Falling Down

"The adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world."

1993 1h 53m EN

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7.4

SOLID

★7.4TMDB · 4,286

CrimeDramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

An ordinary man frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society begins to psychotically and violently lash out against them.

“The adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world.”

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Cast

Michael Douglas
D-Fens
Robert Duvall
Prendergast
Barbara Hershey
Beth
Rachel Ticotin
Sandra
Tuesday Weld
Mrs. Prendergast
Frederic Forrest
Surplus Store Owner
Lois Smith
D-Fens' Mother
Joey Singer
Adele (Beth's Child)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Joel Schumacher
Writers: Ebbe Roe Smith
Languages: English, Spanish, Korean
Countries: United States of America, France

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

33 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, Korean.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, France.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

274+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Joel Schumacher, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Paul Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall and Barbara Hershey carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Joel Schumacher directs. Andrzej Bartkowiak behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. Paul Hirsch cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, France. Dialogue in English, Spanish, Korean.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

133 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Spanish, Korean.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, France.
4274+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Joel Schumacher, shot by Andrzej Bartkowiak. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Paul Hirsch shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall and Barbara Hershey carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "The adventures of an ordinary man at war with the everyday world.".
10IMDB entry: tt0106856 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 26 themes, including "detective", "rocket launcher", "fast food restaurant", "retirement".
12Released under 12 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
Original score: James Newton Howard
Editing: Paul Hirsch
Production design: Barbara Ling
Costume design: Marlene Stewart
Makeup / hair: Stephen Abrums
Sound: Wayne Artman
Stunt coordinator: Michael Runyard
Runtime: 113 min · 1h 53m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $25,000,000
Box office: $40,903,593
Return: 164% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Falling Down (1993)

Also by

Joel Schumacher

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What people are saying

Rob2015-08-10
★ 5.5/10
Having just watched this movie I can say that I enjoyed it, not overly so. Its not really a tale of urban reality more that the everyday annoyances that we do nothing about and this guy turns them into a personal insult. Its starts normally enough, stuck in traffic, beep noises and drilling on a hot day, his AC is broken, the window is broken. Instead of just shrugging it off with that Monday feeling he just abandons his car and goes for a walk, to start with its a shop owner with overpriced drinks that gets his shop smashed up a bit, later only when threatened with violence himself does he defend himself against 2 gang members. This is where things start to suddenly go weird, the gang members drive round and stumble across him somehow, (I'm British but I think LA is a little too big for that) then spray bullets in a drive by 20ft away and miss him completely but hit everyone around him and then they promptly crash. He walks over to the car, collects a bag of guns from it then goes and shoots up a burger bar because they are not serving breakfast, which he then changes his mind to lunch anyway and it continues from there. I don't know if this was meant to show some sort of mental brakedown due to his previous life choices but his empathy just disappears. At the start you could relate to the character but the more you watch the more you begin to distance yourself from that notion until you realise you just watched a movie where a guy went round killing people for no reason other than anger at himself for destroying his family life. It leaves me wondering if that was the directors intention or a happy coincidence to push that prospective on the viewer.
vylmen2024-12-30
★ 9/10
Not about the guy This movie isn't about the main character, William 'D-Fens' Foster. He does some crazy things and I guess that what some people remember, but if you really watch the movie you see that it puts society's erosion of the U.S. "normal guy" on display. People who "do everything right": get a degree, marry, make babies, work for a corporation. They feel disillusioned, cheated out of the promise of the American dream. Class divides, racism, toxic masculinity, coroporate greed, urban decay, breakdown of interpersonal connections and flat, sloppy hamburgers that look nothing like the picture on the menu. They are all present in Joel Schumacher's chronicle of the late 80's and early 90's. Even the inaction of police under the strain of declining budgets. His ex-wife that dodged a bullet by getting out before D-Fens got violent, is almost ridiculed for being oversensitve, instead of rewarded for her insight and protective instincts. There are so many things we can see through D-Fens' interactions, but also his wife and the excellent portrail of Prendergast by Robert Duval. In essence, Falling Down is less about D-Fens as an individual and more about the society that shaped him and countless others like him, not coming to terms with the weight of systemic failures. It’s a film that leaves viewers with questions rather than answers. Even decades later people will recognise themselves in the characters, the neighbourhoods and the way they navigate life in the shadow of the American dream.