MovieChat Forums > Falling Down (1993) Discussion > Homeless man asking for money

Homeless man asking for money

posted 17 years ago by New_York_Gal
100 replies | jump to latest

This was one of my absolute most favorite scenes in the movie. It was so funny how the homeless guy was making up stuff just to get Bill Foster to give him a handout and how Foster was asking him to show him his driver's license!

Has anything like this actually happened to any of you? If so, how did you handle it? Many years ago, I was approached by a homeless/semi-drunk guy on the street who told me how he and his 10 year old son just arrived from out of town and how he's trying to round up enough money for bus fare to get back home. I wasn't quite in the mood for any of his BS so I said to him, "May I see your driver's license?"

"Huh?"

"Your driver's license. You said you and your son are from Phildelphia, so let me see if you're telling me the truth. Your Philadelphia home address will be on your state driver's license. By the way, where's your son?"

" . . . well, uh . . . ummm . . . ."

"What? What? Where's your license? I'm still waiting to see it."

"Well, uh . . . ."

"You made that up. You don't have a son. You're not even from Philly. You just made up all this to get a free handout. A guy five blocks back just told me the same story as you did, almost word for word. Do you think I'm that stupid? Furthermore, what makes you think I have any money to give you? How do you know I even have any money on me? Why didn't you approach someone else? Just because I'm wearing some nice clothes means I have money to give to you? How do you know I didn't just kill some Upper East Side debutante and her rich socialite mother and tore their fancy Prada suits off their still-warm bodies, huh? How do you know I didn't just kill someone for her clothes, huh? SO LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!"

He sure got the hell away from me quite fast.

And that was another urban reality tale from the mean streets of NYC (or however mean Fifth Avenue can get).

Men are like bank accounts. Without a lot of money, they don't generate much interest.

[–] Flying-DeLorean 15 years ago

I live on a busy city street. By "doorstep" I mean the apartment building's doorstep, which is right on the sidewalk. It's quite a convenient busy location and easy to sit on.

Some ask for money, some just keep to themselves. Pretty much all of them apologize if they realize they're blocking someone going in or coming out of the building. Some I give money to - espcially a really sweet elderly black lady who calls me "gorgeous" with a cheeky smile.

Some of them are drunks, some of them have mental or physical handicaps, (there was one guy who was a double amputee in a wheelchair) or some are just down on their luck. They are pretty much all very polite and step out of the way when I'm walking into the building.

The bad panhandlers are more mobile and aggressive. They sometimes wander the bus stops hassling suits. They hang at parks and other public places and tell you bullcrap stories. They FOLLOW you. They're just like the homeless guy in this movie. I don't lie to them that I have no money, I don't pretend to dig through my pockets looking for a stray quarter, and I don't take the easy way out by giving them a dollar or whatever. I just say "no". *beep* them. They are mostly crack addicts anyway. I don't seem to get crack addicts at my door... I don't think crack addicts are able to stay in one place for very long anyway.

The ones on my doorstep have been no problem really. They are welcome there as far as I'm concerned. They haven't done wrong by me or anyone else in the building.

[–] twiggy232 15 years ago

ye people quite often approach me asking for change, or stories about needing money to get home....

i usually lie and say i have no money, however this one time an elderly man approached me with an elaborate story about how his car broke down and needed some money to get home.

i kept asking him questions and he kept making up stories, until i eventually said
"Ok ill walk with you to your car"

and then he flipped and began insulting me as i walked away...

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] CptHowdy87 15 years ago

I hope you all get such an ego boost out of chastising some poor homeless people, you must feel great about yourselves. It really exposes how miserable your lives must be even with the luxuaries you have that they don't that you need to belittle them and that makes you feel justified and righteous. I can't even begin to wrap my mind around that sick, demented mentality.

Do you think they made the choice to live under a box and goe begging people for scraps of food or pennies because it's a lifestyle choice? do you think they can make a living doing that? You seem to by thinking that giving them anything just encourages them to keep doing what they're doing.

I have an income but I'm not well off at all and can barely afford any luxuaries, I get by and pretty much the bare essentials but anytime I've got some silver coins in my wallet I'm happy to give it to someone that can put it much better use than I can and will make a difference to them. 20c, 50c a dollar, it doesn't mean alot to me but it could by this poor person something to eat for the day.

You're truly heartless bastards and I hope one day that you're down on your luck and in need of help and you get the same treatment you dish out. Sad, sorry sons of bitches.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 15 years ago

I hope you all get such an ego boost out of chastising some poor homeless people, you must feel great about yourselves.

Have you ever noticed that almost every derelict beggar these days claims to be a disabled veteran? I'd be amazed if one in a hundred of them were genuine.

So yes, a low-life who goes around begging for money under false pretenses ("disabled vet," like the clown who accosts D-fens in the park scene) deserves to be chastised and ridiculed. Or perhaps something a bit harsher.

[–] GethinVanH 14 years ago

The subtext was pretty obvious. I volunteer with homeless people and none of them are like this. Very few "aggressively panhandle" either. The subtext to this scene was that the homeless are undeserving liars who screwed up their own lives and are now asking the middle-class to bail them out. Guess who caused homelessness in the first place. Not to mention that William was out of a job, had no family and few resources. It would not take him very long before he was in a similar position.

I blame Schumacher's ridiculous conservative politics.

[–] thegurujames 14 years ago

If we spent money on homeless people how we spend money on war...

Ok some do not want help.

[–] zachanscom 14 years ago

*beep* so you remember exactly what you told him word for word?

you're more pathetic than the ad-libbing bum

[–] gounian 14 years ago

I usually give whatever spare change I have to homeless people, I just don't care and generally feel bad for them, regardless of how they ended up there. However, I do agree that homeless people lie about what they intend to do with the money and that kind of bothers me. I remember I was in Chicago and we were coming out of Subway kind of late night. The guy was asking for some change so he could get himself a Sub and a drink. I honestly had no change, but I had half of my sandwich wrapped up and a bag of chips unopened. I was pretty full and offered him what I had. He was pretty much like "Man I don't want that crap, I don't want your leftovers, I want a real sandwich." I explained that I hadn't taken a bite of the half and it was a full 6-inch. He just kept saying "forget it" and walked off.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 14 years ago

The funniest lines in the film:

(Recall that it takes place in 1992/3, and the homeless man about 30 years old)

Bum: "That's a hell of a way to treat a vet, man!"
D-fens: "You're an animal doctor?"
Bum: "No, a vet man, I was in 'Nam!"
D-fens: "What were you, a drummer boy? You must have been ten years old!"

[–] lilmissd 14 years ago

Sometimes even when they do get money it's not good enough. For instance, my husband came to my office to visit me one day and he gave a guy who was out on the street in front of my office building who said he was hungry $5 so he could get something to eat. Then the guy complained that it wasn't enough money and said that he wanted to get something to drink with his lunch, my husband was like "hey you got $5, be grateful that you got that"! I mean c'mon, someone is nice enough to give you money out of the goodness of their heart and all you can do is bitch and moan; pathetic. My husband has not given anyone money since then; he got turned off by the whole situation!

[–] megaskunk 13 years ago

I said to someone recently asking me for money "please ask someone else, because I'm an a-hole Good luck!"
But I felt strange afterwards. I didn't really want to say it.

[–] 13 years ago

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