Jason KingFalling Down ($14-)
August 1st 2008 23:58
Falling Down ($14-)
I had a fun night last night sitting on the couch under a blanket with the heater set to "destroy environment" and I ordered pizzas and drank Coke and basically "Homerised" the evening and I absolutely loved it. To make the night more fun I borrowed some DVD's off a friend and sat down to watch Falling Down and Dogma (Dogma review later).
A laid-off defense worker, kept from seeing his child on her birthday by a restraining order, looks at the landscape of moral decay in Los Angeles on one hot, congested day and snaps. What follows is his bitter and pathetic mission of justice, vengeance and vindication that reads uncomfortably like too many news stories. Michael Douglas is identified only by his character's license plate, D-FENS, in this attack on social ills, a film originally seen as the displacement of power felt by many white American males.
Directed by Joel Schumacher in probably his best film that actually makes a statement before he got eaten by the Hollywood money making machine and forgot to include decent plots in a lot of his films after. He is known for other great films like St Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, Dying Young, Tigerland and Phantom of the Opera. But then he did things like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and 8mm. OK - mixed bag with Joel!! Micheal Douglas is outstanding and this, for me, is probably his most memorable film. The way he catches the rage, sadness and confusion in this film is brilliant. The character portrays emotions I have felt many a time out in the world, who doesn't want to open up with an Uzi in a Maccas because the food NEVER looks like the pictures. The phone booth scene with the guy yelling at him is a perfect summing up of what I think of whining assholes! Towards the end with Douglas running along the pier is cinematographic brilliance and when he realises he is the bad guy you feel for the guy body and soul because he did not plan or want to be where he was, society molded him to be that man, something he never saw coming.
Robert Duvall is fabulous in this film and he is the epitome of grand fatherliness. He just comes across as the ultimate nice guy who couldn't hurt a flea and you want to hug him. The tenderness he has for his wife is beautiful and his character's ability to reach out to people on their level is awe inspiring. Barbara Hershey is great as always but her part is too small to warrant much discussion. You will also get to see a few characters in bit parts that made it in films and TV after this movie and the most notable was the street worker guy who is now Bill Buchanan from 24.
TRIVIA:
1) Filmed during the L.A. riots of 1992.
2) Bill Foster's license plate is D-FENS.
3) The kid who tells D-Fens how to use the rocket weapon could have learned the detailed instructions from watching Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).
4) The man who is yelling about being "not economically viable" in front of the bank is wearing the exact same clothes as D-Fens. Even the tie pattern is the same.
5) The stripper for Prendergast ('Robert Duvall (I)' ) is named "Suzie". When she starts dancing, someone says "Susie Q", a reference to the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, used in Apocalypse Now (1979), and which also featured Duvall.
6) 'Robert Duvall (I)' , Frederic Forrest, and James Keane all appeared in Apocalypse Now (1979).
7) In the scene in which the drive-by car crashes, there is a mural of Christ on the wall. This same mural is also present in Colors (1988), also starring 'Robert Duvall (I)' , in the scene in which "Pac Man", played by 'Sean Penn' , spray paints a kid's face.
8) Every studio in Hollywood turned down Ebbe Roe Smith's script. Producer Arnold Kopelson was getting to the stage of considering cable TV when Michael Douglas came across the script and pronounced it one of the best he'd ever read.
9) Bill Foster never uses the same weapon twice (aside from the baseball bat)
10) Detective Brian (Steve Park) says that he can't translate for Mr. Lee (Michael Paul Chan) because he is Japanese and Mr. Lee is Korean. In real life, Park is Korean and Chan is Chinese.
This film has a scary reality based theme about it, these outbreaks in the US (and the rest of the world) of people losing the plot and going berserk is a continuing issue that has been going on for decades. Even this week a Canadian man stabbed another to death on a bus, while being calm the whole time, and then decapitated him. Does society in the US or even the world consider the reasons behind these outbursts and what is the world doing to try and avoid these in the future?? From this film it is quite clear how easy it would be for someone to fall down or jump over the edge of sanity and moral correctness and wipe out 37 people in a school or to cut a mans head off on a bus. It's a real shame!
But besides the moral issues presented in this film it does have a certain humor to it that allows us to visualise how we could act while remaining morally correct in the real world. True celluloid awesomeness. Buy it or rent it on DVD now!! Worth $14-
I had a fun night last night sitting on the couch under a blanket with the heater set to "destroy environment" and I ordered pizzas and drank Coke and basically "Homerised" the evening and I absolutely loved it. To make the night more fun I borrowed some DVD's off a friend and sat down to watch Falling Down and Dogma (Dogma review later).
A laid-off defense worker, kept from seeing his child on her birthday by a restraining order, looks at the landscape of moral decay in Los Angeles on one hot, congested day and snaps. What follows is his bitter and pathetic mission of justice, vengeance and vindication that reads uncomfortably like too many news stories. Michael Douglas is identified only by his character's license plate, D-FENS, in this attack on social ills, a film originally seen as the displacement of power felt by many white American males.
Directed by Joel Schumacher in probably his best film that actually makes a statement before he got eaten by the Hollywood money making machine and forgot to include decent plots in a lot of his films after. He is known for other great films like St Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, Dying Young, Tigerland and Phantom of the Opera. But then he did things like Batman Forever and Batman and Robin and 8mm. OK - mixed bag with Joel!! Micheal Douglas is outstanding and this, for me, is probably his most memorable film. The way he catches the rage, sadness and confusion in this film is brilliant. The character portrays emotions I have felt many a time out in the world, who doesn't want to open up with an Uzi in a Maccas because the food NEVER looks like the pictures. The phone booth scene with the guy yelling at him is a perfect summing up of what I think of whining assholes! Towards the end with Douglas running along the pier is cinematographic brilliance and when he realises he is the bad guy you feel for the guy body and soul because he did not plan or want to be where he was, society molded him to be that man, something he never saw coming.
Robert Duvall is fabulous in this film and he is the epitome of grand fatherliness. He just comes across as the ultimate nice guy who couldn't hurt a flea and you want to hug him. The tenderness he has for his wife is beautiful and his character's ability to reach out to people on their level is awe inspiring. Barbara Hershey is great as always but her part is too small to warrant much discussion. You will also get to see a few characters in bit parts that made it in films and TV after this movie and the most notable was the street worker guy who is now Bill Buchanan from 24.
TRIVIA:
1) Filmed during the L.A. riots of 1992.
2) Bill Foster's license plate is D-FENS.
3) The kid who tells D-Fens how to use the rocket weapon could have learned the detailed instructions from watching Beverly Hills Cop II (1987).
4) The man who is yelling about being "not economically viable" in front of the bank is wearing the exact same clothes as D-Fens. Even the tie pattern is the same.
5) The stripper for Prendergast ('Robert Duvall (I)' ) is named "Suzie". When she starts dancing, someone says "Susie Q", a reference to the Creedence Clearwater Revival song, used in Apocalypse Now (1979), and which also featured Duvall.
6) 'Robert Duvall (I)' , Frederic Forrest, and James Keane all appeared in Apocalypse Now (1979).
7) In the scene in which the drive-by car crashes, there is a mural of Christ on the wall. This same mural is also present in Colors (1988), also starring 'Robert Duvall (I)' , in the scene in which "Pac Man", played by 'Sean Penn' , spray paints a kid's face.
8) Every studio in Hollywood turned down Ebbe Roe Smith's script. Producer Arnold Kopelson was getting to the stage of considering cable TV when Michael Douglas came across the script and pronounced it one of the best he'd ever read.
9) Bill Foster never uses the same weapon twice (aside from the baseball bat)
10) Detective Brian (Steve Park) says that he can't translate for Mr. Lee (Michael Paul Chan) because he is Japanese and Mr. Lee is Korean. In real life, Park is Korean and Chan is Chinese.
This film has a scary reality based theme about it, these outbreaks in the US (and the rest of the world) of people losing the plot and going berserk is a continuing issue that has been going on for decades. Even this week a Canadian man stabbed another to death on a bus, while being calm the whole time, and then decapitated him. Does society in the US or even the world consider the reasons behind these outbursts and what is the world doing to try and avoid these in the future?? From this film it is quite clear how easy it would be for someone to fall down or jump over the edge of sanity and moral correctness and wipe out 37 people in a school or to cut a mans head off on a bus. It's a real shame!
But besides the moral issues presented in this film it does have a certain humor to it that allows us to visualise how we could act while remaining morally correct in the real world. True celluloid awesomeness. Buy it or rent it on DVD now!! Worth $14-
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