Rating: 
Summary: $.85 for a soda???
Review: I enjoyed this quirky story of a middle class nerd with a rotten
haircut on the verge of an emotional meltdown.
Michael Douglas plays that man, a laid off engineer who lives at
home with mommy, apparently after his divorce from his wife (Barbara Hershey).
It begins when Douglas is stopped dead in traffic, then he abandons his car and begins his aimless trek thru the pits of LA.
His 1st encounter is when he goes to this asian convenience store
to get change for a phone call, the owner tells him he has to buy something to which he discovers its 85 cents for a soda.
This is where Douglas' character loses it, he bops the owner and trashes the place. He then ends up in gangster territory where he is forced to give over his briefcase, complete with sandwich and apple to some gangbangers. later they spot him at a phone booth while they're doing a driveby and begin to shoot approx 88 bullets at him. (None hitting him of course,they then crash and then Douglas gets himself an
assortment of arms.
Those are some highlites of the movie, Robert Duvall plays a cop
ready to retire but having to stop Douglas's rampage first.Best line of the movie..Douglas showing his lump of [gross] food to the fast food manager and pointing at a sign of a fine looking happy meal and saying "Whats wrong with this picture???"" while he's waving his MAC10 around.
check it out!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent social commentary.
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: great movie!!!!
Review: This is a thoroughly entertaining movie,although some viewers may be offended by some racial references and foul language.The acting is good,especially michael and Frederic Forest.I also like Robert Duvall`s performance and Tuesday Weld as his wife.Watching Michaels character encounter one exasperating situation after another and trying to handle it with civility and restraint is quite comical.Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: America: What's happened?
Review: I found this movie absolutely fascinating and overall quite entertaining. Although the frequent acts of random violence are somewhat comical, the rest of the film is a biosphere of our "American" culture. Douglas treks a path through L.A. and encounters various problems in society - sort of a modernized Greek "Odyssey". Douglas, our tragic hero, is the only character who isn't asleep . . . asleep to all the hate and injustice that is occurring in our lives. And therefore, like any hero, is doomed to die by his convictions. Michael Douglas portrays your typical patriotic citizen who becomes "obsolete" in a constantly changing world. I think perhaps all viewers can relate with this character because we all have been rubbed the wrong way by the exact same people Douglas encounters in the film. And sometimes we'd like to flip out too. The end of the film is particularly symbolic in the climactic resolution. There is a sense of sadness when Douglas' character is killed, but at the same time their is a liberation. A liberation from the hell he was living . . . so perhaps the death is not sad at all. If you can't move with society, than you are doomed to fall prey to it. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who has at times felt betrayed by life or our "American" ideals.
Rating:
Summary: Funny Movie Full STop
Review: Great Movie !! Best Line: "I'm an American, you're a sick scum bag."
Had me in stitches.
Rating:
Summary: "GOD BLESS THE WORKING STIFF!!!!!"
Review: In this excellent film, Michael Douglas plays Bill Foster, an everyday man working in the everyday world, although he is not the example of the American Dream (which to you older folks, no one ever is). He is divorced, has a high level of rage, has been downsized from his defense worker job, and is being scr##ed over by the system. One day, sitting in his car in a traffic jam during a heat wave, he snaps, and starts to walk home through gangland. He first encounters trouble with the system through a Korean shopkeeper, who charges 85 cents for a can of soda. When the shopkeeper attacks Foster, he takes his bat and smashes up the store, which after he leaves, attracts the attention of the LAPD. Along the way, he accquires a bag of weapons, and the movie becomes real interesting... We all understand what is going through Foster's head, mainly because when a bad day hits its peak, we all, deep down, want to do that to our aggressors. Michael Douglas is great as Foster, while Robert Duvall is equally as great as the detective on his last day, determined to stop Foster. The DVD, however, is horrible (I only got it because it was in the bargain bin). The video and sound are excellent, but the extras are severly lacking. All there is is a trailer that focuses on the comedy elements of the film. A commentary and TV spots would
have been nice! Great movie, lousy DVD. FALLING DOWN
(1993, R) Bill Foster\ D-FENS: Michael Douglas
Prendergast: Robert Duvall
Beth: Barbara Hershey
Amanda Prendergast: Tuesday Weld
Sandra: Rachel Ticotin
Nick: Fredric Forrest Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: Ebbe Roe Smith MOVIE: 5
VIDEO: 5
AUDIO: 5
EXTRAS: 2
MENUS: 3
OVERALL: 5
Rating:
Summary: A must-see!
Review: This film is absolutely mesmerizing. Michael Douglas snaps one day and goes wandering through Los Angeles. I think it's interesting when you read reviews on this movie from people in the midwest who don't get this movie. People in L.A. on the other hand certainly do get it. I can tell you from personal experience of living there and being held at gun point by scumbags that anyone could be pushed over the edge in LA. I found this movie to be laugh-out-loud funny especially when Michael Douglas orders a "Whammy Burger" and when he tries out his rocket launcher after an argument with a Cal-Trans employee. "There's nothing wrong with the road, but I'll give you something to fix." I don't think people outside of LA can appreciate that scene as much. And watching Michael Douglas on that golf course had my side hurting for days from painful laughter. Yes, it's sick but the way he looks down at the old guy and says, "And now you're going to die...with that silly hat on", was fantastic. And how about the scene with the white supremist? If you think this movie had too many stereotypes, then you've never been to LA. It's a sick place with sick people where sick things happen. Yes, it's awful that people get shot, but a lot of people in LA deserve what happens to them which this film boldy proves. Studies have shown that the combination of stress, traffic jams, and smog can make someone lose it. What's the point? The point is you should appreciate wherever you live as long as it's not there. Michael Douglas should have got an Oscar for his performance. This was the best movie of the year although it's obviously not for all tastes.
Rating:
Summary: How two different people respond to the horror of urban life
Review: I reviewed this movie 5 years ago for VHS and had not visited LA at that time. 5 years and 2 visits hence, I felt the need to review this feature again for DVD. Michael Douglas(as Bill "D-FENS" Foster)is a man who paid his dues and bought into the American Dream in a place once considered the Promised Land- Los Angeles, CA. It's definitely not the LA of old, the magical place where the weather is warm and the skies are blue. It is not difficult to sympathize with Bill as he plugs on through a dirty urban wasteland with one thought in his bewildered mind...to see his daughter, his hope for the future. It is a lesson for us all to be a little more civilized and a little more empathetic to the ones who find it harder to adapt...Otherwise there will be more Bill Fosters...And far more lethal than he was. Robert Duvall (as Officer Prendergast) is a man who but for the grace of a Higher Power could have ended up a casualty like Bill. He understands the life of quiet frustration that Bill has had to lead, yet he tries with all his might to adapt to the misfortune that is 1990s' Los Angeles. Prendergast realizes that he must NOT be seduced into the abyss of savagery that has subsumed Bill. FALLING DOWN is the classic story of a black-and-white moralist who cannot distinguish the various shades of gray that our world has become. In my opinion the most important message of this movie is how two men with very similar backgrounds deal with the challenges of urban life, whether in L.A., NYC or any other metropolis. THIS is what separates the "good guy" from the "bad guy" in modern society and asks YOU--the viewer--this question: Are you the problem or the solution?
Rating:
Summary: Funny Movie Full STop
Review: Great Movie !! Best Line: "I'm an American, you're a sick scum bag."
Had me in stitches.
Rating:
Summary: A confused and fascinating movie
Review: "Falling Down" is a sly combination of a social commentary, a conventional action movie, and a sad character study. It's an odd and sometimes unsettling mix - sometimes the horror of what we're watching is undermined by the catchphrase-laden dialogue of our anti-hero - but it's a compelling, reasonably gutsy movie that raises a lot of questions. Michael Douglas, mostly known as D-FENS, has snapped. He leaves his car on a blistering day in LA and goes for a walk, only to face a series of annoyances that Larry David woulda loved - irritating convenience-store policies, fast-food fascism, gang-bangers, even a neo-nazi. Instead of cracking wise, however, D-FENS responds with violence and vandalism. Meanwhile, back at the LAPD, Robert Duvall is a low-impact cop on his last day of the job. He's not well-liked, even though he seems to be a perfectly nice guy. He starts tracking these strange reports of a white nerd on a rampage, and ultimately gets involved with the case. The movie seems designed to generate controversy, with its casual xenophobia and the sometimes pandering actions of the Michael Douglas character. Look deeper, though, and you'll note that Duvall's cop is basically a well-adjusted version of D-FENS. Both men feel utterly insignificant, only Duvall has learned how to laugh and get through life, while Douglas is bewildered and disillusioned - and deeply sad. Things get even more confused when we learn Douglas has shown violence toward his family in the past, and may have a sinister goal in mind. This is probably unsettling to those who have been cheering him on, but who can blame them? Douglas is given pithy dialogue and exit lines for each of his encounters, as if we're supposed to applaud when he destroys, say, a Korean man's business. If Schumacher had downplayed the mayhem, or showed the violence as the actions of a desperate, sadly warped man (instead of a spokesman for the overlooked white man), the movie would have more power. But would anyone want to see it? The movie's ambivalence about the actions of D-FENS is fascinating and refreshingly non-judgmental. "Falling Down" is just as haunting for its flaws as its virtues. If it's meant to be a commentary, it undercuts itself with its action sequences. As an action drama, however, it's pretty deep and fearless in presenting men of quiet desperation - and two different methods for conquering it.
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