Five Reasons Why I Love The 'Burbs

[MockBot]

Automatically generated comment thread for Five Reasons Why I Love The 'Burbs.

[plooker]

Yes, god yes. As a kid growing up this was in very heavy rotation in our vcr, to the point where 'Klopek' became a family macro for weirdo beyond the pale. Thanks Rog for reminding me my DVD collection is not yet complete. Now do 'Yellowbeard'.

[simogene]

I must have rented this movie about 300 time with my friends... come to think of it, why didn't we just buy it???

I had such a thing for Cory Feldman...

[Hurude]

This was one of the highlights of the good tom hanks era, bravo!!!

[argonath]

Love it. The humor was both so subtle and so over the top in this movie, it shouldn't have worked. But damn if it didn't.

Rog, you picked out some great parts of the movie. My favorite has to be when Ray first goes to knock on the Klopeks' door, and the camera does slow close-ups of all the other characters. The tension builds and builds, and then they do a close up of the dog. Priceless.

[Ashmodai]

I sometimes drive to the end of my driveway to take out the trash.

[Colonel Flagg]

Gods, but this was and is a great movie. The three scenes that stand out for me are 1) the bone they find in the back yard, when the camera goes in and out real fast while they stand there, screaming, in a truly cartoonish moment, 2) when the pizza delivery truck crashes at the end of the movie, and Corey Feldman shouts "Yo, pizza dude!" and 3) at the beginning of the movie when Feldman looks Mrs. Rumsfield up and down, nods and says "Hey, Mrs. Rumsfield! No tan lines!" Classic!

[atomic40]

Yo Rumsfield!!!!!

[Moranzollamas]

I absolutely love The Burbs. I even have a grind metal band dedicated to it.

http://www.myspace.com/rummyrumsfieldandtheklopecs

[Sleazeappeal]

Five... FIVE THINGS you love about "The Burbs" and you didn't mention Brother Theodore ONCE?

May you have your head removed and replaced with a bloom of broccoli!

[J. Tithonus Pednaud]

Around my home, a viewing of The Burbs was traditional when home sick. I seriously have to pick this up on DVD.

[rizzo]

A list of 5 things to love about The Burbs is far too few...make it 15 and you'll be able to get everything in. Ah, one of the last good Tom Hanks movies...

[thecatillaccat]

My favorite thing was always Cory Feldman trying to set up a party and going "Rumsfield, we've got the pizza dude coming!" And despite Tom Hanks being dragged down the street on a stretcher, all he cares for is the fact that the pizza dude dropped about 1000 large pies. "whoa! pizza dude!"

[Mockery]

Originally Posted by Sleazeappeal

Five... FIVE THINGS you love about "The Burbs" and you didn't mention Brother Theodore ONCE?

May you have your head removed and replaced with a bloom of broccoli!

I mentioned that he was about to stab tom hanks in the dream sequence, but no, he didn't make my "top five". If it were a "top ten", Uncle Reuben and his voice which sounds like he's constantly gargling, would have definitely made it. But as far as the Klopeks go, it doesn't get any better than Hans in my book.

Another honorable mention would be when Tom Hanks appears from the burning Klopek house at the end of the film like some kind of cowboy hero. I love the way he just slides down the steps as he leaves a trail of smoke behind him.

And argonath is right, the zoom-in close-up of the poodle is another classic moment as well.


He's soooo suspicious of them!

[Moranzollamas]

Rumsfield carrying the brownies to the Klopeks' house is also classic.

[Nick]

Remember when Tom Hanks used to make funny movies?

[Mc Mandi]

Remember when Tom Hanks used to make funny movies?

vaguely.

[Mockery]

I remember.

Joe Versus The Volcano is still one of my all-time favorites and it's EXTREMELY underrated.

The Money Pit is another great one. It kills me in the scene when he gets stuck in the floor and the scene when he laughs like a madman because the tub fell through the floor. Those two scenes had me in tears I was laughing so hard the first time I saw 'em.

[incognit000]

I think the inspiration for Rumsfield used to live down the block from me.

That, or men like that were installed in every suburb to stop terrorism.

[Tetsu Deinonychus]

I love this movie too.

The "Pizza Dude" and "Satan is our pal" are my favourite lines.

What's great about this movie is that everyone knows people like this.

[neoboman]

The part near the end where Tom Hanks is like "I'm sick! Take me to the hospital!" and then lays on the gurney, stands back up, throws it in the back of the ambulance and gets back on it is one of my favorite moments in cinematic history.

[Captain PirateFace]

Best part is when Art is in Camo and Ray and him are talking as they kind of semi ignore the dog as he keeps bringing up a human bone and Art keeps throwing it... until they both realize what they have and Art say's "Ray, This is Walter"....

que overly long and damn comical scream ended abruptly by a Klopek in walking slowly behind the fence...

laughing just thinking about it.

PS
I may be pushing it but I rocked to "Joe Versus The Volcano" too.

[Überguy]

It seems like most gifted comedy actors either decide to change genres (Hanks, Willis, etc.) or they cling to comedy and end up with dying careers and LAME movies. (Murphy, Steve Martin, etc.)

[NightProwler]

Fantastic article. I absolutely love this movie. You did not mention it,so I am assuming you are unaware(but I doubt it) that "Hans Klopec"(Courtney Gains) was also "Malachai" in "Children of the corn". Another 80's classic.

[Badgers ate my FaCe]

I'm going to buy this on DVD today. Thank you for reminding me that this is still a classic flick. This is "Mr. Oscar WW2" Tom Hanks at his pre-Gump best, and you get a side of Princess Leia and Henry Gibson, to boot! Toss in a take-out order for Cory Feldman and you've got yourself a classic.