I think this story probably could have been told in 2 movies of about 2 hours each... but the novel was divided in 3 parts of 10 chapters each, so a movie trilogy was valid bracketing too. The story of why there was a whole change of cast between parts is an interesting story unto itself, but boils down to - budgeting constraints. For all that Atlas Shrugged has been a perennial inspiration to shiny-eyed young tycoon wannabes, and engaging even to audiences who dismiss the author's underlying philosophy as shallow monochrome... the project ironically did not attract enough investment to budget the trilogy in one swoop. Maybe the terms of the Rand estate's optioning of the movie rights also made it a hard sell, but that's just me speculating.
My all-time favorite review of Atlas Shrugged, per writer and screen producer John Rogers (via WikiQuote):
"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world.
The other, of course, involves orcs."
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Quite a while back, Miss decided she wanted a very specific backpack, so I ordered it for Christmas from Amazon and tucked it away to "Do Not Open til Xmas". Then her perseverence in job-targeting paid off and she suggested she could really use it sooner rather than later - so could it be an early Xmas prezzie? And I said no, but it could be a "congrats on earning the awesome new job" prezzie. By coincidence and unbeknownst to me, that was the day the "return window" closed and it turned out the bag ordered was the wrong size. But Amazon took my good-customer track record into account and relaxed their return window policy to keep me happy.
Found and printed 15% Costco member coupon preparatory to tomorrow's Christian Brothers service appt
The trick is to enter the shop's ZIP, not yours, in Costco's auto service finder website
paid a credit card
paid washer/dryer rental
Give Miami Day'ed ECSEFL
Vacuumed leaves in the DR and crumbs in the kitchen
Filled and overnighted IRA transfer paperwork
Post office, got a receipt for the prepaid Amazon return
21g protein bar; 5g Toast-Chee pack; mini blueberry muffin and croissant courtesy of Foodsby; Wendy's grilled chx and 4pc nuggets;