Nostalgia Kinky

Arrow Home Video has released new 4K and Blu-ray editions of the classic American film Falling Down (1993). With a stunning cinematographer-approved restoration, plus archival and new extras, this new Limited edition package is recommended, offering the best presentation of this film ever on home video. Order now from Arrow or here in the States from MVD.

Isn’t it funny when a film turns out to be nothing like you remember? Take Falling Down for instance. At some point in the past three decades since seeing this very memorable film in the theater, my memories of it became corrupted, in a way. At times. I was struck by just how much of Falling Down I did recall. Certain scenes, the incredible performances, the style, and its structure. Yet, I misremembered perhaps the most important thing about the film and the character D-Fens.

The Falling Down I had in my head was essentially about a conservative bigot on a violent rampage through Los Angeles. Imagine my surprise to rediscover that Falling Down is much more complex than that and it is that complexity that still gives it such an unnerving power all these years later.

For any who hasn’t seen it, or misremembered it, Falling Down is about a divorced defense developer, recently out of a successful career due to the Cold War’s collapse. A middle-of-the-road liberal who believed all the BS taught about the US in elementary school, D-Fens is neither heroic nor completely villainous. Another fucked-up product of a fucked-up culture, De-Fens spent his life “doing everything he was supposed to do” before one violent trek back home to his estranged family changes everything.

It is hard not to be pissed off in this country. That’s a big part of Falling Down’s staying power. De-Fens, as played absolutely beautifully by Michael Douglas, is the definition of “the center won’t hold.” Caught between any sort of youthful idealism he might have had and the toxic-male nostalgia of the Reagan/Bush years, De-Fens is one of the great understandable movie psychopaths. He is the bad guy, but not in the way I recalled.

I was so relieved to discover Falling Down isn’t the film I thought I saw. It is a much more interesting than just another pathetic racist on a rampage fantasy, like the Death Wish sequels or that recent Daily Wire ‘film’ with what’s his name?
De-Fens is just a guy.
Just a bitter, disappointed guy
destroyed by the country he was programmed to believe in.

None of this is to suggest that Falling Down is just another liberal backed satire, as there are moments in the film when De-Fens does indeed become the backwards monster in the closet we’ve most likely lost the country to. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the famed Korean Grocery store sequence, still culturally and politically hot. Balancing De-Fens’ obviously problematic elements, the film ensures that the person who draws his biggest ire and defense is an actual neo-nazi, played chillingly by Frederic Forest.

Andy holy smoke, did I mention the cast of Falling Down? You’ve got Douglas and Duvall giving two of their most iconic performances and no less than Barbara Hershey and Tuesday Weld playing their spouses. The entire cast is deep and impressive. Ultimately, this is all down to the two D’s and man these two legends deliver so memorably. Oh, and shout out to DeeDee Pfeiffer, who delivers one of the film’s most memorable supporting turns as a very sassy restaurant worker.

Falling Down is simultaneously Joel T. Schumacher’s best film as well as the one that accidentally ruined his career. As it is made clear on the Arrow supplements, Schumacher was able to direct Falling Down only after agreeing to direct the next Batman film. So he essentially made a deal to make his best film in exchange for the one that ruined his reputation. What a bummer. The ex-fashion designer certainly has some other memorable films to his name, but I find it hard to imagine many folks arguing against Falling Down as the man’s best film.

Made in the wake of the justified rage following the Rodney King beating and the L.A. Riots, Falling Down really was a perfect film for the moment. It caught Billy Corgan’s Zeitgeist before his Smashing Pumpkins. Like that album, it isn’t a perfect work. I’m not even sure it is even a completely great film as it never feels quite as hard as other similar classics and it veers off into sentimentality occasionally. Also, although Tuesday Weld is stunning in the film it is a question as to how much her entire small subplot is needed. Regardless, this is a classic and necessary American film. It has something to say but much like the tragic clown who takes the title up on its offer, it doesn’t deliver the message easily or predictably.

Falling Down has always felt like an obvious entry in The Criterion Collection but I’m glad Arrow got it and it is hard to imagine a better-looking version of the film. That said, this isn’t one of Arrow’s chunky hardbox editions and it has a surprising lack of extras for what I suspect will be a major seller. We get an archival commentary, which is one of those weird space-heavy cobbled-together tracks studios used to put together. There is also an archival interview with Douglas, which features some of the most annoying nineties editing I’ve ever seen. There are two new interviews, one with the screenwriter (which made me like the film less) and the composer (which made me like the film more) as well as a guide to some of the locations. This limited package also features a slip and a rather disappointing booklet for such an important film.

While Falling Down is more than deserving of one of Arrow’s super deluxe treatments, this collection is more than sufficient and the quality of the restoration makes it an easy no-brainer purchase. A better director than Joel T. Schumacher might have delivered an even greater and grittier Falling Down but I’m glad it was made by a guy willing to chuck his rep just for the opportunity. Falling Down is one of the great American films about America. It’s a goddamn shame that the film is even more relevant today than three decades ago.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2026-