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

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.

Original dvd. Enjoyed the movie.

NEVER KNEW THE HISTORY HERE. MICHAEL KEATON IS OUTSTANDING IN THIS ROLE AS WELL...A LITTLE STINKER.

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.

I’ve never seen a movie or television episode Michael Keaton was in that he didn’t make interesting and his portrayal of McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc is no different. I never knew that Kroc wasn’t actually the founder of McDonald’s though until I saw this movie. The founders are actually Richard McDonald (Nick Offerman) and Maurice McDonald (John Carroll Lynch). Early in the movie, as a struggling milkshake machine salesman, you’ll probably find yourself rooting for Kroc as he lays out his grand vision for McDonald’s to the brothers:“McDonald’s can be the new American church, feeding bodies and feeding souls and it ain’t just open on Sundays, boys, it’s open seven days a week.”But as the movie progresses and a power struggle commences between Kroc and the brothers, you may not like the cutthroat side of Kroc who tells Maurice over the phone:“Business is war. It’s dog eat dog, rat eat rat. If my competition were drowning, I’d walk over and I’d put a hose right in his mouth.”In an interview with the cast and crew on the extras, several of them weigh in on the upside versus the downside of capitalism. There’s the more widespread availability of products and an increased standard of living, but what about those who are left by the wayside by capitalism?The acting performances are excellent in “The Founder”. And the design of the early McDonald’s restaurants and wrappers, skillfully recreated, are neat to look at.I heard on the radio last week, that in 2019, for the first time, McDonald’s surpassed $100 billion in sales globally.