FOLK HERO or VIGILANTE?

After roughly 14 years, I rediscovered the urban drama "Falling Down" the other night and, I gotta say, it aged pretty well.

Perhaps it was the Dimple Pinch, but Jesus, I really responded to it.

In a primal way.

While I dug the film when it came out back in 1993, I identify with its protagonist even more now, some 14 years later.

Call me more jaded. Call me more bitter. Whatever. I'll admit, the notion of pulling a "Falling Down" can be quite a seductive notion on those rough days.

In any case, "Falling Down" centers on William Foster (Michael Douglas)who's having a typically bad L.A. day - traffic jams up the wazoo, blazing heat, construction everywhere. You name it.

Laid off from his defense job, he festers in what's the madre of all traffic jams and in no time, splits from his car and ... just starts walking.
After encountering one urban humiliation after another, Walker slyly acquires a bigger and better weapon after showing everyone who's really in charge.

As he trots through L.A.'s mean, urban jungle, he mentally unravels little by little and loses it at a fast-food eatery that refuses to serve him breakfast because it's "too late."

It isn't long before he runs amok with an arsenal of weapons in a duffel bag --becoming a source of terror to some and a folk hero to others. It's up to reluctant cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall), on the eve of his retirement, to bring the nerdy vigilante down.

And while I'm usually not a huge fan of either Michael Douglas or director Joel Schumacher for that matter, the film works. But why?

There was a cancerous paranoia back in L.A. during the early '90s. It seemed like a pressure cooker that was about to blow. Much like Times Square around the same time, the climate in the inner cities was bleak. Bad neighborhoods were just that. Shitty places to be during the day or at night. It was the post-coke era. Gone was the flash-and-dash of Reagan-era optimism. Crack and AIDS were mere babies.

And everyone was scared of 'em.

But then a White Knight named Rudy cleaned up the Big Apple with almost every other urban area following suit and hence, the Urban Enterprise Zone was born. It seemed every city with a rail line built lofts, townhomes and suddenly, graffiti started to disappear and house values slowly ascended. Obviously, there's more to it, but you get the drift. The tide turned on many a shitty city.

That's why "Falling Down" resonates now with me. It brought me back in time. It was the L.A. of the riots, Rodney King and Bush 41. Pre-cell phones; pre-Internet; pre-war on terror. I was there for a brief time back then, and while I was barely in my '20s, L.A. did seem like a scary place. It was an odd time.

One thing is certain, though. Hemingway would like our man Walker and would have thought nothing of making him a character in one of his short stories. Take a look at the clips below, you'll agree, he's got brass ones.

You may even fantasize about pulling a "Falling Down" someday ...

Here are a few great scenes. Enjoy.