Anybody remember "Falling Down?"

[Brigid]

Picked up the DVD cheap today. I hadn't seen it in years; I'd forgotten how chilling Michael Douglas's performance is. How many guys like that, feeling alienated and devalued, are running around out there, I wonder?

[arely staircase]

1. good movie nt

[jberryhill]

18. An armed lunatic going after his ex wife?

The fast food restaurant was okay.

[jberryhill]

21. Ever see Exorxist IiI

II was crap, but III had some great monologues. I think you'll find it something of a laugh riot.

[Hestia]

3. My friends think I am sick because I really like that movie - Douglas' performance is stellar

and it's not that I "understand" per se his POV, but you can understand where he is coming from, kinda sorta. Just shows how long men have felt like this, even before the big gun buys of last decade.

[Brigid]

8. I've always found it creepy . . .

How I could understand exactly how D-Fens feels -- even if I'm not going to react the same way.

[1000words]

4. An underrated gem, in my opinion.

Douglas's anti-hero invites contempt, sympathy and empathy .... for the unhinged. A difficult thing to do.

[HornBuckler]

25. Totally agree.

It's a terrifically powerful film. I wished they didn't portray Douglas' character as loony or inherently damaged but the general movie going public wouldn't likely be appreciative. If his only impetus were frustration it would be splendid. Sometimes monsters are just men.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Well, it is *extremely* annoying when you want breakfast at a fast-food place

and they have switched to serving lunch. So I remember that I cut Douglas's character a lot of slack.

[jberryhill]

23. And why doesn't the food look like the menu?

[NightWatcher]

6. How many of those guys listen to hate radio?

A few hours of that shit will start to rot your brain. At any time there could be hundreds of those guys out there.

Be polite, you never know who is about to whip out a gun at McDonalds.

[Luminous Animal]

7. Crap movie. I AM A WHITE MAN. HEAR ME ROAR.

[Gravitycollapse]

9. That was also my takeaway.

[tenderfoot]

14. Yep.

That about sums it up.

[Recursion]

19. What's amazing was the response

"Hollywood is 'finally' taking white people seriously!" or some crap like that.

Still, Douglas deserves kudos for his performance, I think, even if the movie was conceptually backwards.

[jollyreaper2112]

26. You are missing the point

Did you even watch the movie?

The whole point is Douglas feels justified in his rage, feels like he's been wronged in a clear and indisputable way. He was shocked when the one who enthusiastically supported him was the neo-nazi shop owner. What?! No, I'm not carrying your water. But he still didn't get it, not until the end when he's dying, shot by police. He's like wait, how am I the bad guy?

Imagine if you have a movie about a men's rights advocate and up until the third act people could be going along with him, feeling his pain and then it ends with him at his ex's house, guns and gasoline on-hand, and he's like wait a minute, this isn't what it looks like. I'm not the bad guy here!

Douglas never went to that extreme but the point stands, there's an unwanted epiphany when Douglas' narrative switches from righteous and terribly wronged to wait, why are the cops angry with me? I'm white and obey the law and pay my taxes.

Actually watch the film and you may have your eyes opened.

[DCBob]

27. +1

[Gidney N Cloyd]

35. Shares a few ideas with "The Wave"

[Javaman]

29. more so...

it was someone with acute OCD that refused to bend with the times and couldn't understand why he couldn't get what he wanted right at that exact moment.

sounds like a repuke to me.

[Bluenorthwest]

36. The point of the film escaped you I'd say. Here is what the screenwriter says the film is about:

Ebbe Roe Smith:
"To me,even though the movie deals with complicated urban issues, it really is just about one basic thing: The main character represents the old power structure of the U.S. that has now become archaic, and hopelessly lost. And that way, I guess you could say D-FENS is like Los Angeles. For both of them, it's adjust-or-die time--that's what the movie is about."

[Initech]

10. Oh we have a critic. I don't think she likes the special sauce, Rick!

[Brigid]

11. "I'm not economically viable."

[Iggo]

12. "I'm the bad guy?"

Yes you fuckin' are.

[mwrguy]

13. Every teabagger's fantasy

Unfortunately we do have a lot of ticking time bombs on the loose with PTSD and more guns than sense.

[oneofthe99]

15. Great movie

[ret5hd]

34. pffft.

[jberryhill]

16. No, nobody remembers it

[Brigid]

37. Nope, apparently not.

[Recursion]

17. Didn't like the movie, though Douglas's performance was amazing

I do think there are better stories to tell than the "lost middle-age white guy", though...

[Demo_Chris]

22. Amazing performance. nt

[FSogol]

28. Another masturbatory right wing fantasy on par with Red Dawn for silliness.

Really pathetic movie.

[redqueen]

30. I thought it showed Douglas's character as a dangerous, self-centered, ignorant asshole.

Maybe I'm remembering it wrong.

[FSogol]

31. Yup: "dangerous, self-centered, ignorant asshole" = Typical republican

[cherokeeprogressive]

32. Strange take.

I didn't know rwers masturbated to movies where they're ignored and unvalued by the general public and then shot by a cop in the end because they were totally fucked up individuals.

[FSogol]

33. They get hot imagining accumulating guns and pushing people around.

Getting shot by the cop is just the modern version of riding off into the sunset.

Does being undervalued really excuse the violence he perpetuates?

[cherokeeprogressive]

39. 1: It was a movie. 2: I don't excuse his or anyone else's violence.

[reflection]

38. Ironically, I was discussing that movie yesterday

with my best friend. We were dropping lines on each other like we had just walked out of the theater. One of MDs best roles, in my opinion. A very tragic anti-hero. The scene with the rocket launcher and the kid on the bicycle showing him how to use it is priceless.