Falling Down

Director Joel Schumacher had an interesting career in the 1990s.  Schumacher released nine films that decade and for me his most interesting film is Falling Down, a thriller starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.  The title could either refer to Douglas' character, a recently laid off defense worker who decides on his daughter's birthday that he has had enough of people telling him no and begins a  dangerous 20-mile journey on foot across Los Angeles to go see her and his ex-wife, despite a court order to stay away from them.  Falling Down may refer to society itself, which is represented through various characters all of whom are struggling in one way or another.

Spoilers below:

Douglas was originally approached to play Prendergast, the part that went to Robert Duvall, but he wisely noted that the fellow who snapped was a more interesting character.  Although it was a risky role for a star of his caliber once Douglas took the part some of the more extreme acts were toned down (ie he shoots a gang member in the leg instead of killing him and when he wounds a cop it is offscreen).  About two thirds of the way through the film we learn his character's name is Bill Foster, which makes it a fairly non-descriptive name, indicating that what has happened to him could happen to anyone.  Bill Foster is also the character Lawrence Fishburne played in Ant Man and the Wasp in which he was Douglas' old business partner.

Foster looks like a late 1950s early 1960s character with half black framed glasses and a white shirt and black pants and carries an old briefcase.  He had worked at a defense plant to protect against the Soviet threat but is laid off when the Cold War ended.  Foster drives a 1978 Chevrolet Chevette ( an inexpensive car that would have been 15 years old at the time of release which reflects his social status, and has an explosive temper that destroyed his marriage and causes his mother to be afraid of him.  It is not clear where he is spending his days but he does not want his mother to know he is out of work so he goes somewhere every day and pretends it is to work.

Duvall's Prendergast, one of the more memorable names in his long career, is fundamentally decent and resists letting life, which has placed similar challenges in front of him as well, get the better of him.  Foster complains and tries to justify his frustrations with increasing violence but Prendergast perseveres taking early retirement so he can look after his wife who is overly dependent on him.  Prendergast is liked in his department but unappreciated by most except for his partner, Detective Torres, played by Rachel Ticotin, who may see him as a father figure and is the only person Prendergast can really relate to.  Reatching this film reminded me of how much I miss seeing Duvall, who is over ninety and rarely acts anymore, onscreen.  Duvall has always made his characters, even some of the most outrageous, such as Roger Chillingworth in The Scarlet Letter or Dixon Doss in The Gingerbread Man, feel authentic.  In Falling Down anytime the story focuses on him it is relief from the grimness of  Bill Foster story.

Falling Down opens with a two minute tracking shot which sets Foster's claustrophobic atmosphere, stuck in a traffic jam in a hot car feeling like he is going nowhere.  When he gets out of the car in the another driver (played by the screenwriter) asks where he is going and Foster instead of conforming and getting back in the car, says he is going home and just abandons the car, unconcerned with the problem he is causing by leaving it on the road.  I had noticed at the time that Schumacher liked extended single take tracking shots (especially in Flatliners) and figured he was aping Brian DePalma who was putting one in each of films (a few months earlier he had a really fun one in Raising Cain).  But here, starting with a close-up of Foster's anguished face, to outside the car, the shot is very effective.  

The introduction of Prendergast sets up his role in the film as well is relation to Foster.  Prendergast is sitting a few cars behind Foster, smiling, even though he is in the same environment.  He solves the problem Foster causes by helping to push the Chevette out of the way despite the objections of the motorcycle cop.  This establishes that Prendergast will always be right behind Foster and will eventually catch up to him.

When Barbara Hershey appears as Foster's ex-wife Beth I was reminded that the only other film of hers that I have seen since then is Black Swan though I have seen a lot of her films from the 1980s and remain haunted by her performance in The Entity.  Hershey makes a lot of a small part, a woman who is probably only recently divorced and is still adjusting but is determined to protect her daughter from her dangerous ex-husband.  One of her best moments is when she shaken in a videotape after Foster offscreen tries to bully her into making her daughter sit on a rocking horse.  Beth is hurt but resolute and one can see the beginnings of her decision to get her daughter away from this man.  Notably both Anne Archer in Fatal Attraction and Jeanne Tripplehorn in Basic Instinct played characters named Beth so it felt familiar to hear Douglas say that name.  

Throughout the film Foster calls Beth several times to say that he is coming home.  In each call he is a little more chilling as it is not clear what will happen when he gets there.  Beth keeps trying to stop him but to no avail and he does not seem worried about being arrested since in his mind he is just going to see his family.  The police come twice but do not stay long since Foster never appears and no one knows that he is on foot.  During Foster's journey he is continually told to get out places (the store, the gang territory and the golf course) as a reminder that he does not seem to belong in current society  

The owner of the convenience store, Mr. Lee, is played by Michael Paul Chan who played a lot of supporting roles in the 1990s (Joy Luck Club, Batman Forever, The Insider).  The scene is played as a comic bullying note which plays uncomfortably now.  Mr. Lee is a little rude so when Foster starts mocking him and smashing the things in his store the scene is directed so the audience laughs as if Foster is putting this man in his place.  Nowadays it feels terrifying to see an immigrant on the floor helplessly watching Foster destroy a lot of his merchandise and acting like an abuser (doing something awful but finding some minor justification).  This scene shows Foster's limited perspective.  Douglas often plays upper middle class or wealthy men who are educated and well read.  Here Foster tries to bring up U.S. aid to South Korea but is ignorant as to the amount.  Later Foster remarks on the failure of the Apollo 13 mission but does not know exactly what went wrong.  

One final note I have on the film's treatment of Mr. Lee is it is one of the only moments where Prendergast shows some cultural ignorance when he asks his Japanese-American co-worker to translate Mr. Lee's remarks in Korean without it even occurring to him that they could be from different backgrounds.  

Tuesday Weld appears throughout the film as Prendergast's wife Amanda who is depressed and overly dependent on him.  In the audience we groan every time she appears onscreen as she puts a lot of pressure on him and we fear that he is about to spend his well earned retirement in a place he probably will not enjoy.  We only hear his perspective on it, but Amanda also appears to have been a beauty queen who lost her figure when she got pregnant because Prendergast wanted kids.  The death of this child, which given Duvall's and Weld's ages was probably at least 15 years ago or so, has strained the marriage and Amanda probably needs an outlet of some sort to redirect her energies.  When Prendergast finally stands up to her (which leads to him deciding not to retire) we cheer but he has set the stage that he will not be a passive nor reactive husband anymore so hopefully this will allow their marriage to move in a new direction. 

The gangland sequence would be chilling (tough guys threaten a man who dares to walk on their territory) but Foster's indifference (emboldened by the club he took from Mr. Lee's shop and his overall decision not to care about anything beyond his goal to get to his family) gives this a new level of suspense as we wait to see how this will play out.  The gang is shown to be pretty one note, talking tough but utterly useless.  There is some tension a little later when they try to shoot Foster as he is on a phone but they shoot wildly, missing him entirely despite having a clear target, but wounding two other people (including a mother with a baby in a stroller) and then crashing their car full on into a parked car on the other side of the street.  The pure anger they feel after getting beaten up on their territory and disregarding Angie's concerns shows how violence perpetuates violence.  Karina Arroyave, who plays Angie, several years later played a key role as the CTU resident computer genius in the first season of 24.  The police treat Angie crudely after she has just witnessed a horrific scene (which she tried to prevent) and the only cop who shows her compassion is Prendergast.

Raymond J. Barry, who had a memorable role as Ron Kovic's father in Born on the Fourth of July (1989), and as a grieving father in Dead Man Walking (1995) plays Captain Yardley, Prendergast's superior.  Yardley is introduced hitting a punching bag, setting him up as a macho character who barely contains his contempt for the more pensive Prendergast, who Yardley has barely gotten to know because he dismisses Prendergast as a coward.  The staging has they very tall Yardley standing and leering over the Prendergast who is sitting down and being passive aggressively belittled. This leads up to a fun moment at the end of the film where Prendergast curses him publicly though I wonder how that working relationship would have survived.  Prendergast would not likely have been fired after having just stopped Foster but one of them would need to be transferred or at the very least Yardley would have seen that Prendergast is not going to be walked on anymore.  The sense I got was that Yardley probably has not been Prendergast's captain for more than a couple of years.

The scene in which the homeless person bothers Foster for a sandwich plays oddly.  Sometimes people begging for money or food make up stories (I've had people approach me at gas stations several times asking for money to get somewhere) but the film almost invites us to dismiss this desperate man who is eating while claiming to be starving and then throwing an apple at Foster.  The whole scene feels tasteless as Foster is clearly not an easy target and most people would just give up once they received a firm no.

The fast food restaurant scene is notable that Foster, already more than a little unhinged, draws his weapon to force the manager to serve him breakfast but inadvertently terrorizes the customers even though he means them no harm.  The filmmakers try to take the edge off the scene by having Foster makes some light jokes and ending the scene on a slight visual gag but it is still a sight of a man holding a submachine gun in a public place.  The young lady at the counter is played by Dedee Pfieffer, Michelle's younger sister.  Michelle Pfeiffer later played Douglas' character's wife in the Ant Man series.   Whammyburger is not a real place.  I doubt any real chain would have approved the scene's content.

It is troubling to see an African American man (played by veteran actor Vondie Curtis-Hall) arrested for peacefully protesting in front of a bank for denying him a loan.  At most the police should have just made him do it quietly if it felt his actions were disturbing the peace.  Foster, who is Caucasian, commits several far worse crimes before he faces any kind of justice.  The man never gets a close-up (perhaps because Foster only sees and hears him from a distance) but his plight resonates with Foster.

Frederic Forrest chews the scenery in a surreal scene as a Neo Nazi who runs an Army Navy store.  In a sign of the times the beginning of the scene where he shouts homophobic slurs at a couple of gay customers is designed to produce uncomfortable laughs.  As his behavior quickly deteriorates upon seeing Foster he reveals himself to be in demeanor at least far more unhinged than Foster.  I am not sure what the point of this character is other than to give Foster his only kill of the film to a man who the  audience will despise.  It may be also to show how disgruntled behavior can inspire sick people to follow their tracks.  But I feel the character may exist as an attempt to make Foster seem more sympathetic since although he is violent he does not act as crazy as Forrest's character but it's my least favorite scene in the film.

As if to drive this point home Foster is soon shown punching out a driver who is cursing an old lady, trying to make him appear as a vigilante.  But the scene turns comically uncomfortable as he threatens to blow up a street but needs a child to show him how to operate a bazooka.  The film clarifies that the child knows this from watching TV but I feel the child should still be more scared by the situation.

The scene where Foster hides from the police and accidentally runs into a family that mistakenly thinks he is holding them hostage is scary because it feels that anything could happen.  Foster grabs the little girl's hand by instinct (since she is about the same age as his daughter) but doesn't realize his actions and demeanor are scary.  The parents want to intervene but are terrified of suddenly escalating the situation.  I think the scene captures one of the Foster's core issues, which also factors into the Whammyburger scene.  Foster has decided to just focus on getting to his ex-wife's house but has no empathy nor no recognition of how his behavior affects others.  Foster means no harm to this family but takes advantage of them to show a sympathetic ear which also provides some exposition of  his background.  When he sees the little girl's blood he is horrified but then confused why the family is afraid of him.

The scenes in Foster's mothers' house show a little how sad his situation is.  After he got divorced despite his age (Detective Torres describes him as late 30s but Douglas filmed this at age 47 and looks it) he had to move back in with his elderly mother, played by veteran actress Lois Smith.  It is not clear if he has been abusing his mother but she is clearly terrified of him.  Lois Smith played Douglas' character's assistant in Fatal Attraction and gave some terrific quiet looks that indicated she knew what had happened between him and the Glenn Close character.  I really enjoyed her work in an episode of  Season 3 The Americans in which she has several memorable scenes with Keri Russell.  

During Lois' scenes in Falling Down Prendergast immediately works to get her to drop her guard by being kind and asking her which of her figurines are her favorite.  When he needs information he asks for it discretely while still getting her to speak.  If Captain Yardley were to do the same he would probably just speak loudly and coldly but Prendergast's human touch is much more effective.

At the climax Schumacher plays with our expectations.  The film could give us a big suspense scene in which Prendergast and Foster stalk each other while Foster is trying to reach his family.  It starts off as if it will be that type of scene when Beth realizes Foster is near and then smartly runs out of the back of the house as Foster goes in the front in one expert tracking shot (which is scored nicely by James Newton Howard, who did several films with Schumacher).  But like a predatory animal Foster becomes distracted once in the house and starts watching an old video and doesn't give chase even though he knows they must be nearby since Beth was just in the house.  Beth stays at the pier maybe just waiting for him to leave but it does beg the question as to why Beth stays at the house all day knowing he has threatened to come several times.  

When Torres and Prendergast arrive it is very clear Prendergast is not a coward (as the captain and some other cops have accused him) as he goes into a dangerous situation unarmed and tries to stay low.

The moments on the pier is a perfect example of how Prendergast handles these interactions.  He comes in quietly eating popcorn so as not to rouse suspicion but alerts Beth discreetly that he is a cop.  Prendergast speaks truth to Foster which gets Foster to relax enough to put his gun down so Beth can throw it over the pier.  The scene is staged so Beth runs off the pier with Adele and the little girl does not have to witness her father's death.

It is fun to watch two actors of the caliber of Duvall and Douglas face off.  Foster is confused as he had tried to convince himself that he was standing up for humanity but as he realizes his situation he decides his fate.  Prendergast remains resolute but tries to bring Foster in without violence.  After Prendergast shoots Foster there is an interesting edit.  We see Foster fall off the pier into the ocean with a big splash and then a helicopter shot of Prendergast approaching the water in what appears to be a transition to close out the scene.  But then Schumacher cuts to a close-up of Prendergast looking regretful (but not broken) that he was forced to kill Foster, even though Foster tricked him.  

In the final scene Prendergast again looks out for Adele suggesting to Beth that they let enjoy her birthday, although they may need to move the party elsewhere since the house is now a crime scene.  I liked the guard dog warning on the gate even though the dog is a harmless yellow Labrador retriever.  Nonetheless in that neighborhood it is probably a good idea to keep such warnings up.

The characters in Falling Down have difficult lives that contribute to some of the poor decisions some of them make.  As Prendergast notes though we all have a choice and it is comforting that there are people like him who make good ones.  Watching this film is a good choice for me.  ****