Falling Down

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Falling
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Falling	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Westgate Adult A/V 1-week checkout	DVD Drama Falling	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Originally released as a motion picture in 1992.
DVD features: commentary by Michael Douglas and director Joel Schumacher; Deconstructing D-Fens: a conversation with Michael Douglas; theatrical trailer.
Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Rachel Ticotin, Tuesday Weld.
After he's downsized from his job, an emotionally unstable man slowly loses his mind, unleashing a spree of violence on those that he sees as detriments to society.
DVD, widescreen presentation; NTSC region 1; dual layer; Dolby Surround stereo.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Horrible submitted by CasualTim on June 3, 2010, 1:48pm Terribly written, horribly over-acted, full of stereotypes. The social situations and constructs are less believable than the action and suspense. No one will listen to the detective because his theory (which has more evidence than can be found in a CSI episode) is loony. That same detective is married to a woman who, after however many years with a policeman, believes her cat's stress level is more important than a man on the loose with a bazooka and a bag full of machine guns. The police department holds a retirement bash for him despite, again, the fact that he is tracking a man on the loose with a bazooka. There's something at least this ridiculous every thirty seconds or so.

The concept had potential - essentially take everything about society that George Carlin complained about and send a man off on a rampage to... um... correct it through extreme reaction. But I can hardly imagine an outcome worse than this movie. Okay, maybe if Pauly Shore were playing Michael Douglas' part. And yes, they did pull every single thing Douglas' character complains about directly from Carlin routines.

And it gets exponentially worse over the course of the movie. Don't waste your time.

1/10

D-Fens! submitted by celesteh on June 3, 2010, 6:21pm Casual Tim and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum on this one. I can't even tell you how many times I've watched Falling Down for the last fifteen years or so. And I know much of it by heart. It's absolutely ridiculous how much I enjoy the film, and all of the ridiculous characters. ESPECIALLY Tuesday Weld (Mrs. Prendergast) who is more concerned about Mr. Peepers (the cat) than a madman on the loose with a gym bag full of guns. In my opinion, Falling Down is bordering on cult-classic status, and rightly so.

I am unfamiliar with the George Carlin routines that Casual Tim says directly influenced many of the situations in the film, but I don't doubt it. However, knowing that fact doesn't diminish my appreciation of the film. I think the key to enjoying a film like Falling Down is not to take it quite so seriously. It's Hollywood, it's Joel Schumacher (think: The Lost Boys), and much of the film is actually quite funny. And really, haven't you ever wanted to flip out a little bit when having "one of those days"? Well, you can't get away with it, but you can watch Michael Douglas lose his mind instead.

How amazing is this film? Amazing enough for Iron Maiden to write a song about it! Oh yes they did.

one of... submitted by irenzero on June 18, 2011, 9:54pm the great films of the 90s, exposing the fall of America and it's empire. Disappointed and abandoned by the promised land at every turn, D-Fens is forced to travel though the landscape of a world that has cashed out it's history in search of personal enrichment. Challenging and tough to watch, Falling Down sits with the second season of the Wire in exposing how far off track the nation has gotten.

interesting submitted by EJZ on August 8, 2022, 2:53pm I watched this when I was younger and remembered D-FENS as more of an everyman and worried the film wouldn't hold up, but honestly it's better than I figured. The main character, while he seems to portray himself as the common man, berated and abandoned by society, is repeatedly shown as a lunatic who has pinned his own failures on the rest of society, and goes about exacting revenge on those who slight him.

In the end, he's a murderous loser who feels like the world owes him something, when he's done nothing in his life to deserve it.

Partly good, poor and unconvincing ending. submitted by Tassos on December 21, 2022, 8:16pm Many will enjoy the movie, fantasizing they would react similarly to their daily frustrations. Mike DOuglas is excellent portraying the disgruntled, mistreated, fired professional who did his job with enthusiasm, but fell victim to beancounter cuts.

This is the third time I am seeing it. I may skip scenes or drop it midway,but there are very few movies I have seen three times. and if the script was better, I would see it 10 times.

PS It is ironic how some of the prices quoted by the greedy grocer in 1992, today, exactly 30 years later, sound like bargains, and make Mike Douglas; protest and wrath inexplicable to a young viewer. Thank our corrupt, incompetent Congress, who does the spending, for our worthless 2022 US dollar...

EJZ: You GROSSLY mischaracterize Mike Douglas's character, He is NOT A GOD DAMNED MURDERER> HE IS NOT EVEN A DA<MNED THIEF< you moron! He lost it after he was UNJUSTLY FIRED BNY SOME MORON WITH AN MBA FROM A TIN ROOF UNIVERSITY. IF his boss had any BRAINS, he would NOT FIRE HIS TALENT. Mike was obviously so dedicsted an employee, that he would waste 100s of his hard-earned dollars to proudly sport his vanity license plate "D-FENS". SUCH DEDICATED TALENT IS HARD TO FInd, Stupid!