Falling Down

{{Infobox film

| name = Falling Down

| image = Falling Down (1993 film) poster.jpg

| alt = A poster depicting an older man standing on a concrete platform, wearing a business outfit, holding a briefcase and a shotgun. Above, in black letters, it reads: "Michael Douglas". Below, in large white letters over a red background, it reads: "Falling Down". Beneath that, with the film credits, it reads in small white letters: "A Joel Schumacher Film". In the background are skyscrapers and a smog filled sky.

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Joel Schumacher

| producer = {{ubl|Timothy Harris|Arnold Kopelson|Herschel Weingrod}}

| writer = Ebbe Roe Smith

| starring = {{Plainlist|

| music = James Newton Howard

| cinematography = Andrzej Bartkowiak

| editing = Paul Hirsch

| studio = {{ubl||Le Studio Canal+|Regency Enterprises|Alcor Films}}

| distributor = Warner Bros.

| released = {{Film date|1993|02|26}}

| runtime = 112 minutes{{Cite web|date=February 26, 1993|title=Falling Down (18)|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/falling-down-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0zmzu2otu|access-date=April 21, 2025|website=British Board of Film Classification}}

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget = $25 million{{cite web|url=https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0106856/ |title=Falling Down (1993) |website=IMDb |date=May 25, 1993

|access-date=June 23, 2020}}

| gross = $96 million{{cite magazine|magazine=Variety|page=1|date=January 3, 1994|title=Int'l top 100 earn $8 bil|last=Klady|first=Leonard}}

}}

Falling Down is a 1993 American crime drama film directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Ebbe Roe Smith, and starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall.

Set in Los Angeles, the film tells the story of William Foster, a disgruntled, unemployed defense worker who abandons his car in the middle of traffic and goes on a violent rampage trying to reach his family for his daughter's birthday. Martin Prendergast, a retiring police officer, attempts to catch Foster.

On its release, the film received mixed reviews, with some praising the performances from Douglas and Duvall, while criticizing the film's violence and tone. It grossed $96 million against a $25 million budget, taking the top spot at the United States box office in its first two weeks of release. In later years, the film has gained a cult following, with many citing it as Schumacher's best film, as well as one of Douglas's best roles. The film has since continued to be analyzed for its themes of the class system, economic pressures, and mental health.

Plot

William Foster is stuck in Los Angeles traffic on a hot day. After his air conditioning fails, he abandons his car and begins walking, carrying his briefcase.

At a convenience store, the Korean owner refuses to give change for a telephone call. Foster becomes agitated over the high prices. The owner grabs a baseball bat and demands that Foster leave. Foster takes the bat and destroys several merchandise displays before paying for a drink and leaving. Later, while resting on a hill, he is harassed by two Mexican gang members, who threaten him with a knife and demand his briefcase. Foster attacks them with the bat and takes their knife.

The gang members, now in a car with two associates, find Foster using a payphone. They open fire, killing four surrounding bystanders, but not Foster. The driver crashes. Foster picks up an Uzi they had, shoots the one surviving gang member in the leg, and then leaves with their bag of weapons. Foster encounters a panhandler who harasses him for change. Foster finally gives him the briefcase, which only contains his lunch.

At a fast food restaurant, Foster attempts to order breakfast, but is told they have switched to the lunch menu. After an argument with the manager, Foster pulls a gun and fires into the ceiling accidentally. After trying to reassure the frightened employees and customers, he orders lunch, but is annoyed when the burger looks nothing like the one on the menu. He leaves and tries to place a call from a phone booth, then shoots the booth to pieces after being hassled by someone who was waiting to use the phone. After Foster calls "home" again and states his intention to attend his daughter's birthday party, his ex-wife Beth notifies the police because she has a restraining order against him.

Sergeant Martin Prendergast, who is on his last day of duty before being coaxed into retirement by his domineering wife, insists on investigating the events. Interviews with witnesses lead Prendergast to suspect that the same person is responsible for all of them. Foster's vanity license plate proves to be an important lead, because Prendergast remembers being in the same traffic jam as Foster earlier that day. Prendergast and his partner, Detective Sandra Torres, visit Foster's mother, who is surprised to learn that he lost his job. They realize Foster is heading toward his former family's home in Venice and rush to intercept him.

Foster passes a bank where a black man is protesting after being rejected for a loan. The man exchanges a glance with Foster and says, "Don't forget me," as he is escorted away by police. Foster stops at a military surplus store to buy boots. The owner, a homophobic Neo-Nazi, diverts Torres when she comes in. After Torres leaves, the owner offers Foster a rocket launcher and congratulates him for the shooting incident at the restaurant. When Foster expresses distaste for the store owner's bigotry, the man becomes violent and attempts to turn him over to the police, but Foster stabs him then shoots him dead. Foster changes into army clothes, takes the rocket launcher and leaves.

Foster encounters a road repair crew who are not working and accuses them of doing unnecessary repairs to justify their budget. He pulls out the rocket launcher but struggles to use it, until a boy explains how it works. Foster accidentally fires the launcher, blowing up the construction site. By the time Foster reaches Beth's house, she has already fled with their daughter. He realizes that they may have gone to the nearby Venice Pier, but Prendergast and Torres arrive before he can pursue them. Foster shoots Torres, injuring her, and flees with Prendergast in pursuit.

At the pier, Foster confronts his ex-wife and daughter. Adele is happy to see him, but Beth wants him to leave. Prendergast arrives and distracts Foster long enough for Beth to throw his gun into the ocean. Prendergast aims his gun at Foster and urges him to surrender, acknowledging his complaints about social inequalities but not accepting them as an excuse for his rampage. With nothing left for him, Foster tricks Prendergast into shooting him dead. Having asserted himself, Prendergast decides to hold off retirement.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

Michael Douglas as William Foster
Robert Duvall as Martin Prendergast
Barbara Hershey as Beth
Rachel Ticotin as Sandra Torres
Tuesday Weld as Amanda Prendergast
Frederic Forrest as Nick, Surplus Store Owner
Lois Smith as William Foster's Mother
Joey Hope Singer as Adele Foster
Michael Paul Chan as Mr. Lee
Raymond J. Barry as Captain Bill Yardley
D. W. Moffett as Detective Lydecker
Steve Park as Detective Brian
James Keane as Detective Keene
Marlo Thomas as KTLA Reporter
Karina Arroyave as Angie
Brent Hinkley as Rick
Dedee Pfeiffer as Sheila Folsom
Vondie Curtis-Hall as "Not Economically Viable" Man
James Morrison as Construction Sign Man by Bus Stop

}}

Production

= Development =

Falling Down was being filmed in various locations in Lynwood, California, when the 1992 Los Angeles riots began. By April 30, the riots were sufficiently disruptive to force filming to stop early that day.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/82242600|title=3 May 1992|page= 11 |work= Southern Illinoisan |access-date=October 11, 2016}} Film crews produced more footage inside of Warner Bros. Studio, in Burbank, as the riots continued. By May 4, when the crew intended to resume in Pasadena, initial requests to do so were denied, causing delays.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/177286935|title=Hollywood Film Crews Encounter Riot Delays|date=May 5, 1992|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|access-date=October 11, 2016}} Filming wrapped in late June 1992.{{Cite news|title=Surprise|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/99879835|date=June 23, 1992|page= 25 |work= Detroit Free Press |access-date=October 12, 2016}} Production designer Barbara Ling said: "We mapped this so that you really were going across Los Angeles from Silver Lake down to mid-city to Koreatown."{{Cite news|url=https://www.lataco.com/setting-path-across-l-unhinged-antihero-falling/|title=Setting a Path Across L.A. With the Unhinged Antihero of 'Falling Down' |date=February 25, 2018|work=L.A. TACO|access-date=March 5, 2018|language=en-US}}

In an interview less than a week before Falling Down{{'}}s release, screenwriter Ebbe Roe Smith gave his interpretation of what the movie was about. "To me, even though the movie deals with complicated urban issues, it really is just about one basic thing: The main character represents the old power structure of the U.S. that has now become archaic, and hopelessly lost. For both of them, it's adjust-or-die time{{nbsp}}..."{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-02-21-ca-942-story.html|title=MOVIES : 'Falling Down' Writer Has Seen the Future: It's L.A. |last=Murphy|first=Ryan|date=February 21, 1993|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=June 10, 2016}}

= Casting =

Foster's signature haircut was the idea of Joel Schumacher and the movie's hairstylist, Lynda Gurasich. Douglas commented on how it helped him get into the character of a veteran of the military or defense industry: "It gave me the feeling of the late '50s and the early '60s, and somehow my character you kinda have the feeling that he came from another time, or he wished or he hoped for another time when things made sense." Douglas would add concerning the character: "There's a lot of people who are a paycheck away from being on the streets and being out of work who did everything right, they've been responsible, they tried hard, [and] they don't know what went wrong! We won the war, where's it all at?"{{cite AV media|url=https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/handle/1808/7093|last=Tibbits|first=John C.|title=Falling Down: Conversations About the Film|language=en|publisher=University of Kansas}}

Reception

= Box office =

The film grossed $96 million against a $25 million budget. It took the top spot at the United States box office in its first two weeks of release (February 26–28 and March 5–7, 1993). Falling Down pushed the previous top movie, Groundhog Day, into the second place box-office spot for both those weeks.{{Cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2723644929/weekend/|title=Groundhog Day (1993)—Weekend Box Office Results |publisher=Box Office Mojo |access-date=October 6, 2016}} It grossed $40.9 million in the United States and Canada and $55.1 million internationally.{{cite web|url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2387641857/weekend/ |title=Falling Down (1993) |website=Box Office Mojo |date=May 25, 1993

|access-date=June 15, 2012}}

= Critical reception =

Falling Down holds an approval rating of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 57 reviews, with an average rating of 6.80/10. The site's consensus states: "Falling Down{{'}}s popcorn-friendly take on its complex themes proves disquieting—and ultimately fitting for a bleakly entertaining picture of one man's angry break with reality."{{Cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/falling_down|title=Falling Down|via=www.rottentomatoes.com|accessdate=March 23, 2022}} However, the film also has a weighted average score of 56 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 21 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.{{Cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/falling-down|title=Falling Down|via=www.metacritic.com}}{{cite web |url= https://www.metacritic.com/movie/falling-down|title= Metacritic score |work= IMDb}} Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title= Cinemascore |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= December 20, 2018 }}

== Contemporary ==

Contemporary reviews of Falling Down were generally mixed to positive.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it "the most interesting, all-out commercial American film of the year to date, and one that will function much like a Rorschach test to expose the secrets of those who watch it."{{cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Falling Down (1993) Review/Film; Urban Horrors, All Too Familiar|author=Canby, Vincent|author-link=Vincent Canby|date=February 26, 1993|url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9F0CE0DC113FF935A15751C0A965958260}} Philip Thomas of Empire wrote in his review of the film: "While the morality of D-Fens's methods are questionable, there's a resonance about his reaction to everyday annoyances, and Michael Douglas' hypnotic performance makes it memorable."{{Cite web|url=https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=16988|title=Empire Online – Falling Down Review|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015180023/https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=16988|archive-date=October 15, 2012|url-status=dead}} James Berardinelli wrote: "Falling Down is replete with gallows humor, almost to the point where it could be classified as a 'black comedy'."{{cite web|url=https://preview.reelviews.net/movies/f/falling_down.html |title=Reelviews Movie Reviews |publisher=Reelviews.net |date=February 26, 1993 |access-date=August 18, 2013}} John Truby calls the film "an anti-Odyssey story" about "the lie of the American Dream".{{cite web|work=Truby.com|title=Falling Down|url=http://truby.com/falling-down-1993/}} He adds: "I can't remember laughing so hard in a movie." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Falling Down encourages a gloating sense that we the long-suffering victims are finally getting our splendid revenge. The ultimate hollowness of that kind of triumph reflects the shallowness of a film all too eager to serve it up."{{Cite web |title=Everyman Can't Keep From 'Falling Down' |publisher=Los Angeles Times|page=80 (F5) |url=http://www.newspapers.com/newspage/712068322/ |date=February 26, 1993 |access-date=April 16, 2022 |website=Newspapers.com |language=en}}

Roger Ebert, who gave the film a positive review at the time of its release, wrote:

Some will even find it racist because the targets of the film's hero are African American, Latino, and Korean—with a few whites thrown in for balance. Both of these approaches represent a facile reading of the film, which is actually about a great sadness, which turns into madness, and which can afflict anyone who is told, after many years of hard work, that he is unnecessary and irrelevant... What is fascinating about the Douglas character, as written and played, is the core of sadness in his soul. Yes, by the time we meet him, he has gone over the edge. But there is no exhilaration in his rampage, no release. He seems weary and confused, and in his actions he unconsciously follows scripts that he may have learned from the movies, or on the news, where other frustrated misfits vent their rage on innocent bystanders.{{cite web | last=Ebert | first=Roger | title=Falling Down | url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/falling-down-1993 | work=RogerEbert.com | publisher=Ebert Digital LLC | date=February 26, 1993 | access-date=July 4, 2018}}

The Washington Post writer Hal Hinson observed:

This guy is you, the movie suggests, and if not you exactly, then maybe the guy you're one or two bad breaks from becoming. At one time or another, we've all thought these thoughts, and so when this downtrodden, laid-off, teed-off L.A. defense worker gets out of his car on a sweltering day in the middle of rush hour and decides he's not going to take any more, it comes as no surprise", adding "as he did in Fatal Attraction and Wall Street, Douglas again takes on the symbolic mantle of the Zeitgeist. But in Falling Down, he and Schumacher want to have their cake and eat it too; they want him to be a hero and a villain, and it just won't work.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/fallingdownrhinson_a0a7f7.htm|title=Falling Down|last=Hinson|first=Hal|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 26, 1993|access-date=2014-04-23}}

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film four stars out of five, writing:

There's no denying the power of the tale or of Douglas's riveting performance—his best and riskiest since Wall Street. Douglas neither demonizes nor canonizes this flawed character. Marching across a violent urban landscape toward an illusory home, this shattered Everyman is never less than real ... "I'm the bad guy?" he asks in disbelief. Douglas speaks the line with a searing poignancy that illuminates uncomfortable truths without excusing the character. Schumacher could have exploited those tabloid headlines about solid citizens going berserk. Instead, the timely, gripping Falling Down puts a human face on a cold statistic and then dares us to look away.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/falling-down-19930226|title=Falling Down|last=Travers|first=Peter|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=February 26, 1993|access-date=2014-04-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140423000934/http://m.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/falling-down-19930226|archive-date=April 23, 2014}}

Mick LaSalle said of the film in the San Francisco Chronicle:

A few times every year, Hollywood makes a mistake, violates formula, and actually makes a great picture. Falling Down is one of the great mistakes of 1993, a film too good and too original to win any Oscars, but one bound to be remembered in years to come as a true and ironic statement about life in our time.{{cite web |url= https://www.metacritic.com/critic/mick-lasalle?page=92|title= Mick LaSalle's Profile |work= Metacritic }}

At the time of its release, Douglas's father, actor Kirk Douglas, declared: "He played it brilliantly. I think it is his best piece of work to date."{{cite web | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ddwgAAAAIBAJ&pg=4190%2C2142647 | title=Kirk Douglas Defends Son |date=March 23, 1993 | publisher=McCook Daily Gazette | access-date=June 28, 2012}} He also defended the film against critics who claimed that it glorifies lawbreaking: "Michael's character is not the 'hero' or 'newest urban icon'. He is the villain and the victim. Of course, we see many elements of our society that contributed to his madness. We even pity him. But the movie never condones his actions."

Falling Down was released in theatres less than one year after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, during which Korean Americans and their businesses were targeted by rioters. The Korean American Coalition{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/article/1993/03/12/arms-over-falling-down/|title='Down' Beat—Up in arms over Falling Down—Laid-off workers are offended by the Michael Douglas film|last=Appelo|first=Tim|date=March 12, 1993|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=March 17, 2012|archive-date=October 18, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018035801/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305859,00.html|url-status=live}} and Korean Grocers Association{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/113107389|title="Falling Down" Under Fire|date=March 3, 1993|newspaper=The Tennessean|access-date=October 6, 2016}} protested the film for its treatment of minorities, especially the Korean grocer. Warner Bros. Korea cancelled the release of Falling Down in South Korea following boycott threats."'Falling Down' won't play Korea." Rocky Mountain News, March 10, 1994. The outcry by the Grocers Association led to Michael Douglas meeting with the organization's members at the Warner Bros. Studio because they "were there and they were pissed. So we had a conversation and I told them, 'Look, I'm very sorry, but there's a reason the screenwriter picked certain things to put in the film.'"{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/04/15/life-film-michael-douglas-8-his-greatest-roles|title=Michael Douglas on 8 of his greatest roles, from Gordon Gekko to Liberace|magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=October 6, 2016}} Unemployed defense workers were also angered at their portrayal in the film.

The character of D‑FENS was featured on magazine covers, including the March 29, 1993, issue{{Cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/white-male-paranoia-191128|title=White Male Paranoia|date=March 28, 1993|work=Newsweek|access-date=April 12, 2017|language=en}} of Newsweek, and reported upon as an embodiment of the "angry white man" stereotype.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Zc0e8caLkEC|pages=61–65|title=Critical race narratives|author=Carl Scott Gutiérrez-Jones|publisher=NYU Press |year=2001|isbn=978-0-8147-3145-1}} In 2014, WhatCulture included Michael Douglas' role in top "10 Most Convincing Movie Psychopath Performances".{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Ryan |date=2014-10-13 |title=10 Most Convincing Movie Psychopath Performances |url=https://whatculture.com/film/10-most-convincing-movie-psychopath-performances |access-date=2025-03-08 |website=WhatCulture.com |language=en}}

== Later opinions ==

On the 24th anniversary of the film's release in 2017, film critic April Wolfe of LA Weekly wrote in the article entitled "Hey White People..." that it "remains one of Hollywood's most overt yet morally complex depictions of the modern white-victimization narrative, one both adored and reviled by the extreme right". Wolfe said: "Today, we might see D-Fens and the white supremacist as the infighting sides of the far right — one couches racism in coded words like "thug," while the other wants an outright ethnic cleanse. Ultimately, what both want is to return to their idea of a purer America, unburdened by the concerns of minorities and women". Wolfe suggested that Rupert Murdoch would "go on to bottle that fury and package it as patriotism" in creating Fox News.{{Cite news|last=Wolfe|first=April|date=April 26, 2017|title=Hey, White People: Michael Douglas Is the Villain, Not the Victim, in Falling Down|work=L.A. Weekly|url=http://www.laweekly.com/film/falling-down-25th-anniversary-michael-douglas-was-the-villain-8164453|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170427002541/http://www.laweekly.com/film/falling-down-25th-anniversary-michael-douglas-was-the-villain-8164453|url-status=dead|access-date=February 15, 2021|archive-date=April 27, 2017}}

In 2012, Tasha Robinson of The A.V. Club was critical of the film, describing it as a "profoundly hateful film disguised alternately (and erratically) as either tragedy or humor."{{Cite news|url=https://www.avclub.com/article/our-most-hated-movies-of-the-90s-86560|title=Our most-hated movies of the '90s|last=Staff|first=A.V. Club|work=Film|date=October 12, 2012|access-date=May 30, 2018|language=en-US}} An earlier 2008 review on the site was positive, saying, "Heat used as a metaphor for simmering rage is nothing new, but few films execute sweaty psychosis as well."{{Cite news|url=https://film.avclub.com/its-not-the-heat-its-the-intensity-13-memorable-films-1798214436|title=It's not the heat, it's the intensity: 13 memorable films set during heat waves|last=Staff|work=Film|access-date=May 30, 2018|language=en-US}}

= Accolades =

1993 Cannes Film Festival, Nominated for the {{Lang|fr|Palme d'Or|italic=no}} (Joel Schumacher){{cite web|url=https://www.festival-cannes.com/en/films/falling-down |title=Festival de Cannes: Falling Down |access-date=August 18, 2009 |work=festival-cannes.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091003192702/http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2580/year/1993.html |archive-date=October 3, 2009 }}
1994 Edgar Award, Won for Best Motion Picture Screenplay (Ebbe Roe Smith){{Cite web|url=http://theedgars.com/awards/category-list-best-motion-picture/|title=Category List – Best Motion Picture| publisher=The Edgars |language=en-US|access-date=July 2, 2019}}

In other media

Falling Down has been the inspiration of musical artists such as Iron Maiden, Foo Fighters, Front Line Assembly and Heart Attack Man. The Iron Maiden song "Man on the Edge" is a basic summary of Falling Down, beginning with describing the opening traffic jam, and ending with describing the birthday present Foster buys for his daughter. The Foo Fighters' song "Walk" has a music video that is a recreation of scenes from Falling Down. The Front Line Assembly album Millennium contains several samples from various scenes from Falling Down.{{cite web|url=http://www.mindphaser.com/archive/samples/ |title=Samples |work=Mindphaser |access-date=June 13, 2021}} The Heart Attack Man song "Out For Blood" was inspired by the anger and frustration weaved through Falling Down which weaves through the rest of their album Fake Blood.{{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

In the video game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, a character resembling Foster recreates the rocket launcher scene in a cutscene, blowing up a construction site before walking away with a duffel bag.{{Cite web |last=Perry |first=Douglass C. |date=May 17, 2005 |title=E3 2005: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2005/05/17/e3-2005-tony-hawks-american-wasteland |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=IGN |language=en}}

An episode of the animated series Duckman titled "A Room with a Bellevue" (episode six of season three), is loosely based on the plot of Falling Down. Duckman has to pick up his new suit from the dry cleaner to be presentable on his children's birthday, but huge traffic and the law are going to stop him.

Frank Grimes, a one-off character on The Simpsons episode "Homer's Enemy", is modeled after Foster, having the same flat-top haircut, white shirt-and-tie, and briefcase.{{cite AV media|last=Weinstein|first=Josh|author-link=Josh Weinstein|date=2006|title=The Simpsons season 8 DVD commentary for the episode "Homer's Enemy"|medium=DVD|publisher=20th Century Fox}}

Death metal band Internal Bleeding sampled the same scene in their song Falling Down, named after the film, from their album Driven to Conquer. {{Citation needed|date=April 2021}}

The song My Name Is Mud by alternative rock band Primus is titled after one of the final lines spoken by the Sgt. Prendergast character.

In the song "I'm in It", Kanye West refers to the film when he raps: "Time to take it too far now/Michael Douglas out the car now".{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Paul |date=2016-01-15 |title=Every Pop-Culture Reference Kanye West Has Ever Made |url=https://www.vulture.com/2016/01/every-pop-culture-reference-kanye-has-ever-made.html |access-date=2023-07-13 |website=Vulture |language=en-us}}

Finnish band Beats and Styles referred to the movie poster with DJ Control holding a baseball bat instead of a shotgun for the cover of their 2009 album Schizosonics.