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Falling Down | Year: 1993 Classification: Drama Directed: - Joel Schumacher Actors/Actresses: - Robert Duvall - Michael Douglas - Barbara Hershey Excellent social commentary. This is one of my all time favorite movie about urban vigilatism. It rivals "Taxi Driver" in my opinion. Michael Douglas is Bill Foster, an unemployed defense worker who snaps one day on a hot Los Angeles freeway traffic jam. He goes on a quest to get to his estranged wife and daughter. The assorted characters he meets all convey a message and show a different aspect of Los Angeles. Together, they form a microcosm of our society. Robert Duval is affecting as Prendergast, a retiring detctive who follows Bill Foster's violent past of self-destruction across the city. He realises his similarities to Foster as he does so. It's sad because you realize that Foster's just an ordinary guy who couldn't take society's pressure and injustice anymore. I think Michael Douglas was cheated out of an Academy Award nomination. The explosive ending is great and makes you think. Modern American Metaphor? This film was great because it touches on the realities of everyday life. If you are expecting strict realism in this movie it's not here. This is a movie about modern urban tensions and one mans ultimate destruction by them. The film touches on such elements as road rage, gangs, basic personal disrespect, and the feeling of helplessness a parent feels in the face of the dangers of today's world. One has the sense Douglas is lost and no one can save him except perhaps the police officer played by Duvall. Douglas plays a fellow who is an average guy going through a divorce who is treated with disrespect and contempt at every turn. He feels his life has slipped away from him and that he has lost his family and all that matters most to him. He runs into everything from people honking and yelling in backed up traffic to gang members violently accosting him, to immigrant shopkeepers charging what was an exorbitant price for the day for a can of soda. The monster of the movie is the "system" of a society, which has a tendency to depersonalize, anonymize, and let people fall through the cracks. Something in Douglas snaps at the beginning of the film and he begins to act out as many no doubt would like to do on som o an offbeat curio from Paul McCartney's post-Wings era. The ex-Beatle was roundly panned for scripting this empty-headed vanity project, and it still qualifies as a mistake of sorts, dubi 26camp=2025&link_code=xm2"> Buy Falling Down at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Falling Down Search with the Priority Search Engine on Falling Down This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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