Starring: Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Patrick Wilson, B.J. Novak, Linda Cardellini, Wilbur Fitzgerald
OUR RATING: ★★★½
Story:
Bio-drama directed by John Lee Hancock which tells the true story of how Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton), a salesman from Illinois, teamed with two brothers, Richard and Maurice “Mac” McDonald Nick Offerman and John Caroll Lynch), who were operating a hamburger restaurant in southern California in the 1950s to launch a fast food chain. Kroc subtly maneuvers himself into a position to take control of their company, which grows into one of the world’s best-known brands and creates a billion-dollar empire.
Our Favorite Quote:
'As Ralph Waldo Emerson declared; A man is what he thinks about all day long.' - Ray Kroc (The Founder) Click To Tweet
Best Quotes (Total Quotes: 28)
Ray Kroc: Persistence. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent won’t. Nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won’t. Unrewarded genius is practically a cliché. Education won’t. The world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful. Show that you don’t have to be defeated by anything. That you can have peace of mind, improved health and a never ceasing flow of energy. If you attempt each and every day to achieve these things, the results will make themselves obvious to you. While it may sound like a magical notion, it is in you to create your own future. The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson declared, “A man is what he thinks about all day long.”
Ray Kroc: I know what you’re thinking, how the heck does a fifty-two year-old, over the hill, milkshake machine salesman build a fast food empire with sixteen hundred restaurants and an annual revenue of seven hundred million dollar? One word: persistence.
June Martino: Prince Castle Sales.
Ray Kroc: Hi, June.
June Martino: Ray, how’s it going it down there?
Ray Kroc: Good. Swell. A lot of interest.
June Martino: We got an order. Six mixers.
Ray Kroc: To anywhere in particular?
[standing in line at McDonald’s to get served]
McDonald’s Customer: Don’t worry, it move fast.
Ray Kroc: Really?
[when it’s Kroc’s turn to get served]
McDonald’s Employee: Welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?
Ray Kroc: Yeah, give me a hamburger, french-fries and a Coca-Cola.
McDonald’s Employee: That’ll be thirty-five cents, please.
Ray Kroc: Okay.
[Kroc pays]
McDonald’s Employee: Fifteen cents is your change.
[the employee turns and gets Kroc’s food which is ready]
McDonald’s Employee: Here you are.
Ray Kroc: What’s that?
McDonald’s Employee: Your food.
Ray Kroc: No, no, no. I just ordered.
McDonald’s Employee: And now it’s here.
Ray Kroc: Are you sure?
[the employee nods]
Ray Kroc: Alright. what about the, uh, the silverware and the plate and everything.
McDonald’s Employee: You just eat it straight out of the wrapper and then you throw it all out.
Ray Kroc: Alright.
[looking confused Kroc takes his food]
Ray Kroc: Where do I eat it?
McDonald’s Employee: In your car, at the park, at home. Wherever you like.
Ray Kroc: Okay. Okay, okay. Thanks.
Mac McDonald: [to Kroc] McDonald’s. Care for a little tour?
Mac McDonald: We wanted something different and that’s when my brother here comes up with one of his brilliant ideas.
Dick McDonald: Orders ready in thirty seconds, not thirty minutes.
Ray Kroc: Unique, original, there’s nothing like this.
Ethel Kroc: It’s revolutionary?
Ray Kroc: That’s exactly what it is, it’s revolutionary.
[pointing to the painting in their office]
Ray Kroc: What is that?
Dick McDonald: The Golden Arches.
Mac McDonald: It’s a way to make the place standout.
Ray Kroc: Franchise.
Mac McDonald: Beg your pardon?
Ray Kroc: Franchise. Franchise the damn thing. It’s too damn good for just one location. There should be McDonald’s everywhere. Coast to coast. Sea to shining sea.
Dick McDonald: Mr. Kroc…
Ray Kroc: Hey, you know, I have an… I’ve to a confession I want to make to you boys. I’m not out here in California for any kind of business meetings, I came out here for you. A few days ago I got into St. Louis, Missouri, and I was doing some business and I broke out my map, and I followed my finger on one single highway, west, Route 66.
Dick McDonald: Mr. Kroc…
Ray Kroc: Something told me. Something told me to get into my car and try that highway, and you know where it led me? Right here. Right, smack down here. Right to this unbelievable establishment, and when I saw these lines and your whole operation and I tasted your product I knew what needed to happen. Franchise. Franchise. Franchise. Franchise.
Dick McDonald: We already tried that.
[to Dick and Mac]
Ray Kroc: McDonald’s can be the new American church, and it ain’t just open on Sundays, boys.
Ray Kroc: I’ve never seen a restaurant like this.
Joan Smith: [to Kroc] Good things come to those who wait.
Ray Kroc: How can we be almost out of capital?
Ethel Kroc: [to Kroc] Did you mortgage our home? We could lose everything.
Ray Kroc: I want to renegotiate my lousy deal.
Dick McDonald: I can’t.
Ray Kroc: Can’t or won’t?
Dick McDonald: Ray.
Ray Kroc: What!
Dick McDonald: No!
Ray Kroc: Dammit!
[slams down the phone]
Harry J. Sonneborn: So to summarize, you have a miniscule revenue stream, no cash reserves, and an albatross of a contract that requires you to go through a slow approval process to inact changes, if approved at all, which they never are. Am I missing anything?
Ray Kroc: That about sums it up.
Harry J. Sonneborn: Tell me about the land.
Ray Kroc: The land.
Harry J. Sonneborn: The land, the building, how that whole aspect of it works.
Ray Kroc: Oh, pretty simply really. Franchises finds a piece of land he likes, gets a lease, usually twenty years, he takes out a construction loan, builds up the building and off he goes.
Harry J. Sonneborn: So the operator selects the site?
Ray Kroc: Yeah.
Harry J. Sonneborn: He picks the property.
Ray Kroc: Right.
Harry J. Sonneborn: You provide the training, the system, the operational knowhow, and he is responsible for the rest.
Ray Kroc: Is there a problem?
Harry J. Sonneborn: A big one. You don’t seem to realize what business you’re in. You’re not in the burger business, you’re in the real estate business. You build an empire by owning the land. What you ought to be doing is owning the land upon which that burger is cooked.
Dick McDonald: Franchise Realty Corporation.
Ray Kroc: It’s its own separate company, which puts it outside your purview.
Dick McDonald: [to Mac] There’s a wolf in the hen house, we let him in!
[we see Krock giving the same speech to different groups to get investors for McDonald’s]
Ray Kroc: I’m going to give you three words. I want you to take those three words home with you tonight. McDonald’s is family. Isn’t it great? Do you know what I see when I say that? Family. I want one big family. The army. You have mouths to feed, that’s family. I’m looking for a few good men, and women, who aren’t afraid of hard work, who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves. It’s a cliché, I know, but I’m looking for scrappers, hustlers, guys who are willing to roll up their sleeves, they got a little drive, they got a little fire in their belly, a little chutzpa. I stand right here before you today and I’m going to offer you something as precious as, do you know what that is? Anybody? Anybody? Opportunity. It’s opportunity. Opportunity. Opportunity to things, to move forward, to move up, to advance, to succeed, to win, to step up, the sky is the limit. The sky is the limit. To grab the brass spring. To give yourself a shot at the American dream. To put your arms around the American dream. Opportunity. Because I tell you something, at McDonald’s, just like this great nation of ours, some of that elbow grease, guarantee if you got the guts, gumption, if you have the desire, I guarantee that you can succeed. There’s gold to be had at the end of those golden arches. Golden arches. Golden arches. Now who’s with me, who wants to jump on that ladder to success, to become part of the McDonald’s mishpucha? Now who’s with me?
Ethel Kroc: When’s enough going to be enough for you?
Ray Kroc: Probably never.
Dick McDonald: You are to stop this instant.
Ray Kroc: Through taking orders from you.
Dick McDonald: You have a contract!
Ray Kroc: Contracts are like hearts, they’re made to be broken.
Dick McDonald: I’m looking at a letterhead with the name McDonald’s on it. Would you care to explain?
Ray Kroc: It was confusing, people didn’t even know it had anything to do with McDonald’s.
Dick McDonald: What’s confusing is you calling yourself the McDonald’s Corporation. People will think it’s the whole company not just a real estate arm, which we strongly suspect is what you hope!
[Mac angrily takes the phone from Dick]
Mac McDonald: You put Dick’s arches on your letterhead. This is not your company, Ray!
Ray Kroc: Mac.
Mac McDonald: Do you understand that!
Ray Kroc: Mac, don’t get upset.
Mac McDonald: We came up with the speedy system, not you, us! What did you ever come up with? Can you name one thing? You can’t, and you never have and you never will because you are a leach, Ray, you’re a professional leach.
Ray Kroc: Do you know what I came up with, Mac? A concept. I came up with the concept of winning.
Dick McDonald: [to Mac] Let me talk to him.
Ray Kroc: While you two boys were content to sit back and be a couple of all so round. I want to take the future, I want to win, and you don’t get there by being aw-shucks nice guys sap. There’s no place in business for people like that. Business is war. It’s dog eat dog, rat eat rat. If my competitor were drowning I’d walk over and I’d put a hose right in his mouth. Can you say the same?
Ray Kroc: I could be growing this thing at twice the pay.
Dick McDonald: Let’s just slow down a minute.
Mac McDonald: Did he just hang up on you?
Dick McDonald: Unless we got violently disconnected.
Ray Kroc: [to Dick] I’m through with your endless parade of no’s.
Dick McDonald: There are plenty of things we could do to make a quick buck, but that doesn’t mean we should…
[Kroc hands up on him]
Dick McDonald: He hung up again.
Ray Kroc: They’re brothers, you’re business partners, make it go away. I don’t care what it takes.
Ray Kroc: That glorious name, McDonald’s. I had to have it.
Dick McDonald: You don’t have it.
Ray Kroc: Are you sure about that?
Total Quotes: 28
Trailers:
. You get your items from Amazon as normal and we get a small commission to help us run the site at no extra cost to you!
Based on a fascinating true story, The Founder is a production that is hamstrung from the very beginning. Restricted in its ability to tell its potent tale because of rigid legal instructions, the resultant feature could very well be compared to takeaway food itself; briefly affecting, but lacking true nourishment and long-term satisfaction.
Set in 1954, we are immediately introduced to Ray Croc (Michael Keaton) and his selling mantra, told to us directly to camera. Persistence is the key to success, according to Ray, and he will definitely display this particular tribute throughout the movie. On the road most of the time, trying to sell multi-milkshake makers to numerous diners with little success, Ray is baffled when he is told that one outlet wants to by six of them. Travelling to San Bernardino, California, where the source of the order came from, Ray witnesses what seems to be a revolutionary approach to the fast food industry. Two brothers, Dick and Mac McDonald (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch), are able to prepare customers’ burger orders in thirty seconds, which are then placed in disposable bags so people can eat wherever they want to, whether it be on a park bench or in their car.
The brothers give Ray a tour of their establishment, and he is absolutely transfixed by the business’ precise and efficient assembly process. Wanting to be a part of it, Ray strongly suggests to the McDonald brothers that they should franchise nationwide, but they are hesitant, as a previous attempt to do just that proved disastrous. Not taking no for an answer, Ray eventually strikes a strict deal with Dick and Mac, and while it initially looks like it may lead to a fruitful expansion of the McDonalds name, Ray’s obsession with success and wealth will lead to a growingly bitter dispute where the brothers will be fighting to hang on to the family venture they created.
The Founder should be far more impactful than what it is, offering a real-life story that could have provided the perfect doorway to examine and explore the dark underbelly of the American Dream and material success. Unfortunately, as stated earlier, due to imposed legal constraints, this look at the ugly side of human nature is almost totally ignored. In fact, for most of the film’s running time, Ray is presented as a dedicated business man who just wants to succeed; a little over-zealous perhaps, but simply endeavouring to live the dream. Only towards the end of the film do we get a glimpse of the real Ray Croc, but by then it is too little too late.
The lack of genuine insight and texture into Ray’s character blurs his treatment of other people, whether it be his wife Ethel (Laura Dern), the McDonald brothers, or Rollie (Patrick Wilson), a prominent restaurant owner who wants to invest in what he believes is Ray’s creation, and it undercuts what the film should be truly saying about his, and in a sense corporate, behaviour. The McDonalds brand is carefully presented as a family-friendly wonderland, and the scene where Dick talks about their personal history and eventual set-up of the burger stand, feels more like an overly expositional infomercial for shareholders rather than a natural introduction to two human beings.
The screenplay by Robert Siegel (who wrote the terrific The Wrestler) lays down the basic nuts-and-bolts about what happened, but the savage irony is disappointingly absent, and not wanting to offend anyone who may still be alive, makes sure that every supporting player is kept vague and under-developed. This leaves a strong cast floundering, who are never able to sink their teeth into anything substantial. Dern (Blue Velvet, Rambling Rose, Inland Empire) is completely wasted as Ray’s long-suffering wife, Offerman (Parks And Recreation TV series) and Lynch (Zodiac, Gran Torino, Shutter Island) can only do so much with characters who appear and disappear with infuriating regularity, while the forever under-utilised Linda Cardellini (Super, Scooby Doo, Freaks And Geeks TV series) is once more given little to do.
Michael Keaton, a supremely talented actor who has made something of a comeback in the last couple of years (he was outstanding in the rather over-rated Birdman), gives a committed performance as Ray, but the flimsy nature of the script narrows the character’s range right from the start, so while convincing he is lamentably one-note. When you see how good Keaton was in dramatic outings such as Clean and Sober (1988), Pacific Heights (1990), and of course the Oscar-winning Spotlight, it makes the hollow part given to him here all the more frustrating. The ruthless, relentless nature of Ray should remind you of characters like Chuck Tatum, memorably played by Kirk Douglas in Billy Wilder’s iconic Ace in the Hole (1951), a role that perfectly encapsulated the ‘success-at-any-cost’ mentality.
Keeping the movie innocuous and toothless is director John Lee Hancock, who smothers the dark story with a breezy, comfortable atmosphere that is totally at odds with the sour subject being presented on screen. Like his formulaic, inconsequential handling of The Blind Side, Hancock demonstrates once more that he has no idea how to confront or challenge an audience. You feel he should be helming lightweight flicks such as Miss Congeniality or Why Him?, rather than potentially worthy productions like this.
The Founder, despite its boundless potential to intrigue, enthral, and enlighten, is a profound let-down, unable to strip bare the viciousness that can overwhelm those who want to achieve nothing more than huge financial success, no matter how many lives are hurt and destroyed in the process. For a more powerful look at the way people treat each other in a specific corporate world, I highly recommend the 2005 documentary McLibel, directed by Franny Armstrong (The Age of Stupid) and Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake), and is far more hard-hitting than this.
Rating: 2/5
Few people can create. Even fewer can revive the hopeless. Ray Kroc solved the hopeless start to a fast food chain and leaped over the golden arches to create a burger dynasty. “The Founder” should be renamed “The Find”.