The Fountainhead Page #7

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

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