Atlas Shrugged - Part 1 (Vanity)

self | 03-11-2012 | self

[DustyMoment]

I just finished watching the DVD of "Atlas Shrugged - Part 1". I was prepared to dislike the film but was pleasantly surprised that the producers chose to portray the book relatively accurately. They made some upgrades, such as placing the story in late 2016 versus the mid-50s when the book was actually written.

Aside from contemporary items like diesel trains, cell phones and modern automobiles, though, the film held up. I was very surprised that the producers chose to portray the rot, decay and corruption of our present-day society as accurately as they did. The actor portraying politician Wesley Mouche was suitably sleazy and played a villain every bit as nasty as Snidely Whiplash (from the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show).

The main characters, Dagney Taggert and Hank Rearden are suitably played by attractive unknowns and the character of John Galt is played by a tall, dark man whose face, so far, has not been revealed.

Overall, in my opinion, the film holds up as far as it has gotten. The producers planned it as a trilogy and, so far, only part 1 is complete and on sale. Parts 2 and 3 are in jeopardy. The producers say that they plan to move forward with Part 2, even though funding is tight and they may not have the money to complete all of the planned trilogy.

We can all help out by either purchasing a copy of the DVD or donating money to help the production company be able to complete the trilogy.

However, as we have discussed here many times before, Atlas Shrugged goes beyond being just a story of corruption, decay and rot in America. I have always seen Atlas Shrugged as being not only a vehicle for Ayn Rand to expound upon her philosophy, but also a blueprint for what was happening to America, as seen from a mid-50s visionary.

With a few minor exceptions, most of wht Ms. Rand predicted has come to pass. We HAVE a corrupt, self-centered, ineffective government; We HAVE the mindless, anti-progress mobs of dumbed-down idiots (in our REAL society, they are called Occupy Wall Street); We HAVE the do-nothings interested in being cared for by the government at taxpayer's expense (represented by the likes of Sandra Fluke); and we HAVE the moral decay (also represented by Sandra Fluke) and socialist government that is willing to violate EVERY provision of the Constitution in order to implement Obama's radical agenda. What we DON'T have is John Galt and wealthy, innovative entrepreneurs willing to give everything up as a means of showing the "cling-ons" (those who cling to their government freebies while do nothing to contribute to society) how unncessary they are in a society of innovators and hard-workers who appreciate what they earn.

So, where does this leave us? We hear a lot of "sabre-rattling" on Free Republic; people talking about what they will do when . . . . . . . Well, my FRiends, "when" is here. We have an election coming up that is extremely unlikely to change the status quo. The majority of Congress will be returned to office to resume their incompetent, lackadaisical approach to America. We will likely elect as POTUS someone who differs little from the current WH occupant, if it is NOT the current WH occupant.

We have a media so liberal, so disingenuous and so biased that they will and have manufactured false stories about conservatives and Republicans for one purpose only - the goal of negative propaganda. We have a liberal social elite that does not hesitate to attempt to curtail the rights and free speech of conservatives while outright ignoring the outrageous slurs and pejoratives used against conservatives.

Atlas has shrugged. If we do not respond then, apparently, we have also shrugged - in abject indifference.

[Vendome]

Saw it with two friends, who are very left, they didn’t get it.

I laughed.

[Vendome]

Oh, “Who is John Galt?”.

[I see my hands]

"Saw it with two friends, who are very left"

You don't get it.

[Vendome]

Huh?

[Tainan]

Thanks for the thread and the reminder...dl’ing it now... ;)

[wally_bert]

I bought the DVD and CD. The CD gets a lot of play esp when I am en route to some paying side job.

[DustyMoment]

I could have done without the few and far between missing JG interview segments. I felt it was a tv commercial sound bite device. The trailers could and should have original and extra footage to develop the characters that went missing attributes. Just don't feel obligated to put it in the movie itself.

But, that's how it was in the book. In fact (IMO), the movie clarified the whole part of John Galt's intervention with the missing people.

Had the producers not inserted the John Galt material the way that they did, what would our reaction have been?? We would have criticized the film as not being true to the book.

It can't be both ways and it isn't fair to the producers to want it that way.

[DustyMoment]

I saw the movie and came away thinking that I you not not read the book it was hard to follow. Kind of like trying to listen to a conversation at another table.

Yes, unfortunately, it's part 1 of a trilogy. At this point ONLY the folks who know the book will get it. It would be like expecting everyone to know the whole Star Wars story after part 4 was released. At that point, parts 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 didn't exist.

At the end of part 4, all we knew was that we had seen an exciting, very cool movie, but we didn't have the complete story.

Technically speaking, we still don't have the complete story of Star Wars because the last trilogy in the series (at least, what Spielberg/Lucas originally described) hasn't been either filmed or released. And, we may never see the last three films. Spielberg/Lucas aren't sure that they want to do them.

[rawcatslyentist]

The only problem was, if you hadn't read the book you wouldn't know it was JG that approached the missing men. Also the missing men didn't have enough character development to give them any importance.

It appeared to be here is guy 1 having short conversation with guy 2, then the "made for TV" missing stamp.

The film failed to show relevance to the story of who and why, even though Dagny brought it up a couple of times. Some things are harder to convey from text to film. This is one of them.

Still looking forward to II and III!

[TBP]

Excellent comments.

[KeyLargo]

We saw the movie when it was released to theaters and along with only about five other patrons at that show time thoroughly enjoyed the film.

I saw it again last night on Netflix and it is even more effective as a movie now that Obama has been in office for three years on the way to completely destroying the U.S.

http://www.atlasshruggedpart1.com/atlas-shrugged-movie-trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PK5Sq3bIHY

[KeyLargo]

Graham Becke is a conservative.

Beckel Brothers Square Off

Apr 29, 2011

- 7:06 -

Liberal commentator Bob Beckel and conservative actor Graham Beckel duel over Obama’s policies

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4024319/beckel-brothers-square-off/