Changes

This film obviously has its basis in [[Ayn Rand]]'s original novel, ''[[Atlas Shrugged]].'' More specifically, it covers the [[Atlas Shrugged#Non-contradiction|first third]] of the novel. It begins with a wreck on the Rio Norte Line and ends with the horrific lighting of "Wyatt's Torch," a series of shale-oil well fires that will keep burning for years afterward.

This film obviously has its basis in [[Ayn Rand]]'s original novel, ''[[Atlas Shrugged]].'' More specifically, it covers the [[Atlas Shrugged#Non-contradiction|first third]] of the novel. It begins with a wreck on the Rio Norte Line and ends with the horrific lighting of "Wyatt's Torch," a series of shale-oil well fires that will keep burning for years afterward.

For whatever reason, Atlas Productions decided to set the story in a future America, not the original period. Rand wrote for an era that did not yet know commercial airline travel. The producers of this film set it in an era that has ''abandoned'' commercial airline travel. And also an era in which the American left has achieved its dream of slashing the budget for the American armed services. Only they get more than they bargained for: they have cut the Navy, it seems, to pre-[[First World War]] levels, so that the once-mighty [[United States Navy]] cannot cope with ''one'' man, with ''one'' ship, who seizes foreign-aid cargoes with absolute impunity.

For whatever reason, Atlas Productions decided to set the story in a future America, not the original period. For that reason, though the novel keeps nearly all the characters and their names, it does not keep all the situations.

| [[Railroad]]s, because [[airline]] travel was not yet widespread

| Railroads, because the country has abandoned airline travel. The reason: motor fuel cannot be had for any price less than $37.50 per gallon. One can only imagine what the price of aviation kerosene might be. The opening montage shows the scrapping of a commercial airliner, either the Boeing 727 or the MD-80.

| Likely status of the [[United States Navy]]

| ''Contracted'' to ''before'' [[First World War]] levels. In this scenario, the American left has achieved its dream of slashing the budget for the American armed services. Only they get more than they bargained for: they have gutted the Navy, so that the once-mighty United States Navy cannot cope with ''one'' man, with ''one'' ship, who seizes foreign-aid cargoes with absolute impunity.

| A '''[[John Galt#The quantum motor|quantum motor]].''' The explanation given in the film is less than accurate; it uses terms like "Casimir Effect" and "Atmospheric vacuum" in an attempt to explain something that the script writers might not understood. Nevertheless, a qoantum motor, using quantum vacuum and Casimir-Lorentz forces, ''would'' be feasible.

=== Art anticipating life ===

=== Art anticipating life ===

In an uncanny example of "art anticipating life," the film's opening montage contains a scene of a public protest march, in which the marchers carry signs saying "A Job is a Right" and "Capitalism Does Not Work." Participants in [[Occupy Wall Street]] have carried signs having similar or identical messages. The remarkable relevant fact is that [[Occupy Wall Street]] followed the release of ''Atlas Shrugged, Part 1'' by about six months.

In an uncanny example of "art anticipating life," the film's opening montage contains a scene of a public protest march, in which the marchers carry signs saying "A Job is a Right" and "Capitalism Does Not Work." Participants in [[Occupy Wall Street]] have carried signs having similar or identical messages. The remarkable relevant fact is that [[Occupy Wall Street]] followed the release of ''Atlas Shrugged, Part 1'' by about six months.