I always wondered why Ray Kroc wasn’t a McDonald. Never made sense to me. The man who created the fast food empire didn’t just pull the name “McDonald’s” out of thin air, did he? How is the man who turned one single McDonald’s family restaurant into a planetary scourge not named “McDonald?” And how do the real McDonalds feel about this? Thank goodness for the movies; I might have had to research that topic.
As The Founder tells it, Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) was probably better off being a failure. And it’s not even that he was a failure, as his suburban home, occasional country club lifestyle, and loving wife (Laura Dern), would attest. He just wasn’t the salesman he wanted to be. Spurred on by “self realization” LPs, wide-eyed and relatively innocent Ray Kroc of 1954 wandered the Midwest peddling multiple shake mixers to closed doors. I have no idea how you make a profit selling things door-to-door; I can’t believe this was a normal profession. We get a good look at the frustrating life of Ray Kroc – he has no idea how to make money so he latches onto fads and talks himself silly trying to get people to buy his goods. Finally, one restaurant in San Bernardino, California catches his attention with an order for eight (8) multi-shake mixers at once. So intrigued, Illinois-based Ray drives nearly the entirety of Route 66 to discover the original McDonald’s.
Two all-beef patties Dick McDonald (Nick Offerman) and Mac McDonald (John Carroll Lynch) are a classic American lack-of-success story. Failed in the entertainment industry, the pair invested their collective lives and wisdom in a revolutionary restaurant concept: fast food. [They called it the “speedy system,” which clearly caught on with all the name recognition of the McDLT.] The elements were basic, but relatively unknown at the time – a walk-up window, disposable wrappers/containers, a simplified four-item menu, and a Ford-like assembly-line to maximize food creation efficiency. The tried-and-true method queued up San Bernardino citizens all the way to the curb. But it didn’t work anywhere else. Ray Kroc took one look and wanted in … and the metaphorical Hamburglar was born.
So here are the two questions proposed by The Founder: how do you make money on your own idea? How do you make money on somebody else’s idea? Sure, you can come up with the genius that is the “filet-o-fish,” but how do you go from that to $$$ in your pocket? Truth is, Ray Kroc didn’t actually know, either. He just recognized a trend and ran with it, owning a dozen new franchises overnight and not making a dime out of any of them.
It is fair to say that the longer this movie
progresses, the less you think of Ray Kroc himself. I suppose I should appreciate The Founder on the score that a self-made gazillionaire can owe success to luck, hard work, and flat-out cheating. I suspect that’s true of many gazillionaires in this country, especially the one making all the news these days. I doubt, however, that any but myself will take that message from The Founder. I suspect most will sympathize with the McDonalds themselves, realizing that sharing your good ideas with anybody is a losing proposition. Best to keep to yourself and hoard like a miser. Yeah, that’s a great message: good ideas should be treated like Smaug treats treasure. On that score, it’s hard to like this movie for any reason other than honest presentation.
The Founder would make a great double with Super Size Me; you probably won’t recognize what McDonald’s was in 1954 v. what it evolved into fifty years later. And for that you can blame one man … one loathsome, snake-like, thieving man for making it happen: Ray Kroc. Oh, and Grimace, too. Screw that guy.
♪Hey, just look at this shmo
He’s shmoozin’
Took your idea to town
He’s boozin’
The Macs at a loss for his show
In fast food, he’s just one big clown
He’s co-opted your mainstay
He deserves a Kroc today
From McDonalds♫
Rated PG-13, 115 Minutes
D: John Lee Hancock
W: Robert D. Siegel
Genre: Diary of an asshole
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Tip-seeking amoral fortune hunters
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Old school
♪ Parody inspired by “You Deserve a Break Today”
