Fight Club (1999)

An insomniac office worker looking for a way to change his life crosses paths with a devil-may-care soap maker and they form an underground fight club that evolves into something much, much more...

Director:

David Fincher

Writers:

Chuck Palahniuk (novel), Jim Uhls (screenplay)

Stars:

Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter

Top 250 #10 | Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 5 wins & 13 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Edward Norton	...	The Narrator
Brad Pitt	...	Tyler Durden
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Marla Singer
Meat Loaf	...	Robert 'Bob' Paulson (as Meat Loaf Aday)
Zach Grenier	...	Richard Chesler
Richmond Arquette	...	Intern
David Andrews	...	Thomas
George Maguire	...	Group Leader
Eugenie Bondurant	...	Weeping Woman
Christina Cabot	...	Group Leader
Sydney 'Big Dawg' Colston	...	Speaker
Rachel Singer	...	Chloe
Christie Cronenweth	...	Airline Attendant
Tim De Zarn	...	Inspector Bird (as Tim de Zarn)
Ezra Buzzington	...	Inspector Dent

Storyline

A ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a slippery soap salesman channel primal male aggression into a shocking new form of therapy. Their concept catches on, with underground "fight clubs" forming in every town, until an eccentric gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

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Plot Keywords:

fight | club | support group | out of control | office | 

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Taglines:

Losing all hope is freedom

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing and graphic depiction of violent anti-social behavior, sexuality and language

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 October 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

El club de la pelea

Filming Locations:

240 North Neptune Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$63,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£1,177,219 (UK) (12 November 1999)

Gross:

$37,023,395 (USA) (25 February 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fox 2000 Pictures, Regency Enterprises, Linson Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

139 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) was originally going to recite a workable recipe for home-made explosives (as he does in the novel). But in the interest of public safety, the filmmakers decided to substitute fictional recipes for the real ones.

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Goofs

When Lou is punching Tyler, Lou punches once and there is blood, it shows Tyler again and there is no blood, and then blood again when he gets punched the second time.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Tyler points a gun into the Narrator's mouth]
Narrator: [voiceover] People are always asking me if I know Tyler Durden.
Tyler Durden: Three minutes. This is it - ground zero. Would you like to say a few words to mark the occasion?
Narrator: ...i... ann... iinn... ff... nnyin...
Narrator: [voiceover] With a gun barrel between your teeth, you speak only in vowels.
[Tyler removes the gun from the Narrator's mouth]
Narrator: I can't think of anything.
Narrator: [voiceover] For a second I totally forgot about Tyler's whole controlled demolition thing ...

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Crazy Credits

The three police officers that try to cut off the narrator's testicles are credited as Officer Andrew, Officer Kevin and Officer Walker. Andrew Kevin Walker is the screenwriter who wrote Se7en and 8MM. He also worked uncredited on David Fincher's The Game and on one of the drafts of Fight Club. However, his contribution to the Fight Club script was not enough to warrant a credit by current WGA rules. Director David Fincher named the officers Andrew, Kevin and Walker, as a way of surreptitiously giving Walker a credit.

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Connections

Referenced in Archie's Final Project (2009)

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Soundtracks

"GOIN' OUT WEST"
Written by Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan
Performed by Tom Waits
Courtesy of Island Records, Inc.
Under License from Universal Music Special Markets

User Reviews

A unique film

Fight Club is one of the most unique films I have ever seen. In addition to presenting a rather fresh take on life, FC also presents its material in a fresh way. My main interest in the film is in that, in my opinion, it does not present characters for us to think about. Rather, it presents actions for us to think about. I will say that I cannot recall *ever* having been "asked" by a film to both suspend my disbelief the way this film asks in its third act AND at the same time come to terms with an understanding that there is no room--or need--for disbelief.

Perhaps these comments will not make sense to the average movie goer who will dismiss this film--and, unfortunately, its premise--as another hollywood flick filled with gratuitous violence. I'd go as far as to say that this film is not about violence. It is about choices. It is about activity. It is about lethargy. It is about waking up and realizing that at some point in the past we've gone to the toilet and thrown up our dreams without even realizing that society has stuck its fingers down our throat.

I would argue that anyone caught, at some point in their lives, between a rock and a hard place--anyone who has reached bottom on a mental level--anyone who has uttered to themselves "Wait, this isn't right. I would not do/say/feel what it is that I just did/said/felt... I do not like this. I must change before I am forever stuck being the person that I am not." These people, they will know what I'm talking about. These people will not only recognize the similarities between Edward Norton's character and themselves--they will be uncomfortably familiar with him. These people will appreciate Fight Club for what it is: a wake up call that we are not alone.

As David Berman once said: "I'm afraid I've got more in common with who I was than who I am becoming." If this sentence makes any sense to you, go see Fight Club. You won't regret it.

L.