Post by stefancrosscoe on Feb 27, 2017 17:32:19 GMT
"I've never seen that. I've never seen anybody drive their garbage down to the street and bang the hell out of it with a stick. I-I've never seen that."
In the idyllic and peaceful neighborhood of Mayfield Place, follows the story of familyman and suburban Ray Peterson (Tom Hanks) who's been planning on taking a well earned vacation along with his wife Carol (Carrie Fisher), but instead of a nice and relaxed week off by the family cottage, Ray decides to spend as much of his vacation as possible, letting his imagination get the better of him by involving himself a little too much with his new, next door neighbours, The Klopek's and their strange behaviors.
And when the neighborhoods least favorite old man suddenly disappears, and without a trace, Ray decides that it has gone far enough. It is time to take action. And along with his mouthy, manipulating friend, Art Weingartner (Rick Ducommun) and the trigger happy, military veteran, Mark Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) they are prepared to go to war against the Klopek's family, with a mission to unveil for the whole world, what kind of horror and evil which lurks behind the walls inside their spooky old house.
Mind your own business!
Surely one of the funniest horror/thriller-comedies of the late 80s, with it's unique and hilarious take on what could happen if you poke your nose a bit too far into other people's business, and were Tom Hanks delivers an all time great role, here as your everyday man, Ray Peterson.
He's also backed up with an incredible and very talented group of actors such as Bruce Dern, Rick Ducommun, Carrie Fisher, Wendy Schaal, Henry Gibson, Brother Theodore, Courtney Gaines, Gale Gordon, Dick Miller and yeah, even Corey Feldman shines bright as the local "meatball" and the films observer, Ricky Butler: "God I love this movie."
The 'Burbs is one of those films that just keeps on getting better everytime I watch it, and I take notice of these small things that I may have overlooked earlier on, which make it even more hilarious.
Sure, Tom Hanks is the big main star, but the film comes up with so many different and highly memorable characters, that every one (even including the little dog Queenie, who loves to fertilize the Rumsfield's lawn) has its own little way of providing their unique quirks and behaviors.
The movie is written by Dana Olsen and directed by Joe Dante who had earlier on perfected his b-movie skills through the school of Roger Corman with films such as Piranha (1978) and Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979) and went on to enjoy bigger success with hits such as The Howling (1981), Gremlins (1984) and Inner Space (1987). But somehow, at least how I see it, his finest hour came through with The 'Burbs which always surprises me by how little attention there is about the film, and looking on some reviews/critics it seems like back when it hit theatres it got a rather mixed response, sadly mostly negative.
Anyway, I think of it as a real comedy cult-classic and one that has hold up far better than most of Tom Hanks other comedy roles of the 80s and 90s.
