,

I'm not going to interfere.

We should be grown-up

about it, shouldn't we?

I'm sure we'll have

no trouble, Mr. Wynand.

Good night.

Why did you do this?

Did you believe I'd agree like Peter? Did you

expect to win me by your usual methods?

Of course not. I merely wanted to show you

that all men are corrupt, anyone be bought.

And that you're wrong

in your contempt for me.

There is no honest way

to deal with people.

We have no choice except

to submit or to rule them.

I chose to rule.

A man of integrity would do neither.

There are no men of integrity.

I have many years behind me to prove it.

I was born in Hell's Kitchen.

I rose out of the gutter

by creating the Banner.

It's a contemptible paper, isn't it?

But it has achieved my purpose.

- What was your purpose?

- Power.

Why are you trying to justify

yourself to me?

I wasn't trying to jus...

Yes.

- That is what I was doing.

- Why?

I think you know it.

You see?

I suppose I'm one of those freaks

you hear about.

A woman completely incapable of feeling.

I was engaged to Peter Keating...

...because he was the most safely,

unimportant person I could find.

And I knew I'd never be in love.

Haven't you ever loved anyone?

No, and I never will.

If I fell in love, it'd be like

the statue of the Greek god again.

I know it. I accept it.

I want you to marry me.

If I ever decide to punish myself

for some terrible guilt...

...l'll marry you.

- I'll wait.

No matter what reason you choose for it.

- Will you let me see you again?

- I'm leaving the city in a few days.

- Where are you going?

- To Father's place in Connecticut.

I'm going there so

I won't have to see anyone.

What are you really seeking?

Freedom: to want nothing, to expect

nothing, to depend on nothing.

Why, Miss Francon.

How do you do?

What are you doing here?

I'm out here for the summer.

Father let me have his house all to myself.

- I thought I'd take a look at this quarry.

- Let me show you around.

This is the best gray granite

in Connecticut.

- Why, last month, we shipped...

- Who's that man?

What man, Miss Francon?

No, never mind.

Why do you always stare at me?

For the same reason

you've been staring at me.

I don't know what you're talking about.

If you didn't, you'd be more astonished

and much less angry.

So you know my name.

You've been advertising it

loudly enough.

You'd better not be insolent.

I can have you fired at a moment's notice.

- Shall I call the superintendent?

- No, of course not.

But since you know who I am, you'd better

stop looking at me when I come here.

It might be misunderstood.

I don't think so.

Come in.

Good evening, Miss Francon.

You sent for me?

Yes.

Would you like to make

some extra money?

Certainly, Miss Francon.

That marble piece is broken

and has to be replaced.

I want you to take it out.

Yes, Miss Francon.

Now it's broken

and has to be replaced.

Would you know what kind of marble this is

and where to order a piece?

- Yes, Miss Francon.

- Go ahead, then. Take it out.

Yes, Miss Francon.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You might have thought that I was laughing

at you, but I wasn't, of course.

I didn't want to disturb you.

I'm sure you're anxious to finish

and get out of here.

I mean, because you must be tired.

There must be things

you'd like to talk about.

Oh, well, yes, Miss Francon.

Well?

I think this is an atrocious fireplace.

Really? This house was

designed by my father.

There's no point in your

discussing architecture.

None at all.

Shall we choose some other subject?

Yes, Miss Francon.

Generally, there are three kinds of marble:

The white, the onyx and the green.

This last must not be considered

a true marble.

True marble is the metamorphic form

of limestone produced by heat and pressure.

Pressure is a powerful factor.

It leads to consequences which,

once started, cannot be controlled.

What consequences?

The infiltration of foreign elements

from the surrounding soil.

They form the colored streaks

found in most marbles.

This is pure white marble.

You should be very careful, Miss Francon.

To accept nothing but a stone

of the same quality.

This is Alabama marble,

very high grade, very hard to find.

What shall I do with the stone?

Leave it here. I'll have it removed.

All right.

I'll order a new piece cut to measure

and have it delivered to you.

- Do you wish me to set it?

- Yes, certainly.

I'll let you know when it comes.

How much do I owe you?

Keep the change.

Thank you, Miss Francon.

- Good night.

- Good night, Miss Francon.

Come in.

The man sent from

the quarry, Miss Francon.

Who are you?

- Pasquale Orsini.

- What do you want?

The tall guy down at the quarry told me

you got a fireplace you wanted me to fix.

Yes. Yes, of course. I forgot.

Go ahead.

Why didn't you come set the marble?

I didn't think it would make any difference

to you who came, or did it, Miss Francon?

Good afternoon, Miss Francon.

How are you?

There was a man you had here.

A tall, gaunt man who worked a drill.

- Where is he?

- Yes, that one, he's gone.

- Gone?

- Quit, left for New York, I think.

- When?

- Two days ago.

What was his...?

No. No, I don't want to know his name.

- lf you want me to find him for you...

- No.

I don't know what to do. I give up.

I've gone the limit. I'm at my wit's end.

- That's not going very far.

- It's all right for you to make cracks.

But I'm in trouble. We need some

excitement to boost circulation.

I've got to invent a crusade and I

don't know what on earth to crusade about.

We start a campaign

against street car monopolies?

We did that two years ago, then we

had a crusade against canned vegetables.

And a crusade against Wall Street.

Now, what else is there to be against?

You're a smart woman,

couldn't you...?

- Sorry, I'm not good at that sort of thing.

- Gail Wynand expects results.

The Banner's got to be active.

I've racked my brain, and I can't think

of anything to denounce.

- I can.

- What?

This.

- Who cares about a building?

- My dear, it depends on how you handle it.

It's an outrage against art and a threat to

public safety. It might collapse any moment.

- Nobody's ever used that structural method.

- Yeah?

The owner of it is Roger Enright,

one of those self-made men.

Stubborn and rich as blazes.

It's always safe to denounce the rich.

Everyone will help you...

- The rich first.

- Yeah.

- Howard Roark, who is he?

- I wouldn't know.

Think what you could do with it.

A super-luxury apartment house going up...

...and there's those poor people

who live in the slums.

We could have some Sunday supplement

stories about beautiful girls...

...who are victims of the slums.

- With pictures in three-color process.

You've got something there.

You've got it.

It's a wonderful idea.

I know Wynand will okay it.

You know that this Enright House

is a great building.

Perhaps one of the greatest.

Ellsworth, what are you after?

I daresay nobody knows what I'm after.

They will, though.

When the time comes.

So we've got three wonderful angles:

Highbrow stories about the bad art.

Scare stories about the girders collapsing.

Sob stories about the poor.

We get everybody riled up

without any opposition.

Who'll want to defend it?

It's only a building.

- My first step would be...

- Don't bother with details.

It's good. Go ahead.

Toohey can handle it.

What a surprise and what a lovely contrast

to my usual visitors. Please sit down.

You approved a campaign

against the Enright House?

Yes, of course.

It'll stir up a lot of noise.

I'm sailing next week.

I'll be gone all winter.

This will keep them busy.

Have you seen drawings

of the Enright House?

No.

- Please send for them.

- What for?

That building is a magnificent

architectural achievement.

- Is that of no importance?

- None.

You're willing to destroy it

to amuse the mob...

...to give them something

to scream about?

That is the policy which has made the

Banner the newspaper of largest circulation.

Don't expect me to change it.

You asked me once to tell you

of something I wanted.

I've tried never to ask favors of anyone...

...but I'm going to now.

Please call off this campaign.

Is the architect a friend of yours?

I've never set eyes on him.

I don't know who he is nor care.

Why should you plead for that building?

Because it's great.

There's so little in life

that's noble or beautiful.

I'm pleading for a man's achievement.

I'm pleading for greatness.

Are you reproaching me

for the Banner?

I'm begging you, Mr. Wynand.

Dominique, I would give you

anything I owned...

...except the Banner.

My whole life and an unspeakable

struggle have gone to make it.

I will not sacrifice it for anyone on earth.

It's your right to do as you wish.

It's mine to take no part

in what you're doing.

Please accept my resignation

from the Banner.

I'm sorry.

It's quite useless, my dear.

You can't fight me. You have no chance.

I know it.

While so many

are in need of shelter...

... effort is being wasted to erect

a structural monstrosity...

... known as the Enright House.

It is designed by one Howard Roark,

an incompetent amateur...

... who has the arrogance

to hold his own ideas above all rules.

You are architects and you should realize

that a man like Howard Roark...

...is a threat to all of you.

The conflict of forms is too great.

Can your buildings stand

by the side of his?

I believe you understand me, gentlemen.

If you'll sign a protest

against the Enright House...

...the Banner will be glad to publish it...

...and we shall win

because there are thousands of us...

...thousands against one.

More of it. Look.

Letters to the editor.

Thousands of them,

all screaming against that Enright House.

Ellsworth, you're wonderful.

How could you ever foresee

a public trend so well?

- Roark.

- Mr. Enright.

Thanks.

- Don't pay attention to that public howling.

- I don't.

I've been denounced so much,

it doesn't bother me anymore.

I started out in life as a coal miner.

Got where I am by acting...

...on my own honest judgment

whether others liked it or not.

When you grow older, you'll see

that's the only way to succeed.

- I know it.

- They're tough.

They're gonna get tougher, don't worry.

- You'll win.

- I have.

- That's the only defense you need.

- I'll rest on the evidence.

That's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'll be the first tenant to move in.

I'll give a party to celebrate the

opening of Enright House.

I'll invite them: The press,

the architects, the critics. Let them see.

They think we're gonna apologize.

We'll celebrate instead.

I have nothing to say

about this building.

God gave you eyes and a mind to use. If

you fail to do so, the loss is yours not mine.

Don't you want to convince me?

Is there any reason

why that should be my concern?

I dread to think of the fate

of Howard Roark, whoever he is.

- Why? You don't think he's good?

- He's too good.

- Dominique.

- Hello, Peter.

What a pleasure to see you again.

You look more beautiful than ever.

What do you think of this building?

I'm taking a poll of the guests...

- A what?

- A poll of opinion about it.

What for? In order to find out

what you think of it yourself?

We have to consider

public opinion, don't we?

No, don't ever hire an architect

who's a genius.

- I don't like geniuses. They're dangerous.

- How?

A man abler than his brothers

insults them by implication.

He must not aspire

to any virtue which cannot be shared.

I wouldn't know about that intellectual

stuff. I play the stock market.

I play the stock market of the spirit...

...and I sell short.

It's stunning, perfectly stunning, but

I wouldn't want to live in a house like this.

One could never relax and feel homey.

You know what I mean.

- Comfortable and sloppy and, well, homey.

- No, one couldn't.

- Dominique.

- Yes, Father.

I can't understand how my own daughter

can approve of this mess.

This is such uncivilized taste.

Are you going to defend it?

No, I won't try to defend it.

Mr. Francon, that stairway,

it's not bad. It's a clever idea.

I'm designing a building right now

where I can use an idea like this...

...and I'd have to adapt it, of course.

Well, if one gave it some elegance...

You know, a touch of Greek ornament.

The engineering idea is brilliant.

I could use it myself.

Hello. I've been waiting for you.

You're the guest of honor tonight,

in more than just the social sense.

Whom do you want to meet first?

There's Dominique Francon looking at us.

Come on.

Miss Francon, may I present

Howard Roark?

You're...

...Howard Roark?

- Yes, Miss Francon.

You don't know it, but Miss Francon

has a connection with you.

She resigned from the Banner to

protest their attack on your building.

- How did you know that?

- I heard about it.

- I didn't want Mr. Roark to know it.

- Why not, Miss Francon?

It was a perfectly futile gesture

on my part.

Dominique won't admit it, but she admires

your buildings. She understands them.

- I expected her to understand them.

- Did you?

- But you didn't know me.

- I used to read your column, Miss Francon.

I admire your work

more than anything I've ever seen.

You may realize that this is not a tie,

but a gulf between us...

...if you remember what you read

in my column.

I remember every line of it.

I wish I had never seen your building.

It's the things that we admire or want...

...that enslave us,

I'm not easy to bring into submission.

That depends upon the strength

of your adversary, Miss Francon.

Well?

Roger, why did you bring him here?

Why did you deliver him

to these people?

Don't you see he doesn't

have a chance against them?

Come in.

I expected you to come here.

I didn't know your name.

You knew mine.

But you haven't tried to find me

in all these months.

I wanted you to find me

and have to come to me.

If it gives you pleasure

that you're breaking me down...

...l'll give you a greater satisfaction.

I love you, Roark.

Would it please you to hear

that I've lived in torture all these months...

...hoping never to find you,

wishing to give my life...

...just to see you once more?

But you knew that, of course. That's

what you wanted me to live through.

- Yes.

- Why don't you laugh at me now? You won.

I have no pride left to stop me.

I love you without dignity,

without regret.

I came to tell you this...

...and to tell you

that you'll never see me again.

You want to know whether

you can make me suffer, don't you?

You can.

Roark, you're everything

I've always wanted.

And that's why I hoped

I'd never meet anyone like you.

I'll give you up now myself

rather than watch you destroyed...

...by a world where you have no chance.

- Why are you afraid?

- I know what they'll do to you.

You had the genius

that made the Enright House.

But you were working like a convict

in a granite quarry.

- I chose to do it.

- Why?

Don't you know why?

Yes. Because you won't conform.

They'll drive you down again.

Stone quarry's all you can expect.

- I got out of the quarry.

- Did you?

Do you think the Enright House

is your beginning?

It's your death sentence.

Has any other client come to you?

No.

They won't.

They hate you for the greatness

of your achievement.

They hate you for your integrity.

They hate you because they know

they can neither corrupt you nor rule you.

They won't let you survive.

Roark, they'll destroy you.

But I won't be there to see it happen.

Do you want to leave me?

I've loved you from the first moment

I saw you, and you knew it.

You tried to escape from it.

I had to let you learn to accept it.

Are you gonna leave me?

Yes.

I won't stop you.

Roark, don't you see?

I don't want to leave you.

Will you marry me?

I want to stay with you.

We'll take a house in some small town,

I'll keep it for you.

Don't laugh. I can. I'll cook, I'll wash

your clothes, I'll scrub the floor...

...and you'll give up architecture.

If you give it up,

I'll remain with you forever...

...but I can't bear to stand by and see you

moving to some terrible disaster.

It can't end any other way.

Save yourself from tragedy.

Take a meaningless job.

We'll live only for each other.

I wish I could tell you

it was a temptation.

Roark, yes or no?

No.

You must learn not to be afraid

of the world, not to take any notice.

I must let you learn it.

When you have,

you'll come back to me.

They won't destroy me, Dominique.

I'll wait for you.

I love you.

I'm saying it now

for all the years we'll have to wait.

I'd do anything to escape from you.

I could've expected anything on my return

except to see you coming here to meet me.

If I wanted to delude myself,

I'd think you were impatient to see me.

- I was.

- I'm very happy, my dear...

...no matter your reason.

I'm honest enough to warn you,

you shouldn't be.

I realize that.

What was your reason?

If you found another request to make of me,

I like to be able to grant it.

No. I didn't come to make a request

but to grant you one of yours.

You still wish me to marry you?

More than anything

I was ever capable of wishing.

I'll marry you.

- Don't you want to ask me any questions?

- No.

Thank you.

You're making it easier for me.

Whatever your reason, I shall accept it.

What I want to find in our marriage

will remain my own concern.

I exact no promises

and impose no obligations.

Incidentally, since it is of no importance

to you, I love you.

No, Mr. Roark, there is too much talk

and public resentment against you.

We can't take part in controversies.

We can't afford to arouse antagonism.

I'm sorry, but we find it impossible to

give you the commission for our building.

As one of our directors said, "You can't

expect us to stick our necks out."

No, and I don't expect it.

Hello, Mr. Roark.

I hoped I'd meet you someday,

like this, alone.

- You shouldn't mind talking to me.

- What about?

There's a building

that should've been yours.

There are buildings going up all over the city,

chances refused to you and given to fools.

You're walking the streets while they do

the work you love but cannot obtain.

This city is closed to you.

It is I who have done it.

- Don't you want to know my motive?

- No.

I'm fighting you, and I shall fight you

in every way I can.

- You're free to do what you please.

- Mr. Roark, we're alone here.

Why don't you tell me what you think of me

in any words you wish?

But I don't think of you.

It's great, Mr. Roark. It's wonderful.

Ever since I saw the Enright House,

I knew you were the man I wanted.

But I was afraid you wouldn't do

an unimportant gas station...

...for me after doing

skyscrapers.

No building is unimportant.

I'll build for any man who wants me.

Anywhere, so long as I build my way.

Your career has been as unprecedented

as your buildings.

I never knew anybody to survive

one of the Banner's smear campaigns.

Everything was against you.

How'd you break through?

- What'd you think of the Banner's campaign?

- It was a vicious appeal to fools.

Haven't you answered

your own question?

But you had years torn out of your life,

wasted by the Banner.

No. All these years, I've found some one

man who wanted my work...

...one man who saw through his own eyes

and thought with his own brain.

Such men may be rare, they may be

unknown, but they move the world.

- How did you look for them?

- I didn't. They called for me.

Any man who calls for me

is my kind of man.

This is probably something very big.

I made an appointment for you,

- Whose office?

- He telephoned half an hour ago.

Mr. Gail Wynand.

- I don't think you'll want to work for me.

- Why?

You ought to feel contempt for me

if you've seen the kind of buildings I put up.

- You're honest, aren't you?

- Thank you.

That's the first time

anyone said that about me...

...and it's one of the few times

when I am.

What I want you to build

is not for the public. It's for me.

- What is it?

- My home...

A country house

just for my wife and me.

Did Mrs. Wynand choose me for the job?

No, Mrs. Wynand doesn't know anything

about this. It's my own project.

I've looked at buildings all over the country.

Every time I saw one that I liked...

...and asked who designed it,

the answer was always Howard Roark.

I want you to know that I have

very little respect for anything on earth.

The only thing I worship,

and I've seen so little of it in life...

...is man's ability to produce work

such as yours.

I believe you.

Why do you say that as if it hurt you?

It doesn't.

Don't hold them against me,

the things I've built.

Those worthless commercial structures

and papers like the Banner made it possible...

...for me to have a house by you.

They're the means, you're the end.

Don't apologize for your past.

It isn't necessary.

You do have courage, don't you?

No one else would dare

say that to me.

But you're right. I was apologizing.

You see, I need you.

That house means a great deal to me,

and you're the only one who can design it.

What kind of a house do you want?

Far from the city. I bought the land.

A place in Connecticut, 500 acres.

What kind of a house?

The cost, whatever you need.

The appearance, whatever you wish.

The purpose...

You see, I want this house because

I'm very desperately in love with my wife.

What's the matter?

You think that's irrelevant?

No. Go on.

I can't stand to see my wife

among other people.

It's not jealousy.

It's much more and much worse.

I can't share her

with anyone or anything.

I want a house

that will be only mine and hers.

Think of it as you would think

of a fortress...

...and of a temple.

A temple

to Dominique Wynand.

I want you to meet her

before you design it.

I've met Mrs. Wynand some years ago.

- You have? Then you understand.

- I do.

Start work at once.

Drop anything else you're doing.

I'll pay whatever...

Forgive me.

Too much association

with bad architects.

I haven't asked you

whether you wanna do it.

Yes. I'll do it.

- What's the matter, Gail?

- Good evening, dear. Why?

- You look as if you felt happy.

- I feel as if I were young...

...as I did when I was starting and

believed the road ahead was clean...

...and honesty was possible.

- You want it to be possible?

- Yes. I never realized...

...how much I wanted to find it.

Dominique, you look

very beautiful tonight.

No. That's not what

I wanted to say. It's this:

I feel for the first time

that I have a right to you.

- You thought you hadn't?

- No, and that I'd never earn it.

But now I believe nothing

will take you away from me...

Nothing and no one.

- I don't love you, Gail.

- I know it...

...but you'd never loved anyone else.

- What makes you think so?

- It wouldn't be like you.

You'd never surrender to anyone,

but you don't hate me any longer.

No. I've found we have

a great deal in common, you and I.

We both had strength,

but not courage.

We've committed

the same kind of treason some way.

If I have, I feel as if

I've been forgiven tonight.

- Why?

- I don't know.

You've always wanted

to escape from the world.

Would you like to live in the

country, away from everything...

...away from the Banner?

- Yes. Yes, I would.

I'm having a house designed for us.

It will be my greatest gift to you.

If I've been guilty in my life,

this house will vindicate me.

- Who is designing it?

- The only man of genius I ever met.

His name is Howard Roark.

Gail.

Do you happen to remember

why I resigned from the Banner?

It was because of a campaign...

...against the Enright House.

Just one of the Banner's

smear campaigns!

Not important enough

to remember, was it, Gail?

You staged so many of them.

You were away on your yacht.

He was just some architect

whom you threw to the mob.

It built circulation. Didn't it, Gail?

When I spoke to him,

he didn't remind me of it.

Why should he?

He knows he's won.

He could afford to be generous.

I don't accept generosity.

I never thought

he could win against you, but he has.

Maybe we're wrong

about the world, you and I.

He's the one who's earned

the right to despise us.

Has he? That's a right

I'll never grant to anyone on earth.

There are no men of integrity, are there?

Well, you've met one.

There aren't.

He's not any better than the rest of us.

- What if he is?

- lf he were, I'd break him.

Nobody can break him.

I'll find out.

Why did you accept this commission?

Don't you hate me?

No. Why should I?

- Do you want me to speak of it first?

- Of what?

The Enright House.

You had forgotten that, hadn't you?

Let it remain forgotten.

I know what the Banner has done to you,

but I stand by every word...

...in the Banner.

- I haven't asked you to retract it.

Mr. Roark, I was away

at the time of that campaign...

...but my editor was doing

what I had taught him.

Had I been in town,

I'd have done the same.

- That was your privilege.

- You don't believe I would have done it.

- No.

- I haven't asked you...

...for compliments or for pity.

Sit down.

I wish to sign a contract

to make you sole architect...

...for all the future buildings I may erect.

If you accept, you will make a

fortune.

If you refuse, I will see to it

that you never build again.

You may have heard.

I don't like to be refused.

I want you to design

my future commercial structures...

...as the public wishes

them to be designed.

You will build colonial houses,

Rococo hotels...

...and semi-Grecian office buildings.

You will take your spectacular talent

and make it subservient...

...to the taste of the masses.

That is what I want.

Of course. I'll be glad to do it.

It's easy.

This what you want?

Good heavens, no.

Then shut up and don't ever let me hear

any architectural suggestions.

I didn't think anyone would waste time

trying to tempt me again.

- I meant it until I saw that.

- I knew you meant it.

You were taking a terrible chance.

Not at all. I had an ally I could trust.

- What, your integrity?

- Yours, Gail.

Why do you think that about me?

Why don't you admit to yourself

what we both knew the moment we met?

- What?

- That we are alike, you and I.

You're saying it about Gail Wynand

of the New York Banner?

I'm saying it.

Gail Wynand of Hell's Kitchen...

...who had the strength and spirit

to rise by his own effort...

...but who made a bad mistake

about the way he chose.

No. You shouldn't deal with me.

You shouldn't remain here.

- You wish to throw me out?

- You know I can't.

Shall I tell you now what I think of this?

You told me.

I'll take this drawing home

to show my wife.

I want her to see it

and to thank you in person.

Will you come

and have dinner with us tonight?

Will you?

Yes.

- Howard.

- Good evening, Gail.

You two know each other.

- How do you do, Mr. Roark?

- And you, Mrs. Wynand?

Thank you for the house you designed for

us. It's one of your most beautiful.

If you like it, I've fulfilled

your husband's order.

What was the order?

To design a house as a temple

to you, Mrs. Wynand.

Shall I accept it as a tribute

from Gail or from you?

From both of us.

I appreciate it.

Particularly since I would have expected you

to refuse the commission.

Why?

Was there nothing in your past

to make you refuse it?

- No.

- Thank you, Howard.

I never expected you

to forget and give in.

Isn't Mr. Roark the man you said

you'd break?

I tried it and lost.

Are you admitting defeat?

Both of you?

Do you wish to call it that?

I think it was a victory for both of us.

Your feeling, once granted...

...will you ever withdraw it?

Never.

Have you studied the floor plans

of the house?

I should like to know whether

the arrangement of the rooms is convenient.

- The rooms?

- Yes. The living room...

...will open to a terrace over the lake.

- Did you notice the windows of our room?

- We'll get the first sunlight in the morning.

- You think I could ever live in that house?

- Why not?

- I can't. Please.

- Don't ask me to live in it.

- Why not?

Dominique, what is it?

Nothing.

Only the constant reminder.

- After the Enright House, we have no right.

- Please, forget the Enright House.

Yes, Mr. Roark.

I wouldn't be so frightened if I could

understand. What have I done?

- Why did it happen?

- What are you whining about?

There's no use kidding myself. I've been

slipping ever since Guy Francon retired.

I've had less work each year.

People are dropping me. Why?

You were a fashion, Peter.

Fashions change.

But I was at the top.

Why did I fall like that without any reason?

Don't be astonished, ask yourself,

is there any reason for you to be at the top?

But you used to say

I was the greatest architect living.

Well, I could have had two reasons

for saying it.

Maybe I wanted to honor you...

...and maybe I wanted to dishonor

and discredit all greatness.

l... I thought you were my friend.

Of course, I'm everybody's friend.

I'm the friend of humanity.

Now, why did you come here?

What do you want?

Cortlandt Homes.

You're not serious.

If I could get a great project to design...

...like Cortlandt Homes, it would save

my reputation.

But Cortlandt Homes is to be

the greatest of all housing projects.

A model development

for the whole world.

You can help me, Ellsworth.

You have influence

on that project with those people.

Don't forget that this is not

a Wynand project.

I'm only an unofficial adviser to them.

As an expert in architecture,

nothing else.

But just a word

of recommendation from you.

But, Peter, do you imagine

you could design Cortlandt?

They haven't found anyone able to do it.

They're stuck.

Do you know the big problem

in housing? Economy.

How to design a building

that would rent at the lowest price possible.

Cortlandt Homes has to be

the most brilliant product...

...of planning ingenuity

and structural economy ever achieved.

Do you think you could do that?

Well, I could try. I'd do my best.

Your best won't do it, Peter.

But you may try if you wish.

Here's all the dope on Cortlandt.

Work out a preliminary scheme.

Solve the problem. I'll submit it

and push it for all I'm worth.

You will let me try.

All our best architects

have tried and failed.

Nothing can be done in life

without an idea.

My friends have the land,

the money, the material...

...but not the man

to originate the idea.

Howard, I'm a parasite.

I've been a parasite all my life.

You helped me

with my projects in school.

Everything I've built was stolen from you

and men like you before us.

I've never had an idea of my own.

I've fed on you and hated you for it

and I've come here to ask you to save me.

- Go on.

- Cortlandt is my last chance.

I know I can't do it. I've tried.

I've come to beg you as I did in school

to design it for me.

To design it

and let me put my name on it.

Well, there's no reason

you should want to do it.

If you can solve their problem, go

to them and obtain the commission.

- Do you think I could get past Toohey?

- No. No, you couldn't.

He's not the only one.

I'll never be given a job...

...by any group, board, council,

or committee...

...but I would like to do this job.

You'd design Cortlandt for me?

I might if you offer me enough.

Howard, anything you ask. Anything.

Name a motive

that would make me want to do it.

There's no reason

why you should save me.

- No.

- But it's a humanitarian project.

Think of the people in the slums.

If you can give them decent housing,

you'd perform a noble deed.

Would you do it just for their sake?

No. The man who works for others

without payment is a slave.

I do not believe that slavery is noble.

Not in any form,

nor for any purpose whatsoever.

Is there any kind of payment

I can offer you?

Yes, there is.

Now, listen to me.

I've worked on the problem

of low-rent construction for years.

I've thought of the new inventions,

the new materials...

...the great possibilities never used

to build cheaply, simply, and intelligently.

I loved it because it was a problem

I wanted to solve.

Yes. I understand.

Peter, before you can do things

for people...

...you must be the kind of man

who can get things done.

But to get things done,

you must love the doing, not the people.

Your own work,

not any possible object of your charity.

I'll be glad if men who need it find a

better manner of living in a house I build...

...but that's not the motive of my work,

nor my reason, nor my reward.

My reward, my purpose,

my life is the work itself.

My work done my way.

Nothing else matters to me.

I've always wanted to build

a large-scale project but l...

I never hoped to get the chance.

Now, here's what I'll offer you.

I will design Cortlandt.

You'll put your name on it.

You will keep all the fees,

but you will guarantee...

...that it will be built exactly

as I design it.

- I see.

- No changes by you or by anyone else.

That's the payment

I demand for my work.

My ideas are mine. Nobody else has a right

to them except on my terms.

Those who need them

must take them my way or not at all.

All right, Howard.

I guarantee it.

I give you my word.

Everybody would say

you're a fool.

That I'm getting everything.

You'll get everything that society can give.

You'll take the money, the fame...

...and the gratitude and I'll take that...

...which nobody can give a man except

himself.

I will have built Cortlandt.

"After two years of futile attempts

to solve the problems involved...

...the design submitted by Peter Keating

is an astonishingly skillful solution...

...that provides the best living quarters

yet devised at the lowest cost."

- What on earth are you up to?

- What do you mean?

Do you think I pick artworks

by their signatures?

Who designed that project?

Peter Keating.

Who designed this?

- Of course.

- What are you after?

- Drop it.

- All right.

I won't try to guess your motive...

...but I'd know your work anywhere.

Howard, I never expected

to feel gratitude to anyone...

...but I'm grateful to you every moment

of the day in the house you built.

I'm learning so many things

I never expected to feel.

- What?

- The wonder of ownership.

I'm a millionaire who's never

owned anything. I've been public property...

...like a city billboard.

But this is mine. Here I'm safe.

Why didn't you come here yesterday?

I missed you.

- Too much work in the office.

- You're killing yourself.

- You've worked too hard for years.

- Haven't you?

Yes. We need a rest, both of us.

My yacht's been refitted.

I'm planning a long cruise.

I've meant to for years.

Go with me.

Gail, is this an obsession?

What is Mr. Roark to you?

My youth.

- Is he what you were in your youth?

- Oh, no, much more than that.

What I thought I'd be when I was 16.

I'm sure Mr. Roark

can't go on a yacht cruise.

Why, yes, Mrs. Wynand,

I'd be glad to go.

I thought, that you'd never give up

your work for anyone.

I won't give it up.

I'll take my first vacation.

You're willing to be away for months?

I'd enjoy it.

It's incredible.

I believe you're jealous.

Wonderful!

I'm even more grateful to you

if he's made you jealous of me.

Now, don't frown. I'll fix a drink.

We'll toast the cruise.

Roark.

Roark, don't go with him.

I can't stand this much longer.

I am jealous...

...of you and of every moment you give him,

of your impossible friendship.

- I don't want you to come here or like him.

- I don't want to discuss it, Mrs. Wynand.

Howard, that's where I was born,

Hell's Kitchen.

I own most of it now.

All those blocks.

I decided when I was 16 that that's

where the Wynand building would stand...

...and that it'd be

the tallest structure of the city.

What's the matter?

Do you want to build it?

- Do you want it pretty badly?

- I think I'd almost give my life for it.

- Is that what you wanted?

- Something like that.

I won't demand your life,

but it's nice to shock you.

I'll start to build it in a few years.

Do you know how much

it means to me?

- Yes. I know what you want.

- A monument to my life, Howard.

After I'm gone, that building

will be Gail Wynand.

My last and greatest achievement

will also be your greatest.

The Wynand building by Howard Roark.

I've waited for it from the day I was born.

From the day you were born...

...you've waited for your one great chance.

There it is, on the site of Hell's Kitchen.

Yours from me.

Please, Mr. Keating,

do let us stop arguing.

We've engaged Mr. Prescott and Mr. Webb

as your associate designers.

- What for?

- Well, it's such a tremendous project.

You can afford to share the credit with two

fellow architects who need a job.

Don't be selfish.

Besides, three minds are better than one.

But you've accepted my design.

Yes, of course. It's excellent,

but we must make some improvements.

- What improvements?

- Well, the thing's too bare.

We ought to add a few balconies.

Balconies? What for?

To give it a human touch.

We got to have some kind of trimming

over the entrance.

I won't allow it. It's my building.

It's my design.

But why shouldn't we

have any say at all?

We want to express

our individuality too.

On another man's work?

What the heck?

Any man's work is public property.

I can't let you.

Don't you understand? I can't.

Well, Peter, why not?

What's the matter?

You've never fought

with your clients before.

- Is there anything different in this case?

- They're ruining the building.

- Oh, I suppose so.

- What do you care?

You made a contract with me

that Cortlandt would be built...

...exactly as I designed it, I did

it only on that condition.

- What's a contract?

- You're old-fashioned, Keating.

- But I have a contract.

- What are you going to do about it? Sue us?

Go ahead. Try it.

You'll find that you can't sue us.

But you had no right to do this!

- What are rights, Peter?

- Whose rights?

Oh, what's the use of talking?

Let's go to work.

I couldn't help it, Howard.

They started making changes

without reason.

Everybody had authority

and nobody.

I tried to fight. They pushed me

from office to office.

- I couldn't help it.

- I suppose not.

I had no way to reach you.

I was waiting for you to come back.

I was afraid.

What are you going to do?

They've got such a setup,

you can't sue them.

- No.

- Want me to confess the truth?

- To everybody?

- No.

Will you let me give you

all the money they paid me?

I'm sorry.

Howard.

What are you going to do?

You have to leave that up to me now.

Why did you come here?

Because I couldn't stand it any longer.

You've been away for months.

I had to see you again...

To see you alone.

Please go.

Roark, do I mean nothing to you?

I can't answer you now.

You stayed away from me for years.

I tried to forget you. I couldn't.

- You knew I never would.

- Yes.

I never thought it'd be Gail

who'd bring you back to me.

Don't you see why

I can't stand it now?

Living in a house you designed,

seeing you constantly as a stranger...

...having no right to look at you,

to tell you that l...

Don't say it.

Do you remember?

You said once that you...

For all the years we'll have to wait.

Roark, I know...

...that you've known

what I felt all these years.

We can never change it,

neither one of us.

I'm going to leave Gail.

You may refuse to see me again,

but I'm going to leave him.

Before you leave him will you help me

with a problem of my own?

- Yes.

- Will you do it without asking questions?

Yes, Roark, anything you want.

You've seen Cortlandt Homes?

Yes. I know what they've

done to your work.

Next Monday night, I want you to drive up

to the side of Cortlandt.

You must be alone in your car.

You must make it appear

you were an innocent bystander...

Roark, I know

what you're going to do.

This is a test, isn't it?

Can I equal your courage,

am I still afraid for you...

...can I help you take the most

terrible chance you've ever...?

You can guess anything you wish.

Just listen. When I finish don't tell me

whether you will help me or not.

If you decide to do it, say nothing...

...but let me see you do it.

All right. Go on.

Drive up to Cortlandt

Monday night at 11:30.

I ran out of gas.

May I use your telephone, please?

I'm sorry, ma'am,

but our phone's gone dead tonight.

Where is the nearest garage?

Way down the road.

Would you mind going there

and getting somebody to help me?

Sure will, young lady. Glad to.

What do you know

about this?

Arrest me. I'll talk at the trial.

We don't have to wait for the trial

to convict him.

Howard Roark is guilty

by his very nature.

It is whispered

that he designed Cortlandt.

- What if he did?

- Society needed a housing project.

It was his duty to sacrifice

his own desires...

...and to contribute any ideas we demanded

of him on any terms we chose.

Who is society?

We are.

Man can be permitted to exist

only in order to serve others.

He must be nothing but a tool

for the satisfaction of their needs.

Self-sacrifice is the law of our age.

The man who refuses to submit

and to serve...

Howard Roark, the supreme egoist...

Is a man who must be destroyed!

We have never learned to understand

what is greatness in man.

Self-sacrifice, we drool,

is the ultimate virtue.

Let's stop and think.

Can a man sacrifice his integrity

his rights, his freedom...

...his convictions, the honesty of his

feeling, the independence of his thought?

These are a man's supreme possessions.

To what must he sacrifice them?

To whom?

Self-sacrifice?

But it is precisely the self that cannot

and must not be sacrificed.

A man's self is his spirit.

It is the unsacrificed self

that we must respect in man above all...

...and where do we find it?

In a man like Howard Roark.

Have that run off and set up

on tomorrow's front page.

Yes, Mr. Wynand.

Gail, are you out of your mind,

defending that...?

Keep still or I'll bash your teeth in.

The whole city is against him.

An unpopular cause

is dangerous business for anyone.

For a popular newspaper,

it's suicide!

- Public opinion is responsible...

- Public opinion is what I make it.

For once, I'll fight for what I believe.

You'll stand alone against everybody

for the first time in your life?

Yes, for the first time in my life.

You fool, why did you have

to make such a good job of it?

Didn't you know broken glass is

dangerous?

- It didn't hurt.

- The next time you wanna play...

...the innocent bystander

let me coach you.

You didn't have to cut an artery.

Do the police believe that I was only

an innocent bystander?

Yes, they believe it.

They have to. You almost died.

They don't know that

you'd risk your life for him.

- For whom?

- Howard.

Haven't you always fought

for his work?

I'm glad you did it

and that it was for him.

I'm glad he did it.

- He had to.

- Yes.

- Have they arrested him?

- He's out on bail.

- What's he told them?

- Nothing.

He's refused to make any

statement.

They all say he's guilty,

but they can find no motive.

They think he designed Cortlandt...

...but they can't prove it.

- Is the public against him?

It's the worst storm of public fury

I've ever seen.

- Are all the newspapers against him?

- Except one.

Gail, if you'll stand by him today...

Don't offer me bribes.

It's a battle I've waited for all my life.

I know how much I have to redeem.

This will be my redemption.

This time, the Banner

is serving a crusade.

I was waiting for you to come.

- Do you want to ask me any questions now?

- No.

I may be sent to the penitentiary for years.

Does that frighten you?

No. I'll share whatever they do to you.

I failed you once

because I was afraid to see you suffer.

Now I'll stand by you openly.

I'll take the disgrace, the scandal,

the smears, anything.

Darling.

Yes.

You're Mrs. Gail Wynand.

You're above suspicion.

Everybody believes you were

at the scene by accident.

If you let it be known

what we mean to each other...

...it'll be a confession

that I did it.

Is that why you asked me to help you?

In order to stop me

from joining you now?

Yes.

Dominique, if I'm convicted...

...I want you to remain with Gail.

And you must not tell him about us...

...because he and you

will need each other.

All right, if that's what you want...

...but if you're acquitted?

We can't speak of that now.

You'll be acquitted.

That's not what I wanted

to hear you say.

If they convict you...

...if they lock you in jail, if they

never let you design another building...

...if they never let me see you again...

...it won't break me.

I know how to fight it.

I'm not afraid of them any longer.

That's what I wanted

to hear all these years.

- Who designed Cortlandt?

- Let me alone.

- It's too late, Peter.

- Let me go!

- Who designed Cortlandt?

- Why do you want to kill Roark?

I don't want to kill him. I want him in jail,

behind bars, locked, strapped, beaten.

He'll move as he's told.

He'll work as he's told.

- He'll obey. He'll take orders.

- Ellsworth, what are you after?

Power. What do you think is power?

Whips? Guns? Money?

You can't turn men into slaves

unless you break their spirit.

Kill their capacity to think

and act on their own.

Tie them together, teach them to conform,

to unite, to agree, to obey.

That makes one neck

ready for one leash.

Ellsworth.

You've heard me preaching it for years

but you didn't have the wits...

...to know what you were hearing.

Why do you suppose I denounced

greatness and praised mediocrities like you?

Great men can't be ruled.

Why did I preach self-sacrifice?

If you kill a man's sense of personal value,

he'll submit.

Can you do that

to Howard Roark? No?

Then don't ask me

why I want to destroy him.

That's what they mean,

your noble ideals.

You believed in me.

Well, what's left of you now?

Come on.

Who designed Cortlandt?

Howard Roark.

On what condition?

That it must be built

as he designed it.

Write it down.

Write a full confession.

You're a great success, Peter.

You're my best achievement.

A totally selfless man.

Selfish? Is that what they call me?

Well I am. I live by the judgment

of my own mind and for my own sake.

Let them say what they please.

By the time you come to trial,

no jury will convict you.

The public will think what I want them to

think. The Banner will save you.

Dominique, do you see why

I love the Banner? I hold power.

Are you sure of it, Gail?

You'll see the demonstration for yourself.

I rule that city. I've never lost a battle.

It's your first test

of a real issue, which...

- Hello?

- Gail Wynand, please.

- Speaking.

- Gail, this is Alvah.

Yes, Alvah?

Keating has admitted

Roark designed Cortlandt.

- Toohey has a signed confession.

- What?

It made the front page

of the other daily so we had to go along.

Stay there. I'll come at once.

What is it?

Ellsworth Toohey got a confession

from Peter Keating.

It's on the front pages tomorrow,

including the Banner.

I'm not counting on public opinion one way

or the other so don't be afraid for me.

I'll fight for you

if it takes everything I own.

When I can't fire anyone on my paper,

I'll close it...

...and blow your brains out

or mine.

They've walked out on us.

The whole city room.

Our best boys.

They're Toohey's best friends.

- They won't work without him.

- Ellsworth Toohey is fired and stays fired.

I can't understand how Ellsworth

got so much power.

I never noticed it but he got his gang in

little by little and now he owns them.

- And I own the Banner.

- Do you, Mr. Wynand?

So you were after power, Mr. Wynand...

...and you thought you

were a practical man.

You left to impractical intellectuals like me

the whole field of ideas...

...to corrupt as we please

while you were busy making money.

You thought money was power.

Is it, Mr. Wynand?

You poor amateur.

You've never been enough of a scoundrel

for your own ambition.

That's why I'll be back on this job...

...and when I am, I'll run this paper.

When you are. Now get out of here.

- How clever, my dear.

- Yes, it is, isn't it?

We must do what we can for the cause.

I just fired my cook

because I caught her reading the Banner.

Gail, what are we gonna do?

I can't get anyone.

They refuse, no matter

what salary I offer.

Nobody wants to work for the Banner.

Nobody wants to read it.

How long can we go on like this?

To the end.

Gail, give me back

my old job.

I shall be proud to work

for the Banner now.

Come on.

Take these to the back room, pick up

the wire flimsies and bring them.

Then report to Manning

at the city desk.

- All returns, eh?

- Yup.

Gives me the creeps.

Looks just like slabs in the cemetery.

And they keep growing

every night.

Guess nobody buys

the Banner anymore.

They're killing themselves.

Work night and day and still newspapers

come back unread.

Ready with it, Mrs. Wynand?

There's the Sunday makeup.

It's fairly rotten, but it'll have to do.

I sent Manning home.

He was going to collapse.

Jackson quit, but we can do

without him.

Alvah's column was a mess.

I rewrote it.

Don't tell him. Say Gail did.

All right.

It'll be all right, Gail.

It will be all right.

The Banner is not helping Howard.

It's ruining him.

It's turning more

people against him.

He doesn't care about that

but stand by him.

- Don't give in to them.

- I can't save him.

He'll win in his own way.

I can't save him. I have no power.

I never had any power.

Nobody's ever listened to me

because nobody's ever respected me.

I wasn't a ruler of the mob.

I was its tool.

If you don't give in, you'll save yourself

and the Banner.

I never ran the Banner. They did.

The men in the street.

It was their paper, not mine.

There's nothing to save now.

Gail, don't give in to them.

Don't give in.

You'd better give in.

We can't permit this to go on.

After all, we're your board of directors.

We have something to say.

We've lost all our advertisers

we've lost our public, for what?

Now, if it were a serious cause,

but for some fool dynamiter?

What is this, an intellectual issue? Are we

losing our shirts for principles or something?

Gail, Gail, it's no use.

We must call Ellsworth Toohey

and take him back.

We must reverse our stand

on the Cortlandt case.

We must come out against Roark.

Wynand, this is final.

Yes or no?

Give in or close the Banner.

You'd better give in.

All right.

I solemnly ask

of every man who hears this case...

...to let his own mind

pronounce a verdict upon it.

You have heard the testimony

of the state's witnesses.

The confession of Peter Keating

has made clear...

...that Howard Roark

is a ruthless egoist...

...who has destroyed Cortlandt Homes

for his own selfish motive.

The issue which you are to decide

is the crucial issue of our age:

Has man any right to exist

if he refuses to serve society?

Let your verdict give us the answer.

The state rests.

The defense may proceed.

Your Honor,

I shall call no witnesses.

This will be my testimony

and my summation.

- Take the oath.

- Do you swear to tell the truth...

...the whole truth and nothing

but the truth...

...so help you God?

- I do.

Thousands of years ago the first man

discovered how to make fire.

He was probably burned at the stake,

he taught his brothers to light.

But he left them a gift

they had not conceived.

And he lifted darkness

off the earth.

Throughout the centuries, there were men

who took first steps down new roads...

...armed with nothing

but their own vision.

The great creators, the thinkers, the artists,

the scientists, the inventors...

...stood alone against

the men of their time.

Every new thought was opposed...

...every new invention was denounced...

...but the men of unborrowed vision

went ahead.

They fought, they suffered

and they paid, but they won.

No creator was prompted by a desire

to please his brothers.

His brothers hated

the gift he offered.

His truth was his only motive.

His work was his only goal.

His work, not those who used it...

...his creation, not the benefits

others derived from it...

...the creation which gave form

to his truth.

He held his truth above all things

and against all men.

He went ahead whether others agreed

with him or not...

...with his integrity as his only banner.

He served nothing and no one.

He lived for himself...

...and only by living for himself

was he able to achieve the things...

...which are the glory of mankind.

Such is the nature of achievement.

Man cannot survive,

except through his mind.

He comes on earth unarmed.

His brain is his only weapon, but the mind

is an attribute of the individual.

There is no such thing

as a collective brain.

The man who thinks

must think and act on his own.

The reasoning mind cannot work

under any form of compulsion.

It cannot be subordinated to the needs,

opinions, or wishes of others.

It is not an object of sacrifice.

The creator stands

on his own judgment.

The parasite follows

the opinions of others.

The creator thinks.

The parasite copies.

The creator produces.

The parasite loots.

The creator's concern

is the conquest of nature.

The parasite's concern

is the conquest of men.

The creator requires independence.

He neither serves nor rules.

He deals with men by free exchange

and voluntary choice.

The parasite seeks power.

He wants to bind all men together

in common action and common slavery.

He claims that man is only a tool

for the use of others...

...that he must think as they think

act as they act...

...and live in selfless, joyless servitude

to any need but his own.

Look at history.

Everything we have,

every great achievement...

...has come from the independent work

of some independent mind.

Every horror and destruction...

...came from attempts to force men

into a herd of brainless, soulless robots.

Without personal rights...

...without personal ambition...

...without will, hope or dignity.

It is an ancient conflict.

It has another name.

The individual

against the collective.

Our country, the noblest country

in the history of men...

...was based on the principle

of individualism.

The principle of man's

inalienable rights.

It was a country where a man was free

to seek his own happiness.

To gain and produce,

not to give up and renounce.

To prosper, not to starve.

To achieve, not to plunder.

To hold as his highest possession

a sense of his personal value...

...and as his highest virtue

his self-respect.

Look at the results.

That is what the collectivists

are now asking you to destroy...

...as much of the earth

has been destroyed.

I am an architect.

I know what is to come

by the principle on which it is built.

We are approaching a world

in which I cannot permit myself to live.

My ideas are my property.

They were taken from me by force,

by breach of contract.

No appeal was left to me.

It was believed that my work belonged

to others to do with as they pleased.

They had a claim upon me

without my consent...

...that it was my duty to serve them

without choice or reward.

Now you know why

I dynamited Cortlandt.

I designed Cortlandt...

...I made it possible...

...I destroyed it.

I agreed to design it for the purpose

of seeing it built as I wished.

That was the price I set for my work.

I was not paid.

My building was disfigured at the whim of

others who took the benefits of my work...

...and gave me nothing in return.

I came here to say

that I do not recognize...

...anyone's right

to one minute of my life.

Nor to any part of my energy,

nor to any achievement of mine.

No matter who makes the claim.

It had to be said.

The world is perishing

from an orgy of self-sacrificing.

I came here to be heard...

...in the name of every man

of independence still left in the world.

I wanted to state my terms.

I do not care to work

or live on any others.

My terms are a man's right...

...to exist for his own sake.

Further, you are instructed

that the extent of the monetary loss...

...suffered by the owners

is not a matter to be considered by you.

The liability of the defendant...

...for any financial loss...

...is a question to be determined

in a civil suit.

You are concerned here only

with a criminal action.

You are to determine

whether the defendant...

...is guilty or innocent...

...of the specific crime

with which he has been charged.

You are the exclusive judges

of the facts...

...and under the instructions I have given

you, it is your duty and your duty alone...

...to determine the guilt

or innocence of the accused.

Your Honor.

Foreman.

- Have you reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

The prisoner will rise

and face the jury.

What is your verdict?

Not guilty.

I have bought from them the plans,

the site, and the ruins of Cortlandt.

It's mine now and yours.

You'll rebuild it for me.

Just as you planned it.

Mr. Roark, Mr. Gail Wynand wishes to

know whether you could come to his office.

- Is he on the wire?

- No. It's Mr. Wynand's secretary.

Yes. Tell her yes.

Mr. Roark, this interview is necessary

but very difficult for me.

Please act accordingly.

Yes, Mr. Wynand.

Please read this and sign it,

if it meets with your approval.

What is it?

Your contract to design

the Wynand building.

Please listen carefully, Mr. Roark.

I have closed my newspaper.

The Banner has ceased to exist.

I wish to undertake the construction

of the Wynand building at once.

It is to be the tallest structure

of the city.

You will design it as you wish.

You will have full charge

and complete authority.

But I do not care ever

to see you again.

Please read the contract and sign it.

You haven't read it.

Please sign both copies.

Thank you.

This will be the last skyscraper

ever built in New York.

The last achievement of man on earth...

...before mankind destroys itself.

Mankind will never destroy itself,

Mr. Wynand...

...nor should it think of itself

as destroyed.

Not so long as it does things

such as this.

- As what?

- As the Wynand building.

That is up to you.

Dead things...

...such as the Banner...

...are only the financial fertilizer

that will make it possible.

It is their proper function.

I told you once that this building

was to be a monument to my life.

There is nothing

to commemorate now.

The Wynand building

will have nothing...

...except what you give it.

Build it as a monument to that spirit

which is yours and could've been mine.

May I see Mr. Roark, please?

Mr. Roark's way up on top.

Who's calling, ma'am?

- Mrs. Roark.

- Oh.

 

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Movie Scripts  >   Fountainhead, The (1949)

Fountainhead, The (1949) Movie Script

Do you want to stand alone

against the whole world?

There's no place

for originality in architecture.

Nobody can improve on the buildings of the

past. One can only learn to copy them.

We've tried to teach you

the accepted historical styles.

You refuse to learn. You won't consider

anybody's judgment but your own.

You insist on designing buildings

that look like nothing ever built before.

This school has no choice

but to expel you.

It is my duty as your dean

to say you will never become an architect.

You can't hope to survive

unless you learn how to compromise.

Watch me. In just a few short years

I'll shoot to the top...

...of the profession because

I'm gonna give the public what it wants.

You'll never get anywhere.

So you want to work

for Henry Cameron, huh?

Oh, I know. He was a great

architect 30 years ago.

But he fought for modern

architecture...

...and he's done for. What do you get?

Why do you wanna work for me?

You're setting out to ruin yourself.

You know that?

I ought to throw you out of here

right now before it's too late.

l... I wish I'd done this

at your age.

Why did you have to come to me?

I'm perfectly happy

with the drooling dolts I've got.

I don't want any fool visionaries

starving around here.

You're an egotist. You're impertinent.

You're too sure of yourself.

Twenty years ago, I'd have punched

your face with the greatest of pleasure.

You're coming to work for me

tomorrow morning at 9:00.

No, no, no.

Now, leave these here. Now get out.

Wait.

What's your name?

Howard Roark.

Paper here. Read all about it.

Paper, mister?

Get your morning Banner.

Read all about it.

Morning Banner.

Paper, mister?

Get your Banner.

Read all about it.

Morning Banner, sir.

Read all about it.

Give me that paper.

Now give me another one.

Give me all of them.

I said, give me all of them.

You... You all think

I'm beaten, don't you?

That's all the money I've got,

but I can still do this with my money.

I can still do this...

Howard. Look at... Look here.

In this paper, won't you...

It's no use, Howard.

Why don't you give up?

Come inside.

It's no use.

You... You took over

when I gave it up.

My... My heir, eh?

And look at it.

You haven't got

any further than I did...

...and you won't.

- We'll see.

How many years have you

been on your own now?

And what have you got

to show for it?

You've done four buildings

in all these years.

That's quite a good deal

to show for it.

After the kind of struggle you've had?

I didn't expect it to be easy,

but those who want me will come to me.

They don't want you, son. Don't you

understand? This is what they want.

Gail Wynand's Banner the foulest

newspaper on earth.

You hold to your own ideas

and you'll starve.

Gail Wynand gives people

what they ask for:

The common, the vulgar,

and the trite.

And he's maybe the most

powerful man living.

- Can you fight that?

- I never notice it.

Look. You see those people down there?

You know what they think of architecture?

I don't care what they think

of architecture or anything else.

l... I don't want to see

what they'll do to you.

Me, I am... I'm through.

I've had enough.

I don't want any part

of Gail Wynand's city!

Get me an ambulance.

Howard, look

at those buildings.

Skyscrapers, the greatest structural

invention of man.

Yet they made them

look like Greek temples...

...Gothic cathedrals and mongrels

of every ancient style they could borrow...

...just because others had done it.

I told them.

I told them that the form of a building

must follow its function.

That new materials demand new forms.

That one building can't borrow

pieces of another's shape...

...just as one man can't

borrow another's soul.

Howard, every new idea in the world

comes from the mind of some one man...

...and you know the price

he has to pay for it?

I built that.

Howard, you do me a favor.

All my things that you're keeping

for me, I want you to burn them.

All my... My papers,

my drawings, my contracts.

- Everything. Burn them, will you?

- Yes.

I don't want to leave anything

to the world.

How sorry, I'm leaving you

to face them.

Howard, it's no use!

Give in. Compromise.

Compromise now.

You'll have to later, anyway.

Why are you saying that to me?

That's not what you did.

That's why I'm saying it.

Because it's not what I did.

Do you want to end up this way?

It's your future.

- Do you want it?

- Yes.

Then may God bless you, Howard.

You're on your way into hell.

- Hello, Howard.

- Hello, Peter.

Just passing by. Thought I'd drop in.

I haven't seen you for such a long time.

Did you know Guy Francon

made me his partner last week?

No.

You see, you don't keep track

of my career, but I've watched yours.

Yes, it's Francon and Keating now.

I don't have to tell you that Guy Francon

is the leading architect.

No, you don't have to.

Remember? I told you once I'd rise.

- Hello?

- Western Union?

No. You have

the wrong number.

Are you waiting for

something, Howard?

You were telling me

about Guy Francon.

I was just reminding you

of what I once predicted.

I hate to see you brought down to this.

Remember how we started?

And look at us now.

Haven't you had enough of it?

Why did you

come here, Peter?

Because we're old friends...

...and I hate to see you being beaten.

- I'm not.

Oh, it's no use pretending now.

You haven't had any clients for a year.

You're wrong, Peter.

For a year and a half.

Well, you might have a couple

of hundred dollars left and then it's the end.

I have $ 14 left and...

...57 cents.

And all those bills?

It's an unpaid electric light bill?

It's a disconnect notice and in the drawer,

you'll find an eviction notice.

How do you expect to go on?

That's my concern and not yours.

Now, don't protest, Howard.

You can pay me back anytime.

You need it.

Thank you, Peter.

I don't need it.

But I want to help you.

I don't give or ask for help.

Oh, why don't you drop it?

- What?

- The pose.

Or the ideals, if you prefer.

You can't stand alone. Give in.

Learn to get along with people.

Design the kind of buildings everybody

does, then you'll be rich, famous.

You'll be admired.

You'll be one of us.

Is that what disturbs you

about me, Peter?

That I want to stand alone?

Is that it?

I don't know.

Go home, Peter.

It's getting late.

- Have you lost your watch, Howard?

- I hocked it.

Good night.

Good luck.

- Hello?

- Mr. Roark?

- Yes.

- I promised our answer today, Mr. Roark...

...but unfortunately, the board of directors

hasn't reached a decision yet.

I know you've been

kept waiting a long time...

...but the drawings you submitted

for our building are so unusual...

...that we

find it difficult to decide.

I think I can promise you

a definite answer tomorrow.

If not, it'll have

to wait over the weekend...

...but by Monday we'll know.

You've been wonderfully

patient with us, Mr. Roark.

Can you wait

a little longer?

Yes, I'll wait.

Thank you.

Mr. Roark, the commission is yours.

The Board of Directors...

...of the Security Bank of Manhattan has

chosen you as the architect for our building.

My congratulations.

You've done a beautiful job.

The board was quite impressed

by the project.

It's a tremendous assignment,

an unusual opportunity for an architect.

You're unknown but you'll be famous

when this is erected.

It's a chance you've wanted for years.

- Yes.

- It's yours.

On one minor condition.

Oh, it's just a small compromise...

...and when you agree to it,

we can sign the contract.

- What is it?

- Well, of course...

...we wouldn't alter

your plans in any way.

It's the ingenuity of your plans

that sold us on the building.

But its appearance is not

of any known style.

The public wouldn't like it.

It'd shock people.

It's too different, too original.

Originality is fine, but why go to extremes?

There's always the middle course.

So we want to preserve

your beautiful design...

...but just soften it

with a touch of classical dignity.

Here.

We've had this made to show you

our general idea.

It's very simple. All you do is copy it.

We want you to adapt

your building like this.

Now there's a touch of the new

and a touch of the old...

...so it's sure to please everybody.

The middle of the road.

Why take chances when you

can stay in the middle?

You see? It doesn't

spoil anything, does it?

And we must always compromise with the

general taste. You understand that.

No.

If you want my work,

you take it as it is...

...or not at all.

- But why?

A building has integrity,

just like a man.

And just as seldom.

It must be true to its own idea, have

its own form and serve its own purpose.

But we can't depart from

the popular forms of architecture.

Why not?

- Because everybody's accepted them.

- I haven't.

Do you wish to defy

our common standards?

I set my own standards.

- Do you intend to fight against the world?

- lf necessary.

But after all, we are your clients,

and it's your job to serve us.

I don't build in order to have clients.

I have clients in order to build.

Mr. Roark, we can't argue about this.

The decision of our board was final.

We want these changes.

Will you accept the commission

on our terms, or not?

You realize, of course,

your whole future is at stake.

This may be your last chance.

Well?

Yes or no, Mr. Roark?

No.

You realize what you're doing?

Quite.

Roark, this is sheer insanity.

Can't you give in just once?

After all, you have to live.

- Not that way.

- How else?

Don't you have to work?

I'd rather work as a day laborer,

if necessary.

- Well, can you beat that?

- No.

It was you who recommended

Roark in the first place.

You chose him.

You said he would be good.

- Wasn't he?

- You suggested those changes.

You said he'd accept them.

Oh, yes, so I did.

I told you, Mr. Gail Wynand wants buildings

that show a classical influence.

- Then why did you pick this man?

- An experiment, gentlemen.

A very interesting experiment.

But what are we going to do?

Pick another

architect, of course.

Yes, Mr. Toohey.

I'm sure you know that I seek nothing

for myself, Mr. Wynand.

My only motive is a selfless concern

for my fellow men.

The new building of the Security Bank

is such an important undertaking...

...and you hold

the controlling interest, Mr. Wynand.

The board of directors has attempted

to pick an architect quite unsuccessfully.

They will accept anyone you choose.

And I felt it my duty

to offer you my advice.

- Whom do you recommend?

- The rising star of the profession...

...Peter Keating.

No other architect can equal his ability.

That, Mr. Wynand, is my sincere opinion.

I quite believe you.

- You do?

- Of course, but, Mr. Toohey...

...why should I consider your opinion?

Well, after all, I am

the architectural critic of the Banner.

My dear Toohey,

don't confuse me with my readers.

l... I took the liberty of bringing you

some samples of Peter Keating's best work.

You may judge for yourself.

- lf you have seen any of these buildings...

- I have.

They were excellent 2000 years ago

when they were built for the first time.

But surely you're not in favor

of so-called modern architecture?

It's worthless because it's merely the work

of a few unbridled individualists.

Artistic value is achieved collectively...

...by each man subordinating himself

to the standards of the majority.

- I read that in your column yesterday.

- You did?

Thank you.

The greatness in Peter Keating's personality

lies in the fact that there's no personality...

...stamped upon his buildings.

- Quite true.

Thus he represents not himself

but the multitude of all men together.

And produces great big

marble bromides.

I believe I am failing

to sell you Peter Keating.

Why, no.

You're succeeding.

Your Keating is worthless...

...so he's probably

the right choice for that building.

He's sure to be popular.

You wouldn't expect me

to pick a man of merit, would you?

I've never hired a good architect

for any of the banks, hotels...

...or other commercial

structures I've built.

I give the public what it wants,

including your column, Mr. Toohey.

Am I to understand

you will choose Peter Keating?

I really don't care. One of those fashionable

architects is just as inept as another.

I think you have a good idea, however.

I think I will decide according to the advice

of the Banner's "Architectural Experts."

Yes, indeed, Mr. Wynand.

But you're not my only expert,

Mr. Toohey. You have a rival.

I should consult Dominique Francon,

as well.

- Yes, sir?

- Ask Miss Francon to come in.

- Miss Francon and I do not always agree.

- I'm sure of it.

- Yes?

- Mr. Wynand, I know it's inexcusable...

... but Miss Francon is not in the building.

Shall I telephone her home

and ask her to come here at once?

No.

You're not going in person...

You know, Toohey?

One of these days, you'll bore me.

I shall endeavor not to do so

until the right time.

How did you come in?

Your maid let me in.

Without an announcement?

You can't expect her

to share your attitude.

You're the only person in New York

who'd refuse me admittance.

Why did you come here?

I needed you at the office.

I found you absent.

Isn't it unprecedented for you to come

in person after one of your employees?

I hoped you'd take note of that.

I wanted to ask your advice...

...about a matter which

will be of great interest to you.

I must pick an architect for the Security

Bank building. Whom would you recommend?

No one.

I don't know a single architect of ability.

And you're not looking

for ability, Mr. Wynand.

And if I left the choice up to you?

- I wouldn't care to make it.

- No?

Ellsworth Toohey is very anxious

to get the commission for Peter Keating.

Peter Keating is

a third-rate architect.

- Is he? He's your father's partner.

- Oh, yes.

- Aren't you engaged to Peter Keating?

- Yes.

If you found it amusing to tempt me

by offering to help Peter's career...

...you miscalculated.

I have no desire

to help his career.

I was trying to tempt you,

but I didn't find it amusing.

I should like to meet Peter Keating.

Will you have dinner with me this

evening? We'll discuss the commission.

- lf you wish.

- Incidentally, I'd have fired anyone else...

...for being absent from the office.

I know it.

- Shall I consider myself fired?

- You want to be?

Don't really care

one way or another.

You know, you could do much more

than write a small column about buildings.

You could make a brilliant career

on the Banner...

...if you asked me for it.

I never wanted a career

on the Banner.

Tell me, what would you

consider as tempting?

I'd like to find

something you could want.

Don't try to, Mr. Wynand.

I'll never want anything.

Do you know what I was doing

when you came in?

I had a statue which I found in Europe,

the statue of a god.

I think I was in love with it...

...but I broke it.

- What do you mean?

- I threw it down the air shaft.

- Why?

So that I wouldn't have to love it.

I didn't wanna be tied to anything. I wanted

to destroy it rather than let it be...

...part of a world where beauty and

genius and greatness have no chance.

The world of the mob

and of the Banner.

Do you still want me to have

dinner with you tonight?

More than ever.

It's such a magnificent opportunity.

I'll do my best to please you.

- I take it you want this commission.

- Want it?

I'd sell my soul for it.

That may be the right phrase.

Everything in life has its price.

In this instance, the price is that you

break your engagement to Miss Francon.

My engagement?

Why?

For any reason

you care to imagine.

You may think what you wish about my

motives but that is the condition I demand.

- Dominique?

- No, I'm not going to help you.

I'd like to see it decided

between Mr. Wynand and yourself.

- But would you agree?

- The choice is yours.

Our engagement helped you

to become my father's partner.

Mr. Wynand's patronage

will help you much more.

I'm sure this is a joke, Mr. Wynand.

Things like this aren't being done.

They're done all the time

but not talked about.

I grant you that

I'm behaving abominably.

It's extremely cruel to be honest.

I...

I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

It's simple. You're supposed

to slap my face.

You were supposed to do that

several minutes ago.

No?

You don't wanna do that?

Of course, you don't have to

and you don't have to accept.

Would you rather refuse the commission?

- No.

- Fine, Mr. Keating.

Now I think it would be best if you left.

Call up my office in the morning,

and we'll sign the contract.

If that's what you want,

I'm not going to interfere.

We should be grown-up

about it, shouldn't we?

I'm sure we'll have

no trouble, Mr. Wynand.

Good night.

Why did you do this?

Did you believe I'd agree like Peter? Did you

expect to win me by your usual methods?

Of course not. I merely wanted to show you

that all men are corrupt, anyone be bought.

And that you're wrong

in your contempt for me.

There is no honest way

to deal with people.

We have no choice except

to submit or to rule them.

I chose to rule.

A man of integrity would do neither.

There are no men of integrity.

I have many years behind me to prove it.

I was born in Hell's Kitchen.

I rose out of the gutter

by creating the Banner.

It's a contemptible paper, isn't it?

But it has achieved my purpose.

- What was your purpose?

- Power.

Why are you trying to justify

yourself to me?

I wasn't trying to jus...

Yes.

- That is what I was doing.

- Why?

I think you know it.

You see?

I suppose I'm one of those freaks

you hear about.

A woman completely incapable of feeling.

I was engaged to Peter Keating...

...because he was the most safely,

unimportant person I could find.

And I knew I'd never be in love.

Haven't you ever loved anyone?

No, and I never will.

If I fell in love, it'd be like

the statue of the Greek god again.

I know it. I accept it.

I want you to marry me.

If I ever decide to punish myself

for some terrible guilt...

...l'll marry you.

- I'll wait.

No matter what reason you choose for it.

- Will you let me see you again?

- I'm leaving the city in a few days.

- Where are you going?

- To Father's place in Connecticut.

I'm going there so

I won't have to see anyone.

What are you really seeking?

Freedom: to want nothing, to expect

nothing, to depend on nothing.

Why, Miss Francon.

How do you do?

What are you doing here?

I'm out here for the summer.

Father let me have his house all to myself.

- I thought I'd take a look at this quarry.

- Let me show you around.

This is the best gray granite

in Connecticut.

- Why, last month, we shipped...

- Who's that man?

What man, Miss Francon?

No, never mind.

Why do you always stare at me?

For the same reason

you've been staring at me.

I don't know what you're talking about.

If you didn't, you'd be more astonished

and much less angry.

So you know my name.

You've been advertising it

loudly enough.

You'd better not be insolent.

I can have you fired at a moment's notice.

- Shall I call the superintendent?

- No, of course not.

But since you know who I am, you'd better

stop looking at me when I come here.

It might be misunderstood.

I don't think so.

Come in.

Good evening, Miss Francon.

You sent for me?

Yes.

Would you like to make

some extra money?

Certainly, Miss Francon.

That marble piece is broken

and has to be replaced.

I want you to take it out.

Yes, Miss Francon.

Now it's broken

and has to be replaced.

Would you know what kind of marble this is

and where to order a piece?

- Yes, Miss Francon.

- Go ahead, then. Take it out.

Yes, Miss Francon.

Oh, I'm sorry.

You might have thought that I was laughing

at you, but I wasn't, of course.

I didn't want to disturb you.

I'm sure you're anxious to finish

and get out of here.

I mean, because you must be tired.

There must be things

you'd like to talk about.

Oh, well, yes, Miss Francon.

Well?

I think this is an atrocious fireplace.

Really? This house was

designed by my father.

There's no point in your

discussing architecture.

None at all.

Shall we choose some other subject?

Yes, Miss Francon.

Generally, there are three kinds of marble:

The white, the onyx and the green.

This last must not be considered

a true marble.

True marble is the metamorphic form

of limestone produced by heat and pressure.

Pressure is a powerful factor.

It leads to consequences which,

once started, cannot be controlled.

What consequences?

The infiltration of foreign elements

from the surrounding soil.

They form the colored streaks

found in most marbles.

This is pure white marble.

You should be very careful, Miss Francon.

To accept nothing but a stone

of the same quality.

This is Alabama marble,

very high grade, very hard to find.

What shall I do with the stone?

Leave it here. I'll have it removed.

All right.

I'll order a new piece cut to measure

and have it delivered to you.

- Do you wish me to set it?

- Yes, certainly.

I'll let you know when it comes.

How much do I owe you?

Keep the change.

Thank you, Miss Francon.

- Good night.

- Good night, Miss Francon.

Come in.

The man sent from

the quarry, Miss Francon.

Who are you?

- Pasquale Orsini.

- What do you want?

The tall guy down at the quarry told me

you got a fireplace you wanted me to fix.

Yes. Yes, of course. I forgot.

Go ahead.

Why didn't you come set the marble?

I didn't think it would make any difference

to you who came, or did it, Miss Francon?

Good afternoon, Miss Francon.

How are you?

There was a man you had here.

A tall, gaunt man who worked a drill.

- Where is he?

- Yes, that one, he's gone.

- Gone?

- Quit, left for New York, I think.

- When?

- Two days ago.

What was his...?

No. No, I don't want to know his name.

- lf you want me to find him for you...

- No.

I don't know what to do. I give up.

I've gone the limit. I'm at my wit's end.

- That's not going very far.

- It's all right for you to make cracks.

But I'm in trouble. We need some

excitement to boost circulation.

I've got to invent a crusade and I

don't know what on earth to crusade about.

We start a campaign

against street car monopolies?

We did that two years ago, then we

had a crusade against canned vegetables.

And a crusade against Wall Street.

Now, what else is there to be against?

You're a smart woman,

couldn't you...?

- Sorry, I'm not good at that sort of thing.

- Gail Wynand expects results.

The Banner's got to be active.

I've racked my brain, and I can't think

of anything to denounce.

- I can.

- What?

This.

- Who cares about a building?

- My dear, it depends on how you handle it.

It's an outrage against art and a threat to

public safety. It might collapse any moment.

- Nobody's ever used that structural method.

- Yeah?

The owner of it is Roger Enright,

one of those self-made men.

Stubborn and rich as blazes.

It's always safe to denounce the rich.

Everyone will help you...

- The rich first.

- Yeah.

- Howard Roark, who is he?

- I wouldn't know.

Think what you could do with it.

A super-luxury apartment house going up...

...and there's those poor people

who live in the slums.

We could have some Sunday supplement

stories about beautiful girls...

...who are victims of the slums.

- With pictures in three-color process.

You've got something there.

You've got it.

It's a wonderful idea.

I know Wynand will okay it.

You know that this Enright House

is a great building.

Perhaps one of the greatest.

Ellsworth, what are you after?

I daresay nobody knows what I'm after.

They will, though.

When the time comes.

So we've got three wonderful angles:

Highbrow stories about the bad art.

Scare stories about the girders collapsing.

Sob stories about the poor.

We get everybody riled up

without any opposition.

Who'll want to defend it?

It's only a building.

- My first step would be...

- Don't bother with details.

It's good. Go ahead.

Toohey can handle it.

What a surprise and what a lovely contrast

to my usual visitors. Please sit down.

You approved a campaign

against the Enright House?

Yes, of course.

It'll stir up a lot of noise.

I'm sailing next week.

I'll be gone all winter.

This will keep them busy.

Have you seen drawings

of the Enright House?

No.

- Please send for them.

- What for?

That building is a magnificent

architectural achievement.

- Is that of no importance?

- None.

You're willing to destroy it

to amuse the mob...

...to give them something

to scream about?

That is the policy which has made the

Banner the newspaper of largest circulation.

Don't expect me to change it.

You asked me once to tell you

of something I wanted.

I've tried never to ask favors of anyone...

...but I'm going to now.

Please call off this campaign.

Is the architect a friend of yours?

I've never set eyes on him.

I don't know who he is nor care.

Why should you plead for that building?

Because it's great.

There's so little in life

that's noble or beautiful.

I'm pleading for a man's achievement.

I'm pleading for greatness.

Are you reproaching me

for the Banner?

I'm begging you, Mr. Wynand.

Dominique, I would give you

anything I owned...

...except the Banner.

My whole life and an unspeakable

struggle have gone to make it.

I will not sacrifice it for anyone on earth.

It's your right to do as you wish.

It's mine to take no part

in what you're doing.

Please accept my resignation

from the Banner.

I'm sorry.

It's quite useless, my dear.

You can't fight me. You have no chance.

I know it.

While so many

are in need of shelter...

... effort is being wasted to erect

a structural monstrosity...

... known as the Enright House.

It is designed by one Howard Roark,

an incompetent amateur...

... who has the arrogance

to hold his own ideas above all rules.

You are architects and you should realize

that a man like Howard Roark...

...is a threat to all of you.

The conflict of forms is too great.

Can your buildings stand

by the side of his?

I believe you understand me, gentlemen.

If you'll sign a protest

against the Enright House...

...the Banner will be glad to publish it...

...and we shall win

because there are thousands of us...

...thousands against one.

More of it. Look.

Letters to the editor.

Thousands of them,

all screaming against that Enright House.

Ellsworth, you're wonderful.

How could you ever foresee

a public trend so well?

- Roark.

- Mr. Enright.

Thanks.

- Don't pay attention to that public howling.

- I don't.

I've been denounced so much,

it doesn't bother me anymore.

I started out in life as a coal miner.

Got where I am by acting...

...on my own honest judgment

whether others liked it or not.

When you grow older, you'll see

that's the only way to succeed.

- I know it.

- They're tough.

They're gonna get tougher, don't worry.

- You'll win.

- I have.

- That's the only defense you need.

- I'll rest on the evidence.

That's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'll be the first tenant to move in.

I'll give a party to celebrate the

opening of Enright House.

I'll invite them: The press,

the architects, the critics. Let them see.

They think we're gonna apologize.

We'll celebrate instead.

I have nothing to say

about this building.

God gave you eyes and a mind to use. If

you fail to do so, the loss is yours not mine.

Don't you want to convince me?

Is there any reason

why that should be my concern?

I dread to think of the fate

of Howard Roark, whoever he is.

- Why? You don't think he's good?

- He's too good.

- Dominique.

- Hello, Peter.

What a pleasure to see you again.

You look more beautiful than ever.

What do you think of this building?

I'm taking a poll of the guests...

- A what?

- A poll of opinion about it.

What for? In order to find out

what you think of it yourself?

We have to consider

public opinion, don't we?

No, don't ever hire an architect

who's a genius.

- I don't like geniuses. They're dangerous.

- How?

A man abler than his brothers

insults them by implication.

He must not aspire

to any virtue which cannot be shared.

I wouldn't know about that intellectual

stuff. I play the stock market.

I play the stock market of the spirit...

...and I sell short.

It's stunning, perfectly stunning, but

I wouldn't want to live in a house like this.

One could never relax and feel homey.

You know what I mean.

- Comfortable and sloppy and, well, homey.

- No, one couldn't.

- Dominique.

- Yes, Father.

I can't understand how my own daughter

can approve of this mess.

This is such uncivilized taste.

Are you going to defend it?

No, I won't try to defend it.

Mr. Francon, that stairway,

it's not bad. It's a clever idea.

I'm designing a building right now

where I can use an idea like this...

...and I'd have to adapt it, of course.

Well, if one gave it some elegance...

You know, a touch of Greek ornament.

The engineering idea is brilliant.

I could use it myself.

Hello. I've been waiting for you.

You're the guest of honor tonight,

in more than just the social sense.

Whom do you want to meet first?

There's Dominique Francon looking at us.

Come on.

Miss Francon, may I present

Howard Roark?

You're...

...Howard Roark?

- Yes, Miss Francon.

You don't know it, but Miss Francon

has a connection with you.

She resigned from the Banner to

protest their attack on your building.

- How did you know that?

- I heard about it.

- I didn't want Mr. Roark to know it.

- Why not, Miss Francon?

It was a perfectly futile gesture

on my part.

Dominique won't admit it, but she admires

your buildings. She understands them.

- I expected her to understand them.

- Did you?

- But you didn't know me.

- I used to read your column, Miss Francon.

I admire your work

more than anything I've ever seen.

You may realize that this is not a tie,

but a gulf between us...

...if you remember what you read

in my column.

I remember every line of it.

I wish I had never seen your building.

It's the things that we admire or want...

...that enslave us,

I'm not easy to bring into submission.

That depends upon the strength

of your adversary, Miss Francon.

Well?

Roger, why did you bring him here?

Why did you deliver him

to these people?

Don't you see he doesn't

have a chance against them?

Come in.

I expected you to come here.

I didn't know your name.

You knew mine.

But you haven't tried to find me

in all these months.

I wanted you to find me

and have to come to me.

If it gives you pleasure

that you're breaking me down...

...l'll give you a greater satisfaction.

I love you, Roark.

Would it please you to hear

that I've lived in torture all these months...

...hoping never to find you,

wishing to give my life...

...just to see you once more?

But you knew that, of course. That's

what you wanted me to live through.

- Yes.

- Why don't you laugh at me now? You won.

I have no pride left to stop me.

I love you without dignity,

without regret.

I came to tell you this...

...and to tell you

that you'll never see me again.

You want to know whether

you can make me suffer, don't you?

You can.

Roark, you're everything

I've always wanted.

And that's why I hoped

I'd never meet anyone like you.

I'll give you up now myself

rather than watch you destroyed...

...by a world where you have no chance.

- Why are you afraid?

- I know what they'll do to you.

You had the genius

that made the Enright House.

But you were working like a convict

in a granite quarry.

- I chose to do it.

- Why?

Don't you know why?

Yes. Because you won't conform.

They'll drive you down again.

Stone quarry's all you can expect.

- I got out of the quarry.

- Did you?

Do you think the Enright House

is your beginning?

It's your death sentence.

Has any other client come to you?

No.

They won't.

They hate you for the greatness

of your achievement.

They hate you for your integrity.

They hate you because they know

they can neither corrupt you nor rule you.

They won't let you survive.

Roark, they'll destroy you.

But I won't be there to see it happen.

Do you want to leave me?

I've loved you from the first moment

I saw you, and you knew it.

You tried to escape from it.

I had to let you learn to accept it.

Are you gonna leave me?

Yes.

I won't stop you.

Roark, don't you see?

I don't want to leave you.

Will you marry me?

I want to stay with you.

We'll take a house in some small town,

I'll keep it for you.

Don't laugh. I can. I'll cook, I'll wash

your clothes, I'll scrub the floor...

...and you'll give up architecture.

If you give it up,

I'll remain with you forever...

...but I can't bear to stand by and see you

moving to some terrible disaster.

It can't end any other way.

Save yourself from tragedy.

Take a meaningless job.

We'll live only for each other.

I wish I could tell you

it was a temptation.

Roark, yes or no?

No.

You must learn not to be afraid

of the world, not to take any notice.

I must let you learn it.

When you have,

you'll come back to me.

They won't destroy me, Dominique.

I'll wait for you.

I love you.

I'm saying it now

for all the years we'll have to wait.

I'd do anything to escape from you.

I could've expected anything on my return

except to see you coming here to meet me.

If I wanted to delude myself,

I'd think you were impatient to see me.

- I was.

- I'm very happy, my dear...

...no matter your reason.

I'm honest enough to warn you,

you shouldn't be.

I realize that.

What was your reason?

If you found another request to make of me,

I like to be able to grant it.

No. I didn't come to make a request

but to grant you one of yours.

You still wish me to marry you?

More than anything

I was ever capable of wishing.

I'll marry you.

- Don't you want to ask me any questions?

- No.

Thank you.

You're making it easier for me.

Whatever your reason, I shall accept it.

What I want to find in our marriage

will remain my own concern.

I exact no promises

and impose no obligations.

Incidentally, since it is of no importance

to you, I love you.

No, Mr. Roark, there is too much talk

and public resentment against you.

We can't take part in controversies.

We can't afford to arouse antagonism.

I'm sorry, but we find it impossible to

give you the commission for our building.

As one of our directors said, "You can't

expect us to stick our necks out."

No, and I don't expect it.

Hello, Mr. Roark.

I hoped I'd meet you someday,

like this, alone.

- You shouldn't mind talking to me.

- What about?

There's a building

that should've been yours.

There are buildings going up all over the city,

chances refused to you and given to fools.

You're walking the streets while they do

the work you love but cannot obtain.

This city is closed to you.

It is I who have done it.

- Don't you want to know my motive?

- No.

I'm fighting you, and I shall fight you

in every way I can.

- You're free to do what you please.

- Mr. Roark, we're alone here.

Why don't you tell me what you think of me

in any words you wish?

But I don't think of you.

It's great, Mr. Roark. It's wonderful.

Ever since I saw the Enright House,

I knew you were the man I wanted.

But I was afraid you wouldn't do

an unimportant gas station...

...for me after doing

skyscrapers.

No building is unimportant.

I'll build for any man who wants me.

Anywhere, so long as I build my way.

Your career has been as unprecedented

as your buildings.

I never knew anybody to survive

one of the Banner's smear campaigns.

Everything was against you.

How'd you break through?

- What'd you think of the Banner's campaign?

- It was a vicious appeal to fools.

Haven't you answered

your own question?

But you had years torn out of your life,

wasted by the Banner.

No. All these years, I've found some one

man who wanted my work...

...one man who saw through his own eyes

and thought with his own brain.

Such men may be rare, they may be

unknown, but they move the world.

- How did you look for them?

- I didn't. They called for me.

Any man who calls for me

is my kind of man.

This is probably something very big.

I made an appointment for you,

- Whose office?

- He telephoned half an hour ago.

Mr. Gail Wynand.

- I don't think you'll want to work for me.

- Why?

You ought to feel contempt for me

if you've seen the kind of buildings I put up.

- You're honest, aren't you?

- Thank you.

That's the first time

anyone said that about me...

...and it's one of the few times

when I am.

What I want you to build

is not for the public. It's for me.

- What is it?

- My home...

A country house

just for my wife and me.

Did Mrs. Wynand choose me for the job?

No, Mrs. Wynand doesn't know anything

about this. It's my own project.

I've looked at buildings all over the country.

Every time I saw one that I liked...

...and asked who designed it,

the answer was always Howard Roark.

I want you to know that I have

very little respect for anything on earth.

The only thing I worship,

and I've seen so little of it in life...

...is man's ability to produce work

such as yours.

I believe you.

Why do you say that as if it hurt you?

It doesn't.

Don't hold them against me,

the things I've built.

Those worthless commercial structures

and papers like the Banner made it possible...

...for me to have a house by you.

They're the means, you're the end.

Don't apologize for your past.

It isn't necessary.

You do have courage, don't you?

No one else would dare

say that to me.

But you're right. I was apologizing.

You see, I need you.

That house means a great deal to me,

and you're the only one who can design it.

What kind of a house do you want?

Far from the city. I bought the land.

A place in Connecticut, 500 acres.

What kind of a house?

The cost, whatever you need.

The appearance, whatever you wish.

The purpose...

You see, I want this house because

I'm very desperately in love with my wife.

What's the matter?

You think that's irrelevant?

No. Go on.

I can't stand to see my wife

among other people.

It's not jealousy.

It's much more and much worse.

I can't share her

with anyone or anything.

I want a house

that will be only mine and hers.

Think of it as you would think

of a fortress...

...and of a temple.

A temple

to Dominique Wynand.

I want you to meet her

before you design it.

I've met Mrs. Wynand some years ago.

- You have? Then you understand.

- I do.

Start work at once.

Drop anything else you're doing.

I'll pay whatever...

Forgive me.

Too much association

with bad architects.

I haven't asked you

whether you wanna do it.

Yes. I'll do it.

- What's the matter, Gail?

- Good evening, dear. Why?

- You look as if you felt happy.

- I feel as if I were young...

...as I did when I was starting and

believed the road ahead was clean...

...and honesty was possible.

- You want it to be possible?

- Yes. I never realized...

...how much I wanted to find it.

Dominique, you look

very beautiful tonight.

No. That's not what

I wanted to say. It's this:

I feel for the first time

that I have a right to you.

- You thought you hadn't?

- No, and that I'd never earn it.

But now I believe nothing

will take you away from me...

Nothing and no one.

- I don't love you, Gail.

- I know it...

...but you'd never loved anyone else.

- What makes you think so?

- It wouldn't be like you.

You'd never surrender to anyone,

but you don't hate me any longer.

No. I've found we have

a great deal in common, you and I.

We both had strength,

but not courage.

We've committed

the same kind of treason some way.

If I have, I feel as if

I've been forgiven tonight.

- Why?

- I don't know.

You've always wanted

to escape from the world.

Would you like to live in the

country, away from everything...

...away from the Banner?

- Yes. Yes, I would.

I'm having a house designed for us.

It will be my greatest gift to you.

If I've been guilty in my life,

this house will vindicate me.

- Who is designing it?

- The only man of genius I ever met.

His name is Howard Roark.

Gail.

Do you happen to remember

why I resigned from the Banner?

It was because of a campaign...

...against the Enright House.

Just one of the Banner's

smear campaigns!

Not important enough

to remember, was it, Gail?

You staged so many of them.

You were away on your yacht.

He was just some architect

whom you threw to the mob.

It built circulation. Didn't it, Gail?

When I spoke to him,

he didn't remind me of it.

Why should he?

He knows he's won.

He could afford to be generous.

I don't accept generosity.

I never thought

he could win against you, but he has.

Maybe we're wrong

about the world, you and I.

He's the one who's earned

the right to despise us.

Has he? That's a right

I'll never grant to anyone on earth.

There are no men of integrity, are there?

Well, you've met one.

There aren't.

He's not any better than the rest of us.

- What if he is?

- lf he were, I'd break him.

Nobody can break him.

I'll find out.

Why did you accept this commission?

Don't you hate me?

No. Why should I?

- Do you want me to speak of it first?

- Of what?

The Enright House.

You had forgotten that, hadn't you?

Let it remain forgotten.

I know what the Banner has done to you,

but I stand by every word...

...in the Banner.

- I haven't asked you to retract it.

Mr. Roark, I was away

at the time of that campaign...

...but my editor was doing

what I had taught him.

Had I been in town,

I'd have done the same.

- That was your privilege.

- You don't believe I would have done it.

- No.

- I haven't asked you...

...for compliments or for pity.

Sit down.

I wish to sign a contract

to make you sole architect...

...for all the future buildings I may erect.

If you accept, you will make a

fortune.

If you refuse, I will see to it

that you never build again.

You may have heard.

I don't like to be refused.

I want you to design

my future commercial structures...

...as the public wishes

them to be designed.

You will build colonial houses,

Rococo hotels...

...and semi-Grecian office buildings.

You will take your spectacular talent

and make it subservient...

...to the taste of the masses.

That is what I want.

Of course. I'll be glad to do it.

It's easy.

This what you want?

Good heavens, no.

Then shut up and don't ever let me hear

any architectural suggestions.

I didn't think anyone would waste time

trying to tempt me again.

- I meant it until I saw that.

- I knew you meant it.

You were taking a terrible chance.

Not at all. I had an ally I could trust.

- What, your integrity?

- Yours, Gail.

Why do you think that about me?

Why don't you admit to yourself

what we both knew the moment we met?

- What?

- That we are alike, you and I.

You're saying it about Gail Wynand

of the New York Banner?

I'm saying it.

Gail Wynand of Hell's Kitchen...

...who had the strength and spirit

to rise by his own effort...

...but who made a bad mistake

about the way he chose.

No. You shouldn't deal with me.

You shouldn't remain here.

- You wish to throw me out?

- You know I can't.

Shall I tell you now what I think of this?

You told me.

I'll take this drawing home

to show my wife.

I want her to see it

and to thank you in person.

Will you come

and have dinner with us tonight?

Will you?

Yes.

- Howard.

- Good evening, Gail.

You two know each other.

- How do you do, Mr. Roark?

- And you, Mrs. Wynand?

Thank you for the house you designed for

us. It's one of your most beautiful.

If you like it, I've fulfilled

your husband's order.

What was the order?

To design a house as a temple

to you, Mrs. Wynand.

Shall I accept it as a tribute

from Gail or from you?

From both of us.

I appreciate it.

Particularly since I would have expected you

to refuse the commission.

Why?

Was there nothing in your past

to make you refuse it?

- No.

- Thank you, Howard.

I never expected you

to forget and give in.

Isn't Mr. Roark the man you said

you'd break?

I tried it and lost.

Are you admitting defeat?

Both of you?

Do you wish to call it that?

I think it was a victory for both of us.

Your feeling, once granted...

...will you ever withdraw it?

Never.

Have you studied the floor plans

of the house?

I should like to know whether

the arrangement of the rooms is convenient.

- The rooms?

- Yes. The living room...

...will open to a terrace over the lake.

- Did you notice the windows of our room?

- We'll get the first sunlight in the morning.

- You think I could ever live in that house?

- Why not?

- I can't. Please.

- Don't ask me to live in it.

- Why not?

Dominique, what is it?

Nothing.

Only the constant reminder.

- After the Enright House, we have no right.

- Please, forget the Enright House.

Yes, Mr. Roark.

I wouldn't be so frightened if I could

understand. What have I done?

- Why did it happen?

- What are you whining about?

There's no use kidding myself. I've been

slipping ever since Guy Francon retired.

I've had less work each year.

People are dropping me. Why?

You were a fashion, Peter.

Fashions change.

But I was at the top.

Why did I fall like that without any reason?

Don't be astonished, ask yourself,

is there any reason for you to be at the top?

But you used to say

I was the greatest architect living.

Well, I could have had two reasons

for saying it.

Maybe I wanted to honor you...

...and maybe I wanted to dishonor

and discredit all greatness.

l... I thought you were my friend.

Of course, I'm everybody's friend.

I'm the friend of humanity.

Now, why did you come here?

What do you want?

Cortlandt Homes.

You're not serious.

If I could get a great project to design...

...like Cortlandt Homes, it would save

my reputation.

But Cortlandt Homes is to be

the greatest of all housing projects.

A model development

for the whole world.

You can help me, Ellsworth.

You have influence

on that project with those people.

Don't forget that this is not

a Wynand project.

I'm only an unofficial adviser to them.

As an expert in architecture,

nothing else.

But just a word

of recommendation from you.

But, Peter, do you imagine

you could design Cortlandt?

They haven't found anyone able to do it.

They're stuck.

Do you know the big problem

in housing? Economy.

How to design a building

that would rent at the lowest price possible.

Cortlandt Homes has to be

the most brilliant product...

...of planning ingenuity

and structural economy ever achieved.

Do you think you could do that?

Well, I could try. I'd do my best.

Your best won't do it, Peter.

But you may try if you wish.

Here's all the dope on Cortlandt.

Work out a preliminary scheme.

Solve the problem. I'll submit it

and push it for all I'm worth.

You will let me try.

All our best architects

have tried and failed.

Nothing can be done in life

without an idea.

My friends have the land,

the money, the material...

...but not the man

to originate the idea.

Howard, I'm a parasite.

I've been a parasite all my life.

You helped me

with my projects in school.

Everything I've built was stolen from you

and men like you before us.

I've never had an idea of my own.

I've fed on you and hated you for it

and I've come here to ask you to save me.

- Go on.

- Cortlandt is my last chance.

I know I can't do it. I've tried.

I've come to beg you as I did in school

to design it for me.

To design it

and let me put my name on it.

Well, there's no reason

you should want to do it.

If you can solve their problem, go

to them and obtain the commission.

- Do you think I could get past Toohey?

- No. No, you couldn't.

He's not the only one.

I'll never be given a job...

...by any group, board, council,

or committee...

...but I would like to do this job.

You'd design Cortlandt for me?

I might if you offer me enough.

Howard, anything you ask. Anything.

Name a motive

that would make me want to do it.

There's no reason

why you should save me.

- No.

- But it's a humanitarian project.

Think of the people in the slums.

If you can give them decent housing,

you'd perform a noble deed.

Would you do it just for their sake?

No. The man who works for others

without payment is a slave.

I do not believe that slavery is noble.

Not in any form,

nor for any purpose whatsoever.

Is there any kind of payment

I can offer you?

Yes, there is.

Now, listen to me.

I've worked on the problem

of low-rent construction for years.

I've thought of the new inventions,

the new materials...

...the great possibilities never used

to build cheaply, simply, and intelligently.

I loved it because it was a problem

I wanted to solve.

Yes. I understand.

Peter, before you can do things

for people...

...you must be the kind of man

who can get things done.

But to get things done,

you must love the doing, not the people.

Your own work,

not any possible object of your charity.

I'll be glad if men who need it find a

better manner of living in a house I build...

...but that's not the motive of my work,

nor my reason, nor my reward.

My reward, my purpose,

my life is the work itself.

My work done my way.

Nothing else matters to me.

I've always wanted to build

a large-scale project but l...

I never hoped to get the chance.

Now, here's what I'll offer you.

I will design Cortlandt.

You'll put your name on it.

You will keep all the fees,

but you will guarantee...

...that it will be built exactly

as I design it.

- I see.

- No changes by you or by anyone else.

That's the payment

I demand for my work.

My ideas are mine. Nobody else has a right

to them except on my terms.

Those who need them

must take them my way or not at all.

All right, Howard.

I guarantee it.

I give you my word.

Everybody would say

you're a fool.

That I'm getting everything.

You'll get everything that society can give.

You'll take the money, the fame...

...and the gratitude and I'll take that...

...which nobody can give a man except

himself.

I will have built Cortlandt.

"After two years of futile attempts

to solve the problems involved...

...the design submitted by Peter Keating

is an astonishingly skillful solution...

...that provides the best living quarters

yet devised at the lowest cost."

- What on earth are you up to?

- What do you mean?

Do you think I pick artworks

by their signatures?

Who designed that project?

Peter Keating.

Who designed this?

- Of course.

- What are you after?

- Drop it.

- All right.

I won't try to guess your motive...

...but I'd know your work anywhere.

Howard, I never expected

to feel gratitude to anyone...

...but I'm grateful to you every moment

of the day in the house you built.

I'm learning so many things

I never expected to feel.

- What?

- The wonder of ownership.

I'm a millionaire who's never

owned anything. I've been public property...

...like a city billboard.

But this is mine. Here I'm safe.

Why didn't you come here yesterday?

I missed you.

- Too much work in the office.

- You're killing yourself.

- You've worked too hard for years.

- Haven't you?

Yes. We need a rest, both of us.

My yacht's been refitted.

I'm planning a long cruise.

I've meant to for years.

Go with me.

Gail, is this an obsession?

What is Mr. Roark to you?

My youth.

- Is he what you were in your youth?

- Oh, no, much more than that.

What I thought I'd be when I was 16.

I'm sure Mr. Roark

can't go on a yacht cruise.

Why, yes, Mrs. Wynand,

I'd be glad to go.

I thought, that you'd never give up

your work for anyone.

I won't give it up.

I'll take my first vacation.

You're willing to be away for months?

I'd enjoy it.

It's incredible.

I believe you're jealous.

Wonderful!

I'm even more grateful to you

if he's made you jealous of me.

Now, don't frown. I'll fix a drink.

We'll toast the cruise.

Roark.

Roark, don't go with him.

I can't stand this much longer.

I am jealous...

...of you and of every moment you give him,

of your impossible friendship.

- I don't want you to come here or like him.

- I don't want to discuss it, Mrs. Wynand.

Howard, that's where I was born,

Hell's Kitchen.

I own most of it now.

All those blocks.

I decided when I was 16 that that's

where the Wynand building would stand...

...and that it'd be

the tallest structure of the city.

What's the matter?

Do you want to build it?

- Do you want it pretty badly?

- I think I'd almost give my life for it.

- Is that what you wanted?

- Something like that.

I won't demand your life,

but it's nice to shock you.

I'll start to build it in a few years.

Do you know how much

it means to me?

- Yes. I know what you want.

- A monument to my life, Howard.

After I'm gone, that building

will be Gail Wynand.

My last and greatest achievement

will also be your greatest.

The Wynand building by Howard Roark.

I've waited for it from the day I was born.

From the day you were born...

...you've waited for your one great chance.

There it is, on the site of Hell's Kitchen.

Yours from me.

Please, Mr. Keating,

do let us stop arguing.

We've engaged Mr. Prescott and Mr. Webb

as your associate designers.

- What for?

- Well, it's such a tremendous project.

You can afford to share the credit with two

fellow architects who need a job.

Don't be selfish.

Besides, three minds are better than one.

But you've accepted my design.

Yes, of course. It's excellent,

but we must make some improvements.

- What improvements?

- Well, the thing's too bare.

We ought to add a few balconies.

Balconies? What for?

To give it a human touch.

We got to have some kind of trimming

over the entrance.

I won't allow it. It's my building.

It's my design.

But why shouldn't we

have any say at all?

We want to express

our individuality too.

On another man's work?

What the heck?

Any man's work is public property.

I can't let you.

Don't you understand? I can't.

Well, Peter, why not?

What's the matter?

You've never fought

with your clients before.

- Is there anything different in this case?

- They're ruining the building.

- Oh, I suppose so.

- What do you care?

You made a contract with me

that Cortlandt would be built...

...exactly as I designed it, I did

it only on that condition.

- What's a contract?

- You're old-fashioned, Keating.

- But I have a contract.

- What are you going to do about it? Sue us?

Go ahead. Try it.

You'll find that you can't sue us.

But you had no right to do this!

- What are rights, Peter?

- Whose rights?

Oh, what's the use of talking?

Let's go to work.

I couldn't help it, Howard.

They started making changes

without reason.

Everybody had authority

and nobody.

I tried to fight. They pushed me

from office to office.

- I couldn't help it.

- I suppose not.

I had no way to reach you.

I was waiting for you to come back.

I was afraid.

What are you going to do?

They've got such a setup,

you can't sue them.

- No.

- Want me to confess the truth?

- To everybody?

- No.

Will you let me give you

all the money they paid me?

I'm sorry.

Howard.

What are you going to do?

You have to leave that up to me now.

Why did you come here?

Because I couldn't stand it any longer.

You've been away for months.

I had to see you again...

To see you alone.

Please go.

Roark, do I mean nothing to you?

I can't answer you now.

You stayed away from me for years.

I tried to forget you. I couldn't.

- You knew I never would.

- Yes.

I never thought it'd be Gail

who'd bring you back to me.

Don't you see why

I can't stand it now?

Living in a house you designed,

seeing you constantly as a stranger...

...having no right to look at you,

to tell you that l...

Don't say it.

Do you remember?

You said once that you...

For all the years we'll have to wait.

Roark, I know...

...that you've known

what I felt all these years.

We can never change it,

neither one of us.

I'm going to leave Gail.

You may refuse to see me again,

but I'm going to leave him.

Before you leave him will you help me

with a problem of my own?

- Yes.

- Will you do it without asking questions?

Yes, Roark, anything you want.

You've seen Cortlandt Homes?

Yes. I know what they've

done to your work.

Next Monday night, I want you to drive up

to the side of Cortlandt.

You must be alone in your car.

You must make it appear

you were an innocent bystander...

Roark, I know

what you're going to do.

This is a test, isn't it?

Can I equal your courage,

am I still afraid for you...

...can I help you take the most

terrible chance you've ever...?

You can guess anything you wish.

Just listen. When I finish don't tell me

whether you will help me or not.

If you decide to do it, say nothing...

...but let me see you do it.

All right. Go on.

Drive up to Cortlandt

Monday night at 11:30.

I ran out of gas.

May I use your telephone, please?

I'm sorry, ma'am,

but our phone's gone dead tonight.

Where is the nearest garage?

Way down the road.

Would you mind going there

and getting somebody to help me?

Sure will, young lady. Glad to.

What do you know

about this?

Arrest me. I'll talk at the trial.

We don't have to wait for the trial

to convict him.

Howard Roark is guilty

by his very nature.

It is whispered

that he designed Cortlandt.

- What if he did?

- Society needed a housing project.

It was his duty to sacrifice

his own desires...

...and to contribute any ideas we demanded

of him on any terms we chose.

Who is society?

We are.

Man can be permitted to exist

only in order to serve others.

He must be nothing but a tool

for the satisfaction of their needs.

Self-sacrifice is the law of our age.

The man who refuses to submit

and to serve...

Howard Roark, the supreme egoist...

Is a man who must be destroyed!

We have never learned to understand

what is greatness in man.

Self-sacrifice, we drool,

is the ultimate virtue.

Let's stop and think.

Can a man sacrifice his integrity

his rights, his freedom...

...his convictions, the honesty of his

feeling, the independence of his thought?

These are a man's supreme possessions.

To what must he sacrifice them?

To whom?

Self-sacrifice?

But it is precisely the self that cannot

and must not be sacrificed.

A man's self is his spirit.

It is the unsacrificed self

that we must respect in man above all...

...and where do we find it?

In a man like Howard Roark.

Have that run off and set up

on tomorrow's front page.

Yes, Mr. Wynand.

Gail, are you out of your mind,

defending that...?

Keep still or I'll bash your teeth in.

The whole city is against him.

An unpopular cause

is dangerous business for anyone.

For a popular newspaper,

it's suicide!

- Public opinion is responsible...

- Public opinion is what I make it.

For once, I'll fight for what I believe.

You'll stand alone against everybody

for the first time in your life?

Yes, for the first time in my life.

You fool, why did you have

to make such a good job of it?

Didn't you know broken glass is

dangerous?

- It didn't hurt.

- The next time you wanna play...

...the innocent bystander

let me coach you.

You didn't have to cut an artery.

Do the police believe that I was only

an innocent bystander?

Yes, they believe it.

They have to. You almost died.

They don't know that

you'd risk your life for him.

- For whom?

- Howard.

Haven't you always fought

for his work?

I'm glad you did it

and that it was for him.

I'm glad he did it.

- He had to.

- Yes.

- Have they arrested him?

- He's out on bail.

- What's he told them?

- Nothing.

He's refused to make any

statement.

They all say he's guilty,

but they can find no motive.

They think he designed Cortlandt...

...but they can't prove it.

- Is the public against him?

It's the worst storm of public fury

I've ever seen.

- Are all the newspapers against him?

- Except one.

Gail, if you'll stand by him today...

Don't offer me bribes.

It's a battle I've waited for all my life.

I know how much I have to redeem.

This will be my redemption.

This time, the Banner

is serving a crusade.

I was waiting for you to come.

- Do you want to ask me any questions now?

- No.

I may be sent to the penitentiary for years.

Does that frighten you?

No. I'll share whatever they do to you.

I failed you once

because I was afraid to see you suffer.

Now I'll stand by you openly.

I'll take the disgrace, the scandal,

the smears, anything.

Darling.

Yes.

You're Mrs. Gail Wynand.

You're above suspicion.

Everybody believes you were

at the scene by accident.

If you let it be known

what we mean to each other...

...it'll be a confession

that I did it.

Is that why you asked me to help you?

In order to stop me

from joining you now?

Yes.

Dominique, if I'm convicted...

...I want you to remain with Gail.

And you must not tell him about us...

...because he and you

will need each other.

All right, if that's what you want...

...but if you're acquitted?

We can't speak of that now.

You'll be acquitted.

That's not what I wanted

to hear you say.

If they convict you...

...if they lock you in jail, if they

never let you design another building...

...if they never let me see you again...

...it won't break me.

I know how to fight it.

I'm not afraid of them any longer.

That's what I wanted

to hear all these years.

- Who designed Cortlandt?

- Let me alone.

- It's too late, Peter.

- Let me go!

- Who designed Cortlandt?

- Why do you want to kill Roark?

I don't want to kill him. I want him in jail,

behind bars, locked, strapped, beaten.

He'll move as he's told.

He'll work as he's told.

- He'll obey. He'll take orders.

- Ellsworth, what are you after?

Power. What do you think is power?

Whips? Guns? Money?

You can't turn men into slaves

unless you break their spirit.

Kill their capacity to think

and act on their own.

Tie them together, teach them to conform,

to unite, to agree, to obey.

That makes one neck

ready for one leash.

Ellsworth.

You've heard me preaching it for years

but you didn't have the wits...

...to know what you were hearing.

Why do you suppose I denounced

greatness and praised mediocrities like you?

Great men can't be ruled.

Why did I preach self-sacrifice?

If you kill a man's sense of personal value,

he'll submit.

Can you do that

to Howard Roark? No?

Then don't ask me

why I want to destroy him.

That's what they mean,

your noble ideals.

You believed in me.

Well, what's left of you now?

Come on.

Who designed Cortlandt?

Howard Roark.

On what condition?

That it must be built

as he designed it.

Write it down.

Write a full confession.

You're a great success, Peter.

You're my best achievement.

A totally selfless man.

Selfish? Is that what they call me?

Well I am. I live by the judgment

of my own mind and for my own sake.

Let them say what they please.

By the time you come to trial,

no jury will convict you.

The public will think what I want them to

think. The Banner will save you.

Dominique, do you see why

I love the Banner? I hold power.

Are you sure of it, Gail?

You'll see the demonstration for yourself.

I rule that city. I've never lost a battle.

It's your first test

of a real issue, which...

- Hello?

- Gail Wynand, please.

- Speaking.

- Gail, this is Alvah.

Yes, Alvah?

Keating has admitted

Roark designed Cortlandt.

- Toohey has a signed confession.

- What?

It made the front page

of the other daily so we had to go along.

Stay there. I'll come at once.

What is it?

Ellsworth Toohey got a confession

from Peter Keating.

It's on the front pages tomorrow,

including the Banner.

I'm not counting on public opinion one way

or the other so don't be afraid for me.

I'll fight for you

if it takes everything I own.

When I can't fire anyone on my paper,

I'll close it...

...and blow your brains out

or mine.

They've walked out on us.

The whole city room.

Our best boys.

They're Toohey's best friends.

- They won't work without him.

- Ellsworth Toohey is fired and stays fired.

I can't understand how Ellsworth

got so much power.

I never noticed it but he got his gang in

little by little and now he owns them.

- And I own the Banner.

- Do you, Mr. Wynand?

So you were after power, Mr. Wynand...

...and you thought you

were a practical man.

You left to impractical intellectuals like me

the whole field of ideas...

...to corrupt as we please

while you were busy making money.

You thought money was power.

Is it, Mr. Wynand?

You poor amateur.

You've never been enough of a scoundrel

for your own ambition.

That's why I'll be back on this job...

...and when I am, I'll run this paper.

When you are. Now get out of here.

- How clever, my dear.

- Yes, it is, isn't it?

We must do what we can for the cause.

I just fired my cook

because I caught her reading the Banner.

Gail, what are we gonna do?

I can't get anyone.

They refuse, no matter

what salary I offer.

Nobody wants to work for the Banner.

Nobody wants to read it.

How long can we go on like this?

To the end.

Gail, give me back

my old job.

I shall be proud to work

for the Banner now.

Come on.

Take these to the back room, pick up

the wire flimsies and bring them.

Then report to Manning

at the city desk.

- All returns, eh?

- Yup.

Gives me the creeps.

Looks just like slabs in the cemetery.

And they keep growing

every night.

Guess nobody buys

the Banner anymore.

They're killing themselves.

Work night and day and still newspapers

come back unread.

Ready with it, Mrs. Wynand?

There's the Sunday makeup.

It's fairly rotten, but it'll have to do.

I sent Manning home.

He was going to collapse.

Jackson quit, but we can do

without him.

Alvah's column was a mess.

I rewrote it.

Don't tell him. Say Gail did.

All right.

It'll be all right, Gail.

It will be all right.

The Banner is not helping Howard.

It's ruining him.

It's turning more

people against him.

He doesn't care about that

but stand by him.

- Don't give in to them.

- I can't save him.

He'll win in his own way.

I can't save him. I have no power.

I never had any power.

Nobody's ever listened to me

because nobody's ever respected me.

I wasn't a ruler of the mob.

I was its tool.

If you don't give in, you'll save yourself

and the Banner.

I never ran the Banner. They did.

The men in the street.

It was their paper, not mine.

There's nothing to save now.

Gail, don't give in to them.

Don't give in.

You'd better give in.

We can't permit this to go on.

After all, we're your board of directors.

We have something to say.

We've lost all our advertisers

we've lost our public, for what?

Now, if it were a serious cause,

but for some fool dynamiter?

What is this, an intellectual issue? Are we

losing our shirts for principles or something?

Gail, Gail, it's no use.

We must call Ellsworth Toohey

and take him back.

We must reverse our stand

on the Cortlandt case.

We must come out against Roark.

Wynand, this is final.

Yes or no?

Give in or close the Banner.

You'd better give in.

All right.

I solemnly ask

of every man who hears this case...

...to let his own mind

pronounce a verdict upon it.

You have heard the testimony

of the state's witnesses.

The confession of Peter Keating

has made clear...

...that Howard Roark

is a ruthless egoist...

...who has destroyed Cortlandt Homes

for his own selfish motive.

The issue which you are to decide

is the crucial issue of our age:

Has man any right to exist

if he refuses to serve society?

Let your verdict give us the answer.

The state rests.

The defense may proceed.

Your Honor,

I shall call no witnesses.

This will be my testimony

and my summation.

- Take the oath.

- Do you swear to tell the truth...

...the whole truth and nothing

but the truth...

...so help you God?

- I do.

Thousands of years ago the first man

discovered how to make fire.

He was probably burned at the stake,

he taught his brothers to light.

But he left them a gift

they had not conceived.

And he lifted darkness

off the earth.

Throughout the centuries, there were men

who took first steps down new roads...

...armed with nothing

but their own vision.

The great creators, the thinkers, the artists,

the scientists, the inventors...

...stood alone against

the men of their time.

Every new thought was opposed...

...every new invention was denounced...

...but the men of unborrowed vision

went ahead.

They fought, they suffered

and they paid, but they won.

No creator was prompted by a desire

to please his brothers.

His brothers hated

the gift he offered.

His truth was his only motive.

His work was his only goal.

His work, not those who used it...

...his creation, not the benefits

others derived from it...

...the creation which gave form

to his truth.

He held his truth above all things

and against all men.

He went ahead whether others agreed

with him or not...

...with his integrity as his only banner.

He served nothing and no one.

He lived for himself...

...and only by living for himself

was he able to achieve the things...

...which are the glory of mankind.

Such is the nature of achievement.

Man cannot survive,

except through his mind.

He comes on earth unarmed.

His brain is his only weapon, but the mind

is an attribute of the individual.

There is no such thing

as a collective brain.

The man who thinks

must think and act on his own.

The reasoning mind cannot work

under any form of compulsion.

It cannot be subordinated to the needs,

opinions, or wishes of others.

It is not an object of sacrifice.

The creator stands

on his own judgment.

The parasite follows

the opinions of others.

The creator thinks.

The parasite copies.

The creator produces.

The parasite loots.

The creator's concern

is the conquest of nature.

The parasite's concern

is the conquest of men.

The creator requires independence.

He neither serves nor rules.

He deals with men by free exchange

and voluntary choice.

The parasite seeks power.

He wants to bind all men together

in common action and common slavery.

He claims that man is only a tool

for the use of others...

...that he must think as they think

act as they act...

...and live in selfless, joyless servitude

to any need but his own.

Look at history.

Everything we have,

every great achievement...

...has come from the independent work

of some independent mind.

Every horror and destruction...

...came from attempts to force men

into a herd of brainless, soulless robots.

Without personal rights...

...without personal ambition...

...without will, hope or dignity.

It is an ancient conflict.

It has another name.

The individual

against the collective.

Our country, the noblest country

in the history of men...

...was based on the principle

of individualism.

The principle of man's

inalienable rights.

It was a country where a man was free

to seek his own happiness.

To gain and produce,

not to give up and renounce.

To prosper, not to starve.

To achieve, not to plunder.

To hold as his highest possession

a sense of his personal value...

...and as his highest virtue

his self-respect.

Look at the results.

That is what the collectivists

are now asking you to destroy...

...as much of the earth

has been destroyed.

I am an architect.

I know what is to come

by the principle on which it is built.

We are approaching a world

in which I cannot permit myself to live.

My ideas are my property.

They were taken from me by force,

by breach of contract.

No appeal was left to me.

It was believed that my work belonged

to others to do with as they pleased.

They had a claim upon me

without my consent...

...that it was my duty to serve them

without choice or reward.

Now you know why

I dynamited Cortlandt.

I designed Cortlandt...

...I made it possible...

...I destroyed it.

I agreed to design it for the purpose

of seeing it built as I wished.

That was the price I set for my work.

I was not paid.

My building was disfigured at the whim of

others who took the benefits of my work...

...and gave me nothing in return.

I came here to say

that I do not recognize...

...anyone's right

to one minute of my life.

Nor to any part of my energy,

nor to any achievement of mine.

No matter who makes the claim.

It had to be said.

The world is perishing

from an orgy of self-sacrificing.

I came here to be heard...

...in the name of every man

of independence still left in the world.

I wanted to state my terms.

I do not care to work

or live on any others.

My terms are a man's right...

...to exist for his own sake.

Further, you are instructed

that the extent of the monetary loss...

...suffered by the owners

is not a matter to be considered by you.

The liability of the defendant...

...for any financial loss...

...is a question to be determined

in a civil suit.

You are concerned here only

with a criminal action.

You are to determine

whether the defendant...

...is guilty or innocent...

...of the specific crime

with which he has been charged.

You are the exclusive judges

of the facts...

...and under the instructions I have given

you, it is your duty and your duty alone...

...to determine the guilt

or innocence of the accused.

Your Honor.

Foreman.

- Have you reached a verdict?

- We have, Your Honor.

The prisoner will rise

and face the jury.

What is your verdict?

Not guilty.

I have bought from them the plans,

the site, and the ruins of Cortlandt.

It's mine now and yours.

You'll rebuild it for me.

Just as you planned it.

Mr. Roark, Mr. Gail Wynand wishes to

know whether you could come to his office.

- Is he on the wire?

- No. It's Mr. Wynand's secretary.

Yes. Tell her yes.

Mr. Roark, this interview is necessary

but very difficult for me.

Please act accordingly.

Yes, Mr. Wynand.

Please read this and sign it,

if it meets with your approval.

What is it?

Your contract to design

the Wynand building.

Please listen carefully, Mr. Roark.

I have closed my newspaper.

The Banner has ceased to exist.

I wish to undertake the construction

of the Wynand building at once.

It is to be the tallest structure

of the city.

You will design it as you wish.

You will have full charge

and complete authority.

But I do not care ever

to see you again.

Please read the contract and sign it.

You haven't read it.

Please sign both copies.

Thank you.

This will be the last skyscraper

ever built in New York.

The last achievement of man on earth...

...before mankind destroys itself.

Mankind will never destroy itself,

Mr. Wynand...

...nor should it think of itself

as destroyed.

Not so long as it does things

such as this.

- As what?

- As the Wynand building.

That is up to you.

Dead things...

...such as the Banner...

...are only the financial fertilizer

that will make it possible.

It is their proper function.

I told you once that this building

was to be a monument to my life.

There is nothing

to commemorate now.

The Wynand building

will have nothing...

...except what you give it.

Build it as a monument to that spirit

which is yours and could've been mine.

May I see Mr. Roark, please?

Mr. Roark's way up on top.

Who's calling, ma'am?

- Mrs. Roark.

- Oh.

 

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The Fountainhead

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
 
The Fountainhead
Cover of the first edition
Author Ayn Rand
Country United States
Language English
Genre Philosophical novel
Publisher Bobbs Merrill
Publication date
1943
Pages 753 (1st edition)
OCLC 300033023

The Fountainhead is a 1943 novel by Russian-American author Ayn Rand, her first major literary success. The novel's protagonist, Howard Roark, is an individualistic young architect who designs modernist buildings and refuses to compromise with an architectural establishment unwilling to accept innovation. Roark embodies what Rand believed to be the ideal man, and his struggle reflects Rand's belief that individualism is superior to collectivism.

Roark is opposed by what he calls "second-handers", who value conformity over independence and integrity. These include Roark's former classmate, Peter Keating, who succeeds by following popular styles, but turns to Roark for help with design problems. Ellsworth Toohey, a socialist architecture critic who uses his influence to promote his political and social agenda, tries to destroy Roark's career. Tabloid newspaper publisher Gail Wynand seeks to shape popular opinion; he befriends Roark, then betrays him when public opinion turns in a direction he cannot control. The novel's most controversial character is Roark's lover, Dominique Francon. She believes that non-conformity has no chance of winning, so she alternates between helping Roark and working to undermine him. Feminist critics have condemned Roark and Dominique's first sexual encounter, accusing Rand of endorsing rape.

Twelve publishers rejected the manuscript before an editor at the Bobbs-Merrill Company risked his job to get it published. Contemporary reviewers' opinions were mixed. Some praised the novel as a powerful paean to individualism, while others thought it overlong and lacking sympathetic characters. Initial sales were slow, but the book gained a following by word of mouth and became a bestseller. More than 6.5 million copies of The Fountainhead have been sold worldwide and it has been translated into more than 20 languages. The novel attracted a new following for Rand and has enjoyed a lasting influence, especially among architects and right-libertarians.

The novel has been adapted into other media several times. An illustrated version was syndicated in newspapers in 1945. Warner Bros. produced a film version in 1949; Rand wrote the screenplay, and Gary Cooper played Roark. Critics panned the film, which did not recoup its budget; several directors and writers have considered developing a new film adaptation. In 2014, Belgian theater director Ivo van Hove created a stage adaptation, which has received mostly positive reviews.

 

 

Plot[edit]

 
Ayn Rand began writing the novel in 1935.

In the spring of 1922, Howard Roark is expelled from the architecture department of the Stanton Institute of Technology because he will not adhere to the school's preference for historical convention in building design. Roark goes to New York City and gets a job with Henry Cameron. Cameron was once a renowned architect, but now gets few commissions. In the meantime, Roark's popular, but vacuous, school roommate Peter Keating (whom Roark sometimes helped with projects) graduates with high honors. He too moves to New York, where he has been offered a position with the prestigious architecture firm, Francon & Heyer. Keating ingratiates himself with senior partner Guy Francon and works to remove rivals within his firm. Eventually, he is made a partner. Meanwhile, Roark and Cameron create inspired work, but struggle financially.

After Cameron retires, Keating hires Roark, whom Francon soon fires for refusing to design a building in the classical style. Roark works briefly at another firm, then opens his own office but has trouble finding clients and closes it down. He gets a job in a granite quarry owned by Francon. There he meets Francon's daughter Dominique, a columnist for The New York Banner, while she is staying at her family's estate nearby. They are immediately attracted to each other, leading to a rough sexual encounter that Dominique later calls a rape.[1] Shortly after, Roark is notified that a client is ready to start a new building, and he returns to New York. Dominique also returns to New York and learns Roark is an architect. She attacks his work in public, but visits him for secret sexual encounters.

Ellsworth M. Toohey, who writes a popular architecture column in the Banner, is an outspoken socialist who shapes public opinion through his column and a circle of influential associates. Toohey sets out to destroy Roark through a smear campaign. He recommends Roark to Hopton Stoddard, a wealthy acquaintance who wants to build a Temple of the Human Spirit. Roark's unusual design includes a nude statue modeled on Dominique; Toohey convinces Stoddard to sue Roark for malpractice. Toohey and several architects (including Keating) testify at the trial that Roark is incompetent as an architect due to his rejection of historical styles. Dominique speaks in Roark's defense, but he loses the case. Dominique decides that since she cannot have the world she wants, in which men like Roark are recognized for their greatness, she will live entirely in the world she has, which shuns Roark and praises Keating. She marries Keating and turns herself over to him, doing and saying whatever he wants, such as persuading potential clients to hire him instead of Roark.

To win Keating a prestigious commission offered by Gail Wynand, the owner and editor-in-chief of the Banner, Dominique agrees to sleep with Wynand. Wynand is so strongly attracted to Dominique that he pays Keating to divorce her, after which Wynand and Dominique are married. Wanting to build a home for himself and his new wife, Wynand discovers that Roark designed every building he likes and so hires him. Roark and Wynand become close friends; Wynand is unaware of Roark's past relationship with Dominique.

Washed up and out of the public eye, Keating pleads with Toohey to use his influence to get the commission for the much-sought-after Cortlandt housing project. Keating knows his most successful projects were aided by Roark, so he asks for Roark's help in designing Cortlandt. Roark agrees in exchange for complete anonymity and Keating's promise that it will be built exactly as designed. After taking a long vacation with Wynand, Roark returns to find that Keating was not able to prevent major changes from being made in Cortlandt's construction. Roark dynamites the project to prevent the subversion of his vision.

Roark is arrested and his action is widely condemned, but Wynand decides to use his papers to defend his friend. This unpopular stance hurts the circulation of his newspapers, and Wynand's employees go on strike after Wynand dismisses Toohey for disobeying him and criticizing Roark. Faced with the prospect of closing the paper, Wynand gives in and publishes a denunciation of Roark. At his trial, Roark makes a speech about the value of ego and integrity, and he is found not guilty. Dominique leaves Wynand for Roark. Wynand, who has betrayed his own values by attacking Roark, finally grasps the nature of the power he thought he held. He shuts down the Banner and commissions a final building from Roark, a skyscraper that will serve as a monument to human achievement. Eighteen months later, the Wynand Building is under construction. Dominique, now Roark's wife, enters the site to meet him atop its steel framework.

Major characters[edit]

Howard Roark[edit]

 
In writing the character of Howard Roark, Rand was inspired by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright.

Rand's stated goal in writing fiction was to portray her vision of an ideal man.[2][3] The character of Howard Roark, the protagonist of The Fountainhead, was the first instance where she believed she had achieved this.[4] Roark embodies Rand's egoistic moral ideals,[5] especially the virtues of independence[6] and integrity.[7]

The character of Roark was at least partly inspired by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Rand described the inspiration as limited to specific ideas he had about architecture and "the pattern of his career".[8] She denied that Wright had anything to do with the philosophy expressed by Roark or the events of the plot.[9][10] Rand's denials have not stopped commentators from claiming stronger connections between Wright and Roark.[10][11] Wright equivocated about whether he thought Roark was based on him, sometimes implying that he did, at other times denying it.[12]Wright biographer Ada Louise Huxtable described significant differences between Wright's philosophy and Rand's, and quoted him declaring, "I deny the paternity and refuse to marry the mother."[13] Architecture critic Martin Filler said that Roark resembles the Swiss-French modernist architect Le Corbusier more closely than Wright.[14]

Peter Keating[edit]

In contrast to the individualistic Roark, Peter Keating is a conformist who bases his choices on what others want. Introduced to the reader as Roark's classmate in architecture school, Keating does not really want to be an architect. He loves painting, but his mother steers him toward architecture instead.[15] In this as in all his decisions, Keating does what others expect rather than follow his personal interests. He becomes a social climber, focused on improving his career and social standing using a combination of personal manipulation and conformity to popular styles.[15][16][17] He follows a similar path in his private life: He chooses a loveless marriage to Dominique instead of marrying the woman he loves—who lacks Dominique's beauty and social connections. By middle age, Keating's career is in decline and he is unhappy with his path, but it is too late for him to change.[18][19]

Rand did not use a specific architect as a model for Keating.[20] Her inspiration for the character came from a neighbor she knew while working in Hollywood in the early 1930s. Rand asked this young woman to explain her goals in life. The woman's response was focused on social comparisons: the neighbor wanted her material possessions and social standing to equal or exceed those of other people. Rand created Keating as an archetype of this motivation, which she saw as the opposite of self-interest.[21]

Dominique Francon[edit]

 
Patricia Neal played Dominique Francon in the film adaptation.

Dominique Francon is the heroine of The Fountainhead, described by Rand as "the woman for a man like Howard Roark".[22] Rand described Dominique as similar to herself "in a bad mood".[23] For most of the novel, the character operates from what Rand viewed as wrong ideas.[24]Believing that the values she admires cannot survive in the real world, she chooses to turn away from them so that the world cannot harm her. Only at the end of the novel does she accept that she can be happy and survive.[23][25][26]

The character has provoked varied reactions from commentators. Philosopher Chris Matthew Sciabarra called her "one of the more bizarre characters in the novel".[27] Literature scholar Mimi Reisel Gladstein called her "an interesting case study in perverseness".[17] Writer Tore Boeckmann described her as a character with conflicting beliefs and saw her actions as a logical representation of how those conflicts might play out.[28]

Gail Wynand[edit]

Gail Wynand is a wealthy newspaper mogul who rose from a destitute childhood in the ghettoes of New York to control much of the city's print media. While Wynand shares many of the character qualities of Roark, his success is dependent upon his ability to pander to public opinion. Rand presents this as a tragic flaw that eventually leads to his downfall. In her journals Rand described Wynand as "the man who could have been" a heroic individualist, contrasting him to Roark, "the man who can be and is".[29][30] Some elements of Wynand's character were inspired by real-life newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst,[29][31][32] including Hearst's yellow journalism and mixed success in attempts to gain political influence.[29] Wynand ultimately fails in his attempts to wield power, losing his newspaper, his wife, and his friendship with Roark.[33] The character has been interpreted as a representation of the master morality described by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche;[34] his tragic nature illustrates Rand's rejection of Nietzsche's philosophy.[30][35][36] In Rand's view, a person like Wynand, who seeks power over others, is as much a "second-hander" as a conformist such as Keating.[37][38][39]

Ellsworth Toohey[edit]

 
Harold Laski was one of Rand's inspirations for the character of Ellsworth Toohey.

Ellsworth Monkton Toohey is Roark's antagonist. He is Rand's personification of evil—the most active and self-aware villain in any of her novels.[18][40][41] Toohey is a socialist, and represents the spirit of collectivism more generally. He styles himself as representative of the will of the masses, but his actual desire is for power over others.[18][42] He controls individual victims by destroying their sense of self-worth, and seeks broader power (over "the world", as he declares to Keating in a moment of candor) by promoting the ideals of ethical altruism and a rigorous egalitarianism that treats all people and achievements as equally valuable.[40][43] Rand used her memory of the British democratic socialist Harold Laski to help her imagine what Toohey would do in a given situation. She attended a New York lecture by Laski as part of gathering material for the novel, following which she changed the physical appearance of the character to be similar to that of Laski.[44] New York intellectuals Lewis Mumford and Clifton Fadiman also helped inspire the character.[31][32]

History[edit]

Background and development[edit]

When Rand first arrived in New York as an immigrant from the Soviet Union in 1926, she was greatly impressed by the Manhattan skyline's towering skyscrapers, which she saw as symbols of freedom, and resolved that she would write about them.[45][46] In 1927, Rand was working as a junior screenwriter for movie producer Cecil B. DeMille when he asked her to write a script for what would become the 1928 film Skyscraper. The original story by Dudley Murphy was about two construction workers working on a skyscraper who are rivals for a woman's love. Rand rewrote it, transforming the rivals into architects. One of them, Howard Kane, was an idealist dedicated to erecting the skyscraper despite enormous obstacles. The film would have ended with Kane standing atop the completed skyscraper. DeMille rejected Rand's script, and the completed film followed Murphy's original idea. Rand's version contained elements she would use in The Fountainhead.[47][48]

In 1928, Rand made notes for a proposed, but never written, novel titled The Little Street.[49] Rand's notes for it contain elements that carried over into her work on The Fountainhead.[50] David Harriman, who edited the notes for the posthumously published Journals of Ayn Rand (1997), described the story's villain as a preliminary version of the character Ellsworth Toohey, and this villain's assassination by the protagonist as prefiguring the attempted assassination of Toohey.[51]

 
New York skyscrapers such as the McGraw Hill Building(left) and the Woolworth Building (right) inspired Rand to write a novel about architecture.

Rand began The Fountainhead (originally titled Second-Hand Lives) following the completion of her first novel, We the Living, in 1934. That earlier novel was based in part on people and events familiar to Rand; the new novel, on the other hand, focused on the less-familiar world of architecture. She therefore conducted extensive research that included reading many biographies and other books about architecture.[52] She also worked as an unpaid typist in the office of architect Ely Jacques Kahn.[53] Rand began her notes for the new novel in December 1935.[54]

Rand wanted to write a novel that was less overtly political than We the Living, to avoid being viewed as "a 'one-theme' author".[55] As she developed the story, she began to see more political meaning in the novel's ideas about individualism.[56] Rand also planned to introduce the novel's four sections with quotes from Friedrich Nietzsche, whose ideas had influenced her own intellectual development, but she eventually decided that Nietzsche's ideas were too different from hers. She edited the final manuscript to remove the quotes and other allusions to him.[57][58]

Rand's work on The Fountainhead was repeatedly interrupted. In 1937, she took a break from it to write a novella called Anthem. She also completed a stage adaptation of We the Living that ran briefly in 1940.[59] That same year, she became active in politics. She first worked as a volunteer in Wendell Willkie's presidential campaign, and then attempted to form a group for conservative intellectuals.[60] As her royalties from earlier projects ran out, she began doing freelance work as a script reader for movie studios. When Rand finally found a publisher, the novel was only one-third complete.[61]

Publication history[edit]

Although she was a previously published novelist and had a successful Broadway play, Rand had difficulty finding a publisher for The FountainheadMacmillan Publishing, which had published We the Living, rejected the book after Rand insisted they provide more publicity for her new novel than they had done for the first one.[62] Rand's agent began submitting the book to other publishers; in 1938, Knopf signed a contract to publish the book. When Rand was only a quarter done with the manuscript by October 1940, Knopf canceled her contract.[63] Several other publishers rejected the book. When Rand's agent began to criticize the novel, Rand fired the agent and decided to handle submissions herself.[64] Twelve publishers (including Macmillan and Knopf) rejected the book.[61][65][66]

While Rand was working as a script reader for Paramount Pictures, her boss put her in touch with the Bobbs-Merrill Company. A recently hired editor, Archibald Ogden, liked the book, but two internal reviewers gave conflicting opinions. One said it was a great book that would never sell; the other said it was trash but would sell well. Ogden's boss, Bobbs-Merrill president D.L. Chambers, decided to reject the book. Ogden responded by wiring to the head office, "If this is not the book for you, then I am not the editor for you." His strong stand won Rand the contract on December 10, 1941. She also got a $1,000 advance so she could work full-time to complete the novel by January 1, 1943.[67][68]

Rand worked long hours through 1942 to complete the final two-thirds of her manuscript, which she delivered on December 31, 1942.[68][69] Rand's working title for the book was Second-Hand Lives, but Ogden pointed out that this emphasized the story's villains. Rand offered The Mainspring as an alternative, but this title had been recently used for another book. She then used a thesaurus and found 'fountainhead' as a synonym.[65] The Fountainhead was published on May 7, 1943, with 7,500 copies in the first printing. Initial sales were slow, but they began to rise in the fall of 1943, driven primarily by word of mouth.[70][71] The novel began appearing on bestseller lists in 1944.[72] It reached number six on The New York Times bestseller list in August 1945, over two years after its initial publication.[73] By 1956, the hardcover edition sold over 700,000 copies.[74] The first paperback edition was published by New American Library in 1952.[75]

A 25th anniversary edition was issued by New American Library in 1971, including a new introduction by Rand. In 1993, a 50th anniversary edition from Bobbs-Merrill added an afterword by Rand's heir, Leonard Peikoff.[76] The novel has been translated into more than 25 languages.[note 1]

Themes[edit]

Individualism[edit]

Rand indicated that the primary theme of The Fountainhead was "individualism versus collectivism, not in politics but within a man's soul".[78] Philosopher Douglas Den Uylidentified the individualism presented in the novel as being specifically of an American kind, portrayed in the context of that country's society and institutions.[79] Apart from scenes such as Roark's courtroom defense of the American concept of individual rights, she avoided direct discussion of political issues. As historian James Baker described it, "The Fountainhead hardly mentions politics or economics, despite the fact that it was born in the 1930s. Nor does it deal with world affairs, although it was written during World War II. It is about one man against the system, and it does not permit other matters to intrude."[80] Early drafts of the novel included more explicit political references, but Rand removed them from the finished text.[81]

Architecture[edit]

 
Rand's descriptions of Roark's buildings were inspired by the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, such as Fallingwater.

Rand chose the profession of architecture as the background for her novel, although she knew nothing about the field beforehand.[82] As a field that combines art, technology, and business, it allowed her to illustrate her primary themes in multiple areas.[83] Rand later wrote that architects provide "both art and a basic need of men's survival".[82] In a speech to a chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Rand drew a connection between architecture and individualism, saying time periods that had improvements in architecture were also those that had more freedom for the individual.[84]

Roark's modernist approach to architecture is contrasted with that of most of the other architects in the novel. In the opening chapter, the dean of his architecture school tells Roark that the best architecture must copy the past rather than innovate or improve.[85] Roark repeatedly loses jobs with architectural firms and commissions from clients because he is unwilling to copy conventional architectural styles. In contrast, Keating's mimicry of convention brings him top honors in school and an immediate job offer.[86] The same conflict between innovation and tradition is reflected in the career of Roark's mentor, Henry Cameron.[87]

Philosophy[edit]

Den Uyl calls The Fountainhead a "philosophical novel", meaning that it addresses philosophical ideas and offers a specific philosophical viewpoint about those ideas.[88] In the years following the publication of The Fountainhead, Rand developed a philosophical system that she called ObjectivismThe Fountainhead does not contain this explicit philosophy,[89] and Rand did not write the novel primarily to convey philosophical ideas.[90] Nonetheless, Rand included three excerpts from the novel in For the New Intellectual, a 1961 collection of her writings that she described as an outline of Objectivism.[91] Peikoff used many quotes and examples from The Fountainhead in his 1991 book on Rand's philosophy, Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand.[92]

Reception and legacy[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

The Fountainhead polarized critics and received mixed reviews upon its release.[93] The reviewer for The New York Times praised Rand as writing "brilliantly, beautifully and bitterly", stating that she had "written a hymn in praise of the individual" that would force readers to rethink basic ideas.[94] Benjamin DeCasseres, a columnist for the New York Journal-American, described Roark as "one of the most inspiring characters in modern American literature". Rand sent DeCasseres a letter thanking him for explaining the book's themes about individualism when many other reviewers did not.[95] There were other positive reviews, although Rand dismissed many of them as either not understanding her message or as being from unimportant publications.[93] A number of negative reviews focused on the length of the novel,[96] such as one that called it "a whale of a book" and another that said "anyone who is taken in by it deserves a stern lecture on paper-rationing". Other negative reviews called the characters unsympathetic and Rand's style "offensively pedestrian".[93]

In the years following its initial publication, The Fountainhead has received relatively little attention from literary critics.[97][98] Assessing the novel's legacy, philosopher Douglas Den Uyl described The Fountainhead as relatively neglected compared to her later novel, Atlas Shrugged, and said, "our problem is to find those topics that arise clearly with The Fountainhead and yet do not force us to read it simply through the eyes of Atlas Shrugged."[97] Among critics who have addressed it, some consider The Fountainhead to be Rand's best novel,[99][100][101] although in some cases this assessment is tempered by an overall negative judgment of Rand's writings.[102][103] Purely negative evaluations have also continued; a 2011 overview of American literature said "mainstream literary culture dismissed [The Fountainhead] in the 1940s and continues to dismiss it".[104]

Feminist criticisms[edit]

One of the most controversial elements of the book is the first sexual encounter between Roark and Dominique.[105] Feminist critics have attacked the scene as representative of an antifeminist viewpoint in Rand's works that makes women subservient to men.[106] Susan Brownmiller, in her 1975 work Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape, denounced what she called "Rand's philosophy of rape", for portraying women as wanting "humiliation at the hands of a superior man". She called Rand "a traitor to her own sex".[107] Susan Love Brown said the scene presents Rand's view of sex as sadomasochism involving "feminine subordination and passivity".[108] Barbara Grizzuti Harrison suggested women who enjoy such "masochistic fantasies" are "damaged" and have low self-esteem.[109] While Mimi Reisel Gladstein found elements to admire in Rand's female protagonists, she said that readers who have "a raised consciousness about the nature of rape" would disapprove of Rand's "romanticized rapes".[110]

Rand's posthumously published working notes for the novel indicate that when she started on the book in 1936, she conceived of Roark's character that "were it necessary, he could rape her and feel justified".[111] She denied that what happened in the finished novel was actually rape, referring to it as "rape by engraved invitation".[105] She said Dominique wanted and "all but invited" the act, citing, among other things, a passage where Dominique scratches a marble slab in her bedroom to invite Roark to repair it.[112] A true rape, Rand said, would be "a dreadful crime".[113] Defenders of the novel have agreed with this interpretation. In an essay specifically explaining this scene, Andrew Bernstein wrote that although much "confusion" exists about it, the descriptions in the novel provide "conclusive" evidence of Dominique's strong attraction to Roark and her desire to have sex with him.[114] Individualist feminist Wendy McElroy said that while Dominique is "thoroughly taken," there is nonetheless "clear indication" that Dominique both gave consent for and enjoyed the experience.[115] Both Bernstein and McElroy saw the interpretations of feminists such as Brownmiller as based in a false understanding of sexuality.[115][116]

Impact on Rand's career[edit]

 
Gary Cooper played Howard Roark in the film adaptation.

Although Rand had some mainstream success previously with her play Night of January 16th and had two previously published novels, The Fountainhead was a major breakthrough in her career. It brought her lasting fame and financial success. She sold the movie rights to The Fountainhead and returned to Hollywood to write the screenplay for the adaptation.[117] In April 1944, she signed a multiyear contract with movie producer Hal Wallis to write original screenplays and adaptations of other writers' works.[118]

The success of the novel brought Rand new publishing opportunities. Bobbs-Merrill offered to publish a nonfiction book expanding on the ethical ideas presented in The Fountainhead. Though this book was never completed, a portion of the material was used for an article in the January 1944 issue of Reader's Digest.[119] Rand was also able to get an American publisher for Anthem, which previously had been published in England, but not in the United States.[120] When she was ready to submit Atlas Shrugged to publishers, over a dozen competed to acquire the new book.[121]

The Fountainhead also attracted a new group of fans who were attracted to its philosophical ideas. When she moved back to New York in 1951, she gathered a group of these admirers of whom she referred publicly as "the Class of '43" in reference to the year The Fountainhead was published. The group evolved into the core of the Objectivist movement that promoted the philosophical ideas from Rand's writing.[122][123]

Cultural influence[edit]

The Fountainhead has continued to have strong sales throughout the last century into the current one. By 2008, it had sold over 6.5 million copies in English. It has also been referenced in a variety of popular entertainments, including movies, television series, and other novels.[124][125]

The year 1943 also saw the publication of The God of the Machine by Isabel Paterson and The Discovery of Freedom by Rose Wilder Lane. Rand, Lane, and Paterson have been referred to as the founding mothers of the American libertarian movement with the publication of these works.[126] Journalist John Chamberlain, for example, credited these works with converting him from socialism to what he called "an older American philosophy" of libertarian and conservative ideas.[127] Literature professor Philip R. Yannella said the novel is "a central text of American conservative and libertarian political culture".[104]

The book has a particular appeal to young people, an appeal that led historian James Baker to describe it as "more important than its detractors think, although not as important as Rand fans imagine".[100] Philosopher Allan Bloom said the novel is "hardly literature", but when he asked his students which books mattered to them, someone always was influenced by The Fountainhead.[128] Journalist Nora Ephron wrote that she had loved the novel when she was 18, but admitted that she "missed the point", which she suggested is largely subliminal sexual metaphor. Ephron wrote that she decided upon rereading that "it is better read when one is young enough to miss the point. Otherwise, one cannot help thinking it is a very silly book."[129]

The Fountainhead has been cited by numerous architects as an inspiration for their work. Architect Fred Stitt, founder of the San Francisco Institute of Architecture, dedicated a book to his "first architectural mentor, Howard Roark".[130] According to architectural photographer Julius Shulman, Rand's work "brought architecture into the public's focus for the first time". He said The Fountainhead was not only influential among 20th century architects, but also it "was one, first, front and center in the life of every architect who was a modern architect".[131] The novel also had a significant impact on the public perception of architecture.[132][133][134] During his campaign for US President, real estate developer Donald Trump praised the novel, saying he identified with Roark.[135]

Adaptations[edit]

Film[edit]

In 1949, Warner Bros. released a film based on the book, starring Gary Cooper as Howard Roark, Patricia Neal as Dominique Francon, Raymond Massey as Gail Wynand, and Kent Smith as Peter Keating. Rand, who had previous experience as a screenwriter, was hired to adapt her own novel. The film was directed by King Vidor. It grossed $2.1 million, $400,000 less than its production budget.[136] Critics panned the movie. Negative reviews appeared in publications ranging from newspapers such as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, to movie industry outlets such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, to magazines such as Time and Good Housekeeping.[136][137]

In letters written at the time, Rand's reaction to the film was positive. She said it was the most faithful adaptation of a novel ever made in Hollywood[138] and a "real triumph".[139]Sales of the novel increased as a result of interest spurred by the film.[140] She displayed a more negative attitude later, saying she disliked the entire movie and complaining about its editing, acting, and other elements.[141] Rand said she would never sell rights to another novel to a film company that did not allow her to pick the director and screenwriter, as well as edit the film.[142]

Various filmmakers have expressed interest in doing 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.[143] In the 2000s, Oliver Stone was interested in directing a new adaptation; Brad Pitt was reportedly under consideration to play Roark.[144] In a March 2016 interview, director Zack Snyder also expressed interest in doing a new film adaptation of The Fountainhead.[145]

Play[edit]

 
Ivo van Hove staged a theatrical adaptation of the novel.

The Dutch theater company Toneelgroep Amsterdam presented an adaptation for the stage (in Dutch) at the Holland Festival in June 2014. The company's artistic director Ivo van Hove wrote and directed the adaptation. Ramsey Nasr starred as Howard Roark, with Halina Reijn as Dominique Francon.[146] After its debut the production went on tour, appearing in Barcelona, Spain, in early July 2014[147] and at the Festival d'Avignon in France later that month.[148] The play appeared at the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris in November 2016.[149] The four-hour production used video projections to show close-ups of the actors and Roark's drawings, as well as backgrounds of the New York skyline.[148][150]The Festival d'Avignon production received several positive notices, including reviews from the French newspapers La Croix,[150] Les Échos,[151]and Le Monde,[152] as well as from the English newspaper The Guardian, whose reviewer described it as "electrifying theatre".[153] The French magazine Télérama gave the Avignon production a negative review, calling the source material inferior and complaining about the use of video screens on the set,[154] while another French magazine, La Terrasse, complimented the staging and acting of the Odéon production.[149]

Other adaptations[edit]

In 1944, Omnibook Magazine produced an abridged edition of the novel that was sold to members of the United States Armed Forces. Rand was annoyed that Bobbs-Merrill allowed the edited version to be published without her approval of the text.[155] King Features Syndicate approached Rand the following year about creating a condensed, illustrated version of the novel for syndication in newspapers. Rand agreed, provided that she could oversee the editing and approve the proposed illustrations of her characters, which were provided by Frank Godwin. The 30-part series began on December 24, 1945, and ran in over 35 newspapers.[156] Rand biographer Anne Heller complimented the adaptation, calling it "handsomely illustrated".[155]

The novel was adapted in Urdu for the Pakistan Television Network in the 1970s, under the title Teesra Kinara. The serial starred Rahat Kazmi, who also wrote the adaptation.[157] Kazmi's wife, Sahira Kazmi, played Dominique.[158]