Atlas Shrugged: Part I (2011)

Railroad executive Dagny Taggart and steel mogul Henry Rearden form an alliance to fight the increasingly authoritarian government of the United States.

Director:

Paul Johansson

Writers:

Brian Patrick O'Toole (screenplay), John Aglialoro (screenplay)

Stars:

Taylor Schilling, Grant Bowler, Matthew Marsden

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Taylor Schilling	...	Dagny Taggart
Grant Bowler	...	Henry 'Hank' Rearden
Matthew Marsden	...	James Taggart
Edi Gathegi	...	Eddie Willers
Jsu Garcia	...	Francisco D'Anconia
Graham Beckel	...	Ellis Wyatt
Jon Polito	...	Orren Boyle
Patrick Fischler	...	Paul Larkin
Rebecca Wisocky	...	Lillian Rearden
Michael Lerner	...	Wesley Mouch
Neill Barry	...	Phillip Rearden
Christina Pickles	...	Mother Rearden
Paul Johansson	...	John Galt
Joel McKinnon Miller	...	Herbert Mowen
Steven Chester Prince	...	Engineer

Storyline

It was great to be alive, once, but the world was perishing. Factories were shutting down, transportation was grinding to a halt, granaries were empty--and key people who had once kept it running were disappearing all over the country. As the lights winked out and the cities went cold, nothing was left to anyone but misery. No one knew how to stop it, no one understood why it was happening - except one woman, the operating executive of a once mighty transcontinental railroad, who suspects the answer may rest with a remarkable invention and the man who created it - a man who once said he would stop the motor of the world. Everything now depends on finding him and discovering the answer to the question on the lips of everyone as they whisper it in fear: Who *is* John Galt?

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Plot Keywords:

railroad | motor | railroad company | new york city new york | self made man | 

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Taglines:

Who is John Galt?

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 April 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Atlas Shrugged: Part I

Filming Locations:

Piru Mansion - 829 & 837 Park Road, Piru, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$1,686,347 (USA) (15 April 2011)

Gross:

$4,563,873 (USA) (13 May 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

On the cover of the Scandinavian DVD release, the title is misspelled as "Atlas Schrugged".

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Goofs

All articles in the Philadelphia Leader newspaper except the one on Rearden metal have incorrect headlines and their text segments contain multiple spelling/grammar errors.

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Quotes

Henry Rearden: What are you doing with yourself these days?
Phillip Rearden: I'm working for Friends of Global Awareness.
Henry Rearden: I know them. What do you want?
Phillip Rearden: Money.
Henry Rearden: Doesn't everyone? Call my office first thing in the morning. I'll authorize a hundred grand for you.
Phillip Rearden: You really don't care about helping the underprivileged, do you?
Henry Rearden: No Phillip, I don't, but it'll make you happy.
Phillip Rearden: Oh, it's not for me Hank. It's for the benefit of the less privileged. You think I can have the money wired to my account?
Henry Rearden: A wire? Why?
Phillip Rearden: Well, the thing is, ...

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Connections

Followed by Atlas Shrugged II: The Strike (2012)

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Soundtracks

I Feel Young Thanks to You
Written by Steve Weisberg (Stove Proeber Music-BMI)
Performed by The Late Night Society Orchestra
Produced by Gary Gold and Steve Weisberg

User Reviews

Read This Before Seeing This Film:

Having read the book, seen the movie, and read a representative sample of user reviews, I feel I can confidently make a few points that may help those who haven't seen the movie yet.

The negative user reviews found here can all be placed in one of three distinct categories: (1. Those who disagree with Rand's philosophy for whatever personal reasons they have and would despise the movie for that reason alone, even if it were a cinematic masterpiece (it's not -- not bad under the circumstances, but "The Fountainhead" it's not); (2. Those who agree with Rand's philosophy and enjoyed the book, but are repulsed by the relatively low-budget treatment of the film and the somewhat stunted screen writing that isn't entirely faithful to the original work, and (3. Those who are completely ignorant of Rand's work and are seeing the film and judging it in a relative vacuum (these negative reviews do, in my opinion, have a certain merit inasmuch as the film doesn't really stand on its own as something that would appeal to the general movie-going audience).

That said, I enjoyed the movie. I agree with Rand's philosophy (not the "all-about-me" world view that her dissenters accuse her of espousing), so seeing it on the big screen is refreshing for me. The main faults I find with it are no doubt due to condensing roughly 350-400 pages of book into about 90 minutes of film without butchering it beyond recognition (films adapted from Stephen King's works generally have the same faults) compounded by a woefully inadequate budget. That the finished product came out as good as it did (budget limitations notwithstanding) is a testament to the production team.

In summary, the book is far superior to the movie (as is almost always the case), but I found the movie to be, frankly, a better adaptation than I expected and well worth seeing -- if one can identify with or at least appreciate the ideology presented.