The Founder : Movie Review

A biopic about the man who started the journey of the brand McDonald's from a single hamburger joint in San Bernardino, California, USA in 1954. An overnight success that was 30 years in the making. That's probably how it looked like when Director John Lee Hancock and screenwriter Robert D. Siegel started on 'The Founder', but the finished product is so much more, and I'll say it right now that you should DEFINITELY watch it at least once. If not for entertainment, then as a story of a real-life business epic.

We follow the journey of Ray Krock, brilliantly brought to life by Michael Keaton, starting from when he was going from drive-in to drive-in restaurant trying to sell five-milkshake mixers. He is shown to have done well enough to have a nice home to get to, but he is still struggling and rarely gets time to sit back and relax. Though that last bit has less to do with his income and more with his character, someone who just cannot sit still and let others pursue greatness instead. It was an order for a surprisingly large number of automated shake mixers, that led him to a small burger joint in California, called McDonald's Hamburgers.

Here, he came across the first ever instance of a self-service fast food outlet (not called so at that time, in 1954), the result of the genius and entrepreneurial drive of the McDonald's brothers, Dick (Nick Offerman) and Mac (John Carroll Lynch). He is gobstruck by their system, the rhythm of it, the simple genius of it, and he simply cannot let go of the potential within this system. A hamburger, from the grill to the customer, in thirty seconds. He hears their story, sees the system at work from the inside, and proposes that they should franchise the whole thing.

Now, Dick and Mac were entrepreneurial innovators, and it's not like they hadn't thought of it themselves. Their main challenge was quality control and keeping each outlet's service and menu true to the values that McDonald's stands for. But Ray Krock would not be stumped, he saw this was an opportunity too darn good to pass up. He convinces them to try it again, let him handle it, and they sign a contract that should help the brothers retain full control of what Ray can do while handing out franchise licenses.

Of course, it was no off-the-bat success for Ray either. He ran into similar problems that Dick and Mac did. But Ray was different. He was driven to succeed, to win, an obsession with winning. He knew that McDonald's was something that could go beyond the counties, across states, across the coast, across the country, and as it did, across the world. 

But every great business empire is built on questionable morals, a seemingly necessary ingredient to take on the ruthless nature of doing business and making it grow numerous times over. In the movie, Ray never comes across as a clear-cut bad guy. Sure he could have been nicer or could have done business while holding a high moral standard, and it probably would have still been a decent empire. But it's hard to argue with what he did being key to making it into the global empire it is now. It is a biopic, so all that is told is simply a recount of what happened, but it does make you question certain things about the world as we know it, especially how the world is now.

'The Founder' also shows an insight into innovation, the entrepreneurial capitalism of that time, corporate expansion and intellectual property rights. Early on, we see Kroc listening to a motivational record on the phonograph of his hotel room, after a long day of talking to restaurant owners to make a sale for his milkshake mixer, with no results. On that record, play the words of Calvin Coolidge: "Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence, talent will not, nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent..". A quote that Ray Krock seems live and win by.

While the quote suits the story in this case, it still makes a point that should not be overlooked. The interpretation can vary of course. After watching this film, I'm sure it will have you looking at every fast food chain you go to, in a new light. The movie is fast paced, fun, dramatic and eye-opening as you find the secrets behind the golden arches and that glorious name we all know and kinda like, "McDonald's".

I'd rate this movie 9 out of 11 burgers, and of course, a tip of the hat to all the supporting roles that were well cast and helped keep it all neat and entertaining.

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