The Founder
The company Kroc worked for prior to founding McDonald's, Prince Castle, still exists, and supplies McDonald's with much of its equipment.,When Ray is looking at the map, he follows his finger along highway 66 and lands on San Bernardino. It shows some surrounding cities, one of which is "Moreno Valley". Moreno Valley didn't become an incorporated city until 1984. In the 1950's that city would have been called "Sunnymead" on a map.,Ray Kroc: Now, I know what you're thinkin'. How the heck does a 52-year-old, over-the-hill milkshake-machine salesman... build a fast-food empire with 16,000 restaurants, in 50 states, in 5 foreign countries... with an annual revenue of in the neighborhood of $700,000,000.00... One word... PERSISTENCE. Nothing in this world can take the place of good old persistence. Talent won't. Nothing's more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won't. Unrecognized genius is practically a cliche. Education won't. Why the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all powerful.,During the opening/closing credits, the real Ray A Kroc is heard giving an interview about how he came to buy out McDonald's.,Featured in Conan: Nick Offerman/Johnny Pemberton/Dorothy (2016),Mister Tap Toe
Written by Rich Dehr (as Richard Dehr), Terry Gilkyson, Frank Miller
Performed by Doris Day with Paul Weston and His Orchestra and The Norman Luboff Choir
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing,The Founder is another tale of the American Dream. It's the kind of tale we've seen a million times before. American man wants to become successful, sacrifices morality for moolah, etc. It's The Godfather, it's The Social Network, it's The Wolf of Wall Street. And The Founder, while entertaining, offers pretty much nothing new, or distinctive, to contribute. It is directed fairly conventionally, the story hits all the beats you'd expect, and it's not going to stick to your memory for too long.

But that discounts the fact that the film is rather well made. Performances are uniformly solid, and the film is undeniably compelling for much of its run time. But the real reason to see the film is the powerhouse performance of Michael Keaton, a neglected actor throughout the 2000s who seems to be finally getting roles that he deserves with this, Spotlight and Birdman to consider. He is slimy, charismatic, and curiously sympathetic in all the right ways.

In all The Founder may not light your world on fire, but it's a rock solid tale of greed and the American Dream that ought to entertain most that it meets.

Side Note -I have no idea why this is playing in Australia over a month before it comes out across the rest of the world, but hey I'm not complaining.,