Laserdisc Spotlight: Falling Down

The year was 1993. Gas was $1.07 per gallon, I was in the second grade, and Falling Down was duped en masse onto 12" reflective platters known as Laserdiscs. Fast forward twenty one years and gas prices have tripled, I am eleven years removed from high school, and nobody knows what the fuck a Laserdisc is. But what is this? A "fair condition" copy of Falling Down on Laserdisc? But how will I ever play such an antiquated piece of obsolete media? Load it into one of my three Laserdisc players, that's how. 

Hit play, wait for the disc to hit 1800 RPMs, and enjoy the show!

Laservision splash screen.

Hey, you know what? Let's all revisit Falling Down with low-res screengrabs from its 1993 Laserdisc release. Hey remember when:

William Foster gets stuck in LA construction traffic during the middle of summer with no A/C?

And when he abandoned his Chevy Chevette with ballin' vanity plates and said "Fuck it! I'm walking to my estranged ex-wife's house to stalk her mercilessly as a surprise for my daughter's birthday!"?

And when he helped Mr. Kim roll back prices by force? "Coca Cola: 12 oz. can, how much? 50 cents? Sold."

And when he stopped for a break in Gangland to patch his shoe with a chunk of the classifieds?

And these guys tried to make him pay a toll? Spoiler alert: he beats the shit out of them with a bat.

And when those same gangsters fuck-botched the retaliation drive-by by missing him with their entire arsenal and crashing the low-rider into a parked car?

And when he responded by kindly taking time out of his busy ex-wife stalking schedule to teach these misguided youths how to properly use the sights on an Uzi? Oh man, you crashed your low rider AND took a bullet to the leg? "Like a good neighbor: State Farm is there!"

And when he stopped to get himself some fast food breakfast?

But they stopped serving breakfast at 11:30 AM?

And then he proceeded to address his qualms with their lack of customer service? 

And then when we waited patiently for the A side to B side switch?

And when he tried to buy some Vietnam jungle boots from a xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic, and abusive military surplus store owner?

And when this kid showed him how to use a shoulder fired rocket launcher?

And when he tried to walk the golf course but got assaulted with golf balls by some punk-ass golfers so he blasted their cart into oblivion with a sawed-off shotgun?

And when he told the old fart having a heart attack that it was a shame that he was going to die in that silly little hat?

Yeah, that's 7/8ths of the movie right there in crap-grade screengrabs. I left out the very end in case you haven't seen Falling Down yet. If you haven't seen it, you can borrow my Laserdisc copy and one of my Laserdisc players. But let's be honest, living under a rock, you probably don't have a wall outlet or a TV. Boom! See what I did there? I implied that if you haven't seen Falling Down, you aren't a real human being.