The Fountainhead (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Fountainhead


caption = Promotional movie poster for the film
director = King Vidor
producer = Henry Blanke
writer = Ayn Rand
narrator =
starring = Gary Cooper Patricia Neal Raymond Massey Kent Smith
music = Max Steiner
cinematography = Robert Burks
editing = David Weisbart
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = flagicon|United States July 2, 1949
runtime = 114 min.
country = US
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:18305
imdb_id = 0041386

"The Fountainhead" is a 1949 American drama film based on the book of the same name by Ayn Rand. The movie stars Gary Cooper as Howard Roark, Patricia Neal as Dominique Francon, Raymond Massey as Gail Wynand, Robert Douglas as Ellsworth Toohey and Kent Smith as Peter Keating. The film was directed by King Vidor, with the screenplay written by Ayn Rand.

While the movie is an abridged version of the original novel, the general tone and intent was not significantly affected. However, one piece of drama was added. In the book, Gail Wynand contemplates suicide several times, and when giving in to the strikers and letting his paper denounce Roark he feels that he had in effect killed himself, even if remaining physically alive. In the film, he actually does kill himself once having secured Roark to complete his dream of the Wynand Building.

Rand demanded that the entire speech that Howard Roark gives at the end of the film be read exactly as in the original novel. Vidor initially agreed, but when shooting commenced on the scene, he decided to tighten it up a bit. Upon hearing this, Rand called the head of the studio demanding that the whole speech be filmed. Rand won out, and Vidor filmed the entire speech.Fact|date=October 2008 The scene goes on for nearly six minutes, one of the longest speeches ever in a feature film.Fact|date=October 2008

Max Steiner composed the film's score, excerpts of which were included in RCA Victor's tribute to the composer, an album featuring the National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Gerhardt and released on LP in 1973 and digitally remastered for CD.

The film was released in VHS format in 1990 and in 2006 as a DVD.

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