"Falling Down" with Michael Douglas was on telly last night - what do you make of this film?

It is one of those films that's been on TV about 20 times and has some great parts to it, none of which obscure the fact that the plot and the supposed morality or message of it is just a handy vehicle for Michael Douglas to go on a violent angry rampage and make smart comments to people while he kills them.

The cartoon character in the weapons shop is a particular highlight for me, "THIS WAS ACTUALLY USED", "take it easy Mary" etc etc.

Then there's the fat cat golfers with the heart condition, the cop on his last day, "they told me I was NOT ECONOMICALLY VIABLE!!", "you and me, we're the same", in the end the cop and Michael Douglas are catapulted into an UNLIKELY JUXTAPOSITION as their worldviews align themselves and override their respective positions on planet earth! I love "Falling Down".

despite the intentions of the filmmakers to (i think) show a complex character who is conflicted about race, class, ethnicity etc. and how he can learn from actually being in the world in some way (tho fucked as he is), seeing this movie in a theater full of hooting rednecks was, um, disturbing. american white male triumphalism = dud

A couple of years back I saw an American guy go absolutely batshit in McDonalds in Glasgow because they didn't do burgers during the breakfast period. "I don't want a fucking muffin. If I wanted a fucking muffin I'd go to a muffin restaurant. I want a fucking burger. THIS *IS* MCDONALDS RIGHT? MCDONALDS THE BURGER CHAIN? GET ME A FUCKING BIG MAC!"

xpost

This thread may be of use:

Michael Douglas:The Angriest White Man?

Granted, It was great watching the guy blow stuff up but then slightly disturbing/suspect yet compelling when he says stuff like "You come to my country and then you charge me 80 cents for a soda" and telling people how to speak English etc."

At the same time the character claims he is not a Nazi, but maybe he is and just doesn't realise it or that maybe he's just not that much into gas masks and stuff. I was wondering if some of the different characters could represent political standpoints in this film.

My flatmate commented that "Yes, it's out of order going round blowing things up but in a number of cases I'd feel a bit pissed off with some of the things going on". He cited the thugs who try to mug Douglas and also the restaurant scene in particular. I felt as though it wasn't justified. It isn't a man's god given right to be allowed a breakfast burger at a certain time of the day; there is no rule that says you shouldn't pay more than x amount of money for a drink of coke. If you don't like it then go somewhere else or go straight to the root. It's not the gappy manager's fault they can't sell breakfast after a certain time, it's his boss's - so complain to McDonalds instead of making a scene.

Michael Douglas is a customer services nightmare, a horrible "I wanna speak to the manager" twunt who throws his toys out the pram when he doesn't get his way. Sure, it's funny and that may be the point but I'm discounting this for now, Falling Down being not necessarily a comedy.

Going back to the political agenda, I had a feeling that the Douglas character represented some kind of extreme Republicanism gone mad. He may not be a Nazi, but he gets mad at all the wrong people; telling tramps to get a job or blowing the shit out of a diner just because of the restaurant policy dictated by higher authorities. He is basically taking all his aggression out on the little man or every day life, which could well be the point of the film of course.

As the film progressed, my view of the film changed slightly, mostly because D-Fens' (Douglas) character is said to have had "issues" in the past. This kind of ruins the film as someone said upthread. Suddenly all of the previous violence becomes pointless seeing as D-Fens is just some nutter who is having a bad day. I would have preferred it if he was just a normal guy with an agenda.

More thoughts later. Sorry it's skewed but the phone keeps ringing.

Though it was rather fuzzy on whether you were supposed to be sympathetic with Douglas at any time, I personally couldn't find myself to be at all. The plain fact that his ex-wife didn't want anything to do with him and there appeared to be no love lost at the end confirmed this for me.

Have you seen Flawless? I think it's quite good, though not, er, flawless. It has a perfect P. S. Hoffmann performance and Robert de Niro in one of the few interesting roles he's had in the last ten years. Phone Booth is also surprisingly good, it's sort of a modern morality play in the form of a thriller.

It's interesting because I start off the film wondering whether I'm supposed to be sympathetic towards this guy. His rants are earnest and coherent (despite being completely wrong) to begin with but I can't bring myself to agree with him. By the end of the film, any sympathy I had was gone. The bit at the end where he asks "So I'M the bad guy?", you kindof think that there's going to be some big point made but there isn't.

It's very similar to Falling Down in the way that it's about someone taking a tiny little grudge against the way people go about their daily business and then thinking it's justified to use lots of weapons to demonstrate that point.

Oh yeah I'd forgotten about this 10 pound sledge hammer of a line.

Also there was always this 'I just want to get home, to see my family' overlay of emotional blackmail from Douglas which added to the confusion of his characters innocence. I just couldn't help but end up thinking 'hang on a minute the guys a menace!' ARREST HIM THIS INSTANCE!

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12026391

a pissed-off yuppie wandering around L.A. trying it

loooool

(It was...)

Val Kilmer's lips

http://www.tvjab.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/val-kilmer-hollywood-collectors-celebrities-show-fall-2003-guwryr.jpg

traffic in l.a. is the worst but still not so bad that walking across the city will get you there quicker. *shakes head sadly*

When that movie came at in 1993, anxiety about corporate downsizing and immigration/affirmative action was starting to reach a real fever pitch. The economy was in the middle of a "jobless recovery" and Ward Connerly et al were just starting to get a lot of national notice. It's pretty interesting when viewed through that historical prism.

Uh oh, I think it's time for Falling Down II.

this movie is only good if you don't watch it with other people