Architectural Films

When The Fountainhead and The Towering Inferno come on rotation on TCM I wish they would put them together. They are the best architectural films and undoubtedly deserve each other. For the first, as far as I can see, establishes the perfect scenario for the second, and it's almost as simple as that. Whilst somewhat tastefully diminished and humanized, Paul Newman wrestles in TI with the very problems he has created, in the The Fountainhead Roark is oblivious to actions of men around him, he works in splendid isolation, just as Ayn Rand believed men should, with no altruistic sense for others at all. The two together collapse Rand's rather ridiculous logic, and this should be a lesson for all. Anyway, the parting shot of The Fountainhead, the cum shot if you like, is the most ridiculous piece of cinema. She rides up Roark's shaft, to explode with ecstasy at the summit, Roark of course, standing there with no handrail, waiting.