Falling Down
| Falling Down | |
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 Falling Down |
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| Directed by | Joel Schumacher |
| Produced by | Timothy Harris Arnold Kopelson Herschel Weingrod |
| Written by | Ebbe Roe Smith |
| Starring | Michael Douglas Robert Duvall Barbara Hershey Rachel Ticotin Frederic Forrest Tuesday Weld |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Cinematography | Andrzej Bartkowiak |
| Editing by | Paul Hirsch |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | February 26, 1993 (USA) |
| Running time | 113 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
Falling Down is a 1993 film directed by Joel Schumacher about the character William "Bill" Foster (played by Michael Douglas) also known as "D-Fens" (named for his license plate) attempting to "go home" for his daughter's birthday after abandoning his car in traffic on the hottest day of the year. As he passes through the city of Los Angeles, California on foot, he finds himself alienated, disgusted and angered by what he experiences as he is accosted, overcharged and rejected. He becomes a vigilante as he gradually begins to accumulate weaponry and starts to force people out of his way.
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: Detective Martin Prendergast's wife's insists throughout the movie that she and her husband retire to Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where the old London Bridge was moved; a snowglobe purchased by Foster as a gift for his daughter also plays the tune of the song.
As the movie was being filmed, the massive 1992 Los Angeles riots (also known as the Rodney King riots) broke out, bringing to light many of the issues of racial, social and economic tensions portrayed in the film.
Contents |
Plot
- Taglines
- A Tale of Urban Reality.
The adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world.
The film traces the stories of two men: out-of-work engineer William Foster (Michael Douglas) and over-the-hill LAPD Sergeant Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) on an especially hot day in Los Angeles.
Foster is recently divorced, and his ex-wife Beth (Barbara Hershey) has obtained a restraining order to keep him away from herself and their daughter Adele. In addition, he has been laid off by the defense contractor for which he worked. His frustration grows as he finds himself stuck in a traffic jam and his car’s air conditioning fails. Abandoning the vehicle, he begins walking across Los Angeles toward the home of Elizabeth and Adele so he can attend Adele’s birthday party.
He stops at a convenience store to get change for a phone call, but winds up haranguing the owner (Michael Paul Chan) for charging what he believes are unreasonably high prices. When the owner tries to defend himself with a baseball bat, Foster takes it from him and destroys much of the merchandise before leaving. Soon afterward, Foster is accosted by two Hispanic gang members who threaten him with a butterfly knife; he drives them off with the bat, which he leaves behind in favor of the knife, and continues his journey across the city.
The gang members and some of their friends later attempt a drive-by shooting on Foster as revenge. The shots hit several bystanders instead and the car crashes, killing some of the gang members inside. Taking a bag filled with their weapons for himself, Foster shoots one survivor in the leg and walks off. In a nearby park, he encounters a panhandler who keeps asking for money even as Foster picks his hard-luck story apart; Foster finally hands over his briefcase, which contains only his lunch. He then enters a fast food restaurant and attempts to order breakfast, but cannot get it since the switch from breakfast to lunch menu has already occurred. After a tense argument with the manager, Foster draws a weapon from his bag and fires into the ceiling, scaring the employees and customers badly. After trying to reassure them, he decides to order lunch but is outraged when the burger he receives looks nothing like the thick, juicy one shown on the menu board. He leaves, tries to call Beth from a phone booth, then shoots the phone to pieces when a man complains that he is taking too long.
This string of events draws the attention of Prendergast, an LAPD sergeant whose domineering wife and mocking co-workers constantly frustrate all aspects of his life. This day is supposed to be his last on the job before he retires, but he insists on investigating, much to the dismay of his supervisor and the squad. Interviews with the witnesses at each scene lead him to realize that the same man may be responsible; Foster’s “D-FENS” vanity license plate proves to be an important lead in tracking him down. He and his partner, Detective Sandra Torres (Rachel Ticotin) rush out to intercept him.
During the walk toward Beth’s house, Foster buys a snowglobe as a birthday present for Adele and stops at a military surplus store to find a new pair of shoes. The owner (Frederic Forrest), a homophobic neo-Nazi, diverts Torres’ attention when she comes in to ask a few questions. After she has left, he locks the door, shows Foster his collection of Nazi paraphernalia, and reveals the police scanner he has been using to follow the day’s events. He then tries to give Foster an anti-tank weapon as a present; when the offer is rebuffed, he prepares to kill Foster, who stabs him with the butterfly knife and then shoots him dead. Foster now changes into army fatigues and boots, takes the anti-tank weapon along with his bag of guns, and starts walking again.
Next he 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 destroy part of their equipment so they will have some real work to do. His travels bring him to a golf course, where 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 and begs in vain for his medication, which is in the sinking cart.
Climbing over a wall, Foster finds himself on the grounds of an enormous mansion whose owner is out of town. He rages about this display of excess wealth to the first man he sees, one of the owner’s employees, then decides to hide on the grounds with the man and his family. Foster tells them about being laid off by his defense-contractor employer when the Cold War ended, and also of his perception of being discarded as obsolete after so many years of study and work. The man offers to let Foster take him as hostage and let his family go free; infuriated at the assumption that he means them any harm, Foster departs.
By the time he reaches Beth’s house, she has already called the police several times to warn them about him and fled with Adele in tow. As he watches some home movies recorded during their marriage, he realizes that he had been putting stress on his family even back then. 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.
The two men come face to face on the pier, where Prendergast dismisses Foster’s complaints about being ill-treated by society as an excuse for what he has done. Prendergast positions himself to protect Beth and Adele, insisting that Foster give himself up to the police officers who are arriving in force. Foster instead wants to engage Prendergast in an Old West-style showdown, so that his family can collect on his life insurance if he dies. When he starts to pull something from his pocket, Prendergast fatally shoots him; Foster shows the item as Adele’s toy water pistol before toppling off the pier and into the ocean.
Over the course of the film, Prendergast has gradually developed a high level of assertiveness toward his wife and co-workers. In the aftermath of the shooting, he publicly curses at his overbearing supervisor in front of the news media, then decides to stay on the job and postpone his retirement.
Reception
Reviews for the film tended towards the positive.[1][2] 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."
Primary cast
- Michael Douglas - William "Bill" Foster/D-Fens
- Robert Duvall - Sergeant Martin Prendergast
- Barbara Hershey - Elizabeth "Beth" Travino
- Tuesday Weld - Amanda Prendergast
- Rachel Ticotin - Detective Sandra Torres
- Frederic Forrest - Nick, Army Surplus Store Owner
- Raymond J. Barry - Captain Yardley
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)
Cultural references
- In promotional material for their album Reise, Reise, the German band Rammstein used poses with clothes and accessories inspired by the poster for this film.
- The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden used this film as inspiration for a song named Man on the Edge.
- The French rapper Disiz la Peste used this film as inspiration for a song named J'pète les plombs.
- 2007 the American rock band Atreyu made a song titled Falling Down on their album Lead Sails Paper Anchor.
- The film is heavily sampled on Front Line Assembly's 1994 album Millennium.
- The metalcore band Silent Civilian has a song on their 2006 album "Rebirth Of The Temple" titled "Falling Down", inspired directly by the movie.
- Reeves and Mortimer's quiz show "Shooting Stars" paid homage with a sketch featuring Vic Reeves as Douglas' character.
- The Massachusetts punk band "Drown Your Babies Elsewhere" has a song called "Nazi Pawnshop Blues" that was inspired directly by the film and outlines four encounters of the main character.
- American Hip hop act CunninLynguists made a track on their album SouthernUnderground titled Falling Down. The track appears to be based heavily on the movie, given the scenario described in the opening verse. The track goes on to parody the movie to some extent.
- The character of Frank Grimes from The Simpsons episode "Homer's Enemy" is based on Bill Foster in both appearance and how he eventually snaps.
- California cinema-grind band Graf Orlock have a track on their album Destination Time: Yesterday called Not Economically Viable, which is a line constantly used in one scene, there is also samples from the movie in the song.
References
External links
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