I loved this movie because it came out what I was fairly young and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I love the way Micheal Douglas looked so different than anything else he was in previous. An amazingly shocking movie.
@@RoloT007 I watched this again few years ago, and I realized this guy was a bad person all along. In the beginning we learn that he is flawed (not perfect) his action was in the face of dangers, but though his action led to more depraved stuff like stalking his wife and daughter, so goes beyond the one-day mythos that I believe the movie might have been pitched as when it came out (namely Roger Ebert) but I think it goes deeper than that.
Pfeifers scene is damn memorable! It is incredible either in the script or directing. The manager is responsible for everyone. But the register part time kid could careless and is actually disarming with her smile. Her inner rebel loves the anarchy. All those employees hate their job. Its such a relatable and well done scene. Michael douglas plays it so damn well.
I always thought it was intentional, as if she was meant to look like she was secretly cheering on the D Fens character. It's realistic. More young girls than boys fantasize about a Bonnie and Clyde scenario.
You could even say she finds him highly attractive for the way he's ordering her boss around and she loves it. The fact that it was just an actress who just couldn't stop giggling makes this whole scene feel so much more natural.
I'm a retired military officer. I'm also a retired federal civilian employee. I was not offended by this movie in the least. (I'm also a golfer and remained unoffended.) I really enjoyed this film and still do. He's just one guy, and a fictional one at that.
I first saw Falling Down in 1993. Then I thought it was a good movie. In the past 30 years, it has gotten even better and more relevant with time. Now, I think it's a great movie! 💯
I think Sheila knew William snapped and it amused her because she came to Hollywood to be a movie star/singer/model or get married to one and her dream was still within realistic reach and Whammy Burger was a temporary pitstop but she hates her job, her co-workers, the rude customers and especially her manager because he was always being creepy and had BO. If there's a part 2 it should be about Sheila still working at Whammy Burger 30+ years later and finally falling down herself.
That! That is a movie I'd LOVE to see, and one they'll never make. I can see her working that job for years, only ever getting bit parts in commercials. Everytime she goes into an acting gig they suggest she has more work done, to the point where her medical debt is bigger than her student loans. Years go by and she's assistant manager, but she hates her job, her crummy apartment, her life. She's not able to see her own son. She goes into an acting gig and one of the jerks that kept telling her to get work done hires an actor because she's an activist but has no skill as an actor and is a crap human being and looks a lot worse than her. That's when she loses it.
The sequal was made. It's called "They Live". "Falling Down" is the exact scenario government and law enforcement in general think is boiling just under the surface of every single civilian, and could erupt at any moment if not for their vigilant benevolent yet brutal control. They couldn't rationalize their behavior any other way. The saying "the thin blue line", the second half of which is "...is all that stands between society and chaos" is the mantra they tell themselves to justify nearly any atrocity. If you read this and scoff, it's only because you have avoided being targeted, either because you activity totally submit, or just by chance haven't experienced the authentic treatment by "the system". And if you don't believe that, you're in the second camp and there's still hope for you. You're one police interaction away from seeing the truth. If you're in the former camp, there is no judgement, just acknowledge the actual state of things.
@@Carnyx_1 Actually I would say Teotor Burger and Teotor City could be the result of Sheila's breakdown, a dystopian world where criminals are used as meat and handed out to the homeless in an overpopulated America. If you haven't seen them I highly recommend, brought to you by the production company Bloody Disgusting, the folks behind Art The Clown and the Terrifier series so you know the gore is going to be over-the -top brutality that could almost be pornographic on a sick and twisted level.
Or the creepy manager pulls some harassment on her, she sues Whammy Burger for tens of millions, wins and gets ownership. At that point she changes the policy to a more flex breakfast/lunch anytime menu. Pretty soon Sheila is a billionaire- she foresees this opportunity and that is why she is smiling.
Just gifted this for my Dad this Xmas, and then bought it for myself on Amazon Prime. I was 7 when my Father and I watched this. The Whamy Burger scene was always our favorite. Throughout the years, my family and I can always reference any one of these scenes. They are all so memorable and funny in a f'd up way. It's almost a dark comedy but it does become more and more relevant as it ages. This movie deserves post awards, years later for how good it is.
I'm glad you brought up the "Not Economically Viable" character! Many miss the connection between him & D-Fens I had also hoped that a spin-off movie starring NEV in his own rampage would be made.
What's refreshing is the fact the character is black, they & didn't put him as another middle aged white guy having a meltdown. It just showed that it was men from a particular era that had no place.
@@Zerofightervi true. Easily could have been a total clone but they did something different. And it fits well with the army surplus store scene when D-Fens clearly shows he's not a racist. D-Fens seems not economically viable as a kindred spirit not someone less than himself. It's possible that's why, symbolically speaking, the two are dressed the same. Maybe D-fens sees NEV but is just imagining them dressed the same?
@@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145 I'm rewatching it as I type this message. It's a film full of little nods to a similar theme. Getting old. Dct Prendergast is belittled throughout is last day on the police force, you get the sense he wasn't taken all that seriously throughout his career. His wife who struggles with getting old having been a looker in her younger years. The Nev not being ' economically viable ' probably due to his age . In a way the Army surplus guy is someone struggling with a world that's left his bigoted views behind that would have been more popular in his youth. It's a great film & it's one that definitely deserves it's cult following.
@@Zerofightervi agreed. It's an amazing & deep film. One can also see how at films start we are, as an audience, are meant to sympathize with D-fens. He's relatable & standing up for himself. But bit by bit through the film we get hints that maybe he isn't so good. He apparently was at times verbally harsh to his exwife (although exwife clearly says he wasn't physically violent), he does assault people and hold the burger place hostage at gun point. Etc. at the end even D-fens asks "I'm the bad guy? How'd that happen??" We still hold sympathy for the man but also might question if he was really justified. If he's a hero or a villan: and what that means for us the audience in that we cheered for him. Rather morally thought-provoking! It's just an amazing film that really deserves it's praise as you said.
@@Zerofightervi And the two men were dressed exactly the same - white shirt, dark striped tie and dark slacks. Ignoring skin color, they could have been the same person.
As far as Pfeigger's giggling - I always took that as her being a sarcastic, cynical teen who enjoyed watching her supervisor being terrified. She even seems to connect with D-fens, maybe even taking pleasure in watching him actually doing things she may have fantasized about. I thought it worked perfectly.
I saw this film randomly on tv one night as a 12 year old. I loved it! I'd never seen a film like it before and it's stayed with me my whole life. Douglas' best performance, in my opinion.
I saw it in the theater when it originally came out. I later bought the DVD several years later. Have always liked this film. Great performance by Douglas.
I always interpreted Sheila not being scared as her character was a reflection of someone who knows they have a bullsh*t job that is ridiculous and boring and meaningless and any excitement is better than a normal day, plus she hates the manager so it’s fun to see him sh*t his pants. D fence is the old era of jobs but Sheila is a reflection of the new era of meaningless McJobs - and also a bit of a reflection of the whole slacker genre that came later in films like Kids and Bully etc
Same here. I thought she just really hated her job and her manager, and was a little broken herself, so she thought the whole situation was the best thing she was ever going to see.
Ive been clean from drink and drugs now for just over 8 years. Like everyone i have good and bad days. And on bad days, i usually stick one of your videos on, even if its just in the background and it really makes me feel like i have a friend in the room. So, if you are every wondering if you make a difference, just remember that you, amongst others, really do save peoples lives. Thankyou and keep up the amazing work!! X
Brilliant movie and performance. To give a little historical perspective, in the mid 80s to early 90s American companies were starting layoffs and re organizations. This was the beginning of the workers losing their loyalty to their companies. To me it was not about out of work defense industry workers but rather the realization by Michael Douglas' character that "I did everything they told me" but still got screwed by the "system" and was applicable to anyone who got laid off or knew someone who was.
It captured what was happening all around me at the time. The idyllic suburb I grew up in was built in the early 60s for all the defense workers at the headquarters of McDonnell-Douglass during the height of the Cold War. Some of my friend's dads were D-Fens's. One was a good Christian man who later questioned the morality of his role in helping design weapons and things to protect America. In the early 90s the layoffs hit hard, my mom used to go to the "nicer" areas to hit all the garage sales as those people all took early retirement or found something else to do and were selling everything off and moving out in scores. 30 years ago it was a rather boring, 90% white suburb that was a nice place to raise a family. I rarely knew people who locked their doors. Today gunfire is often heard in the distance. But anyway the families I knew all made it through okay, because they were families. Many men of the time questioned their place in a changing world they didn't recognize anymore and didn't snap, as they had success in their personal lives and people to live for. D-Fens didn't have anybody. The failed relationship and failure as a father was his last straw in a world that seemed to keep disappointing him despite his best efforts, no matter how ineffective they progressively became. It could have just as easily been a movie about a guy who shoots up his former workplace though. It was definitely more universal than just being limited to defense workers. This was the time of NAFTA and outsourcing and downsizing and lots of American jobs disappearing. A guy like D-Fens was just too old to start over, "overeducated and underskilled," or maybe that's the other way around. Simply put, he wasn't Economically Viable. To the workforce, to women, and society overall. Old white guys were no longer necessary, they were no longer the target audience and no longer in demand. It's a very cautionary tale about a lot of things, really. Loyalty and respect and decency seemed important to D-Fens, and they seemed to be in short supply. The great Bobcat Goldthwait dark comedy "God Bless America" had a line about "what's the point of having a society if we're no longer interested in acting civilized?" Look at Los Angeles today, there are now 100 of the guy who lives in the park in every park. D-Fens was rightfully annoyed at the callous indifference and savagery around him. It's not just a cautionary tale about a guy who snaps but also about an entire city that stopped caring. It's why Prendergast's arc is so important, he decided he still cared. D-Fens wasn't able to. It actually ends rather hopeful despite the demise of D-Fens. Or because of it.
I loved the smiling girl in the burger spot. For me she was smiling because she enjoyed the revenge on the probable bad manager and the establishments stupid rules. Sort of enjoying Defense "giving it to the man"
@@kevinpaynter So, giving to the society... Giving sh*t? Like, society was bad then? If that is the case today there should be revolutions going on all over the globe.
This film is up there with Taxi Driver, and Joker in terms of it being really subversive. It gets the audience rooting for someone who becomes the worst kind of person during the course of the film. Joel Schumacher has the misfortune of mainly being remembered for the campy '90s Batman movies but he made some incredible movies prior to those. Dfens works well as a character because he reflects the experiences of so many man who enter middle age, sadly become culturally irrelevant, and often have their marriages and careers cut short. It's a sort of 'Black Pill' movie, which should serve as a cautionary tale, that despite life's frustrations and cruelties, we must do our best not to let this injustice set the tone for the rest of our days. EDIT: wrote this at the 'symbolic twin' part. You went on to cover my points at the end of the video. Well done, Minty!
Of the three, Joker is by far the most lacking in the ability to express a coherent message about people neglected by society and hierarchy. The idea that audiences might become sympathetic towards the main character is simply ludicrous. There is, even in the spectrum of alienated characters, a world of difference between an individual who fixates their resentments upon one individual, only to inadvertently find redemption through a selfless act for another; an 'economically unviable' man who begins to act out their frustrations in outbursts of destruction; and a person with mental illness who won't take their meds and allows free reign to their drives to become a serial killer whilst blaming everybody for their murder spree because they didn't laugh at his god-awful jokes. In Falling Down, D-Fens has a final revelation that he might have gone too far, and makes a decision to end the problem. The Joker character, in stark contrast, understands nothing about himself and learns nothing about himself, ending the film even more convinced of his wrong-headed perspective about why he should be seen as the true victim... as opposed to all the people he has murdered to achieve absolutely no positive change for the mentally-ill or himself, but a delusional sense of self-worth through negative attention.
Falling Down pulls too many punches to be on the same level as Taxi Driver. Joker has a great finale and Phoenix's performance is top notch, but it's too derivative of Scorsese and not quite as smart as it tries to be. It IS one of the best superhero genre movies of all time, though.
There are two kinds of people: those who identify with Dfens and live vicariously through his actions that they would never take, and those who live in fear that used and discarded men have the potential to actually lash out this way. The former just want some empathy, while the latter want to see us put in a cop car and taken away as is done to Not Economically Viable Man.
11th Thing You Didn't Know About Falling Down Because 11 Is Higher Than 10. Iron Maiden recorded the song Man On The Edge for the 1995 album The X-Factor, written by guitarist Janick Gers and vocalist Blaze Baily after watching the movie, it was during that period 1994-1999 when Bruce Dickinson was doing his solo thing, IMHO it sounds so much better when Bruce Dickinson sings it live. The Lyrics to Man On The Edge: The freeway is jammed And it's backed up for miles The car is an oven and baking is wild Nothing is ever the way it should be What we deserve we just don't get you see A briefcase, a lunch and a man on the edge Each step gets closer to losing his head Is someone in heaven are they looking down 'Cause nothing is fair just you look around Falling down Falling down Falling down... He's sick of waiting of lying like this There's a hole in the sky for the angels to kiss Branded a leper because you don't fit In the land of the free You can live by your wits Once he built missiles a nations defence Now he can't even give birthday presents Across the city he leaves in his wake A glimpse of the future a cannibal state Falling down Falling down Falling down... The freeway is jammed and its backed up for miles The car is an oven and baking is wild Nothing is ever the way it should be What we deserve we just don't get you see A briefcase, a lunch, and a man on the edge Each step gets closer to losing his head Is someone in heaven are they looking down Nothing is fair just you look around Falling down Falling down Falling down... Falling down Falling down Falling down...
@@joconnell8145 True 'nuff. And Skoll's user name tells me that he's one of those Far Right cultists who still blame ANTIFA for J/6. Some of those nametags are just as bad as having a swastika tattoo, but at least they reveal themselves publicly making it easier to know whether or not to block them from further idiotic comments.
What always got me about the “Wammy burger scene” was that in the movie it was just past 11:30am and the restaurant had just started serving lunch but it appeared that most of the seated customers were already eating lunch.
There's some pure genius subtly integrated into the backgrounds of multiple shots that aid in the emotional aspect of the scene. Yellow/Amber/Orange colors are used for sets with D-Fens expressing anger and frustration and Blue used for scenes of melancholy and sadness (particularly from home movie sequences).
To this day, it's still one of my favorite films! Back then teenage me related so much to Michael Douglas' character in feeling like the world had rejected me. A true classic!
I remember randomly seeing this at the dollar theater with my friend when I was 13. We were at the mall just hanging out, and the mall had a dollar theater attached to it. Just being kids looking for something to do, we went to see what movies were playing, and the one that was about to start just happened to be "Falling Down." (Yes, we were sold tickets to an R rated movie. I never thought twice about it til just now.) We actually enjoyed the movie it was compelling and still is.
One of the things that's integral to the character is the journey. In Douglas' character's head, he sees he had the perfect family and life. He doesn't recognize that his wife was terrified of him, that his daughter was scared, that he scared his own mother. Everyone around him expected him to snap.
I think the journey is simply a surrogate goal for DFENS. It is something he can work towards and accomplish; he can make progress. He needs an accomplishment and has made an arbitrary choice in the gift for his daughter/seeing/getting to her. If nothing else, he will succeed at this one self assigned task. Consequences be damned this one is going in the "win" column.
It's also part of the story that no one around him had any empathy towards him. He's busy living up to what society expected, and the rest are all applying a different ideal upon him. Eventually he can't accomplish either.
Yeah that guys life was changing a lot too, happens to be last day on the job, got the wife at home. I got the vibe he wasn’t really ready for retirement like, “what the hell am I going to do with my life now?”.
I saw Duvall's character the same as Douglas'. Just, different because of little que's in their lives that they dealt with differently. In each guy, they define their existences through their jobs. Duvall has an insane bitch for a wife, and Douglas looks to have had a family but is separated somehow, its not stated in the movie, just inferenced, because he's trying to get to his little girls birthday party. They each deal with characters through the day that push their buttons. Remember, its Duvall's last day before retirement. He doesn't want to do anything dangerous that could get him shot. Each character has to push through situations and characters that offer nothing but tension and enmity. By the time they meet on the pier, Duvall has lost his partner, his wife is beyond insane, & Douglas has been told by his wife to forget coming to their daughters birthday; even the sno-globe gets broken. How they both dealt with these problems is what sets them apart. Other than that, they were basically the same character. The "not viable" guy is just a "red herring" for Douglas that reinforces his viewpoint that the world is f***ed and he just wants to get off the merry-go-round. Duvall realizes his wife is insane, but prefers to hold on to her because of who, and what she represents in his life; stability in an insane world. Douglas only breaks at the end when he realizes, "I'm the bad guy?" It's almost cathartic that he dies, and gets flipped into the ocean, to be pulled out to sea. Devoured by the ocean.
I think that the "Not Economical Viable" man looking exactly like the protagonist is another way to show how generic and forgotten the protagonist fells. There is nothing to make them unique.
Honestly i always thought and still think the NEV man was merely a figment of William Foster’s imagination and always noticed the butt balloon but didn’t know that Michelle Pfeiffer’s sister Deedee was in Falling Down. I only remember her from the CBS sitcom series known as Cybill that ran from 1995-1998 as the titular character’s sister. I still can’t believe that this movie bumped Groundhog Day off the #1 spot at that point and time in 1993. Great movie and a phenomenal reflection and analysis! #JoelSchumacher #MichaelDouglas #FallingDown
@@aquariandawn4750 LOL me too. As for the wokeness, I think it's silly, but it doesn't get me bent out of shape. I just ignore it. If anyone insisted I use certain pronouns with them, I would just elect to never talk to them again, not worth my time. I'm getting the impression a lot of the behavior is just elaborate trolling. Something I did plenty of when I was younger.
@@JimmyMon666 it's not people being woke that bothers me. It's what you just pointed out , they insist that you go along with it. In spite of me being conservative, I'm not straight, nor am I a Christian. I don't believe that anyone has to accept anyone else's sexual lifestyle, I just believe in tolerance and I also believe in the social norm. You'd never see me draped in rainbows and glitter and shoving signs and people's faces. In spite of me not being a Christian I support people's right here in this country freedom of religion. And I see the left has started a war on Christianity, and being against somebody's religion in this country is being un-American. These people don't want to be tolerated, they want you to do as they tell you to do, no matter how crazy it is. They want men to be in women's sports beating the fuck out of them. They want children on puberty blockers getting their genitals switched out. Oh hell I'm starting to preach... Yeah, I always understood D Fens.
One of my all-time favorite movies! It comes up in my brain more and more now as I've gotten older, and life situations inventively draw parallels to the goings on in the film.
Seems folks have missed the context. In 1993 the aerospace defense industry had experienced the peace dividend of Bush Sr. Engineer and precision machinists were laid off relentlessly. We had given our lives to the cold war only to be.put out like the trash. One plant in Burbank California had over 8900 employees one month and none the next. Over 500,000 technical personal were simply gone. The frustration was very high. Criminals got the soft glove and everyone else got the shaft. The company I was with went from 200 people to 3. Look at it from that perspective and it is surprising more violence didn't happen. Suicide rates skyrocketed.
They need to make a sequel where Foster's daughter figures out her mother triggered the whole incident by refusing to let Foster see his daughter on her birthday.
Great vid again. I always thought Dedee Pfeiffer's character was a suitable character in the scene - a cynical, mocking teen unimpressed by what she saw as a silly old man having a hissy fit. Again adding to Michael Douglas's character's detachment and isolation from society. The director would have had to have approved of her acting cynical though. It could have been from Dedee having the giggles on the day, but Schumacher could have used that interpretation to give the scene an additional facet. Definitely a choice made for the film though, rather than a mistake.
I can't agree more. There's a word called "Cut" that every director uses when someone ruins a scene. No chance that her giggling was unintentional. Throughout the film, the younger the person, the less they were afraid of Foster and actually tried to help him.
I interpreted it as she has a mundane boring job, but this turn of events injected some excitement into her day, so she was having fun. Everyone else was terrified of the gun, but she was having fun.
This is literally one of my favorite films to watch over and over and I feel like it so thanks minty for covering this one Hope you had a really good new years Christmas and Thanksgiving dude
I wonder if it’s been considered that Foster was a military vet prior to working in the defence industry, and that he’s suffering from PTSD as the cause of his falling down…
The trailer was catchy for me as a child. I got my mom to take me to see it. And even though I had yet to comprehend all the adult-oriented stuff, I enjoyed it and as I got older and understood better I enjoyed it more.
Another innovative take on the movies of the past few decades!!! I wish you would make a 3 part series on all your collectables on your shelves. I episode each shelf. Thanks, Minty!! Keep up the good work!!!
I'll always remember my dad introducing me to this movie sometime in the late 90's. His actual words were, "hey I think you'll like this. It's like grand theft auto but a movie" lol
12:39 I remember this girl. I took it as this girl was on the same page as Foster's character. She was sick of her job, her boss, the customers, the city... A really nihilistic character that enjoyed seeing all these crappy people get what they deserved. It really stuck because I felt like her while watching this movie. 😅
This movie and another one he did called "The Game" are two of my favorites and are highly underrated. The ending of this movie is realistic but tough to take.
The older I get the more I can relate to foster… the nut economically viable guy might’ve actually been in his head because later he actually says I’m not economically viable when somebody else foster what his problem is
To me, it has come mean “The death of The American Dream”. There are many details, I had missed through the years. Like his shoes having holes is because he has been relentlessly job-hunting (spot the circled ads in his paper!). And I always liked how his weapon gets bigger and bigger but ends with a water-gun.
I've long thought that the villain was his ex-wife. When questioned by the cop, she admits that D-FENS raised his voice a few times, but never got physically violent. So....she divorced him, kicked him out of the house he (traditionally) paid for, and took his little girl away from him. Why? Because he had a short temper. A LOT of people have a short temper...Since the dawn of humanity. Some people are patient and pleasant and some people are not. BUT it's not a reason to kick a man out of his house and take away his child. When you take away a parent's child and the house he worked his whole life to afford....what did she expect? When you take away ANYONE'S CHILD...you're playing with fire. Take the child away from the MOTHER/ex-wife, and see what she does with her "mother's love." She might go ballistic, too. To me, she's the root cause of the entire movie. The ex-wife is the villain.
When this movie came out, I was 22 years old and I totally could "read" between the lines on why he acted the way he did. Now at 52, I can not only still "read" it, I can now relate. Especially since anti-white, anti-middle age and anti-male sentiments are common now. That sign the man in the street is holding is spot on.
Absolutely love this film, even if at the time I was too young to understand that middle age angst. Now I'm in middle age, and I just lost my job. Don't worry, I won't shoot anything up. I think an under appreciated part of the movie is Robert Duvall's character. I do like his character's arc. In fact, it was this move that caused me to be a fan of him.
Nice job My old friend with whom I did plays in high school Ebbe (rhymes with eddy) also wrote Mad City . He made a lot of money rewriting other people’s scripts. Although he had never read any book on screenwriting, Falling Down is used for teaching that art more than any other by film professors
I randomly saw this on tv one day, had no clue what it was and came in to him freaking right out. I’m as like “Alright. You have my attention.” Wouldn’t know what it was called for years. Lol. This is awesome.
Love this film. Great story and an amazing performance by Douglas. Not sure why but I always feel this movie and No Country For Old Men fit in the same cinematic universe. Eventhough No Country took place years before the events in Falling Down.
Because it's grimy. He's not a hero, we're watching actions and a situation but he is not special or good / bad. No Country also has characters that have skills, strengths and high points but none are "good" and even Anton isn't pure bad. They all are humans
I always thought Falling Down was like a Beautiful Mind, where you’re seeing the world through a broken mind, with glimpses of reality. I always assumed the Not Economically Viable man was a combination of a real person protesting, but with the words on the sign and clothing were imagined by D-Fens. I always thought this movie was brilliant. I didn’t know the Baby’s Got Back story though.
19:28 I felt that Robert Duvall's character, Detective Prendergast, was like the other side of the coin to Foster. His life was parallel to Foster's but he made different choices that didn't involver hurting others. One decides to lash out at the world and perpetuate misery, the other tries to be the change and not spread any more hurt. The story is really well written. 😄
Great analysis Minty! Your theory about the protestor dressed the same as Mr. Douglas is intriguing:) Swap meet scene etc. filmed around the corner from my flat in Miracle Mile, L.A. The camera-shaped Punjabi restaurant dates to the 30s when it was...a camera shop (El Rey Theatre is in the same 3-block area.) Riots literally spreading @ time of filming
A true classic. You just feel with poor guy. Top efforts from everyone - especially Michael Douglas - who in fact has highlighted D-Fens as one of his personal favorite roles.
"Falling down" was immortalized in the 1995 Iron Maiden classic "Man on the edge", the lyrics of which it inspired. Michael Douglas also said at the time that he wanted to do a more intimidating character like Glenn Close's in "Fatal attraction" or Sharon Stone's in "Basic instinct", having realised that those characters were the ones everyone was talking about after seeing those movies, and not his, even though he was nominally the star of both movies.
I first saw this in late 1997 when I had gone through my divorce and had been screwed over by the "family" court and various others involved with the divorce. I REALLY idnetified with Douglas's character at that time.
It's the most honest social commentary movie ever made. Anyone can be a Bill Foster. Bill is every working class guy that's ever lived and didn't know it. You think you live in a "Free" country? Name something that's free? I'll give you "Air". Go for 2? You understand some of the pieces, but you're missing the picture. You still gotta lot to learn. Welcome to Amerika.
UK here.. i went for Mc Donalds breakfast, we went thru the drive thru.. now at the time they stopped breakfast at 10:30am. we got to the drive thru queue at 10:08am.. for some reason there was either some asshole taking the piss or the staff were. by the time the 3 cars in front of us had been served, it was 10:04am.. i was so pissed off it is unreal. those behind us were the same. it is not like they do not have cameras that show that we were there way before they stop- breakfast. its 11am now but, i am sure that certain places make so much money they do not care about customers at all..
I watched this on TV while growing up as teenager. It didn't speak much to me. Felt serious and dull But now as an adult, i love the Quentin Tarantino like scenes with lots of dialog, dark humor, one liners and mannerisms, and this movie just delivers over and over again with each of Michael's scenes. What a trip this movie is.
After seeing Robin Williams in movies like One Hour Photo and Insomnia, I could definitely see him in this role. Although, as he was primarily known as a comedic actor, it's probably the main reason he didn't get the role. That or he didn't see himself in the role!?
Williams had been doing dramatic roles since the early ‘80s, though it’s true it would have been a new turn for him to play someone actually menacing if not an outright villain. I will say that as good as Williams was in those later roles, he maintained a certain nerdish quality, without the level of raw aggression that Michael Douglas exudes in this film. That’s not a criticism of the Williams performances, just a note that it was one way of making Williams believable as a darker character despite the fact that he’s not someone most people would consider naturally intimidating. All that said, I’m not surprised he was considered for the role of D-FENS, and it’s interesting to picture how he would have done in the role.
The giant ass was the victim of constant vandalism and attack. Sir Mix-A-Lot detailed that people who hated the song shot at it regularly, even going so far as to shoot it with arrows and even a crossbow.
Excellent Michael Douglas Performance!
Best of Michael Douglas 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾
I loved this movie because it came out what I was fairly young and it was like nothing I had ever seen before. I love the way Micheal Douglas looked so different than anything else he was in previous. An amazingly shocking movie.
Douglas was made to do this movie. It’s his best.
@@jjcaron72 The Game was also a masterpiece
Watching this as a kid - This guy is crazy.
Watching as an adult - This guy makes some good points.
Seek help.
I really didn't like him...until he let golfer die.😂
😂 real talk
He's crazy AND makes some good points 😊
@@bobcobb3654He's frustrated with society. Seek help if you aren't, society is shit
I always felt that the message of Falling Down was Everyone has a breaking point, and how anyone you meet could be just one bad day from breaking.
you missed the real message of this movie
@@RC-go2klwhich was?
@@RoloT007 I watched this again few years ago, and I realized this guy was a bad person all along. In the beginning we learn that he is flawed (not perfect) his action was in the face of dangers, but though his action led to more depraved stuff like stalking his wife and daughter, so goes beyond the one-day mythos that I believe the movie might have been pitched as when it came out (namely Roger Ebert) but I think it goes deeper than that.
The real message was: It doesn't matter what time of day, if Mike Douglas orders breakfast, you give him BREAKFAST!
Yeah, he did. The *real* message of this movie is that you're an idiot.
"I'm the bad guy? How did that happen? I did everything they told me to."
Prescient film.
I’m irrelevant
@@TOCC50 "Not Economically Viable....."
Military Contractor indeed
Pfeifers scene is damn memorable! It is incredible either in the script or directing. The manager is responsible for everyone. But the register part time kid could careless and is actually disarming with her smile. Her inner rebel loves the anarchy. All those employees hate their job. Its such a relatable and well done scene. Michael douglas plays it so damn well.
I always thought it was intentional, as if she was meant to look like she was secretly cheering on the D Fens character. It's realistic. More young girls than boys fantasize about a Bonnie and Clyde scenario.
Couldn’t care less*
You could even say she finds him highly attractive for the way he's ordering her boss around and she loves it. The fact that it was just an actress who just couldn't stop giggling makes this whole scene feel so much more natural.
I'm a retired military officer. I'm also a retired federal civilian employee. I was not offended by this movie in the least. (I'm also a golfer and remained unoffended.) I really enjoyed this film and still do.
He's just one guy, and a fictional one at that.
Sorry about the golf, you can quit or get help.
You're right. Thank goodness I'm not an insufferable jerk; that's incurable. Hope you're doing well with it!
Nobody got offended in the 90s. This narrator must be talking about the soft society of today.
@@richdouglas2311😒
Please don’t die wearing a stupid little hat
I first saw Falling Down in 1993. Then I thought it was a good movie. In the past 30 years, it has gotten even better and more relevant with time. Now, I think it's a great movie! 💯
I think Sheila knew William snapped and it amused her because she came to Hollywood to be a movie star/singer/model or get married to one and her dream was still within realistic reach and Whammy Burger was a temporary pitstop but she hates her job, her co-workers, the rude customers and especially her manager because he was always being creepy and had BO. If there's a part 2 it should be about Sheila still working at Whammy Burger 30+ years later and finally falling down herself.
That!
That is a movie I'd LOVE to see, and one they'll never make.
I can see her working that job for years, only ever getting bit parts in commercials. Everytime she goes into an acting gig they suggest she has more work done, to the point where her medical debt is bigger than her student loans. Years go by and she's assistant manager, but she hates her job, her crummy apartment, her life. She's not able to see her own son. She goes into an acting gig and one of the jerks that kept telling her to get work done hires an actor because she's an activist but has no skill as an actor and is a crap human being and looks a lot worse than her. That's when she loses it.
The sequal was made. It's called "They Live".
"Falling Down" is the exact scenario government and law enforcement in general think is boiling just under the surface of every single civilian, and could erupt at any moment if not for their vigilant benevolent yet brutal control. They couldn't rationalize their behavior any other way. The saying "the thin blue line", the second half of which is "...is all that stands between society and chaos" is the mantra they tell themselves to justify nearly any atrocity.
If you read this and scoff, it's only because you have avoided being targeted, either because you activity totally submit, or just by chance haven't experienced the authentic treatment by "the system". And if you don't believe that, you're in the second camp and there's still hope for you. You're one police interaction away from seeing the truth. If you're in the former camp, there is no judgement, just acknowledge the actual state of things.
@@Carnyx_1 Actually I would say Teotor Burger and Teotor City could be the result of Sheila's breakdown, a dystopian world where criminals are used as meat and handed out to the homeless in an overpopulated America.
If you haven't seen them I highly recommend, brought to you by the production company Bloody Disgusting, the folks behind Art The Clown and the Terrifier series so you know the gore is going to be over-the -top brutality that could almost be pornographic on a sick and twisted level.
Or the creepy manager pulls some harassment on her, she sues Whammy Burger for tens of millions, wins and gets ownership. At that point she changes the policy to a more flex breakfast/lunch anytime menu. Pretty soon Sheila is a billionaire- she foresees this opportunity and that is why she is smiling.
I think it suited the scene. I agree, in that I just thought she didn't care because she hates her job and boss too.
Just gifted this for my Dad this Xmas, and then bought it for myself on Amazon Prime. I was 7 when my Father and I watched this. The Whamy Burger scene was always our favorite. Throughout the years, my family and I can always reference any one of these scenes. They are all so memorable and funny in a f'd up way. It's almost a dark comedy but it does become more and more relevant as it ages. This movie deserves post awards, years later for how good it is.
I love the idea of a family having inside jokes about Falling Down.
This was one of Joel Schumacher's best movies. Michael Douglas was chilling.
My life is over
I'm glad you brought up the "Not Economically Viable" character! Many miss the connection between him & D-Fens I had also hoped that a spin-off movie starring NEV in his own rampage would be made.
What's refreshing is the fact the character is black, they & didn't put him as another middle aged white guy having a meltdown.
It just showed that it was men from a particular era that had no place.
@@Zerofightervi true. Easily could have been a total clone but they did something different. And it fits well with the army surplus store scene when D-Fens clearly shows he's not a racist. D-Fens seems not economically viable as a kindred spirit not someone less than himself. It's possible that's why, symbolically speaking, the two are dressed the same. Maybe D-fens sees NEV but is just imagining them dressed the same?
@@asa-punkatsouthvinland7145 I'm rewatching it as I type this message.
It's a film full of little nods to a similar theme.
Getting old.
Dct Prendergast is belittled throughout is last day on the police force, you get the sense he wasn't taken all that seriously throughout his career.
His wife who struggles with getting old having been a looker in her younger years.
The Nev not being ' economically viable ' probably due to his age .
In a way the Army surplus guy is someone struggling with a world that's left his bigoted views behind that would have been more popular in his youth.
It's a great film & it's one that definitely deserves it's cult following.
@@Zerofightervi agreed. It's an amazing & deep film.
One can also see how at films start we are, as an audience, are meant to sympathize with D-fens. He's relatable & standing up for himself. But bit by bit through the film we get hints that maybe he isn't so good. He apparently was at times verbally harsh to his exwife (although exwife clearly says he wasn't physically violent), he does assault people and hold the burger place hostage at gun point. Etc. at the end even D-fens asks "I'm the bad guy? How'd that happen??" We still hold sympathy for the man but also might question if he was really justified. If he's a hero or a villan: and what that means for us the audience in that we cheered for him.
Rather morally thought-provoking!
It's just an amazing film that really deserves it's praise as you said.
@@Zerofightervi And the two men were dressed exactly the same - white shirt, dark striped tie and dark slacks. Ignoring skin color, they could have been the same person.
As far as Pfeigger's giggling - I always took that as her being a sarcastic, cynical teen who enjoyed watching her supervisor being terrified. She even seems to connect with D-fens, maybe even taking pleasure in watching him actually doing things she may have fantasized about. I thought it worked perfectly.
Me as well. 👍👍
I saw this film randomly on tv one night as a 12 year old. I loved it! I'd never seen a film like it before and it's stayed with me my whole life. Douglas' best performance, in my opinion.
Oscar-worthy, far as I'm concerned!
I was around the same age watching it late on a school night. I remember finding it so funny, and still do-to this day!
I saw it in the theater when it originally came out. I later bought the DVD several years later. Have always liked this film. Great performance by Douglas.
I always interpreted Sheila not being scared as her character was a reflection of someone who knows they have a bullsh*t job that is ridiculous and boring and meaningless and any excitement is better than a normal day, plus she hates the manager so it’s fun to see him sh*t his pants. D fence is the old era of jobs but Sheila is a reflection of the new era of meaningless McJobs - and also a bit of a reflection of the whole slacker genre that came later in films like Kids and Bully etc
Same here. I thought she just really hated her job and her manager, and was a little broken herself, so she thought the whole situation was the best thing she was ever going to see.
@@immikeurnotexactly
Good one 💯💎
I saw this film in a sneak preview. Still love it to this day , made quite the impact. Every man has a line you should not cross…
Ive been clean from drink and drugs now for just over 8 years. Like everyone i have good and bad days. And on bad days, i usually stick one of your videos on, even if its just in the background and it really makes me feel like i have a friend in the room. So, if you are every wondering if you make a difference, just remember that you, amongst others, really do save peoples lives. Thankyou and keep up the amazing work!! X
It’s refreshing seeing a channel that actually gets this film and it’s central character. More than a few out there completely miss the point.
GREAT FILM!!! -- Especially the burger scene comparing the burger to picture... how true that is even to this day.
Brilliant movie and performance. To give a little historical perspective, in the mid 80s to early 90s American companies were starting layoffs and re organizations. This was the beginning of the workers losing their loyalty to their companies. To me it was not about out of work defense industry workers but rather the realization by Michael Douglas' character that "I did everything they told me" but still got screwed by the "system" and was applicable to anyone who got laid off or knew someone who was.
It captured what was happening all around me at the time. The idyllic suburb I grew up in was built in the early 60s for all the defense workers at the headquarters of McDonnell-Douglass during the height of the Cold War. Some of my friend's dads were D-Fens's. One was a good Christian man who later questioned the morality of his role in helping design weapons and things to protect America. In the early 90s the layoffs hit hard, my mom used to go to the "nicer" areas to hit all the garage sales as those people all took early retirement or found something else to do and were selling everything off and moving out in scores. 30 years ago it was a rather boring, 90% white suburb that was a nice place to raise a family. I rarely knew people who locked their doors. Today gunfire is often heard in the distance.
But anyway the families I knew all made it through okay, because they were families. Many men of the time questioned their place in a changing world they didn't recognize anymore and didn't snap, as they had success in their personal lives and people to live for. D-Fens didn't have anybody. The failed relationship and failure as a father was his last straw in a world that seemed to keep disappointing him despite his best efforts, no matter how ineffective they progressively became. It could have just as easily been a movie about a guy who shoots up his former workplace though. It was definitely more universal than just being limited to defense workers. This was the time of NAFTA and outsourcing and downsizing and lots of American jobs disappearing. A guy like D-Fens was just too old to start over, "overeducated and underskilled," or maybe that's the other way around. Simply put, he wasn't Economically Viable. To the workforce, to women, and society overall. Old white guys were no longer necessary, they were no longer the target audience and no longer in demand. It's a very cautionary tale about a lot of things, really.
Loyalty and respect and decency seemed important to D-Fens, and they seemed to be in short supply. The great Bobcat Goldthwait dark comedy "God Bless America" had a line about "what's the point of having a society if we're no longer interested in acting civilized?" Look at Los Angeles today, there are now 100 of the guy who lives in the park in every park. D-Fens was rightfully annoyed at the callous indifference and savagery around him. It's not just a cautionary tale about a guy who snaps but also about an entire city that stopped caring. It's why Prendergast's arc is so important, he decided he still cared. D-Fens wasn't able to. It actually ends rather hopeful despite the demise of D-Fens. Or because of it.
Why wasn’t a Super Nintendo game made about this movie?
Your channel is better than most things on streaming services. Great thought and production
I loved the smiling girl in the burger spot.
For me she was smiling because she enjoyed the revenge on the probable bad manager and the establishments stupid rules. Sort of enjoying Defense "giving it to the man"
Giving what to that man?
@@ozymandiasultor9480 "the man" as in society.
@@kevinpaynter So, giving to the society... Giving sh*t? Like, society was bad then? If that is the case today there should be revolutions going on all over the globe.
@@kevinpaynter You mean "sticking it to the man."
This film is up there with Taxi Driver, and Joker in terms of it being really subversive. It gets the audience rooting for someone who becomes the worst kind of person during the course of the film. Joel Schumacher has the misfortune of mainly being remembered for the campy '90s Batman movies but he made some incredible movies prior to those. Dfens works well as a character because he reflects the experiences of so many man who enter middle age, sadly become culturally irrelevant, and often have their marriages and careers cut short. It's a sort of 'Black Pill' movie, which should serve as a cautionary tale, that despite life's frustrations and cruelties, we must do our best not to let this injustice set the tone for the rest of our days.
EDIT: wrote this at the 'symbolic twin' part. You went on to cover my points at the end of the video. Well done, Minty!
Of the three, Joker is by far the most lacking in the ability to express a coherent message about people neglected by society and hierarchy. The idea that audiences might become sympathetic towards the main character is simply ludicrous. There is, even in the spectrum of alienated characters, a world of difference between an individual who fixates their resentments upon one individual, only to inadvertently find redemption through a selfless act for another; an 'economically unviable' man who begins to act out their frustrations in outbursts of destruction; and a person with mental illness who won't take their meds and allows free reign to their drives to become a serial killer whilst blaming everybody for their murder spree because they didn't laugh at his god-awful jokes. In Falling Down, D-Fens has a final revelation that he might have gone too far, and makes a decision to end the problem. The Joker character, in stark contrast, understands nothing about himself and learns nothing about himself, ending the film even more convinced of his wrong-headed perspective about why he should be seen as the true victim... as opposed to all the people he has murdered to achieve absolutely no positive change for the mentally-ill or himself, but a delusional sense of self-worth through negative attention.
Falling Down pulls too many punches to be on the same level as Taxi Driver.
Joker has a great finale and Phoenix's performance is top notch, but it's too derivative of Scorsese and not quite as smart as it tries to be. It IS one of the best superhero genre movies of all time, though.
There are two kinds of people: those who identify with Dfens and live vicariously through his actions that they would never take, and those who live in fear that used and discarded men have the potential to actually lash out this way. The former just want some empathy, while the latter want to see us put in a cop car and taken away as is done to Not Economically Viable Man.
11th Thing You Didn't Know About Falling Down Because 11 Is Higher Than 10.
Iron Maiden recorded the song Man On The Edge for the 1995 album The X-Factor, written by guitarist Janick Gers and vocalist Blaze Baily after watching the movie, it was during that period 1994-1999 when Bruce Dickinson was doing his solo thing, IMHO it sounds so much better when Bruce Dickinson sings it live.
The Lyrics to Man On The Edge:
The freeway is jammed
And it's backed up for miles
The car is an oven and baking is wild
Nothing is ever the way it should be
What we deserve we just don't get you see
A briefcase, a lunch and a man on the edge
Each step gets closer to losing his head
Is someone in heaven are they looking down
'Cause nothing is fair just you look around
Falling down
Falling down
Falling down...
He's sick of waiting of lying like this
There's a hole in the sky for the angels to kiss
Branded a leper because you don't fit
In the land of the free
You can live by your wits
Once he built missiles a nations defence
Now he can't even give birthday presents
Across the city he leaves in his wake
A glimpse of the future a cannibal state
Falling down
Falling down
Falling down...
The freeway is jammed and its backed up for miles
The car is an oven and baking is wild
Nothing is ever the way it should be
What we deserve we just don't get you see
A briefcase, a lunch, and a man on the edge
Each step gets closer to losing his head
Is someone in heaven are they looking down
Nothing is fair just you look around
Falling down
Falling down
Falling down...
Falling down
Falling down
Falling down...
@@SkollFaqHamasandAntifa You must be that one Blaze fanboy everyone talks about.
GREAT tune! And Skoll hasn't a clue about good music.
@@joconnell8145 True 'nuff. And Skoll's user name tells me that he's one of those Far Right cultists who still blame ANTIFA for J/6. Some of those nametags are just as bad as having a swastika tattoo, but at least they reveal themselves publicly making it easier to know whether or not to block them from further idiotic comments.
I love the scene where the kid shows him how to use a rocket launcher.
I don't think I've ever heard someone call the 1963 movie "Eight Half." I've always heard people call it "Eight and a Half."
yeah, it made me think English isn't this guy's first language because every native English speaker would call it "Eight and a Half"
@@coletrickIe Aussies speak English too so that doesn't make any sense
What always got me about the “Wammy burger scene” was that in the movie it was just past 11:30am and the restaurant had just started serving lunch but it appeared that most of the seated customers were already eating lunch.
He wanted breakfast 🥚 🥪
Maybe they have some overlap - like they start serving lunch at 11:00 but they keep serving breakfast until 11:30.
There's some pure genius subtly integrated into the backgrounds of multiple shots that aid in the emotional aspect of the scene. Yellow/Amber/Orange colors are used for sets with D-Fens expressing anger and frustration and Blue used for scenes of melancholy and sadness (particularly from home movie sequences).
To this day, it's still one of my favorite films! Back then teenage me related so much to Michael Douglas' character in feeling like the world had rejected me. A true classic!
Just a great film all around. We've all had that one day where nothing goes right.
"Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things" - Marvin Heemeyer
Minty!!! I have a Movie you have never done. THE ADVENTURES OF FORD FAIRLANE with ANDREW DICE CLAY! 80’s greatness!!!
I remember randomly seeing this at the dollar theater with my friend when I was 13. We were at the mall just hanging out, and the mall had a dollar theater attached to it. Just being kids looking for something to do, we went to see what movies were playing, and the one that was about to start just happened to be "Falling Down." (Yes, we were sold tickets to an R rated movie. I never thought twice about it til just now.) We actually enjoyed the movie it was compelling and still is.
One of the things that's integral to the character is the journey. In Douglas' character's head, he sees he had the perfect family and life. He doesn't recognize that his wife was terrified of him, that his daughter was scared, that he scared his own mother.
Everyone around him expected him to snap.
I think the journey is simply a surrogate goal for DFENS. It is something he can work towards and accomplish; he can make progress. He needs an accomplishment and has made an arbitrary choice in the gift for his daughter/seeing/getting to her. If nothing else, he will succeed at this one self assigned task. Consequences be damned this one is going in the "win" column.
Machiavelli teaches us that, It is better to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both.
It's also part of the story that no one around him had any empathy towards him. He's busy living up to what society expected, and the rest are all applying a different ideal upon him. Eventually he can't accomplish either.
You could do a whole other episode about Robert Duvall's involvement and character in this movie. He's terrific.
Yeah that guys life was changing a lot too, happens to be last day on the job, got the wife at home. I got the vibe he wasn’t really ready for retirement like, “what the hell am I going to do with my life now?”.
I saw Duvall's character the same as Douglas'. Just, different because of little que's in their lives that they dealt with differently. In each guy, they define their existences through their jobs. Duvall has an insane bitch for a wife, and Douglas looks to have had a family but is separated somehow, its not stated in the movie, just inferenced, because he's trying to get to his little girls birthday party.
They each deal with characters through the day that push their buttons. Remember, its Duvall's last day before retirement. He doesn't want to do anything dangerous that could get him shot.
Each character has to push through situations and characters that offer nothing but tension and enmity.
By the time they meet on the pier, Duvall has lost his partner, his wife is beyond insane, & Douglas has been told by his wife to forget coming to their daughters birthday; even the sno-globe gets broken. How they both dealt with these problems is what sets them apart. Other than that, they were basically the same character. The "not viable" guy is just a "red herring" for Douglas that reinforces his viewpoint that the world is f***ed and he just wants to get off the merry-go-round. Duvall realizes his wife is insane, but prefers to hold on to her because of who, and what she represents in his life; stability in an insane world.
Douglas only breaks at the end when he realizes, "I'm the bad guy?" It's almost cathartic that he dies, and gets flipped into the ocean, to be pulled out to sea. Devoured by the ocean.
@@stevenserna910 Also Prendergast's daughter is gone for good, dead, and he dealt with that completely differently.
I think that the "Not Economical Viable" man looking exactly like the protagonist is another way to show how generic and forgotten the protagonist fells. There is nothing to make them unique.
"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it." - Kreia
Honestly i always thought and still think the NEV man was merely a figment of William Foster’s imagination and always noticed the butt balloon but didn’t know that Michelle Pfeiffer’s sister Deedee was in Falling Down. I only remember her from the CBS sitcom series known as Cybill that ran from 1995-1998 as the titular character’s sister. I still can’t believe that this movie bumped Groundhog Day off the #1 spot at that point and time in 1993. Great movie and a phenomenal reflection and analysis! #JoelSchumacher #MichaelDouglas #FallingDown
I identify with him on a daily basis 😊
This is the only movie I 100% believe should be remade! I could see a Gen Xer finally having having enough with WOKENESS and go on a complete rampage.
Gen X, reporting for duty
@@aquariandawn4750 LOL me too. As for the wokeness, I think it's silly, but it doesn't get me bent out of shape. I just ignore it. If anyone insisted I use certain pronouns with them, I would just elect to never talk to them again, not worth my time. I'm getting the impression a lot of the behavior is just elaborate trolling. Something I did plenty of when I was younger.
@@JimmyMon666 it's not people being woke that bothers me. It's what you just pointed out , they insist that you go along with it. In spite of me being conservative, I'm not straight, nor am I a Christian. I don't believe that anyone has to accept anyone else's sexual lifestyle, I just believe in tolerance and I also believe in the social norm. You'd never see me draped in rainbows and glitter and shoving signs and people's faces. In spite of me not being a Christian I support people's right here in this country freedom of religion. And I see the left has started a war on Christianity, and being against somebody's religion in this country is being un-American. These people don't want to be tolerated, they want you to do as they tell you to do, no matter how crazy it is. They want men to be in women's sports beating the fuck out of them. They want children on puberty blockers getting their genitals switched out. Oh hell I'm starting to preach... Yeah, I always understood D Fens.
What is wokeness?
@@fumanpoo4725 the opposite of common sense
one of my favorite movies growing up as a kid and still is
It's how I feel everyday coming home from work
One of my all-time favorite movies! It comes up in my brain more and more now as I've gotten older, and life situations inventively draw parallels to the goings on in the film.
Seems folks have missed the context. In 1993 the aerospace defense industry had experienced the peace dividend of Bush Sr. Engineer and precision machinists were laid off relentlessly. We had given our lives to the cold war only to be.put out like the trash. One plant in Burbank California had over 8900 employees one month and none the next. Over 500,000 technical personal were simply gone. The frustration was very high. Criminals got the soft glove and everyone else got the shaft. The company I was with went from 200 people to 3. Look at it from that perspective and it is surprising more violence didn't happen. Suicide rates skyrocketed.
They need to make a sequel where Foster's daughter figures out her mother triggered the whole incident by refusing to let Foster see his daughter on her birthday.
Great vid again. I always thought Dedee Pfeiffer's character was a suitable character in the scene - a cynical, mocking teen unimpressed by what she saw as a silly old man having a hissy fit. Again adding to Michael Douglas's character's detachment and isolation from society. The director would have had to have approved of her acting cynical though. It could have been from Dedee having the giggles on the day, but Schumacher could have used that interpretation to give the scene an additional facet. Definitely a choice made for the film though, rather than a mistake.
Having known teenagers like that, who also think that nothing bad could ever happen to them, I totally agree with your assessment.
I can't agree more. There's a word called "Cut" that every director uses when someone ruins a scene. No chance that her giggling was unintentional. Throughout the film, the younger the person, the less they were afraid of Foster and actually tried to help him.
I interpreted it as she has a mundane boring job, but this turn of events injected some excitement into her day, so she was having fun. Everyone else was terrified of the gun, but she was having fun.
I think Deedee was just going Ga Ga over Douglas :P LOL
This is literally one of my favorite films to watch over and over and I feel like it so thanks minty for covering this one Hope you had a really good new years Christmas and Thanksgiving dude
I wonder if it’s been considered that Foster was a military vet prior to working in the defence industry, and that he’s suffering from PTSD as the cause of his falling down…
The trailer was catchy for me as a child. I got my mom to take me to see it. And even though I had yet to comprehend all the adult-oriented stuff, I enjoyed it and as I got older and understood better I enjoyed it more.
Another innovative take on the movies of the past few decades!!! I wish you would make a 3 part series on all your collectables on your shelves. I episode each shelf. Thanks, Minty!! Keep up the good work!!!
I'll always remember my dad introducing me to this movie sometime in the late 90's. His actual words were, "hey I think you'll like this. It's like grand theft auto but a movie" lol
12:39 I remember this girl. I took it as this girl was on the same page as Foster's character. She was sick of her job, her boss, the customers, the city... A really nihilistic character that enjoyed seeing all these crappy people get what they deserved. It really stuck because I felt like her while watching this movie. 😅
This movie and another one he did called "The Game" are two of my favorites and are highly underrated. The ending of this movie is realistic but tough to take.
The late Brittany Murphy was brilliant in The Game!
Great job Mint. Really enjoyed this deeper dive into one of my favourite films.
This and Black Rain are the best movies with douglas 4 me.
I've heard that they now offer breakfast at all times at McDonald's in the US. Apparently both films played a part in that.
The older I get the more I can relate to foster… the nut economically viable guy might’ve actually been in his head because later he actually says I’m not economically viable when somebody else foster what his problem is
A fantastic movie that still holds up in my opinion. And thank goodness that Douglas took the role. Another good one Minty. Happy New Year
"Double A Batteries... package of four?"
To me, it has come mean “The death of The American Dream”.
There are many details, I had missed through the years. Like his shoes having holes is because he has been relentlessly job-hunting (spot the circled ads in his paper!).
And I always liked how his weapon gets bigger and bigger but ends with a water-gun.
when this movie was in the theater I had a co-worker say, "thats going to be you when you get older". Hasn't happened....yet. lol
I've long thought that the villain was his ex-wife. When questioned by the cop, she admits that D-FENS raised his voice a few times, but never got physically violent. So....she divorced him, kicked him out of the house he (traditionally) paid for, and took his little girl away from him. Why? Because he had a short temper. A LOT of people have a short temper...Since the dawn of humanity. Some people are patient and pleasant and some people are not. BUT it's not a reason to kick a man out of his house and take away his child.
When you take away a parent's child and the house he worked his whole life to afford....what did she expect? When you take away ANYONE'S CHILD...you're playing with fire.
Take the child away from the MOTHER/ex-wife, and see what she does with her "mother's love." She might go ballistic, too.
To me, she's the root cause of the entire movie. The ex-wife is the villain.
He's not crazy. It's society that's nuts
i always though dds characters giggling and smirking was because she was enjoying her boss being humiliated.
This movie has an all time top five insult quotes..."And now you are going to die wearing that stupid little hat."
When this movie came out, I was 22 years old and I totally could "read" between the lines on why he acted the way he did. Now at 52, I can not only still "read" it, I can now relate. Especially since anti-white, anti-middle age and anti-male sentiments are common now. That sign the man in the street is holding is spot on.
Absolutely love this film, even if at the time I was too young to understand that middle age angst. Now I'm in middle age, and I just lost my job. Don't worry, I won't shoot anything up. I think an under appreciated part of the movie is Robert Duvall's character. I do like his character's arc. In fact, it was this move that caused me to be a fan of him.
Nice job My old friend with whom I did plays in high school Ebbe (rhymes with eddy) also wrote Mad City . He made a lot of money rewriting other people’s scripts. Although he had never read any book on screenwriting, Falling Down is used for teaching that art more than any other by film professors
I randomly saw this on tv one day, had no clue what it was and came in to him freaking right out. I’m as like “Alright. You have my attention.” Wouldn’t know what it was called for years. Lol. This is awesome.
Someone much wiser than I, once said, "Childhood is cheering for the hero. Adulthood is understanding the villain."
Love this film. Great story and an amazing performance by Douglas. Not sure why but I always feel this movie and No Country For Old Men fit in the same cinematic universe. Eventhough No Country took place years before the events in Falling Down.
Because it's grimy. He's not a hero, we're watching actions and a situation but he is not special or good / bad.
No Country also has characters that have skills, strengths and high points but none are "good" and even Anton isn't pure bad. They all are humans
Brilliant movie, and does get more relevant as we all get older and the frustrations become more real
I always thought Falling Down was like a Beautiful Mind, where you’re seeing the world through a broken mind, with glimpses of reality. I always assumed the Not Economically Viable man was a combination of a real person protesting, but with the words on the sign and clothing were imagined by D-Fens.
I always thought this movie was brilliant. I didn’t know the Baby’s Got Back story though.
19:28 I felt that Robert Duvall's character, Detective Prendergast, was like the other side of the coin to Foster. His life was parallel to Foster's but he made different choices that didn't involver hurting others. One decides to lash out at the world and perpetuate misery, the other tries to be the change and not spread any more hurt. The story is really well written. 😄
falling down beat groundhog day at the box office, imagine a groundhog day fir D-Fens where he lives it over and over again
Great analysis Minty! Your theory about the protestor dressed the same as Mr. Douglas is intriguing:) Swap meet scene etc. filmed around the corner from my flat in Miracle Mile, L.A. The camera-shaped Punjabi restaurant dates to the 30s when it was...a camera shop (El Rey Theatre is in the same 3-block area.) Riots literally spreading @ time of filming
A true classic. You just feel with poor guy. Top efforts from everyone - especially Michael Douglas - who in fact has highlighted D-Fens as one of his personal favorite roles.
If people didn't fuck up, Foster wouldn't have to get pissed. ;)
"I'm the bad guy?" Is my favorite movie line ever
He said that line with the feeling of betrayal behind it so well :_(
"Falling down" was immortalized in the 1995 Iron Maiden classic "Man on the edge", the lyrics of which it inspired.
Michael Douglas also said at the time that he wanted to do a more intimidating character like Glenn Close's in "Fatal attraction" or Sharon Stone's in "Basic instinct", having realised that those characters were the ones everyone was talking about after seeing those movies, and not his, even though he was nominally the star of both movies.
By far one of the best movies of my generation 🤘 this is a cautionary tale of how this could be/happen to anyone of us
All it takes is one bad day………….
"Now you're gonna die wearing that stupid little hat." one of the best lines and scenes ever.
This movies premise and message still applies today.
Sheila just liked seeing her bully boss finally getting put in his place.
Ty for more 10 things you didn't know
Traversing East L.A. on foot is highly prohibited, then, now and later.
I first saw this in late 1997 when I had gone through my divorce and had been screwed over by the "family" court and various others involved with the divorce. I REALLY idnetified with Douglas's character at that time.
It's the most honest social commentary movie ever made. Anyone can be a Bill Foster. Bill is every working class guy that's ever lived and didn't know it. You think you live in a "Free" country? Name something that's free? I'll give you "Air". Go for 2? You understand some of the pieces, but you're missing the picture. You still gotta lot to learn. Welcome to Amerika.
My favorite Michael Douglas performance
About the Deedee Pfeiffer scene, I always though she was one of those girls attracted by danger and bad boys
That guy could be any of us ! Super movie ❤
People forget the parallels between Sergeant Pentdergast character and frank. Both seem unhappy. Both take different paths.
No clue why he loses his cool, everyone knows that Society can do no wrong.
One of the best films ever made.
I was already able to relate to Foster when it came out in 1993 at the age of 12 lol
UK here.. i went for Mc Donalds breakfast, we went thru the drive thru.. now at the time they stopped breakfast at 10:30am. we got to the drive thru queue at 10:08am.. for some reason there was either some asshole taking the piss or the staff were. by the time the 3 cars in front of us had been served, it was 10:04am.. i was so pissed off it is unreal. those behind us were the same. it is not like they do not have cameras that show that we were there way before they stop- breakfast. its 11am now but, i am sure that certain places make so much money they do not care about customers at all..
Oh my god! Simpsons should do a Treehouse of Horror episode of Falling Down with Frank as D-Fens
yeah with chief wiggum having to solve the case and spotty teen working at Krusty burger
That's genius
I watched this on TV while growing up as teenager. It didn't speak much to me. Felt serious and dull
But now as an adult, i love the Quentin Tarantino like scenes with lots of dialog, dark humor, one liners and mannerisms, and this movie just delivers over and over again with each of Michael's scenes.
What a trip this movie is.
After seeing Robin Williams in movies like One Hour Photo and Insomnia, I could definitely see him in this role.
Although, as he was primarily known as a comedic actor, it's probably the main reason he didn't get the role. That or he didn't see himself in the role!?
Williams had been doing dramatic roles since the early ‘80s, though it’s true it would have been a new turn for him to play someone actually menacing if not an outright villain.
I will say that as good as Williams was in those later roles, he maintained a certain nerdish quality, without the level of raw aggression that Michael Douglas exudes in this film. That’s not a criticism of the Williams performances, just a note that it was one way of making Williams believable as a darker character despite the fact that he’s not someone most people would consider naturally intimidating.
All that said, I’m not surprised he was considered for the role of D-FENS, and it’s interesting to picture how he would have done in the role.
He could do anything.
The giant ass was the victim of constant vandalism and attack. Sir Mix-A-Lot detailed that people who hated the song shot at it regularly, even going so far as to shoot it with arrows and even a crossbow.