TCM appeared over the weekend.

I caught the last ten minutes or so of The Fountainhead last night.

Now, she wrote the screenplay, supposedly, so why do I have the impression that the movie doesn't do the book justice?

I'm not a snob who thinks that no movie does its book justice because there are some. And some movies are even better than the book (insert title of just about any Tom Clancy book-turned-movie here). Or, at least different. And the difference here locks the movie into its late 40's era with patriotic, cold war propaganda.

Of course Rand saw the ugliness of communism, so I'm not suggesting that anti-communism wasn't a part of her philosophy. But even though communism is still a serious threat, the Red Menace isn't so much foremost in my mind. Pictures critical of it don't speak significantly to me. I just don't remember the book being as political as the movie. Oh, dear, did Rand herself sacrifice artistic integrity for Hollywood's propagandistic purposes?!

I used to think that Cooper was perfect in the role of Roark but he really came across as weak in the courtroom scene like never before. He was Meet Joe Doe weak, not High Noon strong:

Like dogs, if you can't eat something, you bury it! Why, this is the one worthwhile thing that's come along. People are finally finding out that the guy next door isn't a bad egg. That's simple, isn't it? And yet you talk about killing it! The John Doe idea may be the answer, though! It may be the one thing capable of saving this cockeyed world! Yet you sit back there on your fat hulks and tell me you'll kill it if you can't use it! Well, you go ahead and try! You couldn't do it in a million years ... Because it's bigger than whether I'm a fake! It's bigger than your ambitions!

But for the life of me, I can't think who else could have playing Roark.