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Falling Down

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This article is about the film. For other uses, see Falling Down (disambiguation).
Falling Down
A poster depicting an older man standing on a concrete platform, wearing a business outfit, holding a briefcase and a shotgun. Above, in black letters, it reads: "Michael Douglas". Below, in large white letters over a red background, it reads: "Falling Down". Beneath that, with the film credits, it reads in small white letters: "A Joel Schumacher Film". In the background are skyscrapers and a smog filled sky.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJoel Schumacher
Written byEbbe Roe Smith
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyAndrzej Bartkowiak
Edited byPaul Hirsch
Music byJames Newton Howard
Production
companies
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • February 26, 1993 (1993-02-26)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$25 million[1]
Box office$40.9 million[2] (U.S.)

Falling Down is a 1993 crime thriller film directed by Joel Schumacher and written by Ebbe Roe Smith.[3] The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster, a divorced and unemployed former defense engineer. The film centers on Foster as he treks on foot across the city of Los Angeles, trying to reach the house of his estranged ex-wife in time for his daughter's birthday. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, causes him to react with increasing violence and make sardonic observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism. Robert Duvall co-stars as Martin Prendergast, an aging Los Angeles Police Department sergeant on the day of his retirement, who faces his own frustrations - even as he tracks down Foster.

Plot

William Foster is recently divorced, and his ex-wife Beth has a restraining order to keep him away from her and their child, Adele. In addition, he was recently laid off from his job. His frustration grows when his air conditioning fails while he is stuck in traffic. He abandons his car and begins walking across L.A. to attend Adele’s birthday party.

At a convenience store, the Korean owner refuses to give change for a telephone call. Foster begins ranting about the high prices. The owner grabs a baseball bat and demands Foster leave. Foster takes the bat and destroys much of the merchandise before leaving. Shortly thereafter, while resting on a hill, he is accosted by two gang members, who threaten him with a knife and demand his briefcase. Foster attacks them with the bat and takes their knife.

The two gang members, now in a car with two friends, cruise the streets and find Foster in a phone booth. They open fire, hitting several bystanders but not Foster. The driver loses control and crashes. Foster picks up a gun, shoots the one surviving gang member in the leg, and then leaves with their bag of weapons. Foster encounters a panhandler and gives him the briefcase, which only contains his lunch.

At a fast-food restaurant, Foster attempts to order breakfast, but they have switched to the lunch menu. After an argument with the manager, Foster pulls a gun and fires into the ceiling accidentally. After trying to reassure the frightened employees and customers, he orders lunch, but is annoyed when the burger looks nothing like the one shown on the menu. He leaves, tries to call Beth from a phone booth, then shoots the booth to pieces after being hassled by someone who was waiting to use the phone.

Sergeant Prendergast, who is on his last day before retirement, insists on investigating the crimes. Interviews with the witnesses at each scene lead Prendergast to realize that the same person may be responsible. Foster's “D-FENS” vanity license plate proves to be an important lead, because Prendergast remembers being in the same traffic jam as Foster earlier that day. Prendergast and his partner, Detective Torres, visit Foster's mother, who is surprised to learn that Foster lost his job. They realize Foster is heading toward his former family's home in Venice, California and rush to intercept him.

Foster passes a bank where a black man is protesting after being rejected for a loan application. The man exchanges a glance with Foster and says "don't forget me" as he is escorted away by police. Foster stops at a military surplus store to buy a new pair of shoes. The owner, a white supremacist, diverts Torres’s attention when she comes in to ask questions. After she leaves, he offers Foster a rocket launcher, and congratulates him for shooting "a bunch of niggers" at the Whammy Burger. When Foster expresses distaste for the store owner's racism, the man pulls a gun, tells him he is "going to jail" and attempts to handcuff him, but Foster stabs him with the gang member's knife, then shoots him. He changes into army fatigues and boots, takes the rocket launcher, and leaves.

He encounters a road repair crew, who are not working, and accuses them of doing unnecessary repairs to justify their budget. He pulls out the rocket launcher, but struggles to use it, until a boy explains how it works. Foster accidentally fires the launcher, blowing up the construction site. By the time Foster reaches Beth’s house, she has already fled with Adele. He realizes that they may have gone to nearby Venice Pier, but Prendergast and Torres arrive before he can go after them. Foster shoots Torres and flees, with Prendergast in pursuit.

At the end of the pier, Foster confronts his ex-wife and daughter. His daughter is happy to see him, but his ex-wife is frightened. Prendergast arrives and acknowledges Foster's complaints about being ill-treated by society, but does not accept that as an excuse for his rampage. Distracting Foster, Beth kicks the gun away as Prendergast draws his revolver, insisting that Foster give himself up. Foster pulls a water gun, forcing Prendergast to shoot him dead.

Cast

Production

Development

Falling Down was being shot on locations in Lynwood, California when the 1992 Los Angeles riots began. By April 30, the riots were sufficiently disruptive to force filming to stop early that day.[4] Film crews produced more footage inside of Warner Bros. Studio, in Burbank, as the riots continued. By May 4, when the crew intended to resume in Pasadena, initial requests to do so were denied, causing delays.[5] Filming wrapped in late June 1992.[6] Production designer Barbara Ling said, "We mapped this so that you really were going across [Los Angeles] from Silver Lake down to mid-city to Koreatown."[7]

In an interview less than a week before Falling Down's release, screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith gave his interpretation of what the movie was about. "To me, even though the movie deals with complicated urban issues, it really is just about one basic thing: The main character represents the old power structure of the U.S. that has now become archaic, and hopelessly lost. And that way, I guess you could say D-FENS is like Los Angeles. For both of them, it's adjust-or-die time ..."[8]

Casting

Foster's signature haircut was the idea of Joel Schumacher and the movie's hairstylist Lynda Gurasich. Douglas commented on how it helped him get into the character of a veteran of the military or defense industry, "It gave me the feeling of the late 50s and the early 60s, and somehow my character you kinda have the feeling that he came from another time, or he wished or he hoped for another time when things made sense." Douglas would add concerning the character, "There's a lot of people who are a paycheck away from being on the streets and being out of work who did everything right, they've been responsible, they tried hard, [and] they don't know what went wrong! We won the war, where's it all at?"[9]

Reception

Box office

The film grossed $40.9 million against a $25 million budget. It took the top spot in United States domestic box office totals in its first two weeks of release (February 26–28 and March 5–7, 1993). Falling Down pushed the previous top movie, Groundhog Day, into the second place box-office spot for both those weeks.[10]

Critical reception

Contemporary

Contemporary reviews of the film were generally positive. Falling Down holds a 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 56 reviews, with the site's consensus stating; "Falling Down's popcorn-friendly take on its complex themes proves disquieting—and ultimately fitting for a bleakly entertaining picture of one man's angry break with reality."[11] and a score of 56 out of 100 ("mixed or average reviews") on Metacritic.[12][13] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a "B" grade on an A+-to-F scale. [14]

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "the most interesting, all-out commercial American film of the year to date, and one that will function much like a Rorschach test to expose the secrets of those who watch it."[3] Philip Thomas of Empire magazine wrote in his review of the film, "While the morality of D-Fens's methods are questionable, there's a resonance about his reaction to everyday annoyances, and Michael Douglas' hypnotic performance makes it memorable."[15] James Berardinelli wrote: "Falling Down is replete with gallows humor, almost to the point where it could be classified as a 'black comedy'."[16] John Truby calls the film "an anti-Odyssey story" about "the lie of the American Dream".[17] He adds "I can't remember laughing so hard in a movie."[17]

Roger Ebert, who gave the film a positive review at the time of its release, wrote:

Some will even find it racist because the targets of the film's hero are African-American, Latino and Korean—with a few whites thrown in for balance. Both of these approaches represent a facile reading of the film, which is actually about a great sadness which turns into madness, and which can afflict anyone who is told, after many years of hard work, that he is unnecessary and irrelevant... What is fascinating about the Douglas character, as written and played, is the core of sadness in his soul. Yes, by the time we meet him, he has gone over the edge. But there is no exhilaration in his rampage, no release. He seems weary and confused, and in his actions he unconsciously follows scripts that he may have learned from the movies, or on the news, where other frustrated misfits vent their rage on innocent bystanders.[18]

The Washington Post writer Hal Hinson observed:

This guy is you, the movie suggests, and if not you exactly, then maybe the guy you're one or two bad breaks from becoming. At one time or another, we've all thought these thoughts, and so when this downtrodden, laid-off, teed-off L.A. defense worker gets out of his car on a sweltering day in the middle of rush hour and decides he's not going to take any more, it comes as no surprise", adding "as he did in Fatal Attraction and Wall Street, Douglas again takes on the symbolic mantle of the Zeitgeist. But in Falling Down, he and Schumacher want to have their cake and eat it too; they want him to be a hero and a villain, and it just won't work.[19]

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film four stars out of five, writing:

There's no denying the power of the tale or of Douglas's riveting performance—his best and riskiest since Wall Street. Douglas neither demonizes nor canonizes this flawed character. Marching across a violent urban landscape toward an illusory home, this shattered Everyman is never less than real ... "I'm the bad guy?" he asks in disbelief. Douglas speaks the line with a searing poignancy that illuminates uncomfortable truths without excusing the character. Schumacher could have exploited those tabloid headlines about solid citizens going berserk. Instead, the timely, gripping Falling Down puts a human face on a cold statistic and then dares us to look away.[20]

At the time of its release Douglas's father, actor Kirk Douglas, declared "He played it brilliantly. I think it is his best piece of work to date."[21] He also defended the film against critics who claimed that it glorifies lawbreaking: "Michael's character is not the 'hero' or 'newest urban icon'. He is the villain and the victim. Of course, we see many elements of our society that contributed to his madness. We even pity him. But the movie never condones his actions."[21]

Contextually, Falling Down was released in theatres less than one year after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In them, the targeting of Korean-Americans and their businesses by rioters was a point of fact. The Korean American Coalition[22] and Korean Grocers Association[23] protested the film for its treatment of minorities, especially the Korean grocer. Warner Brothers Korea canceled the release of Falling Down in South Korea following boycott threats.[24] The outcry by the Grocers Association in particular was sufficient to see Michael Douglas meet with members at Warner Brothers Studio because they "were there and they were pissed. So we had a conversation and I told them, 'Look, I'm very sorry, but there's a reason the screenwriter picked certain things to put in the film.'"[25] Unemployed defense workers were also angered at their portrayal in the film.[22]

The character of D‑FENS was featured on magazine covers, including the March 29, 1993 issue[26] of Newsweek magazine, and reported upon as an embodiment of the "angry white male" stereotype.[27]

Later opinions

On the 25th anniversary of the film's release, film critic April Wolfe of LA Weekly wrote that it "remains one of Hollywood's most overt yet morally complex depictions of the modern white-victimization narrative, one both adored and reviled by the extreme right". Wolfe said "Today, we might see D-Fens and the white supremacist as the infighting sides of the far right — one couches racism in coded words like "thug," while the other wants an outright ethnic cleanse. Ultimately, what both want is to return to their idea of a purer America, unburdened by the concerns of minorities and women". Wolfe suggested that Rupert Murdoch would "go on to bottle that fury and package it as patriotism" in creating Fox News.[28]

In 2012, Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club was critical of the '90s film "that most stands out for me from that era, because it's such a ham-handed, wrong-headed, self-congratulatory attempt to encapsulate its era's spirit". Robinson added "the film treats virtually everyone around him [D-FENS] as worthless, and presents his violence as the comedic payoff, turns it into a tone-deaf, self-pitying lament about the terrible persecution facing the oppressed majority in an era of political correctness and increasing multiculturalism." She finishes her short review with, "It's a profoundly hateful film disguised alternately (and erratically) as either tragedy or humor."[29] An earlier 2008 review on the site was positive, saying, "Heat used as a metaphor for simmering rage is nothing new, but few films execute sweaty psychosis as well."[30]

Accolades

In other media

Falling Down has been the inspiration of musical artists such as Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters, Front Line Assembly and Heart Attack Man. The Iron Maiden song "Man on the Edge" is a basic summary of Falling Down, beginning with describing the opening traffic jam, and ending with describing the birthday present Foster buys for his daughter. The Foo Fighters' song "Walk" has a music video that is a recreation of scenes from Falling Down. The Front Line Assembly album Millennium contains several samples from various scenes from Falling Down. The Heart Attack Man song "Out For Blood" was inspired by the anger and frustration weaved through Falling Down which weaves through the rest of their album Fake Blood.

In the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, a character resembling Foster recreates the rocket launcher scene in a cutscene, blowing up a construction site before walking away with a duffel bag.

Frank Grimes, a one-off character on The Simpsons episode "Homer's Enemy" is modeled after Foster, having the same flat-top haircut and white shirt and briefcase.

The band Slipknot sampled the famous "Freedom of Speech" clip in two songs: some earlier versions of "Gently", and "Interloper".

In the song "I'm in it", American musician Kanye West references the film when he raps "Time to take it too far now/Michael Douglas out the car now".

References

  1. ^ "Falling Down (1993)". IMDb. May 25, 1993. Retrieved June 23, 2020.
  2. ^ "Falling Down (1993)". Box Office Mojo. May 25, 1993. Retrieved June 15, 2012.
  3. ^ a b Canby, Vincent (February 26, 1993). "Falling Down (1993) Review/Film; Urban Horrors, All Too Familiar". The New York Times.
  4. ^ "3 May 1992". Southern Illinoisan. p. 11. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  5. ^ "Hollywood Film Crews Encounter Riot Delays". The Los Angeles Times. 1992-05-05. Retrieved 2016-10-11.
  6. ^ "Surprise". Detroit Free Press. 23 Jun 1992. p. 25. Retrieved 2016-10-12.
  7. ^ "Setting a Path Across L.A. With the Unhinged Antihero of 'Falling Down'". L.A. TACO. February 25, 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-05.
  8. ^ Murphy, Ryan (February 21, 1993). "MOVIES : 'Falling Down' Writer Has Seen the Future: It's L.A." Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  9. ^ Tibbits, John C. Falling Down: Conversations About the Film. University of Kansas.
  10. ^ "Groundhog Day (1993)—Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  11. ^ Rotten Tomatoes – Falling Down
  12. ^ Metacritic – Falling Down
  13. ^ "Metacritic score". IMDb. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)
  14. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 2018-12-20.
  15. ^ Empire Online – Falling Down Review
  16. ^ "Reelviews Movie Reviews". Reelviews.net. 1993-02-26. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
  17. ^ a b "Falling Down". Truby.com.
  18. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 26, 1993). "Falling Down". RogerEbert.com. Ebert Digital LLC. Retrieved July 4, 2018.
  19. ^ Hinson, Hal (February 26, 1993). "Falling Down". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  20. ^ Travers, Peter (February 26, 1993). "Falling Down". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on April 23, 2014. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  21. ^ a b "Kirk Douglas Defends Son". McCook Daily Gazette. March 23, 1993. Retrieved 2012-06-28.
  22. ^ a b Appelo, Tim (March 12, 1993). "'Down' Beat—Up in arms over Falling Down—Laid-off workers are offended by the Michael Douglas film". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
  23. ^ ""Falling Down" Under Fire". The Tennessean. 1993-03-03. Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  24. ^ "'Falling Down' won't play Korea." Rocky Mountain News, March 10, 1994.
  25. ^ "Michael Douglas on 8 of his greatest roles, from Gordon Gekko to Liberace". Retrieved 2016-10-06.
  26. ^ "White Male Paranoia". Newsweek. 1993-03-28. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  27. ^ Carl Scott Gutiérrez-Jones (2001). Critical race narratives. NYU Press. pp. 61–65. ISBN 978-0-8147-3145-1.
  28. ^ Wolfe, April (2017-04-26). "Hey, White People: Michael Douglas Is the Villain, Not the Victim, in Falling Down". L.A. Weekly. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
  29. ^ Staff, A.V. Club (2012-10-12). "Our most-hated movies of the '90s". Film. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  30. ^ Staff. "It's not the heat, it's the intensity: 13 memorable films set during heat waves". Film. Retrieved 2018-05-30.
  31. ^ "Festival de Cannes: Falling Down". festival-cannes.com. Archived from the original on 2009-10-03. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  32. ^ "Category List – Best Motion Picture". The Edgars. Retrieved 2019-07-02.

Further reading

Wikiquote has quotations related to Falling Down.
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