FALLING DOWN

"I'm the bad guy?"

The first time I watched Falling Down, I found it really...jarring. I think I was expecting more of a dark comedy than straight-up social commentary, and I was surprised that William "D-FENS" Foster (Michael Douglas) isn't a more sympathetic character. The whole thing just seemed so harsh. Sixteen years later, I'm struck by the film's resonance, and I think it has everything to do with life experience. By now I've met D-FENS, feared D-FENS, and felt like D-FENS. The truth is that people fall down every day.

It's a morning much like any other when William Foster snaps. One minute he's waiting out a construction delay in the sweltering heat, and the next he's abandoning his car and "going home". His trek begins in Central Los Angeles, and he's got a lot of ground to cover if he wants to make it to Venice Beach on foot in time for his daughter's birthday party. The only trouble is that William Foster has a history of mental instability, and he's not exactly welcome at home. He will continue to make himself unwelcome as he traverses the city, tangling with gang members, a price-gouging store owner, an insane Neo-Nazi (Frederic Forrest), surly fast food workers, and yet another construction crew.

Foster piques the interest of the local police from the moment he walks away from his car, but the only clue to his identity is a specialized license plate reading "D-FENS". As incident reports trickle in throughout the day, Detective Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) begins to suspect that one man is behind them all...perhaps a certain disgruntled, displaced, defense worker who moved in with his mother following the dissolution of his marriage.

Foster is a complicated protagonist to say the least. While it's hard not to root for him when he gives gang members a taste of their own medicine, the fact that his ex-wife (Barbara Hershey) is in an absolute panic over the thought of him showing up on her doorstep is hardly a compliment to his character. In reality, he reflects the flaws he sees in society every bit as much as he detests them.

What makes Falling Down so fascinating is that it examines the fine line between reacting to a problem and becoming part of the problem yourself. At some point in the film, Foster actually asks, "I'm the bad guy?" Indeed, it hardly seems possible that a man with a wife, a daughter, and a decent job could have fallen so far. He's an unfortunate example of an unstable personality attempting to negotiate an unstable world - without a balancing influence, something is bound to blow.

The only weakness in Falling Down is a rather lame subplot involving Detective Pendergast, his clingy wife (Tuesday Weld), a dead daughter, and his last day on the police force. Though Robert Duvall is always fabulous, this story line is trite and unnecessary. In all other regards, this is a surprisingly thoughtful film.

DVD NOTES

DVD extras for the Deluxe Edition include feature commentary with Michael Douglas and Joel Schumacher and the featurette "Deconstructing D-FENS: A Conversation With Michael Douglas".