I’m one of those guys who loves a good meal at McDonalds. It just feels amazing to order a classic McDouble and take a bite into those perfect flavors. Over the years there have been those who doubted the power of McD’s but not me. I’ve been going there for years and see myself staying a regular as long as they have the best burgers in town. So a film about their origins was bound to be pretty fun even if it’s not going to be a very happy story if you know how things end out.

The film starts by showing us a salesman named Ray. Ray had been travelling from town to town trying to sell various products. He has done fairly well for himself to the point where he has delivered a nice house for him and his wife. He is never satisfied though and that’s when he runs into a small burger shop run by the McDonald brothers. They have mastered the art of fast food selling and Ray sees this becoming a huge opportunity. So naturally he jumps right into it. It won’t be easy but Ray has never been a quitter.

Now it is often shown how having unwavering determination is a good quality in a person. You can accomplish a lot if you never end up throwing in the towel. Well, the thing is that this is also true of a villain. A shady person who never gives up is going to be quite dangerous. The film does a good job of laying out a good amount of hints towards Ray’s character early on. He seems like a decent guy at first who really wants to succeed but this drive eventually turns into absolute greed and arrogance.

He sort of ended up becoming the embodiment of corporate. Ray was ready to embrace corruption and cutting corners everywhere in order to increase his own profits. He wanted more and more money and in a large way that was due to how he had a big lifestyle as well. He didn’t need to be going to all those restaurants, having fancy suits, etc. The fame just really got to him and so he fell to all the vices right away like going with a married woman and then backstabbing the original founders. One of the brothers talked about how they let a wolf in the hen house and that’s exactly what happened here.

They just don’t have the business know-how to stop someone like Ray. By the time they saw the threat that he represented, it was too late. Honestly the deck was stacked against them from the very start. Ray likely could have ended up stealing their ideas and been a big success if they hadn’t agreed to help at the start. He mentions how the name makes a big difference but he could have just made up a similar one or stole that as well. With the way he operates, it probably would have happened at some point.

So you feel bad for the McDonalds because they really told him everything about their story. Betrayal is never easy to swallow after all and the film definitely ends on a rather dark note as a result. Technically they could have fared worse as they at least got a ton of money out of the deal. It’s just the principle of the thing. They are set for life but were really ready to work their whole lives for the business. That was ultimately their dream.

Now even if that’s how the film ended, I would say that for the most part it was still an upbeat title though. The first half is pretty happy and of course it’s nice to see all of the food and how fresh it was back then. It was extremely impressive to see how quickly they were able to serve people. I could use a burger and some fries now. Even just the environment around McDonalds.

Generally McDonalds is just seen as another fast food place in the present. In this film, we see it back when McDonalds was really king of its herd. The number 1 game in town and families would flock to it as a big event. Yes, you still have families going for McDonalds now but it’s definitely not quite the pure venue that it appears to be in the film. It’s also not nearly as fast as you definitely end up needing to wait several minutes in order to actually get your order. Part of that is due to the menu being a lot larger but also the sheer demand.

Personally I tend to factor in luck/being in the right place at the right time very strongly in success stories like this. I don’t mean to take away from the skill involved because there is naturally a lot of that in here. The brothers set everything up custom made and needed a lot of know-how for that. At the same time, sometimes you have a great idea and it just doesn’t work out for reasons beyond your control. You should always try to pursue your dreams for this reason though as you may have a real chance and just don’t know it.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. It is based on a true story so there isn’t a lot I can say on avenues I would have preferred in terms of the plot. Naturally Ray being such a villain by the end is definitely a downer, particularly with the cheating since that’s always going to sour the mood. It is definitely a cautionary tale on just how dangerous any entanglement with corporate can be. McDonalds itself though? Top tier as always. I’m eating a classic double cheeseburger as I write up this last paragraph. That’s how top tier the business is. It’s the food that keeps on giving at all times. They may not come with mustard anymore and may be many times the price, but the instant you bite into the burger, you can tell that it truly is McDonalds.