Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Michael Douglas
Robert Duvall
Rachel Ticotin
Directed By:
Joel Schumacher
FALLING DOWN is another argument for the theory that BATMAN FOREVER killed something within Joel Schumacher. Something like artistic integrity. Until the 1995 travesty of a Batman movie, the director's career was doing really well. He had directed the now cult movies ST. ELMO'S FIRE, THE LOST BOYS, FLATLINERS and in 1993 what might have been his darkest film*, FALLING DOWN. What happened after this movie? I don't know. An attack of the Steve Blass disease? Maybe, but I like to remember him for the good movies he did, like this one. FALLING DOWN will be remembered as one of Michael Douglas' strongest performances, before his plastic surgery days. I re-watched it last week-end after having one of those discussions about the similarities with TAXI DRIVER with Josie. It's been accused of being a ripoff, but it's a movie that discusses its own set of issues, all through the character of William Foster.
Life hasn't been kind for William (Douglas) in the last few months. His wife left him, taking their little girl with her, he lost his job and as the movie opens, he's caught in the hellish L.A traffic in the summer heat. His mind invaded by the ambient cacophony, William cracks and abandons his car. He walks up to a phone booth to call his wife and tell her he's coming home for their daughter's birthday. For reasons you will soon discover, she's very scared of him and hangs up. Then, William walks to a convenience store to get change to call back. The owner happens to be in a bad mood this morning and refuses to make change unless he buys something. When William buys a Coke, he charges him too much to make change. Then all hell breaks loose in William's mind. He starts thrashing the store, decrying the obscene prices of merchandise. He destroys things until he's given the Coke at the price he deems fair. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is only the first step in William Foster's downward spiral.
FALLING DOWN was written by Ebbe Roe Smith, television writer for shows like DOOGIE HOWSER M.D and MURPHY BROWN. His biggest success in cinema before was TURNER AND HOOCH (that man-dog buddy cop movie with Tom Hanks). How random, I know. It's even more impressive knowing that Smith's writing (it's an original script) has a lot to do with the film's quality. His characters, particularly. William is a man born in the wrong era. He's from a stiff upbringing and he's lost in the chaotic L.A of the nineties. No matter how insanely violent he can get, you can't help but think nothing of the sort would've happened if he lived in a white picket fence neighborhood of the post-war boom. The way he's still proud of the things he lost and of the people who left him, is heartbreaking. Officer Prendegrast (Robert Duvall) is also an amazing character, torn in between his love for his work and his love for his wife, who's sickness is dragging him in a life he doesn't care about. He sees William as a way to leave with his head high.
There are a few great scenes in FALLING DOWN, including the opening, where the sounds of Los Angeles seems to attack William in his car and the army surplus scene, which is another milestone in William's insanity. But most of Joel Schumacher's merit here is to have chosen his cast very well and that he trusts them enough to give them the time to shine. Kudos to him for picking up Tuesday Weld to play Mrs. Prendergrast. She was a forgotten beauty of Hollywood, the perfect choice to play a forgotten beauty of a L.A neighborhood. A woman that sacrificed the little she had, even her own sanity, for the love of her husband. FALLING DOWN is both Michael Douglas and Ebbe Roe Smith's finest hour in Hollywood. That makes for a damn good movie about the end of somebody's world. I had forgotten how good it was. I love it when characters dare you to love them.
SCORE: 88%
* He might have directed something darker, I lost all faith in him after BATMAN & ROBIN.