Michael Douglas

Robert Duvall

Barbara Hershey

Rachel Ticotin

Tuesday Weld

Frederic Forrest

Lois Smith

Joey Singer

Ebbe Roe Smith

Michael Paul Chan

Raymond J. Barry

D.W. Moffett

Steve Park

Kimberly Scott

James Keane

Macon McCalman

Richard Montoya

Bruce Beatty

Matthew Saks

Agustin Rodriguez

Eddie Frias

Pat Romano

Julian Scott Urena

Karina Arroyave

Irene Olga López

Benjamin Mouton

Dean Hallo

James Morrison

John Fleck

Brent Hinkley

Dedee Pfeiffer

Carole Androsky

Margaret Medina

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Mark Frank

Peter Radon

Spencer Rochfort

Carole Ita White

Russell Curry

John Fink

Jack Kehoe

Valentino D. Harrison

Jack Betts

Al Mancini

John Diehl

Amy Morton

Abbey Barthel

Susie Singer Carter

Wayne Duvall

Valisha Jean Malin

Joel Schumacher

Jeff Imada

Armando Guerrero

Jann K. Engel

Manny Perry

Gilbert Rosales

Thomas Rosales Jr.

Ronnie Rondell Jr.

Eric Mansker

Steve Boyum

Brad Ricker

Mike De Luna

Norman Howell

Tommy J. Huff

Antoinette Levine

Mark Mele

Silvio Scarano

J. Michael Muro

Chris Strong

Darrin Lipscomb

Henry Kingi

Bobby Bass

Richard F. Mays

Steven Lambert

Gary Combs

Steve M. Davison

Richie Gaona

David Fudge

Michael Runyard

Scott Dockstader

John C. Meier

Stephen P. Dunn

Dennis Capps

Lisa W. Strout

Nancy Hopton

Bob Stoker

Chris Centrella

Linda L. Meltzer

Stanley L. Gonsales

Peter Davidian

Christine M. Loss

Fran Allgood

Alan Martin

William A. Petrotta

Colby P. Bart

Steve Bowerman

Jeff Kluttz

Matt Sweeney

Scott Gillis

Jim Schwalm

Chuck Brown

Melissa Bretherton

Lucinda Strub

Rick Howe

Angie Luckey

Jim Weidman

Charles L. Campbell

Shawn Murphy

Louis L. Edemann

Nils C. Jensen

Jerry Edemann

Wayne Artman

Tom E. Dahl

John H. Samson

Arthur Riddle

Larry Singer

Doug Jackson

Anne S. Reilly

Robert Schaper

Andrea Horta

Richard C. Franklin

John Roesch

Chuck Neely

Francis N. 'Lucky' Costello

Ronna Kress

Lee Willis

Keith Dillin

Alicia Stevenson

Danny Epper

Herschel Weingrod

Timothy Harris

Arnold Kopelson

Paul Hirsch

Stephen Joel Brown

John J. Tomko

William S. Beasley

Cricket Rowland

Larry Fulton

Barbara Ling

Dan Kolsrud

Tom Lucas

Lynda Gurasich

Arnon Milchan

Marion Dougherty

Nana Greenwald

Marlene Stewart

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Falling Down

Warner Bros. Pictures

Arnold Kopelson Productions

Le Studio Canal+

Regency Enterprises

Alcor Films

France

United States of America

Having just watched this movie I can say that I enjoyed it, not overly so. Its not really a tale of urban reality more that the everyday annoyances that we do nothing about and this guy turns them into a personal insult. Its starts normally enough, stuck in traffic, beep noises and drilling on a hot day, his AC is broken, the window is broken. Instead of just shrugging it off with that Monday feeling he just abandons his car and goes for a walk, to start with its a shop owner with overpriced drinks that gets his shop smashed up a bit, later only when threatened with violence himself does he defend himself against 2 gang members. This is where things start to suddenly go weird, the gang members drive round and stumble across him somehow, (I'm British but I think LA is a little too big for that) then spray bullets in a drive by 20ft away and miss him completely but hit everyone around him and then they promptly crash. He walks over to the car, collects a bag of guns from it then goes and shoots up a burger bar because they are not serving breakfast, which he then changes his mind to lunch anyway and it continues from there. I don't know if this was meant to show some sort of mental brakedown due to his previous life choices but his empathy just disappears. At the start you could relate to the character but the more you watch the more you begin to distance yourself from that notion until you realise you just watched a movie where a guy went round killing people for no reason other than anger at himself for destroying his family life. It leaves me wondering if that was the directors intention or a happy coincidence to push that prospective on the viewer.

## Not about the guy
This movie isn't about the main character, William 'D-Fens' Foster. He does some crazy things and I guess that what some people remember, but if you really watch the movie you see that it puts society's erosion of the U.S. "normal guy" on display.

People who "do everything right": get a degree, marry, make babies, work for a corporation. They feel disillusioned, cheated out of the promise of the American dream.

Class divides, racism, toxic masculinity, coroporate greed, urban decay, breakdown of interpersonal connections and flat, sloppy hamburgers that look nothing like the picture on the menu. They are all present in Joel Schumacher's chronicle of the late 80's and early 90's. Even the inaction of police under the strain of declining budgets.

His ex-wife that dodged a bullet by getting out before D-Fens got violent, is almost ridiculed for being oversensitve, instead of rewarded for her insight and protective instincts.

There are so many things we can see through D-Fens' interactions, but also his wife and the excellent portrail of Prendergast by Robert Duval.

In essence, Falling Down is less about D-Fens as an individual and more about the society that shaped him and countless others like him, not coming to terms with the weight of systemic failures. It’s a film that leaves viewers with questions rather than answers. Even decades later people will recognise themselves in the characters, the neighbourhoods and the way they navigate life in the shadow of the American dream.