Reversal of Fortune (2005 film)
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- This article is about a documentary. For other uses, see Reversal of Fortune (disambiguation).
Reversal of Fortune is a Showtime documentary filmed in 2005 which asks the question "What would a homeless person do if they were given $100,000?"
Runtime: 67 minutes
[edit] Plot
The documentary begins with the introduction of Ted Rodrigue, a homeless man living under a bridge in California. He begins by describing an average day of "survival" for him, which consists of collecting cans and bottles for recycling in order to eat and buy cigarettes and beer for the day. He informs the audience that an average day brings in about $25, while a good day might see as much as $35. Ted reflects on the better days of his life, when his mother (a former alcoholic) and sisters accepted him. He is shown placing a collect call to his mother, ultimately having the charges denied by his mother. Ted blames his homelessness and lack of family support on their prejudice against him for being homeless and an undesirable childhood. Ted describes his mother as a "bar whore" who often brought strange men home from the bar on the weekends and that at the age of 12, he was given his first beer by his mother at one of her many parties.
His ability to "do as he pleases" by not having to answer to a boss keeps him on the streets. Ted informs the filmmakers that he takes a lot of pride in his bike and is shown washing it at a car wash, although it has been over three months since he had a "real" shower. Through his recycling, Ted has befriended an 18-year-old named Michael who works at the recycling plant.
Once the director pulls you in to the plight of Ted Rodrigue, the film begins to build its plot showing Ted doing his daily dumpster-dive, collecting cans for the day's food, cigarettes and beer when he finds a briefcase amongst the garbage. Ted stops to brush it off and opens it up slowly and finds that it is stuffed with cash. A note atop the money reads "What would a homeless person do if they were given $100,000?" Shocked and in tears, Ted comes to the realization that he is the recipient of a major amount of cash. What he doesn't realize, however, that his life may never be the same.
Ted almost immediately buys a new bicycle, rents a hotel room and takes his buddy Mike to an amusement park. The word gets out among the homeless community and, before you know it, Ted, who once couldn't find a girlfriend because his lack of teeth, now has a lady companion sharing his hotel room. As soon as Ted notifies his mother and sisters of the money, they begin to take his calls and his mother invites him to stay with her until he finds a place to call home. The family is shown discussing how much they care about Ted.
A week after finding the money, and having spent over $2,000, Ted is still in the motel and is asked to speak with an advocate for the homeless and hungry. The counselor asks Ted what he thinks about having all of this money, to which Ted replies that he really hasn't thought about it much and that he has too much time on his hands now since he no longer has to recycle. Ted makes plans to leave for Sacramento to stay with his mother, but before leaving, he buys Mike a car and promises to fly his lady friend to Sacramento once he gets there and settled, coyly exclaiming as he gets in to the van to leave for the airport "bang 'em and leave 'em".
The following weeks find Ted hanging out at the local bar, his spending averaging $10,000 a week. He then purchases a $35,000 Dodge Ram and another truck for one of his recently acquired girlfriends, rents an apartment and buys furniture. The filmmakers then request that he meet with a financial planner. Ted meets with him, but firmly announces to him that he has no intentions of working and wishes to not plan ahead as he is only concerned with today. Ted states his belief that the financial planner is only after his money and rips up his card.
His sisters repeatedly try to convince Ted to find a job, although he still believes he is "set for life". By this time, Ted has become resentful to the film producers for giving him the money. The film then ends telling the viewer that, six months after finding the money, Ted refuses to disclose his latest bank balance; however, his sisters fear that it is less than $5,000.
On a December 1, 2006 airing of the Oprah Winfrey Show entitled: "Are You Ready For a Windfall?", Ted and the producer of the documentary were on the program to promote the documentary and speak of their account of the experiment. When asked by Oprah how much of the $100,000 he still had, Ted replied "none". Ted also mentioned that he is back homeless, and content with his current circumstance.
