Falling Down (1993) Warner Bros./Action-Drama RT: 113 minutes Rated R (language, strong violence, racial epithets, mature themes) Director: Joel Schumacher Screenplay: Ebbe Roe Smith Music: James Newton Howard Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak Release date: February 26, 1993 (US) Cast: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin, Tuesday Weld, Frederic Forrest, Lois Smith, Joey Hope Singer, Michael Paul Chan, Raymond J. Barry, D.W. Moffett, Steve Park, Kimberly Scott, James Keane, Macon McCalman, Richard Montoya, Brent Hinkley, Dedee Pfeiffer, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Jack Kehoe, John Diehl. Box Office: $40.9M (US)
Rating: ****
I reviewed Falling Down for my college newspaper at the time of its release. I said the reason it’s such an effective movie is because it taps into the zeitgeist of the American people. In that respect, it’s a lot like the original Death Wish, a movie that addressed the problem of the increasing crime rate and proposed a violent solution. After his family falls victim to a vicious crime, Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) turns vigilante in response to the police’s ineffectiveness in the matter. He becomes a hero to the American public. It made quite an impact in ’74; who wasn’t frustrated about the rising crime rates and the ineffective legal system?
The main character of Falling Down, William “D-Fens” Foster (Douglas, The Star Chamber), is also a vigilante of sorts. He doesn’t restrict his anger to the various criminals and lowlifes that roam the streets of L.A.; he also lashes out at everyday things that get on people’s nerves. One day, he finally snaps and goes on a violent rampage.
It all starts with a traffic jam, hot weather, a broken air conditioner and a pesky fly. Actually, it starts earlier than that. The groundwork for Foster’s mental breakdown was laid by being fired from his job at a defense agency for being “obsolete” and ex-wife Beth (Hershey, The Entity) filing a restraining order against him meaning he’s unable to see his young daughter. Having finally had it, Foster abandons his car right there on the freeway and starts walking home. It’s his kid’s birthday and he intends to be there. Nothing will stand in his way, NOTHING.
His first stop is a convenience store where the Korean owner (Chan, Batman Forever) refuses to give him change for the pay phone unless he buys something. After learning a can of soda costs eighty-five cents, Foster trashes the place; destroying merchandise while ranting about the high prices and the merchant’s inability to speak English properly. Next, he encounters two Hispanic gang members in a park. They try to intimidate him. He responds by assaulting them with a baseball bat he took from the store. When they try to retaliate with other gang members, they accidentally flip their car. Foster taunts them before walking off with a gym bag full of automatic weapons.
Meanwhile, it’s the last day on the job for retiring Detective Prendergast (Duvall, The Apostle). He’s taking an early retirement at the request of his wife (Weld, Thief) who has never completely recovered from the death of their young daughter. He’s the one who first notices there’s a connection between the day’s events. His colleagues just brush him off. He persists and convinces his former partner Sandra Torres (Ticotin, Total Recall) to help him with his investigation. Eventually, he identifies Foster as the one-man crime wave and tries to apprehend him before he hurts more people.
Obviously, the main idea of Falling Down is the Everyman doing something that we’ve all wanted to do at one time or another. Who isn’t sick and tired of road repair crews tying up traffic and wasting the taxpayers’ money, especially when there’s nothing wrong with the road? Who doesn’t want to do something to the annoying, smiling half-wits at fast food restaurants? In my favorite scene, Foster pulls a gun after he’s refused breakfast because it’s three minutes past the time they serve it. He doesn’t appreciate the manager’s condescending attitude and responds with inappropriate force.
Throughout the day, he will encounter other rude, selfish people- e.g. persistent panhandlers, pay phone hogs, conceited country club types- as well as a neo-Nazi store owner (Forrest, Apocalypse Now) who makes the mistake of thinking Foster shares his racist, homophobic views. As for him, I believe most of us would enjoy seeing him get his. Foster does things that we’d like to do, but since brandishing automatic weapons, destroying personal property and assaulting people are highly illegal, we restrain ourselves and just take it. The viewer gets to live vicariously through Douglas’ character.
Douglas delivers a courageous performance as an average guy who’s clearly had a psychotic break. He doesn’t look dangerous. He looks like a middle school science teacher with the nerdy glasses and short haircut. The look suits Douglas’ intense, tightly-wound character well. Duvall also gives a good performance as the aging detective with an unhappy home life. He spends a great deal of time on the phone at work calming his wife down during one of her episodes. He’s not in love with her idea of moving to Lake Havasu City, AZ where London Bridge is located. The always reliable Hershey turns in another solid performance as the terrified ex-wife.
Directed by Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys), Falling Down is one of his best films. It’s in the top three with A Time to Kill and 8MM. Original and intense, it benefits from well-defined characters and an intelligent screenplay by Ebbe Roe Smith that allows us to get inside the protagonist’s head. It’s enhanced by Andrzej Bartkowiak’s hazy cinematography.
In addition, it hasn’t aged at all (except maybe for the pay phones and outdated technology). It’s still as relevant today as it was in ’93. Today, I can see Foster going after people who text while driving or smashing some yakking idiot’s smart phone on the pavement. One scene really stands out in this respect, the scene where Foster responds to a sarcastic road crew member’s remarks by taking out a rocket launcher with the intention of using it to really make a mess of the street that’s supposedly in need of repair. He doesn’t know how to operate it though. That’s when a young boy approaches him and tells him exactly what to do. Foster asks him how he knows what he knows. The boy replies he saw it on TV. Today, he’d Google it on his smart phone and talk Foster through it.
Falling Down is a fascinating movie on many levels. It’s a commentary on contemporary society (in the early 90s anyway), a suspenseful thriller, a dark satire and a kick-ass action flick. Let’s face it, there’s a certain catharsis to be had watching this mentally disturbed anti-hero confront all the little things that annoy the piss out of us. I refuse to believe there’s not one among you that hasn’t fantasized about doing something terrible to an incompetent service worker or arrogant jerk. It’s only human.
