Falling Down (1993)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.
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7 films that influenced Falling Down
What critics say influenced Falling Down
A lot of the reviews for "Falling Down" are going to compare it to earlier movies about white men who go berserk: "Joe," for example, or " Death Wish ."
Schumacher's film goes beyond the confines of vigilante films like Death Wish whose concerns stop at the criminal justice system.
The better movie has Bill celebrated as a hero à la Taxi Driver , a real voice of the seething majority as opposed to this ballistic anomaly meant to stand in for Reagan, Ollie North, George Sr., and the whole mess at the beginning of the '90s that Clinton had yet to paper over with his smooth Arkansan charm.
The movie is a cartoon Taxi Driver -- only assholes feel the brunt of the psycho's fury.
Like Griffin Dunne in "After Hours," he's about to undergo the paranoid epic of his life.
The image of this Eisenhower-era nebbish stalking through the rubble of modern L.A. has a pungent, sci-fi aura it's The Twilight Zone meets Dirty Harry.
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There's a roughly similar relationship in "Thelma & Louise" between cop Harvey Keitel and fugitives Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis.
As he did in "Fatal Attraction" and "Wall Street," Douglas again takes on the symbolic mantle of the Zeitgeist.
If the movie had ended right here, or if Schumacher ("Flatliners," "Lost Boys") had done more thinking and less ranting, it might have retained some of the integrity of this semi-timely premise.
Director Joel Schumacher (Flatliners) has made a Joe for the '90s, which will seem as overblown and rabble-rousing 20 years from now as Joe seems today.
The only problem with Falling Down is the uneven tone set by director Joel Schumacher (Flatliners, Dying Young).