Falling Down

Plot synopsis:
Michael Douglas plays a disturbed man whose true identity is unknown through most of the film. He is stuck in Los Angeles traffic on a very hot summer day and finally just gives up and abandons his vehicle. D-Fens, as he is credited in the film (based on his vanity license plate), begins walking west, trying to reach his estranged wife and daughter. It's the little girl's birthday, and he is determined to reach "home" to be with her.In a parallel story line, Detective Prendergast of the LAPD (Robert Duvall) is on his last day before taking an early retirement. His needy, bossy wife demanded that he do this, and Prendergast took a "safe" desk job a few years back to placate her as well. He comes upon D-Fens's abandoned car on his way to work and helps push it out of traffic.D-Fens calls his ex-wife on a pay phone but hangs up when she answers. Short on coins to call again, he enters a Korean-owned convenience store. He respects the "no change without purchase" policy and tries to buy a can of Coke. He is incensed at the high price and begins a tirade against foreigners who come to America and charge outrageous prices. He is soon fighting with the Korean owner and, after grabbing a sawed-off baseball bat from the man, begins wrecking the store. Eventually he calms down a little, pays a "reasonable" price for the soda, and leaves.Heading for Venice, California, D-Fens climbs a hill in "gangland," an area rife with Hispanic gang activity. Two young gang-bangers accost him because he's a white man in a white shirt and a tie, with a briefcase, wandering through their "hood." When D-Fens fails to hand over any money, they threaten him with a knife, and he counters with the bat he got at the convenience store. He injures one assailant's arm and drives the other off. Dropping the bat, he picks up the butterfly knife, establishing a pattern of increasing his armament throughout the film.The Latino gang members vow revenge, and a carload (with many firearms, including automatic weapons) is soon out hunting for D-Fens. He is again calling his ex from a pay phone, threatening to show up at his daughter's birthday party. The gangsters attempt a drive-by shooting but miss D-Fens, hitting other bystanders and crashing their car. Going up to the wreckage, D-Fens admonishes them for missing him, shoots one in the leg, and makes off with a gym bag filled with guns.Hungry, D-Fens stops by Whammy Burger, only to be told that breakfast stopped being served five minutes earlier. Not a wise thing to tell the psychotic D-Fens, and he soon pulls out a submachine gun, threatening everyone and deciding to have lunch instead. After berating the staff for serving him a hamburger that looks nothing like the advertising posters, he leaves.Prendergast (in between whiny calls from his wife) is starting to notice a pattern. The Korean store owner came in to complain, and the detective heard about the bold daylight shooting attempt. He looks on an L.A. map and sees that the mysterious man in a white shirt and a tie is walking toward the ocean. Perceived as a "fallen" cop by his superior, however, Prendergast's observations are not taken seriously.D-Fens's ex calls the police to gain protection from him, but they don't believe he's much of a threat and leave.The increasingly disturbed D-Fens goes into an Army-Navy surplus store run by a gay-bashing Nazi (Frederic Forrest) to buy more durable footwear for his trek. While he's being fitted, police detective Torres (Rachel Ticotin) comes in asking about him. The Nazi owner distracts her and, after she leaves, tells D-Fens he knows all about his activities. The Nazi assumes D-Fens is a racist who is attacking nonwhites. After being corrected about this, the irate skinhead attempts to handcuff D-Fens to turn him over to the police. He is instead knifed and ultimately killed. D-Fens clothes himself in military-style garb and sets out on his quest once again.He cuts through a nearby golf course and is accosted by two elderly golfers. After berating them for wasting such lovely green space on a silly game, he shoots up their golf cart, causing one to have a heart attack.D-Fens eventually reaches his former home, but his wife leaves just in time. Prendergast, who has put the whole puzzle together, rushes to the scene with his friend, Detective Torres. Having turned in his weapon (it's his last day before retirement), Prendergast is unarmed. D-Fens shoots Torres, wounding her slightly, and the older detective grabs her weapon and chases D-Fens onto a fishing pier. Prendergast has a final confrontation with D-Fens and kills him.

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, violence, tragedy, home movie

Review:
Set them against the decadent back drop of modern day LA where if you are 'Not economically viable,' you are of no use, and the result is Falling Down.The tag line 'The Adventures of an Ordinary man at War with the Everyday World,' makes Joel Schumacher's masterpiece sound like the benign story of a working stiff with issues.
However Falling Down is a dark and engrossing urban fable, a study into the mind of the disenfranchised and reminder to all that the removal of comfort is a lot closer than we care to believe.Full of clichés, like the cop on his last day before retiring, Falling Down bravely meets all expectations of stereotypes, rather than challenging them, making for a realistic reflection of a failing society.
Here, a man in extremis, without the feral cunning or killer instinct required for a life in the street, makes his way on anger and luck alone, somehow surviving to leave a paper chase of violence and destruction behind.Relying heavily on symbolism, illustrating a flip side of America running parallel to the hunky dory world occupied by the successful, the over all message of 'No Matter, Never Mind,' is clear in this world where children play next to vagrants dying from AIDS and Korean grocers can legally steal from the public with their overpriced goods.Michael Douglas displays some hitherto unseen talent as the unbalanced D-FENS, as he casually totes gang weapons (complete with rubber bands on the grips) in his formal shirt and tie, does battle with store owners and comes up against fast food restaurants, homeless people, gangsters and Nazis.
Robert Duval is equally brilliant as the desk jockey on his final day, determined to stop anyone else from being hurt, including the perp.There is, of course, a small amount of Hollywood sentimentality thrown in for good measure, however the dynamics of such a strong narrative make this completely forgivable and it's possible to overlook this as a flaw given the film's overall strengths.Praise surely has to go to Ebbe Roe Smith for writing one of the finest scripts ever to grace celluloid.
Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall star in a film that portrays life as true, funny and aggravating as it really is.
Falling Down (1993)Tagged as `the adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world,' Joel Schumacher's `Falling Down' tells the tragic tale of William Foster aka D-FENS, a now unemployed defense worker who finds himself trapped on a hot summer day in bumper-to-bumper Los Angeles traffic.
As Prendergast, who is on his last day on the job, begins to put together the pieces of the mysterious crime spree plaguing the city (he seems to be the only one smart enough to figure out it's all the doing of one man!), it pits him in an inevitable confrontation between him and Foster.Michael Douglas, playing Foster / D-FENS plays an incredibly complex character.
You can't help but feel at the end of the day, when Foster gets his due, that he's, in some small way, made Los Angeles a better place despite the carnage he's unleashed.And this is perhaps what is so strange about the movie.
Falling down probably wasn't the best film of it's year and it's not one of the all time greats, but there is a lot of truth in it.
Michael Douglas delivers an astonishing performance as D-Fens (William Foster) an ordinary guy, who has an obviously perfect job at the department of Defense, until he gets fired and his wife breaks up with him.
On one of those typical LA dog-days, disgruntled motorist Michael Douglas, caught in what could be the traffic jam from hell, finally decides he can't take it any more, abandons his car on the freeway and decides to walk home and God help anyone who gets in his way.I suppose "Falling Down" could best be described as a road movie in reverse.
The script, very boldly, explores post cold war America and seems to ask this question: While we were busy defending ourselves from outsiders and fighting wars abroad did we forget what was wrong at home?The central character, played by Michael Douglas, represents old school, commie-fearing Uncle Sam. He's a man who has spent his life developing weapons to defend his country.
Despite what was written in reviews of the time Douglas' character D-Fens' actually commits very few acts of violence in the film.
His mirror opposite in the story, played by Duvall, balances the bleak view of modern America nicely but, as we gradually discover how horrible and strange D-fens has become to his own wife and children, the film leaves thinking about how strange and horrible so much of American society has become..
If we were less than tough and strong we would end up shooting and beating people up like Michael Douglas' character in this movie.
I'm not saying i would ever go as far as Michael Douglas does when he cant get his breakfast 2 minutes after the cut off time in this film but i understand EXACTLY how he feels.!.
On the day of his daughter's birthday, William "D-Fens" Foster (Michael Douglas) is trying to get home of his estranged ex-wife to see her daughter.
Meanwhile Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) that is working on his last day before retirement is following the wave of crimes and believes that the responsible is the same man but the other detectives do not pay attention to him."Falling Down" is a movie with a story that is one of the greatest social criticisms of our contemporary way of life.
I parodied many of these experiences in my 20 or so years spent there, and this was always one of my favorites.Michael Douglas' portrayal of "D-FENS" was,I believe, his greatest triumph.William Foster (Douglas) had been canned from his government defence job, and leaves his clapped out old car, with the license plate "D-FENS", on the freeway and embarks on a walking crusade, on a very hot day, many miles to Venice Beach for his daughter's birthday celebration.
Too bad because a couple of actors I like are in those scenes but they are so annoying I couldn't watch them after two viewings of this film (Tuesday Weld and Robert Duvall).
The reason I like this movie so much is because every single incident that annoys Bill Foster (Michael Douglas) in this movie is absolutely true to life.
He's only trying to get home for his daughter's birthday.Michael Douglas does great as a man at the end of his rope.
Robert Duvall also does amazingly well in his role as a cop on his last day of the job, desperately trying to stop Bill Foster before he walks off the job.A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that because Joel Schumacher directed Batman and Robin that he's a terrible director.
Falling down is the movie I've been looking for years!!!, finally a film that shows what the real world is, nothing but discrimination, corruption etc..., this film is simply a masterpiece, I couldn't believe Joel Schumacher did this, a very powerful and impressive film that shows us what the system really is, surely we have all felt like this at somepoint including myself and sooner or later you pop!
and there it goes, you do the "right thing", "defending your rights" but you end up as the "bad guy", this film has one of the most depressing endings ever!, watching D-fense on the TV set with his ex-wife and daughter brings me to tears because that was all he wanted to do, go home with his family.A must see masterpiece!!!.
In "Falling Down", a recently terminated defense worker (played by Michael Douglas), stuck in morning gridlock, abandons his car on the freeway and goes on a rampage through the streets of Los Angeles.
Trailing him is humane, veteran cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall) on his last day before retirement determined to bring him in and prevent further bloodshed and destruction.Michael Douglas does a masterful job of conveying the frustration of the disenfranchised.
Joel Schumacher, who has directed some (let us say) below average movies, every once in a while comes out with a film like "Falling Down." While I believe this happens all too rarely, "Tigerland" being his last phenomenal venture, his good films are really good.And "Falling Down" achieves near-perfection in its dive into the urban nightmare that was (and perhaps still is) America, specifically L.A. It's about a man who, in a scene that harks back to the opening scene of Fellini's 8 1/2, exits the fiery hell of his automobile, grabs his briefcase and enters the streets.
It's a story of a man who simply cracks under pressure and Michael Douglas does a phenomenal job of portraying him.It also has one hell of a performance by Robert Duvall.
I would say, in the movie I want to make it with a guy that I'm obsessed with and I can't, so I turn out to be like D-Fens (Michael Douglas) just to make myself better & I take a gun out of the bag & get the girlfriend of the "guy I like"'s with it.
How many times have you wanted to ask this question when stuck in terrible weather, with the traffic backed up, and an itching insanity?This film is fantastic, with Michael Douglas giving his best performance since "Wall Street", Robert Duvall is also in fine form.
D-Fens as his license plate identifies him as, spends the day, "going home" to his daughter's birthday, along the way meeting an assortment of characters, whom many of us, would probably like to see treated the way they are in this film, but due to our day to day realities, no one has the nerve to!Take the lay-about asking for change, the construction workers "fixing the street" or the staff of a fast food chain all as prime examples.
From the psychopath in the army surplus store, punk home boys, condescending fast food staff,profiteering store owner, smart guy road worker, whining wife and the many police officers the viewer gets a snapshot of western society gone horribly wrong.It could be any country that is close to losing the social conscience it once had, in this case it is the U.S. There is one scene where an unemployed, protesting guy calls out to D-Fens, "Don't forget me".
No one wanted to touch it, yet, once it was made, it became arguably Michael Douglas' finest performance to date and an enduring classic which is as relevant today as it was in the early nineties.A man – just a man – finally snaps which sitting in a seemingly never ending traffic jam in L.A. and decides to walk 'home' through the city.
Along the way, we're given an insight into the type of people who live there and the human tragedy unfolds.Michael Douglas plays 'the man' who is mainly referred to a 'D-Fens' throughout the majority of the film due to his personalised number plate.
While not his best performance, Robert Duvall does a good job as the elder cop on Foster's tail and is suffering with domestic issues.Overall, Falling Down can be seen as a satire at times, but its message is clear as day and it practically means that our society is crumbling apart.
Falling Down stars Michael Douglas as William Foster, a man at the end of his tether.
Against all the odds the comedy succeeds, mainly thanks to Douglas, who turns in one of his best ever performances, as a man pushed too far by events beyond his control.Foster could be dismissed as a lone nut-case, but there can't be many who haven't contemplated acting as he does at one time or another.
He sees himself as just an ordinary man trying to live a normal life, and is genuinely amazed when told he is considered a bad guy.Falling Down is a terrific film, which illustrates some of society's problems through the travails of its central character.
Apart from the lead character's decent into madness, there is racism, homophobia, the decay of modern society, and cynical observations on life, poverty, commercialism and the economy.Many audiences know Michael Douglas for his roles in Wall Street (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Basic Instinct, Fatal Attraction, and Traffic.
Michael Douglas' character William Foster is certainly not a hero in this movie, instead he is the villain and the victim, and shows the audience that he is a sad and broken individual that is past the point of no return.Joel Schumacher has had a mixed career as a director (he almost killed the Batman franchise with the 1997 flop Batman and Robin), but without question Falling Down is his best movie to date.
The protagonist, "D-Fens", played superbly by Michael Douglas, is a man, who losses his innocence & takes the wrong way to lead his life.
There is one seen where he pulls out a machine gun in a fast food restaurant because they stopped serving breakfast at 10:30 rather than 11:00 as he thought.At times, you actually root for this character as he fights off gangsters and neo-Nazi's.This is a must see film and probably Michael Douglas' best performance to date..
Yeah, because director Joel Schumacher and writer Ebbe Roe Smith really came up with something truly unique here.The story in "Falling Down" is an entertaining one for sure, and it is a blast to follow D-Fens/Foster (played by Michael Douglas) in his quest to return to his estranged family and having what seems like the entire world turn against him.Not only is it a solid storyline and plot that carries the movie, but it is first and foremost an amazing performance by Michael Douglas.
Robert Duvall was also doing an amazing job in the movie, but then again he usually always is.The pacing in "Falling Down" is quite good, because the movie starts out in a pretty high gear and it doesn't really slow down to becoming dull or anything at any time throughout the course of the entire movie.The movie does raise some interesting issues if you think about it, such as are you yourself the root of the cause to all your problems, or is it mere circumstance, or is society conspiring against us all?
And in that aspect, then it is definitely a blast to follow Foster as he makes his way through Los Angeles and face his problems head on."Falling Down" is a movie that can sustain multiple viewings.
This is a great movie about a man, Michael Douglas, pushed to the edge.
Falling Down is a movie which stars an excellent Michael Douglas, as a Los Angeles man who cannot cope with the every day pressures many people experience during their lifetime.
In this movie we see Michael Douglas as an ordinary man who appears to be someone who is, in his mind, still living in the sixtees, when everything was better...
There is quite a THICK RED LINE between an utopian society and the reality.Well there are at times we all would like to set a few things right in our society the hard way.but we would rather keep that as an imagination than to put those thoughts into action, thats exactly what our hero mr.d-fens tends to do,try and set all the wrong things right his way just because he is unable to set his own house right and his life goes upside down.There are times you tend to sympathise with the main character, hell you sympathise him all through the the way till the very end.I for one found myself cheering mr.d-fens when he strikes the gangsta latinos and his encounter with the road authorities.Coming back to the plot we have a retiring cop who is all out to stop mr.d-fens's citywide rampage ,will he succeed?Will our hero really clean up this society of all its diseases, thats for you to see friends.Michael douglas is mr.d-fens and i should say this role was only meant for him ,he made mr.d-fens look so cool.He gives quite a powerfulperformance.Robert duvall is the retiring cop who is always at the receiving side from his department and he has given equally a good performance.For me this is easily one of the best movies of the 90's.I give this movie 5 otta 5 .Have a good day.
With both Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall on top form, this movie is a winner on every level.The movie starts off with Douglas' William Foster, a man with a BIG temper, stook in a traffic jam on the hottest day of the year.
Well, you get an exaggerated, yet plausible, depiction of what could happen if a man is pushed too far in this movie.Michael Douglas is phenomenal as Bill "D-FENS" Foster in Joel Schumacher's griping tale of a man who is trying to see his daughter on her birthday.
Duvall is always the character he plays, and in this movie, Michael Douglas was almost unrecognizable as the motion picture hero I had become accustomed to.
Michael Douglas should play characters like this much more often, because he's so much better at it then that victim he plays in all of his other movies.
One of the main reasons why I like this film so much is that Michael Douglas actually plays a character that everyman can relate to.
I know we all feel like we have bad days like Michael Douglas did in the movie.
If it does that I would want to end up what Michael Douglas (D-Fens) was like in the movie.
The story is fairly simple, but done so well that you just can't wait to see what happens next.Michael Douglas pulls off one of his best performances to date as William Foster, a man that has finally had it with the pressures and annoyances of life and just looses all control.