This movie is brilliant. It's severely underrated, criminally misunderstood, and I believe, totally ahead of its time. In "Falling Down", Michael Douglas has brought to life one of the most believable, likeable, and disturbing antiheroes of all time. It's a poignant tale of the everyman finally getting sick of the various stupidities, banalities, and irritabilities (I'm coining that if it's not already a word) that plague our modern life. It's a film that, at the beginning is as hilarious as it is true, but as the film continues, it proceeds to become more real, more disturbing, but also more grounded in its message. It's ridiculous and insane, but it also cuts deep to the truths that all of us feel at times.
I've seen a number of Joel Schumacher's films, but this is the only one I could imagine myself watching multiple times. It depicts the American dream better than most films out there. It shows the everyman's struggle to conquer what he believes is wrong. It gives us a person to root for who is idealistic and filled with bravado, but also a man who is seriously flawed. I really believe this picture was ahead of its time; it didn't get incredible reviews, but I'd argue it's Joel Schumacher's crowning achievement.
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truemythmedia23 May 2019
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baumer9 June 1999Falling Down is the kind of film that has much more more happening than many of us want to know about. It is disguised simply as a film about an apparent nut who goes out and tries to right the wrongs that have been done to him and in his trek across Los Angeles he becomes an anti-hero.
While that may be true to an extent, read more into it and you can see a film that tries to show us that there is something terribly wrong with how we live. I wasn't alive in the 50's, in fact, I was born in the 70's. So I can't honestly tell you if life was easier back then. But what I can tell you is that times were a bit more simple then. For the most part, you had one income in the household. You had T.V and radio as your entertainment and kids went outside to play. Now you must have both parents working so you can have that double income. Kids are obsessed with the internet and videogames and so on. What does all of this have to with the film? Everything!
Falling Down is about the decay in one man's life and how it affects not only him but those around him. There is one very powerful scene in the film that can sum up everything.
There is a key moment in Falling Down that is sad in it's reality, but true in it's opinion. Douglas is in a surplus store and the guy running it is a Nazi sympathizer. When Douglass doesn't share his opinions, they get into a confrontation. The guy snaps and tells Douglas to spread against the wall. He obliges and then the Nazi guy wants to handcuff him. He tells Douglas to give him his hand, he does. Then he tells Douglas to give him his other hand. Douglas is supporting himself on the wall in a 30 degree angle and if he gives the guy his other hand " he'll fall down. " Which is precisely what he tells the Nazi guy. This is a microcosm of the film and a microcosm of what may be wrong with not only society but people in general. There is a theory in wrestling that your arms and legs are like a table, if you take out any two of the legs or arms, your opponent falls down and is vulnerable. Same thing with a human being. Take away so many of his limbs ( job, wife, dignity, credit rating, kids, etc. ) and it may be only a matter of time before that person does snap. This movie shows us what happens to one individual that does snap. He wasn't all that bad to begin with, but as time went on and he was " lied " to, he can't handle it and finally one day, he has had enough. I think this film is more important than people realize and if you have only seen it once, see it again. You may see something that you didn't see before. Hats off to Schumacher and Douglas who had the guts to make this film. -
the_blueeyes4 April 2019The older you get, the more you will make sense and understand this movie
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Bobbydange28 December 2007I declare this one of the most underrated movies ever made. What a great story. Just look at the situations in the movie. Did people not understand this movie? I think because of the way the movie was shot people look at it like a B movie but if you really think about it, it's far from that. There are so many parts that are just purely classic. You can relate to so many things in this movie. That's what the movie was trying to do. It was suppose to show you this little story about this average guy who goes off of the deep end... but then you look closer and you realize how many things you can truly relate to. How many things subconsciously frustrate you and how you never do anything about it. It shows how life is a double edged sword for some people, showing you that if you take matters into your own hands it comes back to you in the end and if you play by the rules you get screwed over. If you were to ask me what I thought about this film after I first saw it I would say that the movie was a cult classic. But sadly it's an underrated forgotten movie. I love this film. I give it 10 stars. If I could give it 11 I would. A movie that will be forever misunderstood.
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Fella_shibby7 October 2018I first saw this in the mid 90s on a vhs. Revisited it recently on a blu-ray. I thoroughly enjoyed viewing this again after so many years. This movie is still relevant today no matter which country u belong to. Michael Douglas' hypnotic performance is the highlight of this film. Everything about him, from his half sleeve plain white shirt, to his briefcase, his lunch, his specs and his torn shoes all screamed average middle class. The best line of the film is when Douglas asks Duvall, I am the bad guy?
I don't know but I was laughing my guts out while viewing this film. The guy who played the neo Nazi is creepy n hilarious. The cosmetic surgeon's house scene, the golf ground scene, the burger scene n the store scene, I found all these scenes darkly comical. Douglas' middle class person act is mind blowing. He potrayed the character who has to go thru everyday nuances very well. Working hard still ain't able to purchase a house, non payment of rent, road n traffic issues, employment issues, etc. The effect of consumerism has on each of us is dealt with properly in this film. The funny part is that the rich doesn't care about inflation or monetary probs, the poor gets government n ngo's aid while the middle class is stuck between em like a sandwich. The government doesn't care about him, they care about vote banks and that lies within the poor community. -
josevcutts22 November 2004Take the hottest day of the year, a traffic gridlock, cracked pavements, dirty streets, unwarranted hostility and a general feeling of being short changed. Then add the frustrations of having an estranged wife and child, an extremely jaded and unbalanced mindset, and the frustration of being obsolete with no marketable skills. Set them against the decadent back drop of modern day LA where if you are 'Not economically viable,' you are of no use, and the result is Falling Down.
The tag line 'The Adventures of an Ordinary man at War with the Everyday World,' makes Joel Schumacher's masterpiece sound like the benign story of a working stiff with issues. However Falling Down is a dark and engrossing urban fable, a study into the mind of the disenfranchised and reminder to all that the removal of comfort is a lot closer than we care to believe.
Full of clichés, like the cop on his last day before retiring, Falling Down bravely meets all expectations of stereotypes, rather than challenging them, making for a realistic reflection of a failing society. Here, a man in extremis, without the feral cunning or killer instinct required for a life in the street, makes his way on anger and luck alone, somehow surviving to leave a paper chase of violence and destruction behind.
Relying heavily on symbolism, illustrating a flip side of America running parallel to the hunky dory world occupied by the successful, the over all message of 'No Matter, Never Mind,' is clear in this world where children play next to vagrants dying from AIDS and Korean grocers can legally steal from the public with their overpriced goods.
Michael Douglas displays some hitherto unseen talent as the unbalanced D-FENS, as he casually totes gang weapons (complete with rubber bands on the grips) in his formal shirt and tie, does battle with store owners and comes up against fast food restaurants, homeless people, gangsters and Nazis. Robert Duval is equally brilliant as the desk jockey on his final day, determined to stop anyone else from being hurt, including the perp.
There is, of course, a small amount of Hollywood sentimentality thrown in for good measure, however the dynamics of such a strong narrative make this completely forgivable and it's possible to overlook this as a flaw given the film's overall strengths.
Praise surely has to go to Ebbe Roe Smith for writing one of the finest scripts ever to grace celluloid. Known for bit parts and cameos, who the hell knows who Ebbe really is? Look on IMDb to find out (if you're a geek like me) or release him into the ether if you don't care. The truth is, he's out there. The question is: Where's the next script?
On the whole, Falling Down is a powerful and dramatic indictment of American culture, societal decadence, and the failing values of the West. It's not for everyone and will most certainly offend some, but if approached with an open mind, will provide plenty of fuel for thought. -
Many people have said many nasty things about Joel Schumacher for what he did to Batman on the big screen. Every single one of them has been entirely deserved. But those insults should be softened with just a little praise for making a bold urban nightmare like this film.
Falling Down is the story of a man who is stuck in traffic one day when his tolerance for the world is finally used up. Identified only by his license plate "D-Fens", the man (Michael Douglas) abandons his car and starts walking. He says he's going home, but where he's going isn't his home anymore. His ex-wife Beth and daughter Adele (Barbara Hershey and Joey Hope Singer) now live there and Beth has a restraining order against D-Fens. As he walks his way across Los Angeles, D-Fens has a series of violent encounters, first with the everyday aggravations of life in the big city. From busting up the shop of a immigrant merchant who speaks broken English to confronting some gang bangers to a gun point rant against the unctuous martinets at a fast food restaurant, D-Fens eventually graduates to more brutal acts against more existential frustrations like neo-Nazi gun nuts, pointless road construction and the vicious sense of entitlement among the wealthy. All the while, getting every closer to Beth and Adele.
As reports of D-Fens' slow moving rampage come in, the only one to figure out what's going on is a cop spending his last day on the job. Detective Prendergast (Robert Duvall) is retiring early, an taking a reduced pension, to satisfy the demands of his insecure, needy and somewhat unstable wife. Aided by the only cop he's friends with (Rachel Ticotin), Prendergast sets out to stop D-Fens before this day turns out to be the last day in the life of a lot of people.
Falling Down is a smart film that takes on two cultural phenomena of the early 1990s. One is the concept of "going postal", where relatively normal men started going into their workplaces and shooting people. The other is the sense of economic disenfranchisement that came out of the recession that bridges the first Bush and Clinton Administrations. Now granted, as befitting a Joel Schumacher picture, this movie doesn't take those subjects on with any subtlety. But it does address them thoroughly with both empathy and honesty.
Schumacher, Michael Douglas and screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith combine to make D-Fens a character who defies easy definition. He's neither the righteous vigilante of right wing fantasies nor a liberal's easily dismissed symbol of white male intolerance. He's a man who can legitimately claim he's been victimized by society, yet he's also a man whose seething rage terrifies the ones closest to him. Most of the carnage he creates is accidental or without malice, yet his ultimate goal is the darkest sort of evil. D-Fens is someone you cannot completely embrace or reject. You can only wonder how much of yourself is reflected in him.
The whole film is somewhat like that. Most of the characters, even minor ones, are given depth and personalities like they're real human beings and not just constructs serving the script. They experience genuine humor and friendship and anguish and fear in a way this sort of high-concept movie usually doesn't provide.
The contrast between D-Fens and Prendergast that runs through the story is a great example of that kind of complexity. They're both guys whose lives aren't working out like they wanted. One has a failed marriage and a lost career, the other a dead daughter and a crazy wife he feels responsible for. The ways they deal with those challenges are quite different. D-Fens is an idealist who cares about the way he thinks things should be, at the expense of the other people in the world with him. Prendergast is a pragmatist who takes the world as it is and does what he has to do to get by, without even thinking it could be any other way.
I suspect that Falling Down has not gotten the acclaim it deserves because it's a mainstream work of entertainment that won't fit neatly into a particular box. It looks and sounds like a white male power trip, but it feels much more introspective and melancholy and despairing. I find it to be a compelling story with some great acting and I think you should give it a look. -
inspectorbob17 September 2019It has been 26 years since this movie came out. I saw it finally yesterday after desiring to see it since it was first advertised on circuit all those years ago. And what's my synopsis of this semi-vintage movie?...brilliant! So worth it! So much better than I ever imagined it could be! And not outdated at all! I expected it would be a novel, fun, action-packed movie about a guy who's had enough; with something of a pointed statement/indictment against our modern urban society. And it is that...but also so much more! This film is a masterpiece; it is beautiful and poignant art. There is not a scene or a shot or an utterance that is not absolutely intentional, loaded with depth and/or intrinsic to both the unfolding narrative and to its poetic depiction of humanity and the state of the world. It's a film that makes me feel robbed for having watched dozens of mindless one-dimensional action movies over these years. The writer (Ebbe Roe Smith), the director (Joel Shumacher), the awesome actors Douglas and Duvall and everyone involved with this production do not deserve a tinselly Oscar...they deserve a medal! And this movie deserves a shelf at the Louvre! And it most certainly deserves to be watched! As for me, I will be grabbing my shovel and go tracing the seam of movies from these great artists in search for more undiscovered gold. Last words: know that the language is not toned down and the very hard, very real issues that it deals with are weighty, so it's not for every audience or every occasion. But it couldn't have been any other way for being a look on real life. Phenomenal though that there is such hopefulness, joy, inspiration, overflowing humour and clever wit in this story. It is not at all a dark or depressing or ugly movie while it deals with matter in our society that is just that. It is like a great red wine that has the sweet and the bitter and the dry just perfectly balanced ... you take a sip, savour it and sigh out, in deep satisfaction!
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On the day of his daughter's birthday, William "D-Fens" Foster (Michael Douglas) is trying to get home of his estranged ex-wife to see her daughter. He has a breakdown and leaves his car in a traffic jam in Los Angeles and decides to walk. Then he goes to a convenience store and tries to get some changes for a phone call but the Korean owner does not change his money. The unstable William breaks apart the shop with a baseball bat and goes to an isolated place to drink a coke. Two gangsters threaten him and he reacts hitting them with the bat. William continues walking and stops at a phone booth. The gangsters hunt him down with their gang and shoot him but crash their car. William goes nuts and takes their gym bag with weapons proceeding in his journey of rage against injustice. Meanwhile Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) that is working on his last day before retirement is following the wave of crimes and believes that the responsible is the same man but the other detectives do not pay attention to him.
"Falling Down" is a movie with a story that is one of the greatest social criticisms of our contemporary way of life. The character William Foster has a typical day in a big city, with traffic jams, intolerance, violence, unemployment, citizen economically inviable, homeless, but he is on the edge of his existence and just wants to see his daughter on her birthday. However, it is a wrong day for him. The plot is sad and without hope but realistic. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Um Dia de Fúria" ("One Day of Rage") -
MrVibrating25 March 2006This has to be one of the best movies I've ever seen. Never, ever, has a movie been supported by one actor so well. Michael Douglas is perfect in this movie. It couldn't get any better. Every twitch he makes is perfection.
That is not to say that the supporting cast is not good. They're great, Robert Duvall especially, but this is Douglas's movie. This is his role of a life-time.
SPOILER: The plot is ridiculously simple: A man get's fed up with life, and he goes his own way, all the way to his ex-wife's and his daughter's birthday party. Complications occur, since the life of Douglas does not fit the niche of today's society.
Douglas character is so cool, and his lines are great. He does everything we all want to do at some point in life. Although he seems psychotic and brutal, we still root for him and hope he will succeed in his quest.
This movie is not for the queasy. It's brutal, it's honest, and it's not your conventional movie. Joel Shumacher should continue on these lines. 10/10 -
paul_haakonsen21 June 2018"Falling Down" is a very memorable movie, and it is the type of movie that once you've seen it then you will always remember it. Yeah, because director Joel Schumacher and writer Ebbe Roe Smith really came up with something truly unique here.
The story in "Falling Down" is an entertaining one for sure, and it is a blast to follow D-Fens/Foster (played by Michael Douglas) in his quest to return to his estranged family and having what seems like the entire world turn against him.
Not only is it a solid storyline and plot that carries the movie, but it is first and foremost an amazing performance by Michael Douglas. And the role he was portraying here was a very different one from the usual roles he used to play in his movies, a bold move career-wise, but one that seemed to pan out quite nicely. Robert Duvall was also doing an amazing job in the movie, but then again he usually always is.
The pacing in "Falling Down" is quite good, because the movie starts out in a pretty high gear and it doesn't really slow down to becoming dull or anything at any time throughout the course of the entire movie.
The movie does raise some interesting issues if you think about it, such as are you yourself the root of the cause to all your problems, or is it mere circumstance, or is society conspiring against us all? And in that aspect, then it is definitely a blast to follow Foster as he makes his way through Los Angeles and face his problems head on.
"Falling Down" is a movie that can sustain multiple viewings. I think this is actually my fourth time to sit down and watch it since it was initially released, and it is as good and entertaining today as it was the very first time I saw it. -
MOscarbradley9 February 2006Joel Schumacher's best film is a brilliantly realized urban nightmare that many people in the audience will identify with. On one of those typical LA dog-days, disgruntled motorist Michael Douglas, caught in what could be the traffic jam from hell, finally decides he can't take it any more, abandons his car on the freeway and decides to walk home and God help anyone who gets in his way.
I suppose "Falling Down" could best be described as a road movie in reverse. The car has been ditched and the journey is on foot. Perhaps the film's closest antecedent is "The Swimmer" in which a similarly deranged Burt Lancaster decides to 'swim' home through the pools of his neighbours. As the dangerously unstable D-Fens, (he is known by his car registration), Michael Douglas gives the performance of his career and Schumacher racks up the tension to breaking point and beyond. -
TOMASBBloodhound11 December 2011Sometimes we all feel outnumbered, confused, or "not economically viable". But thankfully most of us don't strike back violently like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. Douglas plays an unemployed defense contractor who finds himself out of a job in the early 1990s now that the Cold War is over. He is also estranged from his family, and thought to be a danger to them. One morning, while stuck in a traffic jam, he cannot take any more. He gets out of his car and starts walking across L.A., claiming he is simply "going home". Basically this means to his daughter's birthday party where even if he made it there, he would not be welcome anyway. He reacts violently to anyone who confronts or hassles him on the way home. And on the streets of L.A., there is trouble around every corner. Douglas leaves plenty of victims in his wake. Depending on your own life's experiences, you may or may not agree with his actions.
It is easy to compare this movie to Death Wish, or some other vigilante film, but this is far more complex for better or sometimes worse. The big problem with the film is its meandering perspective. The scenes where Douglas confronts stereotypical big city types are often constructed in a manner that we the audience are supposed to see it his way. We are supposed to recognize their behavior or attitudes that set him off, and more or less accept his reaction. All the while we are meant to believe he is crazy. So, in effect, if we've ever thought about taking out our frustrations on rude or dangerous people, then we may in fact be crazy too. Douglas is clearly a loon, but so are these stereotypical store clerks, construction workers, gang members, old buzzards on a golf course, homeless urchins, etc. How can we not take some satisfaction as Douglas stabs a Neo-Nazi? Or blows up a needless construction site that is wasting tax payer money? Does that make us crazy, too? Or does it only if we actually commit the violence? The film has some annoying female characters playing Douglas's estranged wife and Robert Duvall's overbearing wife. In fact, just about every character is this film is somewhat annoying. Maybe this is done to add to the frustration Douglas feels. Duvall plays an aging cop working his last day before retirement. His aggravating wife keeps demanding he comes home before he gets hurt on his last day. That whole angle is a bit stereotypical. Did it have to be his LAST day? How about a couple months before retirement? Joel Schumacher has done much worse, but Falling Down is not great. How you respond to it will depend on your own perspectives. Can you believe this is almost 20 years old? Is L.A. better or worse since then? How has your town or city changed? Are you economically viable? A greater number of Americans likely find themselves not so viable in these days of Hope and Change. 7 of 10 stars.
The Hound. -
Freethinker_Atheist27 September 2014This is the kind of movie that in the hands of a good director would have been fantastic! Unfortunately here it's full of stereotypes and clichés. Most of the acting is over the top, not natural and therefore not believable. Dialogues are cheesy, people don't normally talk like this.
The subject is a very serious matter and should have stayed like that, but the director thought it would be cool to embed some jokes or funny situations, which almost ruined the movie, because not funny and don't match with its spirit. The worst part is that not a single character is likable. In reality up to the middle of the movie one feels some kind of sympathy for the main character, because at first he looks like a weird but actually decent guy who just can't take it anymore, but then he too starts to over-egg the pudding and becomes a pain in the ass. At the beginning the policeman seems to be a considerate cop, but at the end turns out to be as one-dimensional as all others. The parallel story with his grumpy wife is completely dispensable, since it adds nothing to the plot.
Watchable, but somehow a bit flawed. -
Beaux20 January 2004"Falling Down" is a film that intends to point out the many quirks and oddities of modern urban society. It succeeds in doing so, but one must look carefully. Each situation Bill Foster (Michael Douglas) faces is one that most people can relate to. However, unlike most people he decides to "fight the system" and wage war on the everyday annoyances that we all face. Foster is a People's Champion. To illustrate this, most people who watch this film naturally pull for him and see him as being a hero, mostly out of pure sympathy. However, at the end of the day, Foster is still "the bad guy" for going against the societal grain. Most viewers will find this upsetting or even unfair, considering that he fought back against many criminals and unjust forces.
Where Falling Down fails at times is during the scenes where it attempts to do too many things at once. The bits of humor throughout the film are mostly derived from over-the-top scenes, and at times Foster's actions seem cheesy and unrealistic. The fact that the film is two stories in one (Foster and Prendergast) provides a good contrast because the viewer gets to see both sides of the story. On one hand, we see an ordinary family man going bezerk (but in a way most of us can understand) and on the other hand we see a cop who believes Foster is a complete psychopath. Only the audience knows the truth. The film could have done without some of the lame subplots such as Duvall's marriage, even though those scenes illustrate his perception of being "weak" or "whipped". The film sets out to do a lot at once, which is quite necessary to create a thorough storyline, but at times doesn't come out right on film.
One scene that I have always found moving and powerful is the scene where Bill Foster sees the man who is "Not Economically Viable" protesting outside of the bank that denied him a loan. As everyone on the busy street goes about their business and ignores this man, Foster (and the viewer) are focused directly on him. Foster obviously sympathizes with this poor, hardworking man who is also being stepped on by society. As the man is escorted away in the police car he looks directly at Foster and says "don't forget me". In a gesture of sympathy and appreciation, he nods to him. The two characters share a connection. It is especially important to notice the symbolism of this scene. Both men are wearing the exact same outfits: a white short-sleeved dress shirt, black tie and black pants. They are on the opposite sides of the street. When they look at each other, even though they are white and black, it is as though they are looking into a mirror and seeing the same thing: a victim of society.
Overall, a slightly sad story that tries to do a whole lot, succeeds in most of it and provides lots of entertainment. A good storyline and an excellent observation of modern society. -
I think Joel Schumacher is a really terrible filmmaker. Nearly every one of his films is an exercise in flashy stylistics with not a single thing to say. Look no further than his Batman films. But on one occasion, he managed to rise above his desire for eye-candy overkill. And produce something really worthwhile. And Falling Down was that film.
Falling Down would have to be the best film out of Schumacher's mostly awful body of work. Its the one thing he's ever done where he actually forgets about battering an audience into submission with glorious light effects and pretty costumes and sets. He's produced a violent story to be sure. But a curiously humane one too. And Michael Douglas is its human centre.
Douglas plays Bill Foster, a defence worker of seven years who gets laid off. He spends the next month and a half trying to make sense of the tattered shreds of his life. He's a man with no job. No wife and daughter because they've cut him out of their lives. And most importantly, he's a man without purpose.
But on one particularly hot day in LA, he finds a purpose. The opening scene is filled with glaringly aggressive closeups of Douglas' face. Sweating and twitching. All while he's sitting in his car in the middle of an agonisingly slow traffic jam. You know something is coming. Something is about to erupt. And that thing is Bill. In a split-second he snaps, abandons his car and tells the baffled motorist behind him he's going home.
Although Bill is indeed going home to his wife and daughter, he makes a few stops along the way. Bill has become so disillusioned by society's flaws and shortcomings, he feels a need to rectify it by lashing out at the mundane trappings of our everyday lives. With his crew-cut, white shirt and tie, briefcase in one hand and automatic weapon in the other, its Ordinary Joe meets GI Joe.
Its hard to believe Falling Down came from the same director of mindless trash like Batman & Robin. This is an acutely observed portrait of the sorry state of our affairs. And Michael Douglas turns in a real showstopper of an acting performance. Its a style of acting brimming with raw honesty. He plays a man not at the mercy of madness, but someone who's grown accustomed to it. This is the film Michael Douglas should have won an Oscar for.
The film is bold enough to portray Bill as an object of sympathy, even when he's committing shocking acts of violence. Bill is a middle aged man, who felt he was in control all of his life, and when everything that mattered to him fell to dust, it left him a broken man. His new mission gives him something to focus on, but I sense its not quite the liberating experience Bill envisioned it would be. Even when he tries to reassert control, his inherent emptiness still plagues him. What a brave, plaintively truthful performance!
Falling Down has received a fair amount of criticism, especially from racial minorities, who have lambasted the film because Bill's targets appear to be Korean shopkeepers or Latino street gangs. It is easy to view it in that context. That Bill is nothing more than a walking megaphone venting his hatred towards foreigners. But that's too narrow a vision. Schumacher's direction is really more expansive then you realise.
Yes he does trash the Korean's store, because he overcharges for a can of Coke, and Bill won't have enough change left over for the payphone. And yes he beats up Latino thugs. But these are just the bystanders along the way of Bill's inexorable journey. I don't think there's any intentional malice intended there.
And Schumacher's direction is quite excellent. He stages self-contained vignettes that are tiny microcosms of what exactly is wrong with this world. Like the scene at the fast-food restaurant. A classic example of the bureaucratic red tape that deliberately sets out to entangle people like poor Bill. Who hasn't felt like standing up for they're rights as a consumer? Bill can't have breakfast because he's a few minutes late. These are the type of absurdities Bill is campaigning against.
Falling Down works like a steadily unfolding carpet. And as Bill walks through the city of LA, he is wearing out the hollow material that its weaved from. There is a very natural flow to the film. Things fall into place quite beautifully. Such as when Bill makes the decision to carry a bag full of weapons instead of his normal briefcase. This is a man going through a steady metamorphosis from which there is no return.
Some people have felt disappointed by the somewhat low-key ending. But I felt it couldn't have ended any other way. Its an ending of weary resignation. No matter how much Bill has tried to add meaning to his rootless existence, the truth is society may have to live with its flaws. No matter what Bill's efforts.
One of the most daring films of the 90s, and any film that attempts to address society's failings with such frank honesty deserves strong commendation indeed. -
MovieAddict201625 November 2002Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall star in a film that portrays life as true, funny and aggravating as it really is. Douglas is wonderful in his role of an average Joe Schmoe gone haywire, and Robert Duvall is vivid and deep as the cop on the chase.
Falling Down may have a few incredibilities (though I remember going through a lot of situations in the film Douglas went through-though I never was angry enough to pull a shotgun out), but it's more symbolic than anything.
I think the funniest part is the burger restaurant, obviously a mimic of McDonalds, and Douglas' reaction. It's kind of like he realizes, "Hey, I'm this far, why not complain about the burger while I'm at it? It's always bugged me anyway!" Falling Down represents all Americans: the aggravations, road rage we hear about, everything. Every day situations in a new perspective.
5/5 stars-
JOHN ULMER -
drumbeav25 November 2021When this film was first released in 1993 and I caught it on cable tv, I was 25 years old and though I appreciated Michael Douglas' performance at time, the film struck me as the tale of a loser who can't face up to his own shortcomings and finally lashes out at society to cover up his personal failures. What a lame-o, I thought.
Fast forward to 2021, after living in Los Angeles from 2015 to 2019, the collective strain of COVID 19, and at 54, facing up to my own middle-aged mixture of successes, failures, and dreams deferred, I now understand much better how slender is the barrier between walking the straight path, and putting up with all that life throws at you on one side, versus the gratifying abandonment of patience, and tolerance to resort to unabated retaliation against every perceived insult and inconvenience on the other side.
This movie serves as a more relevant than ever lesson in the importance of retaining your sense of self and adherence to the core values that were once so dear and clear. The descent into the role of "Bad Guy" can be deceptively swift and imperceptible and what was merely a darkly comic action thriller to me in the 90's is now a terrifying cautionary tale of a universally relatable protagonist.
In spite of the superb performances delivered by every, single actor in this production, the one character I take away is Vondie Curtis Hall's "Not Economically Viable Man." I haven't forgotten him; neither should you. -
williamdejager31 August 2005Is it just me or is this truly one of the best pictures from the last decade? Michael Douglas delivers an astonishing performance as D-Fens (William Foster) an ordinary guy, who has an obviously perfect job at the department of Defense, until he gets fired and his wife breaks up with him. The following opening credits are, according to my view, some of the best in motion picture history : the whole scene is just so extremely claustrophobic. D - Fens is just ''a victim of the modern age'' just like the writer's wife in A Clockwork Orange (another classic) who cannot stand the normal routine of living anymore, and begins a trial of violence in the asphalt Jungle called Los Angeles.
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rmax30482327 November 2008Above-average tale of a defense plant engineer (Michael Douglas) who loses everything -- his job, his car, his dignity, his temper, his wife, his daughter, his life. We first see him stuck in a Los Angeles traffic jam, bumper to bumper, sweating and fretting, until he walks away from his stalled car and begins to walk "home" -- that is, where his divorced wife (Barbara Hershey) and his young daughter live.
Some home. (Like that in the John Cheever short story, "The Swimmer," it's a fantasy.) As he trudges along in his white shirt, tie, and unhip eyeglasses, he pauses from time to time to phone his wife and tell her he's on his way, because it's his daughter's birthday.
"I know it's Adel's birthday -- what do you want?", she tells him, adding, "I'll call the police if I have to."
Meanwhile, Douglas runs into all kinds of obstacles. A street-wise Korean shopkeeper wants to charge him eighty-five cents for a can of Coke (a big laugh, as of this date) and Douglas blows his cork, smashing some merchandise and walking off with the owner's sawed-off baseball bat.
Things get worse. He crosses paths with some cholos who demand his money and produce a weapon that, when I was a teenager, was widely known as a "Portugese" knife. But he clobbers them with his bat and, later, winds up with a gym bag full of their pistols and automatic weapons. Douglas may be a fruitcake but everyone else is mean too. The confrontations continue and the police, represented by Robert Duvall and Rachel Ticotin, finally get wise to him and track him to the Santa Monica pier where he is more or less holding his wife and child hostage. When Duvall tries to place him under arrest, Douglas asks wonderingly, "I'm the bad guy?" Whatever other things he's lost, self-justification isn't one of them.
From what I'd heard, I hadn't expected much of this film -- another revenge story, along the lines of "Death Wish". But it's actually fairly complex, despite some clumsy moment and many implausibilities. The film's chief weakness is that, though Douglas is clearly around the bend, everybody who gets a taste of his anger somehow has asked for it. The offense can be major -- trying to gun him down on the street -- or minor -- refusing to serve him from the breakfast menu at a burger joint after eleven thirty.
And I don't know if the writer, Ebbe Rowe Smith, intended it this way but both Douglas's ex-wife and Duvall's current wife, played by Tuesday Weld, are both bitches in their different ways. When Douglas has called to say he's on his way home, despite the restraining order, Hershey calls the police and informs them that he has "a tendency towards violence." (He pounded on the door after midnight.) The police ask her if he struck his daughter. No. "Did he -- strike you?" "Not exactly. I didn't want to wait until he got around to it. He COULD -- I think." The cop nods knowingly and makes a note. Abusive husband. That's a cheap, stereotypical shot. Douglas has a restraining order against him because he's suspected of perhaps some day possibly committing a violent act within his family. Kind of a unilateral preemptive move on Hershey's part.
Duvall's wife, Tuesday Weld, is also a thoroughly formulaic figure -- whining, narcissistic, demanding, hypochondriacal, the clear wearer of the pants in the family. Wardrobe and make up have turned her into an ill-groomed slob, but it would have been truer to the character (Duvall: "She lost her beauty.") if she had done her desperate best to look good.
The two wives may be manipulative but Duvall's partner, Rachel Ticotin, comes off as an admirable figure. Not dazzlingly gorgeous, she nevertheless has good, strong features arranged in an uncontrived manner. And she gives a good performance. So does Lois Smith in the small part of Douglas' uncomprehending mother. Some of the bit parts are so poorly done, they're an embarrassment to watch. Douglas himself can't be considered a wildly expressive performer but he successfully suggests the kind of pressure one might find behind a zit that's about to pop. Robert Duvall has given some magisterial performances early in his career -- M*A*S*H and The Godfather among them -- but here rather walks through the part with a lot of pointless or possibly ironic chuckles.
Weaknesses aside, Douglas's character is complicated enough to grip us and the milieu of Los Angeles is captured in all its local color, which varies from indifference to outrage. -
Joel Schumacher's career has gone down the drain since this movie, for now he is just trying to make stupid movies with no sense and style. However this proved to be one of his best films. Michael Douglas portrayed William Forster perfectly, giving us a character who is both sensible and psychotic at the same time. The whole scene with Douglas in the fast food restaurant was priceless, giving a voice to the typical angry consumer. So many messages in the film really brought out the stereotypical infuriated American, and gave us the reactionary nature of such an individual. While this film will most likely leak in to the annals of obscurity, this one will always remain in my video collection.
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rocknrelics19 August 2019Whilst enjoyable, I certainly wouldn't call it a masterpiece of cinema. Yes Michael Douglas is very good indeed, but others aren't so good, and it's a film where for me, all the best bits happen in the first half, and then the second half gets slightly ridiculous and drags a little. One of those films where if you've seen it once, you've seen it, the storyline isn't that complex to need to watch it again, there are no sub plots to miss.
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Raven4597522 January 2002This was one of the best movies in the 90's that all of us stress takers can relate to. He represented us who put up with people's crap all day long and people who spit and walk over his face not being afraid of who he is. Douglas has proved to the world that even the most quiet fellows can be dangerous. I love this movie every step of the way. After watching this movie it seemed as if Duvall and the others were the bad guys and Douglas was the good guy.
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SafReviews9 July 2021This is one of those movies where you are rooting for the bad guy and they are acting so crazy that you enjoy it. I thought the plot was decent and it definitely had some eventful moments, however at times it felt a bit dragged, especially with the scenes about the retiring officer which I didn't care much for. I liked the action scenes a lot and also the outbursts which were funny and made the movie more entertaining. I think this movie would be more criticised and be considered more offensive if it was released today. Overall this is a good movie, but I wish I could've seen more of the main character who was great and a bit less of the retiring officer.
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Mr-Fusion16 March 2015Does everyone in "Falling Down" have to be a dick? Of course not, but that's the movie, apparently. Michael Douglas has had enough of society's decay and proceeds to paint the town to his liking. With guns. There might actually be something to this social drama if everyone he meets wasn't a stereotype: the convenience story guy, the gangbangers, the fast food workers, the construction guy, the entitled golfers . . . they're all irrationally rude and out to ruin his day. This thing's got all the subtlety of a jackhammer.
It also doesn't help that Douglas meets every obstacle with screams and violence. He doesn't do this because of the heat and the stress. He does so because he's been unstable for years. There isn't much commentary to be made if nearly every character in your movie is so poorly drawn, especially if your "average Joe" hero is a sociopathic bully. Robert Duvall has more to work with here, but he takes a backseat to Douglas' obtuse rage. And at the end of the day, after all of the tirades and spent shells, Douglas even has the nerve to ask, "I'm the bad guy? How did that happen?"
This is beyond cheap.
3/10