Falling Down (1992)
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 112m
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Frederic Forrest, Tuesday Weld
Synopsis:
Fired by his government employer and divorced by his wife, a Defence scientist maintains the pretence of going to work but finally loses control in a traffic jam on his daughter's birthday.
Review:
The film-makers' seriousness of purpose is ostentatiously signalled in an opening sequence which slavishly apes that of Fellini's 8½. What follows is a cleverly controlled tirade against every bugbear known to reactionary America (roadworks to secure budgets, inflated prices, ethnic crime) as well as some from left of centre politics (golf courses for the privileged, mansions for plastic surgeons, neo-Nazi militarism) with Douglas's character gradually slipping from sardonic commentator to judge to executioner until he ends up saying: 'I'm the bad guy?' It works very well, with Schumacher reining in his excesses and Douglas and Duvall making the most of their roles as men 'up against it'. That said, being a Hollywood film, it cannot help but deliver its scenes of righteous fury with a relish and panache that belie the avowed intent.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 112m
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Frederic Forrest, Tuesday Weld
Synopsis:
Fired by his government employer and divorced by his wife, a Defence scientist maintains the pretence of going to work but finally loses control in a traffic jam on his daughter's birthday.
Review:
The film-makers' seriousness of purpose is ostentatiously signalled in an opening sequence which slavishly apes that of Fellini's 8½. What follows is a cleverly controlled tirade against every bugbear known to reactionary America (roadworks to secure budgets, inflated prices, ethnic crime) as well as some from left of centre politics (golf courses for the privileged, mansions for plastic surgeons, neo-Nazi militarism) with Douglas's character gradually slipping from sardonic commentator to judge to executioner until he ends up saying: 'I'm the bad guy?' It works very well, with Schumacher reining in his excesses and Douglas and Duvall making the most of their roles as men 'up against it'. That said, being a Hollywood film, it cannot help but deliver its scenes of righteous fury with a relish and panache that belie the avowed intent.
Country: US
Technical: col/scope 112m
Director: Joel Schumacher
Cast: Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, Barbara Hershey, Frederic Forrest, Tuesday Weld
Synopsis:
Fired by his government employer and divorced by his wife, a Defence scientist maintains the pretence of going to work but finally loses control in a traffic jam on his daughter's birthday.
Review:
The film-makers' seriousness of purpose is ostentatiously signalled in an opening sequence which slavishly apes that of Fellini's 8½. What follows is a cleverly controlled tirade against every bugbear known to reactionary America (roadworks to secure budgets, inflated prices, ethnic crime) as well as some from left of centre politics (golf courses for the privileged, mansions for plastic surgeons, neo-Nazi militarism) with Douglas's character gradually slipping from sardonic commentator to judge to executioner until he ends up saying: 'I'm the bad guy?' It works very well, with Schumacher reining in his excesses and Douglas and Duvall making the most of their roles as men 'up against it'. That said, being a Hollywood film, it cannot help but deliver its scenes of righteous fury with a relish and panache that belie the avowed intent.