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spacefink's Replies
I don't think that's the message at ALL of the movie.
The film is almost a moral tale of greed and a man who saw two successful brothers and wanted to be them. And he admits as much in the end: what made them so special wasn't the food or the system they developed, it was their name. They were both so wholesome and Kroc was none of that. He wanted to create that into a brand and he did. But ultimately, at what costs? He loses all his humanity in the process.
Kroc definitely comes across as maniacal and evil. Just because you want to be successful doesn't mean you have to destroy people to do it. The brothers also should have been easier to work with, but personally, if someone comes out of nowhere and offers to "franchise" my business, I wouldn't say yes easily. Then again, I also wouldn't tell them my business secrets. Be careful who you let in to your life.
If you want a feel good movie about a good person who succeeds at business without being slimy, watch Joy.
I disagree completely that they had no plan. They did but they decided that the quality couldn't be enforced and that many of the restaurants that would open would not incorporate the menu they had at their original location. As you saw in the movie, they were right. When they opened in Illinois, they were selling Fried Chicken.
It's pretty funny because I wonder what Ray Kroc would think of McDonald's today. In many ways, it's totally transformed into the very thing he would hate. But then again, he was talking about selling powdered milkshake so maybe he wouldn't care...
I can lament that they inflicted too much red tape and should have given him 3% early on, BUT I also think that him going around the contract they had was messed up, and that Ray gave them good reason for them to also not trust him. If he was really interested in maintaining their brand, including powdered milkshake on the menu would have been disgusting and flew against everything they were doing. I found this scene exceptionally ironic considering everything McDonalds stands for today in comparison to back then, when it was just getting started. They created a unique idea and even Kroc knew it, but they basically wanted to be like In -N- Out, fast food but still high quality. I think this movie was more about those who have great ambition to create an empire but no talent, and how they leech off of those who have talent and are very earnest in their pursuit of sharing their idea with the world without trying to buy the whole country, or rather, the world. They didn't need to be imperialistic in their pursuit of business, they had a unique vision and that was it. Why do they have to take over the world with 1 idea? Not everyone is interested in that. And fact is, it was way more than a burger stand, it was a vision.
The only thing I would have done differently was be WAY more involved in the expansion and it seemed like the brothers weren't, from the way the movie shows it. I would have wanted to fly to Illinois and see what the hell Kroc was up to and done my own investigation. At that point, you hire a lawyer and get cut throat back.
No one is 100% good or bad. We're all capable of evil, and flatly, what he did to them was pure evil, even if they were stingy. The fact is, he should have paid them the royalties because it was never his idea. They were right to be nervous when he started acting very dodgy about his true intentions. He wasn't going to be transparent, which proved his intentions were to steal their business from the moment he showed up. He only reinforced their beliefs that he was a sketchy dude.
Unfortunately, these actors nowadays want shine so badly that even relationships are treated like career opportunities. I think he was just desperate to level up and get something better. If they were more earnest and just focused on working, the public won't turn on them. He's trying to turn it around now but it'll take time.
He dated TSwift and kinda came across as an attention whore. He really didn't need to do all of that. It just made him look bad.
I honestly wonder what OP would say now in spite of Wonder Woman. A Wrinkle in Time looks really promising too.
Agreed, most movies on the Bottom 100 have the general misfortune of being terribly made but this movie is genuinely evil. The same way Triumph of the Will is evil tbh.
Man, that's too bad but then again, maybe it was for the best? I remember him talking about it on Leno.
Whatever happened to Mantivities? Is that project still on or was it shelved?
Exactly. They're just as much apart of the real world as we are, they were just brainwashed by one manipulative individual. And unfortunately, this man would have not had any real following without them.
They didn't happily join though, like another user pointed out. Many of these people, including the filmmaker, were people who were displaced or had no where else to turn to. If your family told you tomorrow that they were throwing you out and you had no where else to go, you could easily fall into a group like this. It gradually became abusive over time. For Michal it was an act, but in the beginning, he made it more about them and their spiritual journey, and less about him. After the first accusations of it being a cult, it just seems like he began to lose it little by little. And then over time, it became ALL about him because that's how narcissists are. Cristala hit the nail over the head when she said this was the role of a lifetime for him.