Falling Down is a remake?
The Michael Douglas film is apparently just a thinly disguised remake of this film. Can anyone verify this for me?
~ I am the tiny voice inside your head.
I don't see it
William (D-Fens) is deliberately crossing L.A. in an effort to get to his wife & kid to kill them. He may be lying to himself about his intentions, but I believe the Duvall character's take on it.
There's also an undercurrent of anger at the system from a "regular guy" badgered & bullied by the world at large
It's almost the opposite of Ned Merrill's situation: a guy once at the top of the world trying to relive his glory days, seeming genuinely deluded about their absence. It's a journey of discovery for the audience.
I dunno, just not seeing much resemblance
Ok, thanks, just wondering since I've seen it mentioned a few times on the web.
I haven't seen this film yet to compare.
~ I am the tiny voice inside your head.
I was curious about that, so I did find this:
D-Fens, played by Mr. Douglas with astonishing, thin-lipped authority, is a little bit like a paranoid paperback update on Neddy Merrill of John Cheever's story "The Swimmer." Neddy sets out to swim home through the pools of Fairfield County on a bright summer day, encountering a lifetime of failures as he goes. The daylong journey of D-Fens is equally sad and futile, though far less gentle.
http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE0DC113FF935A15751C0A965958260
Interesting comparison, but the passage above clearly recognizes "Swimmer" as a journey through Ned's own failures. "Falling Down" is just a journey, sad & futile, but otherwise a different film and arc.
It seems almost like the reviewer was just showing off a bit, to be honest share