Molecules to Movies: The 'Burbs (1989)

in #film6 years ago (edited)

This post contains all the spoilers and discusses the movie with the assumption that you've seen it. You can watch the trailer at the bottom of this post.

The Credits

The 'Burbs is a comedy directed by Joe Dante and starring Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, Carrie Fisher, Corey Feldman, Henry Gibson, Gale Gordon and Courtney Gains.

The Plot


Ray Peterson (Hanks) is staying at home for his one week vacation from work. His wife (Fisher) wants to go up to the lake instead. He lives in a typical boring suburban cul-de-sac. His neighbors include the paranoid suspicious Art Weingartner (Ducommun), who shoots birds in his yard, Lt. Mark Rumfield (Dern) a Vietnam War Vet, Walter Seznick (Gordon), whose dog defecates on the neighbor's lawn, and Ricky Butler (Feldman), a younger neighbor who likes to drink beer on his porch and watch the neighborhood antics for entertainment. It is unclear whether he lives with parents or alone. One day the Klopecs move in next door to Ray, into a delapidated gothic-looking home, much too old and out of place in the neighborhood.

Convinced that the Klopecs are murderers, Ray, Mark and Art being to watch over and eventually invade the Klopec home looking for Walter, who has gone missing. After Ray blows up and burns down the house, Walter returns from the hospital, not dead after all. Ray realizes that they were the actual lunatics, not the Klopecs. But then the Klopecs kidnap Ray and reveal that they killed the home's former tenants. Mark and Art are able to stop the Klopecs and they are turned over to the police.

Thoughts on the Film


I think I have a bit of a fascination with any movies that expose the myths of the perfect idyllic suburbs. Before we ever see the Klopecs, some may find enough horror just imagining living in this neighborhood with the people who are already residing there. Rude neighbors who don't pick up after their dog trigger angry outbursts from war vets while neighbors snoop on each other. Sometimes a city life and the high turnover of neighbors might make people a little less nosy.

The neighborhood views the Klopecs as an intrusion of poor, rural and foreign people. Yet in a way, it is also the suburbs intruding into the rural areas. The growth of the suburbs largely resulted from white flight from urban areas, moving to the suburbs where there is an illusion of safety. But this also moves the population areas closer to the once rural areas. Poor white people also need somewhere to go. With a house this dilapidated it might be bought by those who could otherwise not afford the neighborhood.

The suburbs were once a symbol of growth, but given time they tend to age and depreciate in value. The Klopecs represent a threat to the neighborhood, a sign that the neighborhood has long ago reached its peak. Growth opportunities move further out from the suburbs, where it displaces families like the Klopecs. People have long moved to the suburbs to escape poverty, but do not find themselves welcome by those just a rung above them on the social ladder. Today, people are moving back to cities and simultaneously further into the exurbs as first-ring suburbs start to show wear and tear, leaving these homes more affordable for those still in poverty.

The suburbs in this film are a limbo between hell (poverty) and heaven (wealth). The Klopecs house is suspected of being a gate to hell. Art is certain they are Satan worshipers. Fire is seen through the basement windows. It is explained as just being a new furnace. Their behavior makes the nosy neighbors suspicious. They appear to be digging graves late at night.

Meanwhile, the neighborhood outside the Klopecs home represents a dull and unfulfilling life full of false promises. Someday people think they will be rich but their middle class lives outside their jobs exist solely of maintaining their home and yard, feeling pride in acquiring a new set of tools. Ray's life is so unfulfilling that he chooses to stay home while on vacation. He is only given the choice of home or going to the lake (again) for a vacation. Are these the things people dream of when they want a break from work?

It is revealed early on that the Klopecs previous house burned down. Yet here Ray and the neighbors have burned down their new home. Ray comes to the realization that he and the neighbors are the lunatics. The Klopecs did nothing to them yet this brings out hatred and suspicion from their neighbors, simply because they were different. They had a foreign last name and odd behaviors but they showed they were just trying to live their life in the face of those who could not accept them.

The film takes a turn when the Klopecs try to kill Ray and it is suddenly revealed that the Klopecs killed the former owners of their home. So in the end, the neighborhood was justified in their suspicions. It makes a nice twist ending but the lesson could be learned earlier. Maybe Ray and his frends were just nosy neighbors and they are themselves horrible people to have in your neighborhood.

This trailer is the property of Umbrella Entertainment.

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The 'Burbs! So fun.
I didn't see it somehow until later in life but had a blast finally getting into it.

You have a minor misspelling in the following sentence:

Thier behavior makes the nosey neighbors suspicious.
It should be their instead of thier.

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