Falling Down

This article is about the film. For other uses, see Falling Down (disambiguation).

Falling Down
Falling Down
Directed by	Joel Schumacher
Written by	Ebbe Roe Smith
Produced by	Timothy Harris Arnold Kopelson Arnon Milchan Herschel Weingrod
Starring	Michael Douglas Robert Duvall Barbara Hershey Rachel Ticotin Frederic Forrest Tuesday Weld
Cinematography	Andrzej Bartkowiak
Edited by	Paul Hirsch
Music by	James Newton Howard
Production companies	Le Studio Canal+ Regency Enterprises Alcor Films
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	February 26, 1993 (USA)
Running time	113 minutes
Countries	Template:Film US France
Language	English
Budget	US$25 million

Falling Down is a 1993 crime-drama film directed by Joel Schumacher. The film stars Michael Douglas in the lead role of William Foster (credited as "D-Fens"), a divorcee and unemployed former defense engineer. The film centers on Foster as he goes on a violent rampage across the city of Los Angeles, trying to get to his ex-wife's house - where he is not welcome - in time for his daughter's birthday party. Along the way, a series of encounters, both trivial and provocative, cause him to react with violence and make sardonic observations on life, poverty, the economy, and commercialism. Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall), an aging LAPD Sergeant on the day of his retirement, faces his own frustrations with socially accepted spinelessness, even as he tracks down Foster.

The title of the film, referring to Foster's mental collapse, is taken from the title of the nursery rhyme London Bridge is Falling Down, which appears several times during the film.

Coincidentally, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 broke out as the movie was being filmed.

Plot

William Foster (Michael Douglas) is recently divorced, and his ex-spouse Beth (Barbara Hershey) has a restraining order to keep William (credited here in the film as "D-Fens," the same as his license plate) away from Beth and their child, Adele. In addition, William was fired a month ago by the defense agency/contractor for which he worked (although this information is not revealed to the audience until later). His frustration grows as, on an extremely hot day, he gets stuck in a traffic jam (which the audience later learns may have been deliberate), his Chevette's air conditioning fails, and a fly repeatedly buzzes around the cabin. Abandoning the vehicle amid the loud protests of a fellow commuter, William begins walking across Los Angeles toward the home of Beth and Adele to attend Adele’s birthday party.

William stops at a convenience store to get change for a telephone call, but, when the store owner refuses to give change for a dollar unless he buys something, William begins ranting at the Korean owner (Michael Paul Chan) for charging unreasonably high prices. When the owner demands William to leave, he pulls out a baseball bat, which William forcibly takes, announces a rolling back of prices to the 1960s, and destroys much of the merchandise. William then pays 50 cents for an 85-cent can of Coca-Cola before leaving. Soon after leaving the store, William is accosted by two gang members who make threats with a butterfly knife and attempt to take his briefcase, after he trespasses on their "territory". William drives them off with the bat, places the knife in his pocket and continues the on-foot journey across the city.

The gang members and some of their friends later attempt to kill William with automatic machine pistols in a drive-by shooting as an act of revenge. The shots hit several bystanders and shop windows instead, leaving William unscathed. The car crashes, killing most of the gang members inside. Taking a gym bag filled with weapons from the wrecked car, William taunts and then shoots one surviving gang member in the leg, and finally walks away. In a nearby park, William encounters a panhandler who keeps asking for money even as Foster picks the panhandler's phony hard-luck story apart. William gives the panhandler the briefcase, which contains only a sandwich and apple, much to the displeasure of the panhandler.

William next enters a fast food restaurant called Whammy Burger and attempts to order breakfast, but he cannot get it because the switch from the breakfast menu to the lunch menu occurred three minutes prior to his arrival. After a tense argument with the patronizing manager, William draws a TEC-9 from the gym bag and accidentally fires into the ceiling, frightening the employees and customers. After trying to reassure them, William decides to order lunch, but is outraged when the burger looks nothing like the thick, juicy one shown on the menu board. William leaves, tries to call Beth from a telephone booth, and then shoots the telephone to pieces when someone who also wants to use the phone complains about taking too long.

This string of events draws the attention of Prendergast (Robert Duvall), an LAPD sergeant, whose mentally ill spouse (Tuesday Weld) and mocking co-workers constantly frustrate all aspects of personal life. This day is supposed to be Prendergast's last on the job before retirement, but Prendergast insists on investigating the crimes, much to the dismay of the police captain and squad, as well as Prendergast's high-strung spouse. Interviews with the witnesses at each scene lead Prendergast to realize that the same person may be responsible for these different crimes. Williams's “D-FENS” vanity license plate proves to be an important lead in tracking him down, because Prendergast remembers being in a traffic jam earlier that day when someone matching the suspect's description stormed out of the freeway on foot. Prendergast and a partner, Detective Sandra Torres (Rachel Ticotin), realize William is heading toward his former family's home in Venice, California and rush to intercept him. They start talking to Bill's mother, who says that her own son blames her for what happened between him and his wife. When she hears about her son losing his job a month ago, she is shocked and amazed on how he has managed to keep it a secret.

During the walk toward Beth’s house William passes by a bank where a black man is seen protesting outside at being rejected for a loan application, and holding a sign stating that he is "not economically viable", which was the reason the bank gave for the rejection. Foster wonders if that is something that describes himself as well (coincidentally, the man is wearing the same shirt and tie as William). Foster then buys a snowglobe as a birthday present for Adele and stops at a military surplus store to obtain a new pair of shoes. The owner (Frederic Forrest), a homophobic Neo-Nazi, has heard about the Whammy Burger event on his police scanner, and diverts Torres’ attention when she comes in to ask a few questions. After she leaves, he locks the door, and shows Foster his collection of Nazi paraphernalia, including an empty can of Zyklon B, which he claims was "actually used". He offers Foster an anti-tank weapon he has in his hoard, and congratulates him for shooting up "a bunch of niggers" at the Whammy Burger. When Foster expresses his distaste for the store owner's Nazi philosophy and attempts to leave, the proprietor pulls a gun on Foster, shouts obscenities at him, smashes the snowglobe, and attempts to handcuff him. Foster manages to stab the store owner with the butterfly knife and then shoots and kills him. He changes into army fatigues and boots, takes the anti-tank weapon along with his bag of guns, and starts walking again.

Next, Foster encounters a road repair crew, whose members are not doing much actual work as traffic backs up around them. Accusing them of doing unnecessary repairs in order to justify their budget, he uses the anti-tank weapon to blow up the street and the construction site so that they will have some real work to do. His travels then bring him to a private golf course, where he trespasses and a golfer angrily hits a ball in his direction. Foster retaliates by shooting the man’s golf cart with a shotgun, causing it to roll into a nearby water hazard. The man suffers a heart attack, triggered by the stress of the situation, and begs, in vain, for his medication, which is in the sinking cart.

Climbing over a wall, Foster cuts his hand on barbed wire and finds himself on the grounds of an enormous mansion whose owner, a plastic surgeon, is out of town. He rages about this display of wealth to the first man he sees, one of the owner’s employees, then hides on the grounds with the man and his family as the police are heard at the golf course. He tells them about his having been laid off by his defense-contractor employer when the Cold War ended, and shares his perception of his having been discarded as obsolete (not economically viable) after so many years of study and work. His dialogue suggests that he might be planning to kill his family and then himself. The man offers to let Foster take him as a hostage if he will let his family go free; infuriated at the assumption that he means them any harm, Foster departs.

By the time William reaches Beth’s house, she has already called the police several times to warn them about him and has fled with Adele in tow. As he watches home movies recorded during their marriage, he realizes that his emotional outbursts had been putting stress on his family. He also comes to believe that they may have gone to a nearby pier, but Prendergast and Torres arrive before he can go after them. Torres tries to enter at the rear of the house, but Foster wounds her with a shot from a pistol (the last weapon he has kept with him) and flees with Prendergast in pursuit.

At the end of the Venice Fishing Pier, with nowhere else to run, William confronts his wife and daughter. His daughter is happy to see him, but his wife is frightened as he forcefully kisses her, and tries to keep him from Adele. The two men then come face to face on the pier, where Prendergast dismisses Foster’s complaints about being ill-treated by society as an excuse for his violent rampage across the city. It is implied in their dialogue, and in earlier moments of the plot, that Prendergast has just as many reasons to delve into violence and despair as Foster does, yet Prendergast is more conformist – or stoic – which, perhaps, makes a crucial difference between the two. Prendergast positions himself to protect Beth and Adele. While distracting Foster, Beth kicks away the gun while Prendergast draws his (Torres') revolver, insisting that Foster give himself up to the police officers who are arriving in force. Disbelieving, Foster remarks "I'm the bad guy? How'd that happen?"

Foster tells Prendergast that he has another gun ("lots of guns"), proposing an Old West-style showdown with Prendergast. Prendergast attempts to reason with Foster, who refuses to give himself up, saying he would not want to see his daughter growing up while he is in prison, as well as Foster's wife collecting his Life Insurance in case he dies. Foster counts down, forcing Prendergast into shooting Foster fatally before realizing that the gun he pulled was his daughter's water pistol. Foster had shot Prendergast in the face with water, and so, as Foster dies he says, "I would've gotcha," before falling off the pier into the ocean.

Over the course of the film, Prendergast gradually develops assertiveness toward his wife and co-workers, such as punching one of the officers who made a rude comment about Prendergast's wife being scary. Previously, his supervisor had mocked Prendergast for never cursing, implying sheepishness or lack of manhood. In the aftermath of the shooting, he publicly curses at his overbearing supervisor in front of the news media ("Fuck you Captain Yardley. Fuck you very much.") and then decides to stay on the job and postpone his retirement.

Cast

• Michael Douglas as William "D-Fens" Foster
• Robert Duvall as Sergeant Martin Prendergast
• Barbara Hershey as Elizabeth "Beth" Travino
• Tuesday Weld as Amanda Prendergast
• Rachel Ticotin as Detective Sandra Torres
• Frederic Forrest as Nick, Army Surplus Store Owner
• Raymond J. Barry as Captain Yardley

Box office and reception

According to Boxofficemojo.com, the film grossed over $40 million domestically. It was the number one weekend movie during its first two weeks of release (2/26-28, 3/5-7/93)

Reviews for the film have been positive, with a 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 56 out of 100 on Metacritic. 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." Philip Thomas of Empire magazine wrote on his review of the film, "While the morality of D-Fens' methods are questionable, there's a resonance about his reaction to everyday annoyances, and Michael Douglas' hypnotic performance makes it memorable." Roger Ebert, who gave the film a positive review at the time of its release, stated of William "D-Fens" Foster:

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.

Not all critics were impressed by the film. James Berardinelli gave it 2½ out of 4 stars, saying, "Sure, the viewer who wants to see a tightly-paced thriller with gun-play and emotionally-satisfying moments won't be disappointed, but there is a little more here than simple escapism."

Controversy

The Korean American Coalition 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. Unemployed defense workers were also angered at their portrayal in the film.

Awards and nominations

• 1993 Camerimage, Nominated for the Golden Frog
• 1993 Cannes Film Festival, Nominated for the Palme d'Or
• 1994 Edgar Award, Won for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (Ebbe Roe Smith)

In popular culture

Falling Down has been described as a definitive exploration of the notion of the "angry white male"; the character of D-FENS was feature on magazine covers and reported upon as an embodiment of the stereotype.

In 1995, British heavy metal band Iron Maiden recorded the song "Man on the Edge" (from the album The X Factor), which is heavily inspired by this film. The 1994 album Millennium by Canadian industrial band Front Line Assembly features many thematic references to the film, as well as sampling dialog from it. American hip-hop group CunninLynguists include a song on their 2003 album SouthernUnderground titled "Falling Down" based on the events of the movie. American death metal band Internal Bleeding's album Driven To Conquer uses several sound clips from the movie "Falling Down" as pre-song bites, and includes a song called "Falling Down".

In the 1997 episode of The Simpsons, entitled, Homer's Enemy features a character named Frank Grimes whose appearance is based on Michael Douglas' appearance in the film.

External links

• Falling Down at IMDb
• Falling Down at Rotten Tomatoes
• Roger Ebert's review of the film
• Filming locations in Internet Movie Data Base
• An analysis of the film's symbolism on Hoopleton.com and response