Founder, The [Blu-ray+DVD+Digital HD]

First of all, I was not really interested in seeing a film about the founder of McDonald's (or was he really the "founder"), but I was finding that everyone I knew who had seen it, liked it. Michael Keaton and a great cast and a respected director John Lee Hancock made it worth a look. I can say I was amazingly surprised in a good way. Keaton is fantastic as Ray Kroc, a salesman who turns a fast food restaurant into the world's most famous eatery. THE FOUNDER is a tale of innovation, determination and deception. We sympathize with poor Ray Kroc as he tries to sell mixers to restaurants. Soon we admire him and eventually some of us will despise him or understand his actions. Nick Offerman and John Carol Lunch could not be more appealing as two honest and hard working brothers who create a fast food mega with an aim to consistency and quality. The come up with an innovative way to mass produce your lunch or dinner complete with paper wrappings and paper bags for carryout. THE FOUNDER sympathizes with the McDonald brothers and their idea and "baby" is eventually taken away by Ray Kroc and turned into a huge corporation. Yet, it's clear that without Kroc's vision, McDonald's would have been lost to history as a single restaurant with a handful of franchises. It's an amazingly fascinating story about big business and a big idea by small people. Kroc says that the name MCDONALD'S attracted him as sounding wholesome and all-American. Kroc's would never work as a restaurant name in his opinion. Who would want a Big Kroc burger? The film is lavishly filmed with the colors and sites and sounds of the 1950's. The style of dress, the cars and the simplicity of the era make this a fun film. It is a bit slow at first but once we see Kroc in action with the hard working and honest McDonald brothers we can see the outcome. The brothers want to keep it simple so they can control quality, Kroc has visions of conquering the world. We wouldn't have a McDonalds without Ray Kroc nor would have had a McDonalds without the McDonald Brothers. Viewers will have mixed feelings about Ray Kroc--was he a hero and genius or a ruthless businessman who ruined the dreams of two brothers? Maybe it's a bit of both. THE FOUNDER is a visual feast of the 50's and the rarest mix of a stunningly talented cast who were made for their roles and a director who is known for real human stories. It's well worth your time.

Michael Keaton makes this movie shine. You want to cheer his character, but he becomes corporate america at the him. The movie does not have any clear protagonists or antagonists. Depending on where you land on your views, I guess. The movie has quite a bit of embellishment of the content and needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Some of it is true and some is made to make the movie more interesting. All in all great movie.

The interesting thing about this film is that (like many things in life), the moral answers are not clear cut and dry. Ray Kroc is a down on his luck salesman. He then stumbles onto the McDonald brothers. He is really impressed with their efficiency. ("Orders ready in 30 seconds. Not 30 minutes.") He convinces them that their restaurant is too good to be limited to just one location. With some effort, he convinces them to franchise their operation. They reluctantly agree and give Ray Kroc a strict contract. To keep this review from going on forever, it's basically this. Ray Kroc puts all his efforts into attempting to turn McDonald's into a nationwide phenomena. But he encounters not one, but several problems. He finds it difficult to maintain quality control. And while he has many seemingly good ideas, the brothers (and owners) are reluctant to accept them. The movie (for the first 3/4 of the 2 hours) seems to move at a slow pace. Ray tries many things, but he encounters stumbling block after stumbling block and finds the brothers are not accepting of his ideas. HOWEVER, at the 3/4 point, Ray meets a lawyer who shows him how he can start to wrestle control of McDonald's from the original owners. This is where the pace of the film picks up quite rapidly. At this turning point, we can see the change in Ray in two ways. Maybe he was an ambitious and sinister guy all along who just suddenly found himself in the position of financial power. OR, maybe he was a sensible businessman who got tired of seeing all the answers, and only having his great ideas brushed off. To be fair to Ray, the original owners are presented as having little if any business sense. And Ray nearly goes broke trying to save McDonald's from going bankrupt. This is when Ray Kroc loses his tolerance and plots to get the original owners out of the business whatever it takes. And of course, Ray gets more and more financially powerful. It basically boils down to this. If McDonald's is unimportant to you, Ray Kroc is the villain because he stole it. If on the other hand, McDonald's is important to you, then Ray Kroc is the hero because he made it available to you. This is what makes this film so great. It's NOT clear cut whether Ray was the villain or the hero. This makes it true to life. But whether you see Ray as the villain or the hero, there's no doubt that he was a visionary and a sharp businessman. And while he at times is sinister, it's very exciting how he goes from being poor, to nearly broke, to all of a sudden very financially powerful. So whether you see him as the villain or the hero, this is a great film.

THE FOUNDER is a biographical drama about the McDonald brothers, Richard and Maurice McDonald, and about Ray Krok. The movie provides a generous disclosure of the early processes of invention and innovation, where the McDonald brothers arrived at the idea of assembly line production of hamburgers. This assembly line production involved simultaneous, mass production of about 20 hamburgers at one time, which included use of a machine that dispensed squirts of mustard or ketchup on the bun. Another invention, was a novel layout of the work stations in the McDonald's kitchen. The viewer is treated to a scene, where their proposed layout was drawn with chalk on an empty parking lot, and where young people (future employees acted through their various tasks, in this imaginary chalk kitchen). As a result, the McDonald brothers were able to arrive at the best layout (arrangements of tables, griddles, and ordering window) for their proposed kitchen layout. Yet another innovation shown in this movie, is eliminating carhops and eliminating bringing food to customers waiting in their automobiles (the reason for this, is that teenagers and 20-somethings waiting and dining in their automobiles would cause too much commotion and disruption, for example, by playing loud music). The most important innovation, which is shown in this movie, is the often-encountered issue, at the time, of "fast food" service where you needed to wait around twenty minutes for your "fast food." The innovation here, was instantaneous food service. Yet another innovation, was to trim down the menu to just a handful of food items (hamburgers, milk shakes, French fries), and to refrain from selling burritos, deep-fried chicken, chop suey, and so on. A SOURCE OF COURAGE. Since I received shipment of this movie, I have watched it over twentyfive times. Michael Keaton's depiction of persistence and courage, in the face of continued adversity and failure, is a source of strength to me. For example, the scene where Mr. Keaton listens to a vinyl record with the "persistence speech" can be a source of strength to almost anyone. In particular, I liked the quotation from Emerson - - - A man is what he thinks about all day long. The scene where Michael Keaton puts his hand into the earth where his first McDonald's is going to be built, and where Mr. Keaton mutters words of hope to himself, can be a source of courage to almost anyone. In this movie, adversity takes the form of: (1) Restaurant owners refusing to buy Prince Castle milk shake mixers; (2) Retired idle rich from the club, who have agreed to invest in new McDonald's restaurants, end up mis-managing these new restaurants, where their mistakes include selling chicken and biscuits; (3) The remark from Laura Dern's character to Michael Keaton, YOU WOULD HAVE A GOOD LIFE, IF YOU WERE NOT TOO BUSY TO LIVE IT. This is the greatest bit of dialogue from the entire movie. I love it!!!! MISTAKE MADE BY WIKIPEDIA. In the write-up about this movie (The Founder), Wikipedia states that this movie is a comedy. This is incorrect. The notion that this movie is a comedy is ABSOLUTELY ABSURD. The comment by Wikipedia that the movie is a comedy IS DEVOID OF REASON AND SENSE. RAY KROK MATERIALIZES. A transition in this movie occurs, where Mr. Ray Krok materializes, and where he is shown peddling his milk shake mixing machine. The machine weighs about 50 pounds, and we see Mr. Krok driving to various potential customers, with the mixing machine in the rear trunk. We see Mr. Krok making some sales, and also failing to achieve sales. How pathetic it is to see Mr. Krok lifting the 50 pound mixer out of the trunk, carrying it to a potential customer, and then failing to achieve a sale, carrying it back to his automobile and sticking it back in the trunk. RAY KROK TAKES OVER. Somewhat early in this movie, Ray Krok meets the McDonald brothers, and tries to convince them that they should franchise their operation to him. They are not sure at first, but do enjoy the idea of having their family name becoming a famous name. And so, the McDonald brothers stay in San Bernardino, while Ray Krok sets up operation in the mid-west, that is, in the Chicago area. Eventually, as many Americans know, Ray Krok claims that he is the person who opened the first McDonald's restaurant, and that he is the person who devised the name, "McDonalds." The rest is history. TAKE-HOME LESSON. The main take-home lesson from this movie, is that the McDonald brothers were totally content with devoting all of their energies to their one and only location, that is, their single location in San Bernardino (corner of 1398 North E Street and West 14th Street), and it was Ray Krok who was the one who developed all of the innovations of the McDonald brothers, to create a chain of restaurants, that was highly successful and popular throughout the entire world. This type of fact-pattern is common in the history of the world. Here are some examples. Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity was developed from Hendrik Lorentz's formulas. To provide another example from physics, Isaac Newton is famed for saying: -- If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulder of giants -- ; To provide examples from the field of music, it is widely appreciated that CREAM (Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton) derived their music from acoustic Mississippi Delta bluesman. And so, what would you rather listen to, recordings by various Mississippi Delta bluesmen, strumming on guitars, and singing in their whiny voices, or listen to high-potency electric blues from CREAM recordings? Another pathway of innovation occurred in the transition from folk music to folk rock, where innocuous-sounding folk songs played with acoustic accompaniments were converted to high-potency multi-voiced soaring harmonies, driven by electric twelve string guitars, electric bass guitars, and propelled by jazz-inspired drum kit. This transition can be found in the recordings of THE BYRDS and by MAMAS AND THE PAPAS. And so, while the accomplishments of Mr. Ray Kroc are phenomenal, the technique of taking an existing innovation, and developing it, is a recurring feature of human history (as wonderfully disclosed in the movie, THE FOUNDER). EXTRAS. This DVD provides a panel interview and discussion with many of the actors from this movie. The panel sits at a long table. Included in this lineup are two grandsons of Ray Krok. This is a great extra, and I was glad that it was included in this movie. SECOND VIEWING. Upon my second viewing, I decided that THE FOUNDER was going to be one of those movies that I watch repeatedly. There is no question that I will be watching THE FOUNDER again and again and again, perhaps twice a year, for the next dozen years. That is how inspiring this fricken' movie is. Also, upon my second viewing, I noticed the music more. The music is like dignified chamber music with woodwinds and strings. Also, what I liked was one episode in THE FOUNDER where the music took the form of a recording by PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA.

Very interesting movie if you want to know how MD got popular and some very interesting insights on how their Ice Cream and Shakes came about. From a business point of view and just pure interest I did find the movie very interesting and enlightening on how MD's was started, how it became a staple of American Fast Food. If you're interested, definitely watch it. Best Blessings. Keith

Great movie. I love Michael Keaton movies.

One of my favorite movies to watch while hungry.

"The Founder" was reasonably priced & it was as described. Both Blu-ray & DVD looked good & played well. I'll be purchasing from Amazon.com again. Thank you for your business.

Attenzione è l'edizione Stati Uniti. In Italia talia non si vede. Sono rimasta molto delusa. Io ho fatto l'errore di non prestare attenzione alla descrizione ma proprio non capisco perché Amazon venda in Italia questi prodotti senza BEN evidenziare le limitazioni. Ho reso.

EL SERVICIO DE DIEZ Y LA PELICULA TAMBIEN,

Bellissimo film sulla storia dei fratelli MCDonald. Da vedere.

2016年アメリカ製作。 マクドナルドハンバーガー創業時の実話伝記作品。 今や世界中に展開している超有名店のスタートに、こんな事実があったとは本当に驚いた。 予告編の初めに、主人公が創業者にのぼり詰めた理由を、「persistence」と一言で言い表している。 これ、直訳なら「永続性」なのだが、分かり易く「根気」と字幕表記している。 がっ、実は本編では更に変更していて、その言葉こそが主人公の人間性を一言で表したものであり、その感情の強さはまさに怪物、観ていて少し怖くなった。 今後マックを食べる都度、複雑な心境で思い出す作品だ。 だって心情的には主人公に好感持てないから。 これをサクセスストーリーと捉える人間にはなりたくないね。 予想以上の秀作、オススメ!

Great movie. How much is true? Well there appears to be quite a bit But, I am sure of lots of missing information as when you read between the lines, you can surely see the dog eat dog attitude of American business culture. The acting was superb. Kudos to the people in charge of selection of the actors for the specific parts, great choices.