The 'Burbs

Last updated
The 'Burbs
Burbsposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joe Dante
Written by Dana Olsen
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Robert M. Stevens
Edited byMarshall Harvey
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • February 17, 1989 (1989-02-17)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$18 million
Box office$49.1 million

The 'Burbs is a 1989 American black comedy film [1] directed by Joe Dante, and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Ducommun, Corey Feldman, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, and Gale Gordon. The film was written by Dana Olsen, who made a cameo appearance in the film.

Contents

The film pokes fun at suburban environments and their sometimes eccentric dwellers, featuring a family man who suspects the "eccentric" new neighbors are hiding a dark secret. [2] A modest financial success which earned mixed critical reviews, the film is now regarded as a cult classic. [3]

Plot

Suburban homeowner Ray Peterson is home on a week-long vacation. Late one night, he hears strange noises coming from the basement of his new and reclusive neighbors, the Klopeks. Ray and his other neighbors—nosy Art Weingartner, Vietnam War veteran Mark Rumsfield and teenager Ricky Butler—gradually suspect the Klopeks may be ritualistic murderers. On another night, they observe the youngest Klopek cart an oversized garbage bag to their curbside garbage can and aggressively mash it down. Later that night, during a rainstorm, Ray sees the Klopeks digging in their backyard. In the morning, Ray, Mark, and Art search the garbage truck for human remains after the Klopeks' trash is collected, but find nothing.

Mark's wife Bonnie finds their neighbor Walter's dog Queenie running loose. Worried about the elderly man, Ray, Art, Ricky, and the Rumsfields enter Walter's house and find overturned chairs and Walter's toupée, but no Walter. Ray collects Queenie, leaves a note for Walter, slips the toupée back in through the mail slot, and sees one of the Klopeks watching him from their house. Ray and Art theorize that the Klopeks may have used Walter as a human sacrifice, becoming further convinced when Ray's dog Vince digs up a human femur from along the Klopeks' fence line. Ray's wife Carol, tired of the men's behavior, organizes a welcome visit to the Klopeks. While the Petersons and Rumsfields meet Hans, Reuben, and Dr. Werner Klopek, Art snoops around the Klopeks' backyard and is chased out by their large dog Landrue. Afterward, Ray reveals to Art and Mark that he found Walter's mail and toupée at the Klopeks', proving they had been in Walter's house.

The next day, Ray sends Carol and their son Dave to visit Carol's sister. When the Klopeks leave, Art and Ray enter their backyard to search for Walter's corpse while Mark acts as lookout. Finding nothing in the yard, Art and Ray break into the Klopeks' basement, discover what appears to be a crematorium, and dig deep into the floor in search of human remains. The Klopeks return, accompanied by the police after having seen their basement lights on. Ray strikes a gas line with his pickaxe; Art escapes before the house explodes, and Ray emerges from the flames scorched and disheveled just as Carol returns home.

Walter arrives home during the commotion, having spent a few days in the hospital due to palpitations. He had asked the Klopeks to collect his mail for him, and they had mistakenly gathered up his toupée as well. Ray declares that he and the others were wrong about the Klopeks, and climbs into an ambulance. Werner enters and accuses Ray of having seen a human skull in the basement furnace, revealing that the Klopeks murdered the previous homeowners so they could live in their house. Werner attempts to lethally inject Ray as Hans drives the ambulance away. Their struggle causes the ambulance to crash into Art's house, ejecting Werner and Ray, who then makes a citizen's arrest. Ricky uncovers human skeletal remains in the Klopeks' car trunk. The Klopeks are arrested, and charges against Ray are dropped. Ray states that he and his family are going away for a while, and asks Ricky to watch over the neighborhood.

Cast

Additional minor roles were played by Dick Miller and Robert Picardo as garbagemen Vic and Joe; Franklyn Ajaye and Rance Howard as detectives; Bill Stevenson, Gary Hays, and Carey Scott as Ricky's friends; and Kevin Gage and Dana Olsen as policemen.

Production

Writing

Screenwriter Dana Olsen based the script on experiences from his own childhood: "I had an ultranormal middle-class upbringing, but our town had its share of psychos. There was a legendary hatchet murder in the thirties, and every once in a while, you'd pick up the local paper and read something like 'LIBRARIAN KILLS FAMILY, SELF.' As a kid, it was fascinating to think that Mr. Flanagan down the street could turn out to be Jack the Ripper. And where there's fear, there's comedy. So I approached The 'Burbs as Ozzie and Harriet meet Charles Manson." [4]

Olsen's script attracted producer Larry Brezner, who brought it to Imagine Films. It was greeted with a warm reception from Imagine co-founder Brian Grazer: "I liked the concept of a regular guy taking a vacation in his own neighborhood, plus it was funny and well written. It suddenly dawned on me that Joe Dante would be fantastic [as a director] because it's a mixture of comedy, horror, and reality." [4]

Dante, who had directed Gremlins and Innerspace , and his partner, Michael Finnell, were immediately impressed by the concept of the movie. Dante, who specialized in offbeat subject matter, was intrigued by the blending of real-life situations with elements of the supernatural: "When I tell people about the story, a remarkable number say, 'On my grandmother's block, there were people like that. They never mowed their lawn, and they never came out, and they let their mail stack up, and nobody knew who they were.' And I must confess that in my own neighborhood there's a house like that, falling to wrack and ruin. I think this is perhaps a more common event than most people are aware of." [4]

Dante had been developing Little Man Tate (later made by Jodie Foster) but that project collapsed when offered the script which was then called Bay Window. Dante recalled, "I liked the characters. But the script ended with the hero being killed and driven away in an ambulance by a guy that he’s been persecuting through the movie, the guy who then turns out to really be guilty. And the fact that the guy is guilty turns out to be sort of a Twilight Zone surprise, an O. Henry twist ending. And I thought, “Well, that’s OK.” But then they decided that we wanted to hire Tom Hanks. And suddenly, it was like, “Well, you know we can’t kill Tom Hanks. What are we going to do? We'll have to change it”." [5]

Casting

Dante, Brezner, and Finnell agreed that Tom Hanks would be the most suitable actor to portray the married Ray Peterson, a conservative man who tries to introduce excitement into his life by investigating the activities of his strange neighbors. Dante referred to Hanks as "the reigning everyman, a guy that everybody can identify with", [4] comparing him to James Stewart. [4] Brezner echoed this sentiment, saying "Hanks is an actor capable of acting funny rather than funny acting. He also has no problem with transition from comedy to Pathos, as he showed in Nothing in Common , and he's now proving himself as one of the country's most versatile actors." [4]

Hanks accepted the role of Ray with enthusiasm, later saying "What's so bizarrely interesting about this black psychocomedy is that the stuff that goes on in real life in a regular neighborhood will make your hair stand up on the back of your neck." [4] He was also intrigued by his character's distinctive personality traits: "Sometimes there's more of an opportunity to create than others. Here's a guy with a great life – a nice house, a wife, a beautiful tree, a nice neighborhood – and he's happy. Next day, he hates it all. I thought something must've happened to him offstage. And that's the challenge for me of the part: to communicate Ray's offscreen dilemma. One of the reasons Ray doesn't go away on vacation is because it's another extension of the normalcy he's fallen into. So he thinks he'll try a more Bohemian thing, which is to just hang around the house. With a week's worth of free time on his hands, Ray is drawn into the pre-occupations of his neighbors, who always seem to be at home. But what I did is just back-story embellishment that any actor will do. Perhaps from my repertory experience. I don't ask a director for motivation. If he says, 'Go over to the window', I find the reason myself." [4]

Hanks found admiration for Dante's directorial style, saying "Joe has a stylized, visionary way of looking at the entire movie. It's pure film-making – the story is told from the camera's point of view, and that's a type of movie I haven't made." Dante, in turn, praised his star. "The most impressive thing about Tom Hanks as a comic actor is how effortless he makes it seem. He actually is very diligent about his acting, but his comic sense of what is going to work – and what isn't – is really unparalleled." [4] Dante's laid-back, casual style encouraged improvisation among the actors. He noted, "Tom doesn't like to do scenes the way they're always done. He goes out of his way to put a different spin on everything and his being good as he is and as open as he is encouraged the other actors to do the same. It set a tone for the movie that made it a lot of fun to make." [4]

Filming

The 'Burbs was filmed entirely at Universal Studios over ten weeks in the summer of 1988, mainly on the Colonial Street set on the back lot, which served as the Mayfield Place cul-de-sac. [6] "I can't think of many pictures since Lifeboat that all take place in the same area," Dante said as production got under way. "There was a lot of temptation to broaden it and go outside the neighborhood, but it seemed to violate the spirit of the piece. It's almost the kind of thing that could be a stage play except that you could never do on-stage what we've done in this movie." [4] The Colonial Street set had been used in 1987's Dragnet , also starring Hanks. [7] At the time The 'Burbs began production, it was being used as the location for The New Leave It to Beaver television series. [7] To ensure the set would fit the tone of his film, Dante said, "I asked [production designer] James Spencer, a veteran of Poltergeist and Gremlins , if he thought he could turn that street into the neighborhood we needed in that period of time." [4] Spencer rose to the challenge, and within a few days they began work on sketching out the proposed designs for the sets. Spencer observed, "We had to be on the spot. Due to the lack of time, it would have been ludicrous to do our drawing elsewhere." [4] The orchestral soundtrack for the film was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.

Dante recalled "we shot, in fact, three endings for the picture. None of them, I think, really worked. But also, because of the writers’ strike, we had to sort of make it up as we were going along." [5] Dante says the preview audience did not like the original ending which was more critical of the lead characters, so he changed it. [5]

Release

Box office

The film opened at number 1 with $11,101,197 in its opening weekend (February 17–20, 1989). [8] Overall, in the US, the film made $36,601,993 and $49,101,993 worldwide. [9]

Critical reaction

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it two out of four stars, writing "The 'Burbs tries to position itself somewhere between Beetlejuice and The Twilight Zone , but it lacks the dementia of the first and the wicked intelligence of the second and turns instead into a long shaggy dog story." [10] Vincent Canby of The New York Times gave The 'Burbs a negative review, calling it "as empty as something can be without creating a vacuum". [11] On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 56% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The 'Burbs has an engaging premise, likable cast, and Joe Dante at the helm – so the mixed-up genre exercise they produce can't help but feel like a disappointment." [12] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [13] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale. [14]

Home media

Arrow Video released The 'Burbs on Blu-ray in 2014 in the UK with a new 2K scan of the inter-positive. [15] The edition included a commentary by screenwriter Dana Olsen, a newly commissioned feature-length documentary titled There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of 'The 'Burbs'. [16] In the United States, the film was first given a Blu-ray release in 2016 by Universal Studios. However, this release was criticized for poor quality and being a bare bones release. [17] In 2018, Shout! Factory re-released the film on Blu-ray with the transfer and majority of the special features from the 2014 Arrow release from the UK. [18]

The soundtrack album received a release on LP record in 2018 on the Waxwork Records label, as an expanded double-LP package. [19] Additional music used in the film but not included on the soundtrack albums includes "Machine" by Circus of Power; "Se Sei Qualcuno è Colpa Mia" by Ennio Morricone; "Questa o Quella" by Enrico Caruso; and "Locked in a Cage", "Make Some Noise", and "Bloodstone" by Jetboy.[ citation needed ]

Future

A series remake is in development at Peacock. Keke Palmer is headlining the series, with Brian Grazer and Seth MacFarlane producing through Imagine Entertainment and Fuzzy Door Productions respectively. [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Hanks</span> American actor and film producer (born 1956)

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks is an American actor and filmmaker. Known for both his comedic and dramatic roles, he is one of the most popular and recognizable film stars worldwide, and is regarded as an American cultural icon. Hanks's films have grossed more than $4.9 billion in North America and more than $9.96 billion worldwide, making him the fourth-highest-grossing actor in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bruce Dern</span> American actor (born 1936)

Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Coming Home (1978) and the Academy Award for Best Actor for Nebraska (2013). He is also a BAFTA Award, two-time Genie Award, and three-time Golden Globe Award nominee.

<i>Childs Play</i> (1988 film) 1988 American slasher film by Tom Holland

Child's Play is a 1988 American supernatural slasher film directed by Tom Holland, from a screenplay he co-wrote with Don Mancini and John Lafia, and a story by Mancini. The film stars Catherine Hicks and Chris Sarandon with Brad Dourif as Chucky. Its plot follows a widowed mother who gives a doll to her son, unaware that the doll is possessed by the soul of a serial killer.

<i>Good Morning</i> (1959 film) 1959 film by Yasujiro Ozu

Good Morning is a 1959 Japanese comedy film co-written and directed by Yasujirō Ozu. It is a loose remake of his own 1932 silent film I Was Born, But..., and is Ozu's second film in color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Gibson</span> American actor (1935–2009)

Henry Gibson was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the TV sketch-comedy series Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In from 1968 to 1971, was the voice of the protagonist Wilbur in the animated feature Charlotte's Web (1973), portrayed country star Haven Hamilton in Robert Altman's film Nashville (1975), the Illinois Nazi leader in The Blues Brothers (1980), and appeared in The 'Burbs (1989). His later film roles included starring in The Luck of the Irish (2001) and smaller parts in Magnolia (1999) and as Father O'Neil in Wedding Crashers (2005). His final major acting role was as Judge Clark Brown on the TV show Boston Legal, from 2004 to 2008.

<i>Christmas with the Kranks</i> 2004 film by Joe Roth

Christmas with the Kranks is a 2004 American Christmas comedy film directed by Joe Roth from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on the 2001 novel Skipping Christmas by John Grisham. It stars Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis in the leading roles. The film also stars Dan Aykroyd, Erik Per Sullivan, Cheech Marin, Jake Busey, and M. Emmet Walsh.

<i>The Money Pit</i> 1986 film by Richard Benjamin

The Money Pit is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Richard Benjamin and starring Tom Hanks and Shelley Long as a couple who attempt to renovate a recently purchased house. The film is a loose remake of the 1948 Cary Grant comedy film Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and was filmed in New York City and Lattingtown, New York, and was co-executive produced by Steven Spielberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Dante</span> American filmmaker (born 1946)

Joseph James Dante Jr. is an American film director, producer, editor and actor. His films—notably Gremlins (1984) alongside its sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)—often mix the 1950s-style B movie genre with 1960s radicalism and cartoon comedy.

<i>Hard Rain</i> (film) 1998 film by Mikael Salomon

Hard Rain is a 1998 action thriller film directed by former cinematographer-turned director Mikael Salomon, written by Graham Yost, produced by Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon, and Gary Levinsohn, and starring Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Randy Quaid, Minnie Driver, and Ed Asner. An international co-production among the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, and Japan. In a small Indiana town amidst a natural disaster, a gang attempts to pull off a heist and survive man-made treachery. It received generally negative reviews and was a box office flop.

<i>The House on the Edge of the Park</i> 1980 Italian exploitation horror film by Ruggero Deodato

The House on the Edge of the Park is a 1980 English-language Italian exploitation horror film written by Gianfranco Clerici and Vincenzo Mannino, and directed by Ruggero Deodato. It stars David A. Hess and Giovanni Lombardo Radice as two criminals who infiltrate a posh gathering in a villa and violently turn against the partygoers after they mock them. The film is a loose remake of The Last House on the Left (1972), in which Hess also starred.

Dana Olsen is an American actor, film producer and screenwriter. He is the co-creator of the comedy television series Henry Danger alongside Dan Schneider. His written works include George of the Jungle, The 'Burbs and Inspector Gadget.

<i>Shocker</i> (film) 1989 film by Wes Craven

Shocker is a 1989 American supernatural slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven, and starring Michael Murphy, Peter Berg, Cami Cooper, and Mitch Pileggi. The film was released by Universal Pictures on October 27, 1989, and grossed $16.6 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rick Ducommun</span> Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer (1952–2015)

Richard Ducommun was a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer known for his supporting turns in various films, most prominently Die Hard (1988) and Groundhog Day (1993).

Cory Danziger is an American actor, political activist, and conceptual artist. He is sometimes mis-credited as Cory Danzinger.

<i>Liars Moon</i> 1982 American film

Liar's Moon is a 1982 film directed by David Fisher and starring Matt Dillon, Cindy Fisher, Yvonne De Carlo, and Hoyt Axton. It tells the story of two star-crossed lovers in 1940s Texas—a working-class teen and the banker's daughter who elope to much strife. Texas band Asleep At The Wheel provided multiple songs for the film.

<i>The Russia House</i> (film) 1990 American film by Fred Schepisi

The Russia House is a 1990 American spy film directed by Fred Schepisi and starring Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney, Klaus Maria Brandauer and director Ken Russell. Tom Stoppard wrote the screenplay based on John le Carré's 1989 novel of the same name. It was the first US motion picture to be shot substantially on location in the Soviet Union.

<i>Fright Night</i> (2011 film) 2011 film by Craig Gillespie

Fright Night is a 2011 American supernatural horror film directed by Craig Gillespie and produced by Michael De Luca and Alison Rosenzweig. A remake of Tom Holland's 1985 film, the film's screenplay was adapted by Marti Noxon. It stars Anton Yelchin, Colin Farrell, Toni Collette, Imogen Poots, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and David Tennant. The plot follows a teenaged boy who discovers that his neighbor is actually a vampire, which culminates in a battle between the two. The film held its world premiere at The O2 in London on August 14, 2011. It was released in the United States by Touchstone Pictures on August 19, 2011.

<i>The Cat Creeps</i> (1946 film) 1946 film

The Cat Creeps is a 1946 American film directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Noah Beery, Jr., Lois Collier, and Paul Kelly. It follows a journalist and his photographer who attempt to research an unsolved death and locate a missing fortune, with the help of a black cat that appears to be possessed by the spirit of a dead woman.

<i>A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood</i> 2019 film directed by Marielle Heller

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood is a 2019 American biographical drama film on the TV presenter Fred Rogers, directed by Marielle Heller and written by Micah Fitzerman-Blue and Noah Harpster, inspired by the 1998 article "Can You Say ... Hero?" by Tom Junod, published in Esquire. It stars Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Chris Cooper. It depicts Lloyd Vogel (Rhys), a troubled journalist for Esquire who is assigned to profile television icon Fred Rogers (Hanks).

<i>A Man Called Otto</i> 2022 film by Marc Forster

A Man Called Otto is a 2022 American comedy-drama film directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by David Magee. It is a remake of the 2015 Swedish film A Man Called Ove, which was based on the 2012 novel of the same name by Fredrik Backman. The film stars Tom Hanks in the title role, with Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in supporting roles. The plot follows a bitter old man who reluctantly gets involved in the lives of his neighbors.

References

  1. ↑ Erickson, Hal. "The 'Burbs (1989)". AllMovie . RhythmOne . Retrieved September 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ Thomas, Kevin (February 17, 1989). "'The 'Burbs': There Goes the Neighborhood". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved August 22, 2010.
  3. ↑ Bramesco, Charles (February 15, 2019). "'The 'Burbs at 30: how the cult comedy horror skewered suburbia'". The Guardian .
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Pfeiffer, Lee; Lewis, Michael (1996). The Films of Tom Hanks . Citadel Film. New York: Citadel Press. ISBN   0806517174.
  5. 1 2 3 Movie talk from the front lines : filmmakers discuss their works with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. McFarland. 1995. p. 59. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Colonial Street – Munster House". TheStudioTour.com. Retrieved August 3, 2007.
  7. 1 2 Cowan, Jared (March 4, 2019). "Take a Stroll Down Colonial Street, Film and TV's Most Iconic Suburban Set". Los Angeles . Retrieved July 9, 2023.
  8. ↑ "The 'Burbs (1989) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  9. ↑ "The 'Burbs (1989)". Box Office Mojo . IMDb . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  10. ↑ Ebert, Roger (February 17, 1989). "The 'Burbs movie review & film summary (1989)". Chicago Sun-Times .
  11. ↑ "Reviews/Film; Suspicious Goings-On Next Door". The New York Times . February 17, 1989.
  12. ↑ "The 'Burbs (1989)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved February 20, 2024.
  13. ↑ "The 'Burbs Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  14. ↑ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Burbs, The" in the search box). CinemaScore . Retrieved December 19, 2022.
  15. ↑ McKiver, Tony (October 3, 2014). "Hanks For The Memories: The 'Burbs Revisited". The Quietus . Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  16. ↑ There Goes the Neighborhood: The Making of 'The 'Burbs'. Arrow Video. 2014.
  17. ↑ "The 'Burbs Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  18. ↑ "The 'Burbs [Collector's Edition]". Shout! Factory . Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  19. ↑ Thiessen, Brock (23 October 2018). "Joe Dante's 'The 'Burbs' Gets First-Ever Expanded Vinyl Release". Dead Entertainment. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  20. ↑ Porter, Rick (September 5, 2024). "'The Burbs' Series Remake Starring Keke Palmer a Go at Peacock". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.