MovieChat Forums > Falling Down (1993) Discussion > I really hated the wife

I really hated the wife

posted 9 years ago by blackurbanprince
18 replies | jump to latest

Ok I may ruff the feathers of some our far left feminist on here but I haven't watched Falling Down since I was about 18. Watched last weekend and was surprised how his wife came off as a really unlikable character. Just seems like she could have easily handled the situation better than she did. You can be firm and let him know that the marriage is over without keeping his kid away from him. Her character actually brings up him not paying child support as a reason why she is withholding visitation.

Some of the commentators mention him supposedly being violent and some absurdly saying he is racist. I seem him as having some anger issues but he never seem to turn violent until being threatened with violence. Also there was nothing to indicate the would be violent or hostile with his little girl. How hard could have it been to at least let the man have weekend visitation with his little girl. The guy basically had nothing at this point. No Family,No job, living home with his crazy mother, and totally separated from his little girl that he help raise from birth.

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] tom_mcclarey-3 9 years ago

I thought the home videos at the end revealed the true nature of D-Fens and cast a more sympathetic light on the wife.

[–] the_la_baker 8 years ago

Trying to show his daughter the horse he bought her? Then the wife starts freaking out because the girl is crying. He wasn't abusing her. He was putting her on a new toy horse he bought for her.

What an evil man. Good thing she refused to let him see the daughter he loved so much until he snapped.

She was such a saint. Remember her lovely personality? Oh, wait... She didn't have one. What a wretched character. Don't give me that 'she loved her child' crap. Water buffalo love and protect their children. Thats called being a mammalian mother. It is not a redeeming trait. Refusing your odd and snippy X-husband his instinctual need to be a father is extremely sadistic, though.

[–] Milkdoesabodygood 8 years ago

Welcome to California

Spoiler alert for them spoil sports out there! Y'all like spoiled milk, stop crying over it!

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jptf2 8 years ago

She drove him to it by not allowing him to see his daughter. She admitted he never hit her and that the judge only granted the restraining order "to make an example of him," and said the reason for it was he was showing up on the wrong days for visitation.

I guess you weren't paying attention.

- a maniac who goes berserk, damages city property and causes the deaths of several people

Proof you weren't paying attention.

Uh, he only caused the death of 1 person - the neo-Nazi who was holding him at gunpoint.

He's "D-fens" for a reason. He's not out to hurt anyone, he is reacting to jerks and pieces of garbage who provoke him or stand in the way of him seeing his daughter on her birthday.

[–] stevekaczynski 8 years ago

He sends the wealthy old golfer's trolley which contains his heart pills for a ride in a pond with a shotgun blast, triggering a heart attack. That character probably dies, and D-Fens clearly assumes he is dying when he says he will die with that stupid golfing hat on his head. The golfer is unpleasant but he was no real threat to D-Fens. So we have one definite kill, and one probable.
While there is no evidence that his launched grenade on a building site actually kills anyone, it might easily have done. These things have a kill radius when they detonate and one or more road workers might have been within it when it did.
Finally, he shoots Rachel Ticotin's character, the most likeable woman in the film, and about the least of a "jerk" of all the characters in Falling Down when she tries to stop him (incidentally, people just going to see their daughter on their birthday do not usually carry a gun if their intentions are good, much less a whole gym bag of weapons). She probably survives, just as the old golfer probably dies, but he gets an abdominal hit and a couple of inches the other way and the bullet would have killed her.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] jptf2 8 years ago

That character probably dies,

No, the golfer does not die, or we would have heard about it. We hear about the details of everything he does in the film in Pendergast's story.

It also doesn't matter, as he's not legally responsible for the guy having a heart attack. He would get a weapons charge/vandalism charge for shooting the cart, but attacking someone's property is not an attack on their person.

While there is no evidence that his launched grenade on a building site actually kills anyone, it might easily have done. These things have a kill radius when they detonate and one or more road workers might have been within it when it did.

Given that the tone of the scene was light-hearted, it clearly didn't kill anyone.

Finally, he shoots Rachel Ticotin's character, the most likeable woman in the film, and about the least of a "jerk" of all the characters in Falling Down when she tries to stop him (incidentally, people just going to see their daughter on their birthday do not usually carry a gun if their intentions are good, much less a whole gym bag of weapons). She probably survives, just as the old golfer probably dies, but he gets an abdominal hit and a couple of inches the other way and the bullet would have killed her.

People going to see their daughter on their birthday typically don't get attacked by gang members who first try to rob him at knifepoint and then try to shoot him in a drive-by. They also tend not to have made up their mind that they're "going home" in every sense of the word.

[–] stevekaczynski 8 years ago

Prendergast's viewpoint? Interesting that you mention that, because at the end he puts it to D-Fens that he was going to kill his wife, his kid and then himself, and D-Fens does not deny it. Perhaps because he got it right?
You glide rather quickly over him shooting Prendergast's colleague Sandra, but had he survived at the end of the film that is probably what he would be doing real time for. A good lawyer MIGHT be able to present Nick as self-defence, MAYBE the rocket launcher did not kill anyone, MAYBE the golfer did not die. And in a film full of moderate to severely unpleasant people, D-Fens comes close to killing one of its least unpleasant characters, and I think that is the screenwriter deliberately telling us how crazed and desperate D-Fens is.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] jptf2 8 years ago

He did deny it. He immediately said, "no." Douglas's acting choice was not to say it emphatically, but the script clearly called for him to deny it.

Pendergast's interpretation was that he wanted to kill them so that he wouldn't have anything left to live for and then it would be easier to kill himself. Yet they made it out alive and he still chose to kill himself via convincing Pendergast to shoot him in the "draw," armed with a plastic gun.

D-Fens shooting Sandra was reactive. He was at the end of the road and cornered and determined to see his family no matter what, and she stood in his way. It was a selfish mission because he thought he was wronged by the country.

[–] JRichardSingleton 8 years ago

Uh, the home video cleverly showed what a monster he was. Plus he was walking over to kill her.

[–] jptf2 8 years ago

Congratulations on being 0 for 2.

Yeah, he bought her a horse and as she was bitching at him, they argued about it (wow, a divorced couple arguing...what a surprise). What a monster.

There is no evidence he was going to kill her. You can read into the subtext that way, but he made no actual threat or attempt.

[–] MrBook_ 8 years ago

I assumed you meant Duvall's character's wife, who was obviously awful and meant to be. But Douglas's wife? I don't know what to tell you. There wasn't much to the character but a victimized ex-wife of a psychopath, trying to protect her child. If you think a character like that is someone to have a problem with, and that having a problem with her is going to cause a problem with "far left feminist," then maybe consider that you're the problem and your views are aberrant and wrong, because that's pretty messed up.

Her character actually brings up him not paying child support as a reason why she is withholding visitation.

Fcking yeah? And? If you want to hang out with the kid, you have to chip in on raising the kid. Raising kids is expensive. It's not cruel and unusual punishment to ask you to chip in on the literally hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to raise the kid, if you want to be part of her life.

Goddamn, I can't believe what fcked up ideas about men and women and marriage and divorce guys have these days.

For a dollar, name three white people. . .

[–] MrRazorz 8 years ago

He had visitation rights, but he lost them because he kept showing up at the wrong times or in the middle of the night, and behaved aggressively when he got there. And his wife didn't want the restraining order, but the judge insisted on it. She explains all this to the cops when they visit her house.

[–] PrimeMinisterOfTheSinister 8 years ago

Yeah, she clearly should've waited until after he killed her to call the cops. *beep* idiot.

[–] stevekaczynski 8 years ago

Well, as D-Fens points out in a creepy phone call to his ex-wife, in some countries it is legal to kill your wife if she insults you. How tragic for D-Fens that California has different societal norms from hill villages in Yemen or the Hindu Kush.

"Chicken soup - with a *beep* straw."

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] williampum 7 years ago

Can't say I Hated her, however her acting was Annoying and there were way too many scenes of her.
A beginning scene and Ending scene would have been more than enough.