Falling Down - The Great American Lie

Whenever someone says an old movie "aged badly" because of changing fashions or attitudes, keep in mind that it's also possible that the movie is actually fine and it's society that aged badly.

10 years ago my ex wife lied to a judge. And my daughter was removed from my life. I paid child support and received no visits for years. But the truth was on my side. Today her mother is in trouble with the law and next week my daughter is coming to live with me. Never give up

One of my favorite scenes in all movies, is where the protesting guy gets taken away by the cops, and when the car is driving away it briefly stops in near Bill and the man says "Dont forget me." and Bill nods. That exchange, that sad and tragic moment. The way it feels like the poor guy is just going to disappear within the corrupt system. It just hits me deep.

One of the most underrated performances by Michael Douglas. Even when he waves the gun around in the fast food restaurant, we were still rooting for him.

"Most men die at 27. We just bury them at 72." -Mark Twain

“I’m the bad guy? How’d that happen? I did everything they told me to.” I think about that quote a lot these days

I remember when my dad went to see this in theatres back in 93. He came home, told us that it was good, but that the message was the best part. I was a bit too young to see it then but when I did as a teen, I didn't get it. Watched it in my 20s, started to understand it. Watched it when middle aged, now I totally get it. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I died when I was 26. I've been living the American lie ever since. Now at 68 I just don't really care anymore that everything is so false, You can't take nothing with you, so ease up and just go out and live. One day at a time I'm learning to love it.

That scene of Foster in the fast-food restaurant comparing the real life burger to the advertisement was probably the greatest criticism towards mass media commercialism I’ve seen

The way Douglas delivered the iconic line "I'm the bad guy?" with convincing confusion has stayed with me for the past 30 years.

This is one of the best critiques I have ever read/watched in my 68 years on this planet

Excellent analysis. "All it takes is one bad day" A line spoken by the Joker in the 1988 graphic novel. All it takes is one bad day. More relevant today than 30 years ago as you stated.

Michael Douglas finest performance. Really overlooked role by him

That was the saddest “Go away now” I’ve ever heard Drinker utter. I felt that in my soul. You know shit is dire in America when a Scot on the other side of the pond is lamenting America’s slow descent into ruin.

Pointing out the escalating line of weapons possessed by Bill is very important, but you forgot to state the final scene, the standoff between Prendergast and Bill. Prendergast shoots him believing he is packing, but all he has is a water squirt gun. Another addition to the drama - Bill would have never opposed a police officer, let alone try to hurt them. In his own way, he was always a true, law abiding citizen. The ending is heartbreaking to say the least. Amazing movie, one of my all-time favs.

This movie truly hits different the older you get. I remember first seeing it with my dad when I was 10, and thought Michael Douglas was this insane madman. But now, I think to myself "Okay, he may be going a bit overboard....but I get it."

One time not too long ago, I was asked how my day was going at work. I said “have you ever seen Falling Down?” thinking the guy has never seen it and all he said was “oh shit” 😂😊😊😊😊

To add a little more context to the story, From the 1940s (i.e., WW2) until 1989 (the fall of the Soviet Union) the LA economy was almost equally driven by Hollywood and the Areospace/defense industry. You were just as likely to bump into an aerospace engineer in LA as you were an aspiring actor. Well, once the Soviet Union collapsed, the amount of money the pentagon spent on Aerospace subcontractors fell and the industry in LA began laying off workers and consolidating. So the timing of the film met the reality on the ground. The protagonist was clearly one of those laid off aerospace engineers who was unlikely to find a similar job in the shrinking industry in LA. Combine that with his divorce and he just lost it.

When I was growing up (school years 1959-1972) the situation for my parents and pretty much everyone was that if you worked hard at a normal 40 hr. a week job (and typically only dad had to work), and did not waste money, you could own a home, a car, and even send the kids to college. Mom sometimes worked part time doing sewing or baking or something like that from home, but nothing big. When the kids were old enough, they usually got summer jobs to maybe buy an old car or put towards college, but they did not have to take out massive loans for college- if they borrowed at all, it could be repaid in a year or two. Of course we did not have as many "things" as people have now, but we could not have stuff that was not yet invented, either. And BTW- we DID get along fine with landline phones and payphones. I know this is a lot of boomer nostalgia, but in most ways life was better then.

To me it was a film very much of its era. The end of the Cold War saw many highly skilled, highly educated, highly experienced people see their jobs get outsourced and downsized, particularly in defense. I had just graduated from uni and hit the perfect storm, no being able to get a job for love nor money. I finally got a technician job and quite a few of my colleagues were ex-defense. For the record, I lost that job after twenty years. On the day I was let go my boss said to me, "Look Ged, in five years time nobody will be doing what we do". Well guess what, five years later all my colleagues were fired and the facility shut down.