Falling Down

Starring: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall
Written by: Ebbe Roe Smith
Director: Joel Schumacher
Year: 1993

Rating: * * * *   Stars       +       (Fan Bonus -  )  Total: * * * *

One day, an average guy suffering from the pressures of life, snaps. Now, he wages a one man war against societies ills on his quest to simply go home.

Michael Douglas plays William Foster, an out of work defense contractor who has had it up to his eyes with societies woe's. Abandoning his car in the middle of a morning traffic jam, he sets out on foot to buy a present and arrive home in time for his little girl's birthday party. Along the way he stops at a Korean convenience store needing change to make a phone call. The clerk insists he buys something, and William purchases a single can of Coke. The clerk charges 85 cents, not leaving enough for the phone call. Outraged at the mark up, he trashes the store until the clerk relents. Next, he takes on a couple hoods who try and steal his briefcase. Out for revenge, the hoods are unsuccessful at a drive-by, and William collects their guns. Next, when he's denied breakfast at a Whammy Burger, because he's 3 minutes late, he holds the place up. And it only gets worse. William Foster cuts a path of violence throughout Los Angeles as he is "standing up for his rights as a consumer." 

Robert Duvall plays detective Prendergrast, who's putting in his last day at work, having booked an early retirement. Yet he gets involved in this one last case involving William. His wife, having come off a mental breakdown, pressures him to just come home. Prendergrast is both admired and disrespected by fellow officers for his unwavering loyalty to her.


Joel Schumacher carefully balances the character of William, making him a sympathetic, yet despicable character. Both the protagonist and villain of the film, the audience cannot help but side with him. We admire his actions, even if he is dangerous. Make no mistake, William may have snapped as this film opens, but as the film moves forward, his manic nature is revealed to have been an ongoing thing. He is returning home to a wife and child that have a restraining order against him. He was going to "work" even though he has no job. And he defends the contents of a briefcase with his life, which turns out to be a sandwich and an apple. We find ourselves rationalizing his crimes. He doesn't steal, he pays for the Coke and breakfast. His actions with the gang, and on the golf course are the results of being provoked. He doesn't initiate any violence, he merely reacts to it. And can anyone feel sorry for the guy in the Army/Navy store? William is insane and dangerous, yet we vicariously thrill ourselves through him as he does what we are afraid to do.

Falling Down is also a cautionary tale. Michael Douglas's performance of an unassuming every-man warns us that you can't judge a book by its cover. Indeed, that person in the car next to you, on the elevator, on the subway car, or walking past you on the street may just be a man on the edge. 

SEE THE TRAILER: Falling Down