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Bart, Lindsey and guest, Alicia George, discuss Joe Dante's 1989 dark comedy, The Burbs. Settling in for some time off in his suburban home, Ray Peterson's vacation becomes a horror when the Klopeks, a suspiciously odd family, move in next door. Tom Hanks, Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, Henry Gibson, and Brother effing Theodore round out this Joe Dante classic.
Creators and Guests
Host
Host
Lindsey Roberts
Lindsey Roberts is a film, commercial and theatre actress, who has appeared in over 20 films including Hustle and Flow and Craig Brewer's breakthrough film, The Poor and Hungry. Her extensive theatre roles have included Velma in Chicago, Tanya in Mamma Mia, Nancy in Oliver and multiple years as Pan in Peter Pan.
What is Die Laughing?
You'd be hard pressed to find a more divisive sub-genre of horror than horror-comedy. Those who hate it, really, really hate it. But for those of us who love horror as much as we love comedy, there is something truly special about a film that manages to combine these two genres into a perfect blend.
On the Die Laughing podcast, hosts Bart Shannon, Lindsey Roberts and a weekly special guest, take a tour through some of the best and worst entries in the horror comedy field!
speaker-0 (00:02.22)
Lindsey, we're on an 80s roll of late.
speaker-1 (00:05.71)
I know, but I gotta say, like in particular this year, 1989, what in the world was in the
speaker-0 (00:13.55)
Yeah, 85 to 89 just action-packed great movies, but we have another one today And this is a movie much like Goonies that is beloved by many
speaker-1 (00:22.306)
Yes, absolutely. Beloved by me.
speaker-0 (00:25.494)
see you in your shirt. You're representing the merch from this movie that we're doing this week.
speaker-1 (00:30.646)
I sure am. Try and stop me. You can't. You're too far away.
speaker-0 (00:33.678)
this down.
So we got a lot to talk about this week. Every week we have a guest and we're both excited about this guest to talk with about this movie and let's get started on this thing and start talking about said movie. How about that? Welcome to another episode of Die Laughing.
speaker-1 (00:46.882)
Let's do it!
speaker-0 (01:09.294)
I get a sense that you are very very excited about this episode
speaker-1 (01:09.804)
Yo
speaker-1 (01:14.456)
Why? What would make you say that?
speaker-0 (01:17.656)
First of all, this is an audio only podcast so you guys can't see the movie merch that Lindsay is wearing on her bada.
speaker-1 (01:26.816)
I'm so excited.
speaker-0 (01:28.904)
Did you own that shirt previously or did you buy it for this episode?
speaker-1 (01:33.408)
owned this shirt previously.
speaker-0 (01:35.786)
What was the thought process behind buying said shirt? Because they knew you loved the movie so much?
speaker-1 (01:38.538)
My friend got it for me. Yep. I felt like that person who like buys the concert t-shirt at the concert and puts it on and wears it during the concert. And I was always like, when I was a kid, I always made fun of those people. was like, look at that douche bag that like bought the concert t-shirt and is like wearing it to the concert. What an idiot. And now I was like, I'm gonna wear my burbs t-shirt when we watch the burbs. What is wrong with me?
speaker-0 (02:06.84)
Perfect segue and Lindsay, what is our movie today?
speaker-1 (02:10.081)
sorry, it's the burbs.
speaker-0 (02:12.438)
It's the burp!
speaker-1 (02:14.446)
1989, the Burbs, Joe Dante, the whole thing.
speaker-0 (02:19.214)
We can talk about this when we bring our guest on but I watched this one late. I was thinking I watched it when it came out and then realized I didn't see it until it was on video a couple of years later when I was in college. So I was in different mindset and I wonder what my opinion of the movie would have been had I seen it when I was 13.
speaker-1 (02:35.66)
Right, yeah. No, I've seen it all the way through. I mean, like I saw it when it probably relatively shortly after it came out and have watched it obviously a thousand times, you know, since then. When I was younger and I saw it, I thought it was kind of weird. I saw it gained much of an appreciation for it as I got older. It was like, I feel like it's like Raising Arizona. When I first saw that movie, I was like,
I like it and I don't know why and this just feels really weird and why is John Goodman coming out of the ground, you know? And so I've just gained an appreciation for the burbs a little bit later. I didn't not like it. I didn't quite get it.
speaker-0 (03:13.934)
Yeah, there's a lot to unpack. And it reminds me in tone a little bit of maybe not in tone, but more in concept to the, I think in either 1981 or 1982, Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, which I fucking love. Critics hated that movie, but Weirdo Neighbor moves in next door and what's this Weirdo Neighbor up to? Yeah, so it kind of reminds me of that. We'll put a pin in that. We'll put a pin in that. I'm talk about that a little later. Yes, sir.
Let's just go and bring in our guest and get this puppy rolling. Cause there's a lot to talk about in this. the guest today is that somebody we worked with for, I, I don't want to even say times anymore because time sound, it hurts as soon as I add numbers up and like, God, that was 20 years ago. And I hate that. Hate it. Hate it. it. Anyway, you and I both worked with this person many, many, many times over the many, many, many years, only two of you stay young.
speaker-1 (03:46.924)
this party started.
speaker-0 (04:12.042)
while I am the Dorian Gray who takes on everyone's years. And that is my lot in life. That's just the way it is. I've come to accept it. That's what I do. I age for you. Annie Hussles. So this person that we're about to bring on, someone we both love dearly, worked with a lot of times, love working with her, love talking to her, just an absolute wonderful person. So tickled to have her on today's episode. And also talk about a new role.
coming up in her life that we're very excited about. But let's welcome on our guest today, Alicia George.
speaker-1 (04:48.317)
No, that's the best introduction ever you guys. I love it. You think about how many years we've actually known each other and that is very scary. But I love that we're all still together and friends and still working together. Oh yeah. I mean, like I was trying to think about like even the first time I met you, I can't even remember back that far. Or can you? You've made me look good in every single film I've ever done.
speaker-0 (05:18.616)
Good,
speaker-1 (05:18.83)
Bad. Am bad. That's right. That's right. You've made me look stunning. You've made me look like I'm 85. You've done all of the makeup on me. I've made you look like a whore. You made me look like a whore for
speaker-0 (05:33.87)
I mean technically it wasn't for Bart. I wasn't
speaker-1 (05:37.742)
I like the way that sounds
speaker-0 (05:39.886)
Alicia, would you do me a favor? Would you make Lindsay a wha for me? Sure. Alicia was a makeup artist on all of these films. Like fucking every film I can think of that I've seen over the last 20 years in Memphis has pretty much been Alicia. And then you have went on over the last several years to take on different roles where, just tell us about what you've been doing the last few years. And we already know because we talked to Joey Carr last week.
but also tell us a little bit about the role that you have upcoming.
speaker-1 (06:13.792)
So yeah, you know, worked in film and TV for a very long time. But of course, with not as many things being shot in Memphis, and if I really wanted to work on movies, I had to travel a lot. My younger kids were starting school and that kind of became more of a problem. So I kind of focused on just doing commercial shoots, short films, some weddings, and then I started fundraising with the Medal Museum. So for six years, I was doing fundraising for the Medal Museum's capital campaign.
They're taking over the old Memphis College of Art building in Memphis and expanding the museum. So I did that and then I started helping a few other nonprofits with basically fundraising videos and then kind of consulting with them as well on capital campaigns and fundraising. And so then there were some problems with Indie Memphis with fundraising and basically on about to shut the doors. They had taken a pause.
And I don't know, I had felt like Indie Memphis really launched my career and most of ours. I've seen it launch so many young people's career through the youth program and just so many of my friends in general. And I couldn't see it close. And several people said, why don't you just take over Indie Memphis because they need some leadership and some fundraising. And so I had asked Joey, if I start a new film festival, I'm going to need your help. I don't know anything about programming really. He was also like just...
you need to talk to the IndieMenthus board and let's see what we can get going. I don't know, it was an easy transition just because we already kind of knew everybody. I was already fundraising. And with Joey's help, it was easy to kind of come in and like, we can pick this up where it left off and go ahead and plan on having a festival in 2026. So we decided to be co-directors. He was going to handle all the operations side. I'm going to handle all the fundraising and outreach. And that's where we are today. Awesome.
speaker-0 (08:03.116)
Yeah. Well, it is in capable hands and, you know, like you said, all of us that owe a huge debt to Indy Memphis and our careers and exposure. Yeah, we're all excited that you guys are continuing it on and wish both of you and the festival huge success.
speaker-1 (08:18.262)
Nobody better to run it besides the two of you for sure. Thank you.
speaker-0 (08:22.094)
So let's talk about the burbs Alicia. When was the first time that you recall seeing the burbs?
speaker-1 (08:26.686)
Last night.
I know I've seen this. know I've seen this. Surely I saw this, you know, and I didn't like the further it got into the movie. I'm like, I have never seen this before. Yeah, you definitely would know. I knew the premise, you know, and I kind of knew there was a lot of famous people in it. And I remember all of that, that I was like, I've never seen this movie. So it was really fun to watch it and really, you know, experience all of that now is ridiculous.
speaker-0 (08:58.702)
It was the first time I had seen it since about 1991.
speaker-1 (09:02.798)
Wow. What is wrong with you people? I mean, this is gold. This is like cinema gold. All of it. I'll tell you why. One of the reasons I picked it too, because I loved, I know this sounds ridiculous, but in the 90s I loved So I Married an Axe Murderer. for some reason, like Forbes kind of reminds me of that. And I love scary houses. That's like, that is something I really.
creepy thing that I love is like a haunted house, know, scary house.
speaker-0 (09:33.708)
He'll be crying himself to sleep tonight on his huge pillow.
speaker-1 (09:37.442)
Harriet! Don't even get me started!
speaker-0 (09:40.046)
So, Lindsay, we heard your experience with it. I think we were rolling when I said that I saw it, like, in college. I would kind of wish I'd seen it when I was younger, so it would have had the impact on me as a young teen instead of someone in their early 20s. But before we get started, let's go ahead and let's just watch the trailer, and then we can chat about that after. All Tom Hanks wanted was a quiet vacation at home. This is what I need, Carol. I need this. Welcome to Mayfield Place.
typical street in the burbs. Morning, Walter! Where nothing much ever happened. Walter's dog just took a dump on Roomsfield's lawn again. Until the Clopecks moved in. Clopecks? Clopecks. Clopeck. No one goes in, no one comes out. Neighbors from hell.
speaker-1 (10:27.758)
you
speaker-0 (10:28.27)
It was a nice place to live. He said he thinks that Clopex are evil incarnate. Well, you're much too smart to fall for that, aren't you, honey? But now, Carol! you wouldn't want to visit there. Ray, this is Walter.
I'm going over the fence, and I'm not coming back till I find a dead body.
speaker-1 (10:57.806)
Do you want them to take your family, kidnap them, tear their livers out and make some kind of satanic paté? We f***ing want her! We got a real...
speaker-0 (11:06.382)
problem
speaker-0 (11:11.534)
Tom Hanks. think we are overreacting. No. The Burbs. It's one hell of a neighborhood. Hey, honey, I think we should move.
speaker-1 (11:25.262)
I'm sorry, y'all. That's hilarious.
speaker-0 (11:27.98)
My first thought was when's the last time you saw a trailer and the voiceover mentions the actor by his name and not his character's name? Tom Hanks needs a new vacation. like Tom Hanks does or Tom Hanks fucking character that's in the movie. Tom Hanks. How weird was that?
speaker-1 (11:44.206)
guys!
think it's because they were probably capitalizing on big.
speaker-0 (11:51.096)
Well definitely, but still. Like from now on anytime we see a trailer like Liam Neeson has a beef with someone and he's gonna kill them. Like no, no, that's not Liam Neeson that's gonna do it, his character is.
speaker-1 (12:03.662)
It's so good though, but that trailer is so good. There's some of the funniest lines in there.
speaker-0 (12:12.322)
Yeah, trailers very well done, very 80s. I noticed there's a couple of scenes in the trailer that are not in the movie.
speaker-1 (12:17.838)
Correct, yeah. Like, Corey Feldman's line of, love this neighborhood, that's not the take that they use for the actual film.
speaker-0 (12:25.634)
And there was a shot of Carrie Fisher sitting at a couch through the mirror. That was not in the movie either. So yeah, that's the Burbs, 1989, Joe Dante. Let's get started. about? So the movie opens on a suburban neighborhood at night. We see this man played by Tom Hanks. We'll just call him Tom Hanks. If the trailer's going to do it, fuck it. We're going to say Tom Hanks. Yeah. Why don't we Ray? So he plays Ray Peterson and Ray Peterson is awoken in the middle of the night by noises outside.
speaker-1 (12:35.086)
Let's do it.
speaker-0 (12:54.092)
He walks over to his side yard and looks over into the neighbor's front yard to see that the noises are coming from the neighbor's basement. Did you notice, like when we first see the house, there's not really, it's not ominous at first. You know, they just, it's in color and he just sees these glows coming from the basement. And then he looks around the neighborhood and sees another neighbor watching from across the street from a darkened bedroom window. It's a nice little atmosphere setup is what this, beginning is. He starts to step.
into the neighbor's yard where he sees the glowing from the basement. But then the wind starts to blow and the house all of sudden takes on all this ominous appearance. And there's this great white shot from across the street framed by yellow and green leaves. So you see that there's green grass on Ray's yard and the trees are green at his yard, but then they've muted all of the colors in the house, the spooky house. So it's like almost black and white in the center of the shot where everything around it is in.
I thought that was very well done.
speaker-1 (13:55.02)
Yeah, that's actually my favorite shot of the whole movie and how he kind of puts his toes over onto that grass. Even after watching the whole thing, I kept going back to that shot. It's really probably one of my favorites and there's a lot of great shots. There's about 10 million dolly shots in this movie. It reminded me of The Awakening when the patients couldn't go past a certain line in the hospital. Like that's what it seemed like. Like he would, his toes were right on the
speaker-0 (14:00.215)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (14:09.326)
Very active Dolly.
speaker-1 (14:24.204)
right on the cusp of the property of the neighbor and it's like crossing over the threshold. Yeah, exactly. If he took one more step, bad things were gonna happen.
speaker-0 (14:34.862)
Yeah, but then he stepped backwards over to his yard and like the wind calmed down and everything went back to normal. After the scene, we cut to the sunny suburbs. There's a boy on his bike tossing newspapers. Ray comes out to catch his newspaper, but paperboard beans him in the sides and just keeps on peddling and Ray throws his coffee at him. I remember that scene I think more than any other scene, that scene and the crash zoom in and out when they're screaming. I remember those two shots more than anything.
speaker-1 (15:02.594)
Yeah, I mean, if you do not realize that Tom Hanks came from this type of world of comedy, then this is peak Tom Hanks humor. He is so good at just that, at just exactly that, not saying anything, but his gestures, his facial expressions, the way in which he does it. I mean, to me, he's an absolute comedic genius. Just that stupid little thing of him throwing the coffee, it is so...
like just the way he does it. And that right there tells you exactly what this movie is.
speaker-0 (15:35.288)
Yeah, it does. The paperboy tosses the paper at another neighbor immediately, Walter, played by Gail Gordon. I always remember him as the crotchety old bastard from the Lucy show, the show after I Love Lucy.
speaker-1 (15:47.436)
Lots of pictures of Lucy in this movie.
speaker-0 (15:49.996)
Is it really? I didn't catch them. Yeah.
speaker-1 (15:51.896)
Yeah, lots of framed pictures in Walter's house of him and Lucy. One over the TV, one by the door. Yeah.
speaker-0 (15:55.834)
I'll be damned. I didn't notice.
Nice little touch. Walter puts down his poodle and lets the dog run across streets where it takes a dump in a yard that we don't know anything about this yard yet, but it takes a dump. Ray, still standing on his sidewalk, yells good morning to Walter. Walter ignores him and then goes inside.
speaker-1 (16:16.448)
Is this the time where I get to tell you who that dog is? Yeah, definitely. It's precious from Silence of the Lambs.
speaker-0 (16:24.504)
Get the fuck outta here. That's probably one of the most famous acting dogs.
speaker-1 (16:26.862)
It's the same dog. Really?
speaker-1 (16:33.068)
Listen mister, I'm getting real tiring of you. I got your dog.
speaker-0 (16:38.286)
That's fucking precious. What year did Silence of the Lambs come out? 91, I'll be damned.
speaker-1 (16:41.55)
91 You're welcome everybody that's fucking precious
speaker-0 (16:47.043)
I am not familiar with a lot of lore of this movie.
speaker-1 (16:50.178)
Hey, we have Lindsey here. Who's a complete moron.
speaker-0 (16:54.391)
Enter Corey Feldman as Ricky. Ricky is carrying paint buckets to a porch, slopping paint everywhere. Joe Dante is not a fan of subtle things. Everything has to be like, like slopping paint and paint drips all over the stereo and turns on this loud music. And then we cut to his neighbor, Lieutenant Rumsfield, played by generational badass, Bruce Dern. Incredible.
speaker-1 (17:20.533)
Incredible. Apparently they offered this part to Gary Busey. He turned it down. Thank God. Can you imagine?
speaker-0 (17:27.106)
I'm so glad he did.
Busey was too close to art, I think, and body type and character. I think it would have been a little confusing. So Bruce Dern, different physicality. Yeah, much, much better actor. At least post-motorcycle accident. Correct. He was Oscar contender until he cracked that head on the curb and then... Probably should have worn a helmet. So yeah, Bruce Dern walks out onto his porch in shorts, no shirt, and a very bizarre green vest. Is this a back to the future vest? I've never seen a vest like
speaker-1 (17:48.376)
to want a helmet there Gary.
speaker-1 (18:00.394)
I had a Gary Back to
speaker-0 (18:03.832)
Yeah. His wife... Did we ever get a name on his wife? Bonnie. So his wife Bonnie comes out.
speaker-1 (18:10.764)
Wendy Shawl, Innerspace? She was in Innerspace too.
speaker-0 (18:14.008)
She was in Interspace. That's right. I always remember they were always small roles that I would kind of like, Hey, I remember her, but she's not so great that I want to know her name, what her name is.
speaker-1 (18:22.122)
And apparently, like, Tom Hanks was like, don't really understand what she's supposed to be, like, doing in this movie. So apparently he, like, wrote everybody notes. Like, they all had a, apparently had a, really great time working together. And he, like, wrote in her note, like, I still don't get what you're doing, but it was great working with you.
I love her and like she kind of she's one of my favorite parts of the movie just the fucking silly Outfits and like what a linear kind of a ding back she was but she was really trying to keep everything together I loved her. I did too. I did too. I'm like, come on Tom. Don't give her a hard time For real. Oh, I loved her. I'm happy
speaker-0 (19:04.418)
No, she was very good in this and I always remember seeing her throughout my life. I just never could place her to one movie that stood out. So his wife Bonnie comes out. She steps under the porch and hands a folded American flag to the lieutenant. I'm going to refer to Bruce Dern as the lieutenant from here out. I think, I think that would be the best way to do it. He takes the flag to the front yard where he runs the flag up the flagpole. The lieutenant steps back to salute the flag and steps right in the dog shift that Walters Poodle who
I will now refer to as Precious, had dropped when it was running around earlier. So the lieutenant storms over to Walter's house, cut to Ray is watching all of this from the window of his home as his wife, Carol Peterson, played by the Enchanting. And I remember as a kid, when the first time I saw Star Wars, I was nine and finding her really pretty for a nine year old. But it wasn't until I became a late teen, early twenties, kind of fishers fucking smoking.
Yeah. I didn't get it until later as I grew up that she's just a very beautiful woman. She's cool. The haircut takes some getting used to in this, the mom haircut.
speaker-1 (20:09.486)
purchase.
speaker-1 (20:13.91)
In fact, like I kept thinking, she'd be so much prettier if her hair was better. But one of my favorite lines is at the very end where he keeps saying, did you get your hair cut? it's so good. He's like, I really do like your hair. Love your hair. So apparently she like wore a wig in the movie and it was like exactly like her hair, which didn't make really a lot of sense to me. I was like, why did they do that to her? But she looks like that in When Harry Met Sally. That's like exactly the same haircut, the same.
all of it. So like when she would like go on breaks and she'd take the wig off, people wouldn't notice that she'd taken the wig off. I like, why don't they do that? Like, I don't know. Anyway.
speaker-0 (20:48.44)
They don't have to keep cutting her hair for continuity if they shoot for three months. Yeah.
speaker-1 (20:52.814)
Well, and speaking of, mean, this was shot during the Writers Guild strike. Now, I found that really interesting that, you know, they kind of rushed to getting the shot because they knew the Writers Guild strike was coming. Yeah, they had to really be careful. And apparently, I guess they shot everything in sequence just in case like something would happen. And so and a lot of things were improvised like Tom Hanks improvised a lot of scenes at the end. Apparently, you know, even
There was some pretty famous lines from the movie that were just completely improvised because of that strike that they were, and the writer is in the film at the end, but he couldn't advise on the script at all. He couldn't say anything while they were.
speaker-0 (21:33.902)
Interesting. So Carol, Ray's wife, played by Carrie Fisher, is watching with him as they see the lieutenant yelling threats at Walter's house as Walter looks through the window and says, your dog takes one more shit on my lawn, I'm going to staple his ass shut.
speaker-1 (21:49.453)
I will not.
speaker-0 (21:50.506)
I do too. Bruce Dern seems like to type to me like, I don't want to improvise. Give me the lines. Let me do the lines. And, you know, you're not paying me to come here and write for you. Just give me the lines. I could be wrong.
speaker-1 (22:05.228)
Yeah, you're probably not wrong about
speaker-0 (22:07.498)
Inside the Petersons house Carol is concerned that Ray is gonna squander his vacation obsessing about the neighbors the new neighbors that have moved in next door the Clopex and She begs him to pack the car up and so they can go elsewhere and get away from the house But Ray insists that a relaxing week at home is what he needs next We meet the other neighbor art played by Rick do common
speaker-1 (22:31.278)
actually was like who is this guy he just seems like everybody else that we would know in any of these types of movies you know like a John Candy type but I didn't really know him either so maybe he's the poor man's John Candy yeah that's the vibe
speaker-0 (22:44.91)
Do common. Yeah, that would be unless it's do come in we'll say do common. Oh I got more shitty things to say about right So yeah, next we meet another neighbor art played by Rick do common who Rick started out as a stand-up comedian had other kind of doofish guy similar roles as Groundhog Day, which he played a drunk. Well, I will give him I'll give him that so yeah, so he was in several movies throughout the 80s and 90s
speaker-1 (22:49.55)
Hopefully we won't get sued by Rick.
speaker-0 (23:14.338)
We see Art and he's in his backyard. He's walking around with a pellet gun rifle and sets his sights on a crow. A crow is sitting atop his fake owl on his fence, which I found funny. It's like, you put those fake owls out. I didn't know this until I moved to Seattle and had a crow problem and had to put fake owls out of my fence. So he's got this fake owl to keep crows away. The crow is just sitting on the owl's head. He tries to shoot the crow, misses and blows the owl's head off.
And then Art sees Ray and almost shoots Ray by accident. think he knocks out his porch light.
speaker-1 (23:48.622)
And then he proceeds to go in and eat all his food
speaker-0 (23:53.548)
Yeah. Again, subtleties with Joe Dante do not exist.
speaker-1 (23:58.72)
No.
speaker-0 (24:01.044)
Yeah. So yeah, he's joined the Petersons for breakfast and he's eating everything on the table. Even at one time, Carrie Fisher walks through with a bowl of potpourri and he reaches in and grabs potpourri and throws that in his mouth. The whole time Ray is talking, he's asking if they have more food.
speaker-1 (24:18.442)
It to the fridge. It gets a pineapple. It rips, And meanwhile, there's actually like kind of important dialogue happening.
speaker-0 (24:22.734)
Pineapple and ribs.
speaker-0 (24:30.918)
Yeah, exactly. Carol asks Art if he's met the new neighbors, the Clopex, and he says that nobody has, but we learned from Ray and Carol's son who walks in.
speaker-1 (24:41.314)
Dave. Who names their kid Dave?
speaker-0 (24:44.886)
nobody that he says he's seen three figures digging in the backyard through his telescope. And so there's three Clopax and art tells them as he's rummaging through the fridge, getting his pineapple and his ribs that the realtor had told him that their last house had burned to the ground. And then he says back down at the table, continuing to just eat and eat and eat. I have issues with overeating scenes and movies. Okay.
speaker-1 (25:12.397)
WOM
speaker-0 (25:13.774)
It doesn't make me laugh to see someone overeating. It just kind of grosses me out. Gotcha. I didn't laugh at his overeating. I remember the first time I seen it, just thinking gross. It reminds me of the scene, the son slopping his stew in Friday the 13th, part five, a new beginning. It's just like dial it back on the slobbering and slopping. I don't think overeating while delivering dialogue is funny.
speaker-1 (25:18.893)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (25:39.938)
Yeah, I think that they're like, want to get this point across. It's like you're saying, subtlety is not his thing. We're going to land the plane here over and over and over again so you'll know who this guy is as a neighbor and doesn't even care. But it does kind of establish it. I like it. You know me. I I thought it was funny and it made me laugh. And then enters Dave.
speaker-0 (26:03.138)
Dave. Dave, the actor kind of reminds me of the son from Elf for some reason.
speaker-1 (26:08.948)
gosh, totally yes. Yeah. And apparently Tom Hanks like was like, I don't want a son in this movie. I don't think I'm there yet in my career. Like he didn't want to be seen as like a dad type. And so he suggested that he and Carrie Fisher just be like a young couple living in this home. He fought against being a dad in this movie.
speaker-0 (26:28.66)
At that point in his life, he was afraid he was going to have a son. He was going to turn out saying things like, it's white boy summer.
speaker-1 (26:34.382)
Right? Yeah. But then ended up playing a dad a couple of years later, you know.
speaker-0 (26:40.78)
Next, the Rumfields are gardening in their yard as the Lieutenant starts obsessing about Walter again and the dog crapping in his yard. Ray and Art are standing outside of Ray's garage and they spot someone step out onto the porch at the Clopax house and it's fucking Malachi from Children of the Court.
speaker-1 (27:00.182)
Right? Who says what? Zero lines in this entire movie? Yeah.
speaker-0 (27:06.382)
He starts speaking later, but for the first 30 minutes that he's in, he doesn't speak. Do you have that actor's name offhand? I remember him from Courtney Gaines. He'll always be Malachi to me. And he's on the front porch just looking creepy, kind of looking around in a very Amish attire. All the neighbors start noticing one by one that he's out there. And Bruce Dern, as the lieutenant says, one of the Huns has come out of the cave.
speaker-1 (27:14.03)
Courtney Daines.
Ons, Clopec.
speaker-1 (27:36.76)
love that every time they show Bruce Dern, they do that Patton trumpet thing. Almost every time they show him as a character, which makes sense because the guy who wrote the music for this also wrote the music for Pat.
speaker-0 (27:51.402)
I there is a song later that is taps, but it's not taps. It's almost like a taps knockoff, which I don't think you need to secure the rights to tap.
speaker-1 (28:00.686)
I wouldn't think so. Like that's a bridge too far. I just want to say about that scene that I can't believe you just breezed over the whole Cory Feldman looking at Mrs. Brumsfield's ass and how he's, you the husband is not even interested. He's more interested in what's going on with the neighbors than the fact that they're like having this whole flirty exchange about her tan line.
speaker-0 (28:03.246)
I wouldn't think so, either.
speaker-0 (28:24.878)
There's a scene a few minutes later where he finally realizes the kid is coming down to his wife and says, the neighbor is a meatball.
speaker-1 (28:32.556)
He's a real meatball, I think. I think this is a point in the movie as a viewer where you say, there's no chance Corey lives there alone, right? I asked Billy that. said, does he have parents? Like what age is that? Is all? He's like, no, his parents are just gone.
speaker-0 (28:48.396)
Yeah, there's a one line they say about his parents being out of town.
speaker-1 (28:51.566)
I missed it too.
speaker-0 (28:55.03)
It's in the middle of the film, so they make you wonder for a long time until it's just, I think, and maybe it's Carol that says something about when his parents get back.
speaker-1 (29:02.926)
okay. So all of the viewings of this film, I have never caught that. It's like Art's wife at the end of the movie. Like where's she been this whole time? Exactly. So I like, didn't even, you know, you just assume he's sitting there painting his house literally like the columns red and you're like, what are you doing? And who's letting you do this? And he's having parties all the time.
speaker-0 (29:24.204)
and drinking beer with art later. It's like, how old is this kid?
speaker-1 (29:26.238)
Right, you know. Right. And so it just feels kind of confusing in that way. This is also peak Corey Feldman, Michael Jackson era. They kind of made me think, yeah, like that they just put his character in because they wanted, you know, his celebrity, but it didn't really fit to me.
speaker-0 (29:44.864)
It was peak Corey Feldman overacting. Dial it the fuck down. I had to look it up because to me, he was doing Keanu Reeves from Bill and Ted's. They both came out the same year and I was wondering like, did he see it? Was that edit finished first and then he got to see a copy because he is so like Keanu Reeves head shakes. Corey Feldman is great for bringing back that nostalgia, but he's a terrible actor.
speaker-1 (30:11.884)
Yeah, he really is. Yeah, it felt very forced to me. I was like, is this necessary to even have him in this role? But whatever.
speaker-0 (30:20.174)
And the way he kept delivering his lines and all his mulling his hat around. That's why I thought maybe he'd seen Bill and Ted's before he did this. He was very happy to explore the space on this one.
speaker-1 (30:33.878)
And apparently Michael Jackson's famed chimpanzee bubbles was on set quite a bit.
speaker-0 (30:40.15)
Are you shitting
speaker-1 (30:42.136)
for the entire filming of it.
speaker-0 (30:43.864)
Bubbles was on set? Mm-hmm. Why?
speaker-1 (30:46.584)
Why didn't they just throw globals in the movie? I don't know, because he was hanging out with Michael Jackson at the time. So I guess they would come to the set or at least he would bring the monkey to the set. mean, was weird stuff going on with Corey Feldman in the 80s. Yeah, he would have played a great part in the Clopex house. They totally should have just put him in the Clopex.
all through the day. Yeah, and he was already going through it. Apparently, Joe Dante and a couple of other people on set had to keep him from basically crashing and burning. I think just everything, they were trying to keep him from getting into trouble.
speaker-0 (31:18.413)
and cocaine.
speaker-0 (31:22.766)
Yeah, it's very strange. He's almost like the narrator. But sort of like, you're gonna let Corey Feldman do this? okay. Cool. Funny scene here as Art tries to chide Ray to go over to say hi to the new neighbors, but they're both too unnerved by the new neighbor and kind of just stand there arguing like kids trying to dare each other to go do it. But then while they're arguing, the clopec that's out on the porch, we find out later his name is Hans. He's just a...
speaker-1 (31:25.816)
Like a greek chorus. Yeah.
speaker-0 (31:52.598)
unidentified personnel. So Hans goes back inside. Art and Ray, after daring each other to go say hi, finally both walk up the Clopex house up under the porch. Art steps through a board in the porch. That spooky wind kicks back up behind them as they're walking up there. And they bang on the knocker on the door and it causes their address, which is 666, to fall knocking over the porch light that's attached to the house and releasing a swarm of bees that are living in the rotten hole.
behind the porch light, sending Ray and Art running across the street over to the Rumsfield's house where the lieutenant sprays them with water hose and gets the bees off of them. And then across the street, Ray's son looks on embarrassed of his dad and he like walks out of frame like, my dad sucks.
speaker-1 (32:40.058)
Bruce Dern yelling like, run towards the water, run towards me. They're like on the ground rolling around. It's just, it's so fucking absurd, but they're so good at it. Yeah, I did love that part too, Lindsay, where he's like, just run towards the water, run towards the water. And they're like, they're like running in circles, not towards the water for like a good solid, you know, two minutes or whatever.
as they're being attacked by bees. and then Art opens his mouth and one bee.
speaker-0 (33:14.798)
He's moving. Yeah, that's in his mouth. He spits it out. I thought that was very well done. They could have easily had a dead bee in there, but the bee is moving around. How they do that.
speaker-1 (33:23.17)
How you do that? How you do that?
speaker-0 (33:25.12)
As Art, Ray and the Rumsfields are staring at the Clopex spooky house, the Lieutenant says in Southeast Asia, we'd call this type of thing bad karma.
speaker-1 (33:35.094)
Yes!
speaker-0 (33:39.054)
They focus their attention to the Clopex house again and Corey Feldman is trying to do every possible body and facial movement humanly possible to tell Ray that the Clopex could have accidentally left open the gateway to hell. Art tells the story of a guy killing his family with an ice pick and that he would have never been caught if it wasn't for the heat wave that year that sent the stench of those bodies decomposing all over town. A lot of scenes like this in this movie so...
A story that's unrelated to this story just to bring tension up. So, we're tell you about a story about a guy killing his wife, even though it has nothing to do with this story and will not come back in later except for a dream sequence. But we're gonna use this story to change the music, build the tension, to give us a reason to have Tom Hanks as a scaredy cat. Because he jumps at the end and does the, Tom Hanks, ga ga ga, that he does so well.
speaker-1 (34:32.747)
Right, I know he's so good at it. Well, I will say though, it doesn't necessarily not serve a purpose, right?
I think that's part of kind of what this film is about, right? This like, bored men are dangerous, you know, or suburban paranoia, you know, like they don't have anything better to do than to sit around and tell each other these dramatic kind of like one up stories. It creates and builds that tension within these people's minds throughout this entire film, right? So like hearing stories like that is kind of what helps tell the story of who's the real weirdos here.
speaker-0 (35:08.398)
but they do such a heavy job of making the family next door so weird and so obviously up to something that you go, well, obviously they're not gonna be up to something because it's so blatant that they're up to something. Then we can't just have the rest of the movie being so blatant and then like, oh, they are up to something. But then there's an old switcheroo at the end, which is a pleasant surprise. Because it could have very easily have ended.
with just like you said, Lindsay, where they realize, you know what, we're dangerous when we're bored, we're dangerous when we have outsiders, and maybe we got some thinking to do.
speaker-1 (35:42.35)
I have to say I was definitely surprised by the ending because I really thought it was going that route and that the the Clopax were actually some kind of unsung heroes, you know, the police are like, he's a very respected pathologist. He's a very respected doctor. And I was like, they are making a real fools of themselves. And then the line where it's like, just mind your business, you know. Yeah, they apparently shot like three different endings, but none of them work.
speaker-0 (36:10.062)
Interesting. Oh, yeah. I totally forgot that ending. I thought it was gonna end with them just being benign and misunderstood. Yeah, that was a pleasant surprise for me too. Okay. Later, Ricky invites a girl over to his parents' absent home to watch the neighbors from his front porch. This becomes a shtick for the rest of the movie. He just likes to sit on the porch and watch the neighbors being those crazy suburbanites. And so...
gets a couple of lawn chairs, sits on the front porch and his girlfriend and they just start watching what's about to unfold. They see Art walk over to the Peterson's house, knock on the window where Ray and Carol are inside watching Jeopardy.
speaker-1 (36:47.758)
which apparently that scene was improvised too.
speaker-0 (36:50.316)
Just them watching and with the dialogue they said while they were watching. It was weird, they were almost like they were collecting data to be on Jeopardy, the way they were discussing it.
speaker-1 (37:00.94)
Fisher makes this kind of like joke and you can tell Tom Hanks' laugh to her is totally Tom Hanks, it's genuine. He thought it was funny.
speaker-0 (37:08.778)
If someone can come up with some witty improvised dialogue, it's Carrie Fisher. Now Corey Feldman starts narrating the action. Can I be honest with you guys? Yeah. I hate Corey Feldman. I've always hated Corey Feldman.
speaker-1 (37:12.5)
It's Carrie Fisher y'all.
speaker-1 (37:19.064)
Go for it.
I don't much like him either. There's not much to like about his acting. then once you learn kind of like what he's doing now and the kind of person he's become, you're like, I think he was always really that person, you know? I mean, listen, if you were a Corey Haim or a Corey Feldman watcher, I'm going Haim all day. mean, even in like movies like Stand By Me, as much as I love that movie, even in The Goonies, I find I am annoyed.
by his character. And so it's like, is that how he is supposed to be acting because that's how the character's written? Or is Corey Feldman just really fucking annoying?
speaker-0 (38:01.646)
I liked him in Stand By Me, but in Lost Boys, he's the same thing, way over the top, that character. Not as bad as in this one, it kind of fit in Lost Boys, but I remember when I first saw Lost Boys, even thinking like, dial it back, Cory, just come on, you stuff, widow, the way he talks and everything. It's like, what, you're 16.
speaker-1 (38:22.668)
have worked for him though because people kept casting him. no. Sure. First of all, how did he keep getting booked on everything? This is such a terrible thing to say, but when a lot of those really great young actors that we did love started dying, I'm like, why them? Not Coryville
speaker-0 (38:38.03)
I remember the wrong Cory died being sad a lot when that happened
speaker-1 (38:42.606)
No shit, I always thought he was so annoying and same thing, I'm like trying to tell myself this is just his character but it's really who he is like Lindsay said.
speaker-0 (38:51.214)
So I'll put my Cory hating aside for a second. We'll keep moving until his next annoying appearance. So he's watching the whole thing narrating the whole thing from across the streets. We now see the lieutenant is in his front yard looking at the Clopac house with an infrared telescope. So Art Ray have joined the lieutenant in his front yard. A low frequency starts to build until it's this loud hum and the screech and it's too loud. So everyone covers their ears and they see the basement of the Clopacs house glow and
come electrified and then there's a lightning rod on top of the house, lets out a spark almost like a giant Tesla coil and then the energy field winds to a just sudden halt and just stops. Then the Clopex garage door opens and out drives the young Hans Clopec and he removes the giant garbage bag from the trunk of the car, tosses it into the garbage cans on the curb and starts beating it down with I guess a hoe trying to stuff the garbage down into the trash can.
speaker-1 (39:49.685)
I'm angry about it.
speaker-0 (39:50.958)
So angry about it. It's the only emotion he shows in the whole movie.
speaker-1 (39:54.968)
thought that he drove it four feet to the garbage can was my favorite. I'm like, this is my teenage son now. When you got a dead body in the trunk, you do it with your lights off and it's that dead body's pretty heavy.
speaker-0 (40:07.406)
And then he drives the car back to the garage and it starts to rain on Art, Ray, and the Lieutenant and they decide that they will go through the garbage first thing in the morning at first light. So later that night, Ray is watching from his bedroom window as he sees three figures out in the rain in the backyard of the Clopax house digging giant body size holes in the backyard. No.
speaker-1 (40:29.422)
They're not up to anything.
speaker-0 (40:32.396)
The next morning, the garbage men arrive, played by Joe Dante veterans, Dick Miller and Robert Picardo. They have been good God. I didn't look it up, but my memory knows that they are in so many Joe Dante films.
speaker-1 (40:46.23)
all of them, gremlins, mean, just all of
speaker-0 (40:48.92)
them. The howling. Yeah. And love Dick Miller. I've always loved him. Just just a great actor. So as they are loading the Clopax trash into the garbage truck, Art runs from his house across the street, stops them, grabs the bag and just starts dumping the garbage onto the street. And it's just normal garbage that's in the garbage. Again, Joe Dante and these subtleties. Just this is another one of those we need to ramp up the mess so everybody do things really fast.
speaker-1 (41:14.936)
crazy
speaker-0 (41:19.052)
So he's like, he's grabbing the trash, dumping it out, brr! And Carrie Fisher again tries to get Ray to take the family out of town to go to their cottage, but Ray stops her. They argue and their son Dave comes in and tells Ray that Art is dumping garbage onto the street. The lieutenant also arrives to the garbage truck to find Art's now sitting in the back of the garbage truck, continually just dumping garbage over his shoulder onto the street.
speaker-1 (41:46.222)
Yeah, that's one of the things that I watch as an actor and I go, they are in a garbage truck y'all and like I have a visceral barf reaction to that. How much did they have to clean that but yet they made it look dirty and
Here's the lieutenant half shaven. He's clearly in the middle of shaving. So half of his face is shaving cream. And I'm like, you're going to get trashed. Stick on your face, a banana peel or something. I mean, it's like high tension for me watching this because it grosses me out so much. They are in the garbage truck. They're in it. This looks like shot on a back lot and the whole, all of that. It's just like clean props that they've made look dirty, but I get it. I get it, Lindsey. It's still, it's a mental thing, you know? Yeah.
Totally, but I tell you what my favorite part is that the trash stays on the street for the rest of the play. Like it stays there the entire movie. Well, that's because the lieutenant pissed him off so bad, you know, I mean they're like who's going to clean all this up and he's like guess what I pay your salary through my taxes so you are and I was like, no, nobody talks to the garbage man like that. First of all, nobody talks to Dick Miller like that.
speaker-0 (42:38.049)
I did like that touch.
speaker-0 (42:42.51)
Just drive over it.
speaker-1 (42:59.276)
But definitely nobody's talk to their garbage man like that. they are, God bless them. Yeah, and they knew their, you knew their names too. They're like, no, Dick, don't empty the trash, bro. Like they're all friends, you know? I'm like,
speaker-0 (43:13.71)
Did notice at the very end when everything goes down at the end on the street that the garbage men are there arguing over the trash cans? Did you see them? In a white shop.
speaker-1 (43:21.39)
Yeah, it's so good. I'm telling you, y'all, this movie is gold! It's gold!
speaker-0 (43:30.296)
So in a very mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad world type of way, the lieutenant joins Art and jumps into the garbage truck with him and starts throwing garbage out of the back of the truck onto the street. This is that sort of tension's gotta be high. So Ray bolts out of the door, running as fast as he can to the garbage truck while Carrie Fisher runs out screaming, Ray, come back, come back. It's cool guys. We don't need everybody freaking out here. don't.
speaker-1 (43:53.934)
Don't act like that every day in your neighborhood, Bart. I don't understand. Break. Fuck! That's how I run after Jackson when he leaves the house. I don't understand what the problem is.
speaker-0 (43:57.826)
Come back, come back!
speaker-0 (44:05.08)
I understand why Carrie Fisher was so concerned about him. I guess the whole, you're ruining your vacation!
speaker-1 (44:12.064)
Yeah, I think she was like, now we're going through people's trash. You need to get away from here. You've lost it.
speaker-0 (44:19.262)
Well, a funny scene, also this scene needs to calm the fuck down a little bit. Yeah. It's very old Hollywood where speed equals comedy. You know, it's like, we got to do it all fast. And then it's funnier or it builds more attention. So everybody's dumping the trash and everybody's running to their marks. during all of these shenanigans and more of Corey Feldman's terrible acting as he joins them looking around, just next time you watch this movie, just look at Corey Feldman's acting while everyone else has dialogue and he doesn't.
keeps turning his head like I need to keep moving. I need to keep moving. I can't just stand here and be wallpaper. Cory. They're all in this group together arguing and the lieutenant's wife has Walter's dog. What's her name? So Bonnie now has Walter's dog. It makes an enormously quick assumption that Walter has left town and accidentally left the dog out. Just immediately that's her thing. He must have went out of town and he must have left the dog out. that's the first thing you think of? I haven't really.
speaker-1 (44:58.616)
Bonnie. Mm-hmm.
Queenie
speaker-0 (45:18.168)
You guys haven't even checked his house yet. So anyway.
speaker-1 (45:21.026)
Well, I was just going to say he is obsessed with that dog. So if that dog is like out and Walter is not in the front yard, something's up. It was weird because Amy's, she's all dirty. She's all dirty and we don't know where Walter is and she's just wandering around. That was probably the best part of like, there is something wrong, you know.
speaker-0 (45:39.916)
Next thing, all the guys and the lieutenant's wife, Bonnie, break into Walter's home because, to return a dog, guess. But just break into it right away. The lieutenant breaks in through a pane in the window. So Bonnie walks into the kitchen, I guess, looking for the dog to get some food for the dog, screams, because she says she sees a rat in the kitchen. They all run in, but it's actually Walter's toupee. It's on the stove, right? Yeah. Yeah, it's sitting on the stove.
speaker-1 (45:48.472)
Mm-hmm.
speaker-1 (46:05.568)
Yes.
speaker-0 (46:08.736)
Ray leaves a note for Walter saying I've got your dog and puts it through the mail slot with his toupee.
speaker-1 (46:15.586)
But throughout Walter's house, you know, there are pictures of Lucille Ball and Gail Gordon. You know, there's one by the door. There's one on top of his TV because they've done a lot of work together in the past. So, yeah. And I guess it just is sort of like an homage to, you know, it's obviously this famous street on the Universal back lot where they film this movie and you've got the Munster's house and the Leave It to Beaver house and the Desperate Housewives were filmed there. I mean, it's very, very famous.
obviously Gail Gordon worked with Lucille Ball a lot, so they just were like, we're just gonna amp it up since we know we're in this little famous lot.
speaker-0 (46:49.528)
Boy, he was so unlikable on that show.
speaker-1 (46:51.284)
Apparently people didn't like love working with him on this movie. Like apparently he kept to himself a lot. I mean, because like he was kind of hard to get along with or work with.
speaker-0 (47:00.398)
Ray left the note and then looks up and sees at the upper window of the Clopex house another family member. This time the family member is played by actor Theodore Gottlieb, best known as Brother Theodore. Brother Theodore used to make appearances on the old Letterman show, the old NBC show. Fucking brilliant, hilarious, fascinating.
This is a man who was deported from Switzerland for chess hustling, immigrated to the United States of America with help from his friend Albert Einstein, worked as a janitor at Stanford university when he makes it to the U S and was renowned for beating 30 professors simultaneously in a game of chess. And then
speaker-1 (47:34.658)
No.
speaker-0 (47:57.848)
created cult following in the 50s and 60s for his bizarre and funny monologues. Probably for people that don't know his brother Theodore and the work he did later, he's probably best known as Voicing Golem in the animated version of The Hobbit. But there's a documentary on him, highly recommend it, can't think of what the name of it is. Fascinating fucking life. I always think of this line that he said on Letterman once, I peered into the abyss, the abyss peered back at me.
and neither one of us were too happy with what we saw.
speaker-1 (48:31.278)
I did not know that about his past. mean, it's funny you were saying that and I'm thinking, where's the movie about this guy? And then you said there was a documentary. I'm absolutely gonna go watch that. That sounds insanely fascinating.
speaker-0 (48:43.032)
director started the documentary and he died right after he started and Gottlieb's family encouraged him to finish and so he did finish. He got the interviews with Dick Cavett and a bunch of other. Penn and Teller, that's right, Penn and Teller got on board and they said, yeah, we love Brother Theodore, let's finish this documentary out. And so Penn and Teller helped him finish it.
speaker-1 (49:00.846)
What if they made a movie about him now and Tom Hanks played him?
speaker-0 (49:04.974)
That would be a coup. yeah, one of the Clopac family members is brother Theodore. Ray waves at him and then he just turns around and goes back in the house. Not a very talkative bunch, these Clopacs. In the basement of the Petersons' home, Art and Ray are arguing over the Clopacs as Ray flips through the pages of a book on demonology. And Art insists that the Clopacs are Satanists and that Walter was a human sacrifice.
speaker-2 (49:08.686)
I'm.
speaker-1 (49:10.286)
Throwing that out there.
speaker-0 (49:34.132)
Upstairs in the bedroom, Ray pitches the Satanist theory to his wife Carol. She scoffs, gets up to go to the bathroom and leaves Ray flipping through the channels on the television. On the television first, it's a clip from Race with the Devil. Then he flips the channel, then he flips it to The Exorcist. And then he changes channel again and it's the scene of Leatherface bursting through the wall in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 into the DJ studio.
speaker-1 (50:03.842)
Yes! That makes me so happy.
speaker-0 (50:07.758)
How about this? So I didn't know this until we did the Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 episode. In both Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 and in Race with the Devil is an actor named Jim OhmyAkinBananaHerald. He's in both those movies. That! Just thought that was odd. An actor who was only in like a dozen films and he happened to be two of those films that were in the clip.
speaker-1 (50:25.506)
No. How about... Wow.
speaker-1 (50:33.368)
I love that though, I love that series of him watching those three films.
speaker-0 (50:37.976)
Like a lot of people, that was the first time they saw Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 was that clip from that movie.
speaker-1 (50:43.608)
was that clip from the burbs. And I love, he just has this like blank kind of stare. The dog is very disturbed about the barf and the exorcist, but he's going through such turmoil in his little suburbia cul-de-sac that like he's not fazed by these movies. I know, I think he's like, I'm living this right now. This is going to be my life forever.
speaker-0 (51:05.706)
The next morning, Ray wakes up and Carol isn't there. He goes downstairs and is immediately met by a chainsaw blade going through the wall and then cut to hooded horned figures strapping him to a giant barbecue grill and a very theatrical bevy of our cast of characters and these various undead scenarios. Art references the murderer who killed his whole family earlier. that was funny. said...
It's a dream sequence, he's being the killer, and then he says, hey Ray, it's actually me, Art, not the killer. It's totally unnecessary, but pretty fucking funny.
speaker-1 (51:42.648)
It was. It's so ridiculous. even in his dreams, he is the most absurd human, you know.
speaker-0 (51:52.11)
So as he's about to be burned on this barbecue grill, we see Brother Theodore say to him, mind your own business. And Ray yells, okay. In the dream.
speaker-1 (52:03.15)
This is the part I love, the mind your own business.
speaker-0 (52:06.318)
Next scene, he's sitting in bed. Now he's awake for real watching Mr. Rogers as he sings, won't you be my neighbor? And Tom Hicks is even mouthing along to him. Won't you be, won't you be.
speaker-1 (52:14.992)
Which I mean, come on. Yeah.
speaker-1 (52:21.484)
neighbor. Right, I mean come on he plays him later. Right.
speaker-0 (52:25.368)
That's pretty gross. Sitting on his upper deck drinking orange juice, Ray sees that Art and the Lieutenant are running over and they have a plan. They say, come with us. But Carol then steps out like a mother telling her son's friends that he's not allowed to play, says he's not feeling well and he's going to have to stay in his room today. As the Lieutenant says, please Carol, let him come out. And they even have them dress like children. Their mannerisms are children. They're dressed like children.
speaker-1 (52:52.096)
It's so cute and they're little and he's so dejected Bruce Dern is so upset He like puts his hands in his pocket and they turn on a walkway and he even like looks back I know it's over the top and I get it But I just that is why I love this movie is shit like that I just think it's like so great and then art when they turn around he like kicks the dirt, you know, like
speaker-0 (53:13.624)
Like this is the only scene where the lieutenant's dressed like that, you know, but it's just for this scene to reinforce the fact that they're like kids.
speaker-1 (53:21.09)
Yeah, totally leave it to Beaver moment or something.
speaker-0 (53:23.672)
Yep. Art and the Lieutenant sneak onto the Clopex porch. They slide a note under the door. They ring the bell. Yeah, they ringed at the same time.
speaker-1 (53:30.21)
the same
speaker-0 (53:40.75)
Sometimes Bruce Dern's character is a hard ass former military guy and sometimes he's a child and he just fluctuates back and forth depending upon what the scene requires. A more cynical person would say these are tone problems. And I am typically a more cynical person and I will call these tonal issues. These are tonal issues, is a beef with mine throughout the film. It's like, one scene this guy's a hard ass military guy, the next scene he's playing a 12 year old boy.
speaker-1 (53:53.918)
Hahaha!
speaker-0 (54:10.387)
that wants a little consistency in our relationship, buddy.
speaker-1 (54:14.658)
GB Shannon, you and I are gonna be fighting by the time this episode ends. How do you know?
speaker-0 (54:19.412)
how do you know just because I have a Tony's you doesn't mean anything. I'm just pointing things out.
speaker-1 (54:25.294)
Listen, this is just a commentary about men, right? Most men are men and at the same time total fucking babies at the same time. So it is consistent. It is totally accurate. Am I right, Alisha? Yeah, I was going to actually say the same thing. I'm like, this is very accurate. There isn't like a total difference or a problem here. This is actually very accurate. This is real life.
speaker-0 (54:48.096)
and Bart says, okay boo.
speaker-1 (54:50.55)
Hahaha!
speaker-0 (54:52.984)
So they ring the doorbell, they agree to ring the doorbell together and they do and then they take off running like children with a ding-dong ditch and they just run away. Art goes to Ray's backyard. He's napping in a chaise lounge. Art wakes him up from the nap, tells him what they did. While they're having the argument in the backyard on whether this was a good idea or not to leave the note in the house, this is classic early Tom Hanks ranting.
just pacing back. I love how does. You know, I'm sure there are montages of him doing this online and all, all movies, but he, he'll pace ahead 10, 10 steps, then pace back. And there's definitely a formula to it, but I would love to see every one of them melt of just Tom Hanks ranting.
speaker-1 (55:41.518)
It's fucking brilliant, okay? It's Money Pit, it's Turner and Hooch, it's Splash, it's God, all of the, it's like I equate it to the Sally Field freak out, right? Every movie, there's a Sally Field total freak out. I don't know, I don't know. What happened, what'd you do? She's talking to herself and then she's out there and then she goes, ah!
You know what mean? Like it is literally the same thing and I am obsessed with it because there are so few people who can pull it off and do it well. And I'm sorry, Tom Hanks is what I'm just trying to sleep. Okay. I'm just sitting here. I'm trying to sleep. I'm trying to get some sleep. I'm to get some sleep. Meanwhile, he's sitting beside four empty beer cans. no telling what's going on. But yeah, I love it.
speaker-0 (56:24.098)
don't think it occurred to me till I watched this movie that Joe Dante is the pixies of directors. Loud, quiet, loud. So scenes calm, immediate freak out to ramp tension, everything's loud, everyone's yelling, purpose served, back to quiet. We need tension or comedy to ramp up again, everybody screaming and freaking out, back to quiet. But he's definitely the Frank Black of the film world.
So Art and Ray are yelling back and forth about what it was a stupid idea. Why'd you do this? A good idea back and forth. And the whole time they're arguing Ray's dog keeps fetching this bone and bringing it to Art. And Art, absentmindedly keeps tossing the bone back while still having this argument. The dog brings it back. It's a femur. It's obviously a femur and he hasn't noticed it yet. This is giant bone. The dog keeps bringing it back and forth. And then finally, as he's about to throw it, he looks down at this bone and realizes the size of it. It's just mammoth.
and tells Tom Hanks, you know what this is? This is a human femur. And asks where Ray's dog might have dug this up. Camera shows us the hole under the fence that he had dug into the Clopex backyard. And Art said, look, there's no hiding anymore. They're chopping people up. And the looks of this femur, Ray, this is Walter. And here we get the two of them screaming in a Pee-wee Herman type.
Crash zoom back and forth back and forth back and forth. Probably I don't would you agree this is the most iconic shot in the whole movie?
speaker-1 (57:52.478)
Yes, and rightfully so. goes on and on and on just a little longer than maybe it should. To me it's perfect. The amount of time is perfect. But like that's what makes it so funny because it goes on a little too long, right? But my God and the looks on both of their faces and the Tom Hanks scream freak out. Yes, it's the most iconic shot in the film and boy it makes me happy.
speaker-0 (58:17.87)
My favorite part of it is that Art gets distracted first by somebody across the street. So Tom Hanks is still screaming in the crash zoom. Art sees that someone's in the Clopax backyard. So he kind of comes to out of the screaming and then has to tap Tom Hanks on the shoulder and Tom Hanks literally like goes, huh? Like shakes to from his screaming to see what he's talking about.
speaker-1 (58:39.725)
It's so good.
speaker-0 (58:41.762)
Mitt Tom Hanks is what that is. So across the fence, they see a shadow of someone on the other side of the fence in the Clopax backyard. And you see a crumbled up piece of paper get tossed over to the fence into the yard. Art goes and picks it up and he's saying, what? It's probably just this. It's probably a receipt. It's probably this. And then he opens it up and he goes, no, it's my note, which is what we knew all along. So now Ray knows that they.
think he wrote the note and that it was a threat. So now he's frightened by the situation. Carol finally calls all of the neighbors to the house to get them to stop acting like kids and to go meet the neighbors. She tells Art that he's not invited. So he's like, that's crazy. you're not invited. Everybody but Art goes next door to meet the Clopacs. Bonnie makes brownies. They go over with brownies in hand.
The lieutenant is now the person that steps through a plank on the porch and drops the brownies. They shatter everywhere. Doors answered by Hans Malachy.
speaker-2 (59:46.914)
They want you too, Malachi.
speaker-1 (59:49.806)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
speaker-0 (59:51.976)
They introduce themselves, but they quickly just walk in past him and invite themselves in the home. Bruce Dern offers him the floor brownies and they go inside. So they're inside. Rumsfield opens the door to the dining room and then there stands Uncle Ruben, brother Theodore, Theodore Gottlieb, who says to Ray, you are the one who lives next door in a very ominous way. So the group sits down to chat with Uncle Ruben.
Art has climbed over the fence in the backyard into the Clopex yard with a shovel. Inside the house, Hans offers the group sardines and pretzels. And they sit down and pass it around and Ray is the only one to partake of the sardine. Sound design's great in this movie. That was such a gross sound of crunch and squish with the sardine and the pretzel.
speaker-1 (01:00:26.993)
my god.
speaker-1 (01:00:34.412)
It really is.
speaker-1 (01:00:40.446)
Even before he takes a bite just his fingers squishing around in the sardine can and like that goes on a little too long as well like he's trying to pick one up just like gave just grossed me out so much. that scene made me think they really are bad guys. The four needs and the pretzels.
speaker-0 (01:00:59.374)
Yeah, in fact, there was a scene that didn't really play, I'm gonna say it again, tonally, soon when Tom Hanks starts choking, because it's not that type of movie. They want us to think maybe he'd been poisoned, but we don't buy that because it's not that type of movie. It's already too, so he's obviously not gonna be poisoned.
speaker-1 (01:01:17.464)
All right, I'll give you that one. That moment does not work in the film. Like the mic is he allergic to sardines or something? What's happening here? Okay, that moment may not work. Okay. Yeah. Or I thought maybe he's so grossed out by the sardines. Obviously he's gagging and spitting it up.
speaker-0 (01:01:24.575)
That's what I thought.
speaker-0 (01:01:37.932)
But he does say it's the dust, it's the dust in the house that was making him sneeze. The Lieutenant asked Klopek, what is that Slavic? And the uncle says, no. And Brewster says, hey, buddy, you're about a nine on the tension scale.
speaker-1 (01:01:55.086)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:01:57.144)
The Lieutenant asks if it's just him and his nephew that are here in the house. But Uncle Ruben says that there's also his brother, the Doctor. And up from the basement, we hear footsteps as a shadow is cast across the hallway. As the Doctor climbs the basement stairs, steps into the living room, introduces himself. And it's fucking Henry Gibson. I love him. A poem by Henry Gibson. And he says, we have guests.
Apparently, Henry Gibson was a fan of Theodore Gottlieb and thought for him to be in this movie. So yeah, Henry Gibson comes in, he introduces himself and he shakes Rey's hand and says, I thought he said, pardon my blood. Yeah, and then Rey looks his hand and it's just covered in blood. But now it's nighttime, the next scene.
speaker-1 (01:02:32.988)
Mmm, interesting.
speaker-1 (01:02:41.57)
because he has it on his hand.
speaker-0 (01:02:50.95)
and Art is in the backyard. He sees a shadow pacing in the basement, back upstairs in the dining room of the Clopac house. The doctor has made them all tea and they're sitting around the table.
speaker-1 (01:03:02.062)
500 candles. What does he say to the ladies? I thought the ladies would enjoy the candles.
speaker-0 (01:03:08.718)
Yeah. It's very romantic. Yeah. He goes, it's very romantic.
speaker-1 (01:03:12.366)
Oh my god. They're literally sizzling.
speaker-0 (01:03:15.502)
He apologizes to Ray for getting the red paint all over him. And he says he was working on a painting. That was a little rude on the doctor's part, because that's a, it's almost like he had a cupped handful of red paint that he just slapped into Ray's. I mean, I think I would, I think I would avoid shaking hands with him if had that much paint in my hand. That's just me. He tells the group that his work has kept them on the move and that they have had four moves in the last four years. The lieutenant tells the brothers,
that their neighbor Walter has vanished and Ray drops his tea. Another one was amped up moments, Ray just to make it a more tense scene, Ray just drops his tea. God, shit, don't you, Tom Hanks, tea all over me. Now I'm so sorry, I dropped the tea. The Lieutenant finally says, let's cut the politeness. What have you got in the cellar, hair clopeck. So the Lieutenant asks Ray to chime in, but Ray immediately says he has to use the restroom and runs to the.
speaker-1 (01:03:58.702)
you
speaker-0 (01:04:11.99)
restroom down the hall holding his junk like a child again.
speaker-1 (01:04:16.724)
Is he burned like did he burn his wiener? What's good? No
speaker-0 (01:04:20.878)
I don't know. Ray says he's gonna go bathroom. He runs down the hall. Instead of opening the bathroom door, he opens the door to the basement and out runs a giant Great Dane who bolts out the back door through the screen door. And the lieutenant says to the doctor, you keep a horse in the basement?
speaker-1 (01:04:37.87)
This is where Bubbles the Monkey chimpanzee should have entered, right? Right then. Right.
speaker-0 (01:04:43.918)
He would have eaten half the actor's faces. So the dog chases outside, goes outside. The group all steps out on the back porch of the Clopax house to see the dog chase Art to the fence. Art falls over the fence. The group says their goodbyes and Ray, tone. Now all of sudden Ray has all the confidence in the world in this scene. He was just a little boy holding his, wringling as he ran to the bathroom.
And now he says with great confidence, he shakes both the brothers' hands and says, let's do this again sometime. Did you notice that was odd how he switched from how nervous and scared he was inside. Now he's like filled with confidence. thought that was odd. That was surprising when you said they shot this in sequence. There were several scenes that didn't match the energy of the last. And I thought maybe they'd shot this all out of sequence.
speaker-1 (01:05:34.35)
thought that maybe he had gotten a clue or had seen something where he realized they really were on to something and that's where his confidence came from but that was never really very clear either. It's not clear until a little bit later when Tom Hanks explains but I think that they should have clued the audience in on that. A little soon. Yeah. Like there was clearly a shot that they just didn't use of Ray seeing you know Walters
to pay that they just didn't use. And I think it would have served them better to use it.
speaker-0 (01:06:08.234)
same time he's he's a scaredy to the whole movie so if he found proof that they were murderers his character wouldn't have had confidence his character would be right
speaker-1 (01:06:16.59)
Right. has to... Tone!
But it has to come from somewhere, right? So like his shift into the next scene and the way he acts, right? It can't come out of nowhere. And so, you know, for Tom Hanks, I'm sure he's thinking that was my aha moment to get me like, I have got to solve this. I've got a man up and I have to solve it. But and I'm sure if I were Tom Hanks watching the scene, he would have been like, well,
That was my transition, that was my shot. That was the only shot you needed to be in there for my character to completely make sense and you didn't put that shot in there, but okay.
speaker-0 (01:06:56.524)
Yeah, because the very next scene is they're at the Petersons house and the group is all discussing what they just saw. Art and the lieutenant are still in the they are psychos camp and Ray is in agreement with his wife and Bonnie and that he asks that the women step out so he can talk some sense into the boys as he says. So yeah, this is the character reversal for him. And you're right, it's like if there were a shot in there where he puts it all together and maybe, I'm just nitpicking, but maybe it should have been not
immediate confidence when he shook their hands, but almost like awkwardness like, okay, thanks for thanks for everything where we're out of here. Because I just found this and I needed to share it with everyone.
speaker-1 (01:07:34.84)
And like maybe one shot or like the next shot of them walking to the house and him maybe behind everyone piecing it all together as they make the walk back to the house or something, you know.
speaker-0 (01:07:46.094)
Thank you, Joe Dante. So yeah, so he says he's going to talk some sense into the guys, the women leave the room. Ray shows the boys that he's found Walter's toupee and he's been hiding it in his tiny little shorts this whole time next to his crotch.
speaker-1 (01:07:58.636)
The dialogue here though, I mean the shit that these men give their wives, right? I know we didn't talk about it earlier, but like, you know, Ray is talking to Art and Ray's like, well, my wife said, what was the last time you did something your wife told you to do, you know? And then in this scene, you have the lieutenant saying, you know, well, why don't you just go dig your balls out of your wife's purse, basically, you know what I mean? And then.
Tom Hanks reaches up into his crotch and he's like, man, it's just a figure of speech. You know what I mean? But yeah, the lines in this movie and the shit that they give their wives. There's lots of little misogynistic things that happen throughout the movie when it comes to their wives. Mm Mm hmm. It was the 80s.
speaker-0 (01:08:41.645)
I thought they were going to paint Carrie Fisher even more stereotypical at one point. I'm glad they didn't. I thought it was going to be like, I thought she was going to bust his balls one more time about being unreasonable there at the end, but thankfully they didn't. yeah, so then he shows them the toupee realizes what's going on.
speaker-1 (01:09:00.513)
He said, that's been in your crotch all day.
speaker-0 (01:09:04.622)
Which it has been for an hour. The Clopex mentioned that they were all going to be out because they may have to move again. They're going to be out the next day. So he says tomorrow when they're away, we're going to go back over there and I'm not leaving until I find a dead body. Nobody knocks off an old man in my neighborhood and gets away with it. That's what he says. So he is now a. Revigorated confident Ray. The next day the Clopex and the great Dane drive away from the house.
speaker-1 (01:09:08.15)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:09:29.837)
great lighting in that scene.
speaker-0 (01:09:34.673)
Ray talks his wife, Carol, into taking their son to see her sister for the day because he's going to go play golf with art. Ray, how easily these lies come to you, the betrayal. How it starts, Ray, little white lies to your wife. And the next thing you're living a total charade.
speaker-1 (01:09:45.997)
That's how it starts.
speaker-1 (01:09:53.076)
Ugh, Art's outfit when she pulls out of that driveway. it just makes me laugh so hard. He looks like a moron.
speaker-0 (01:09:59.97)
Yeah, Art shows up in the driveway dressed in a 1950s golf outfit, multicolored, just to give her the indication that they are about to go play golf. And then the lieutenant walks out and he's now in full combat gear. And then the very next shot, it's Ray, Art, and the lieutenant standing high angle shot from the power lines. And now Art has changed out of the 1950s golf outfit into a maintenance guy's.
work shirt and hard hat. he's now, from one scene to the next, has walked out of frame and then is in the next shot in a completely different outfit.
speaker-1 (01:10:38.966)
Hey, they had lunch in between, okay? They had sandwiches. Okay. They took a restroom break.
speaker-0 (01:10:42.99)
you
speaker-0 (01:10:47.171)
I'm surprised they didn't have some sort of costume for Tom Hanks to wear in scene as well, so they could all be wearing Bazaar.
speaker-1 (01:10:53.966)
that have been like full on YMCA.
speaker-0 (01:10:56.622)
They should have had him in the sweatshirt from Bachelor Party. That would have been a nice little homage.
speaker-1 (01:11:00.354)
You know, it's probably like those kind of scenes make me think like what was happening in the makeup and wardrobe trailer like him and they were like, no, I think we've gone too far. That's too much now. Like all the other ridiculous things like, no, let's keep him very simple. that's what I think about when watching things like this. Who made that decision?
speaker-0 (01:11:20.674)
I wonder if there was ever a conversation like, hey, do you really want him in this maintenance uniform? Because the very last thing he was in a 1950s golf outfit. It's like, yes, yes I do.
speaker-1 (01:11:29.644)
Yeah, wardrobe. I did have that conversation.
speaker-0 (01:11:33.134)
So Art is telling them that he is gonna cut the power to their house. That's a little destructive for their plan now all of a sudden. just like cut power to the house. So he's gonna cut the power to the house. He climbs up the pole, he clips the wire, and as we all expect, he gets electrocuted. We wouldn't be having the scene if it wasn't for him to get electrocuted. He gets electrocuted, knocked off the pole, crashes through Ray's shed.
speaker-1 (01:11:55.66)
Which that sound cue is a bowling ball knocking a strike.
speaker-0 (01:12:00.654)
All right, right. He clips the wire, he falls. The lieutenant heads to the roof of his house with a sniper rifle. As Corey Feldman is again aping as much as he can and trying to steal as much of a scene as he can from his front porch, he yells to the lieutenant why he's got a gun and the lieutenant says, shut up and paint your goddamn house. I laughed out loud at that. Shut up and paint your goddamn house.
speaker-1 (01:12:27.896)
Because he's like, he bruises probably not acting.
speaker-0 (01:12:31.058)
Probably not.
speaker-1 (01:12:33.112)
Please, shut up.
speaker-0 (01:12:34.68)
You've gotten too many lines already, kid. Ray and Art start digging in the Clopex backyard, find nothing, so they decide to go in the house. Actually, Ray's digging, Art is just being lazy and... It's almost like Art has no redeeming qualities. It's almost like... So Ray now again, suddenly gives no fucks with his newfound confidence and smashes a window pane in the door to break into their house. So now...
speaker-1 (01:12:50.542)
Almost.
speaker-0 (01:13:01.72)
They've cut the power to these people's home and now they're breaking and entering. And inside the house they head to the basement. The lieutenant has set up shop on the roof as more of Ricky's friends show up to watch the shenanigans. One of them, his friend that has the dialogue with terrible hair is Nicky Cat. And Nicky Cat, probably best known for shit ton of great 90s movies like Richard Linklater's Suburbia. Which Suburbia, he was in Burbs and Suburbia, how about that?
speaker-1 (01:13:19.649)
Yeah!
speaker-0 (01:13:31.406)
Sin City, Doom Generation, a lot of people from certain age would know him from Doom Generation and Way of the Gun. Unfortunately, in 2025, he killed himself.
speaker-1 (01:13:39.95)
Isn't that awful? That's terrible.
speaker-0 (01:13:43.822)
I always thought he was a really good actor. And this would very wavy 80s blonde hair, terrible hair. Back in the basement, Ray and Art fire up the modified furnace, this massive furnace that they have in their basement. And it shoots a blast of flames out of it and they shut it off. And outside, Nicky yells Rumsfeld's name and it startles him, causing him to fall off the roof with the rifle. And he lands on the ground and the rifle shoots a neighbor's car.
again created just for let's ramp this tension up. He's got to fall off the roof and we need some crash bang booms. And so he smashes the window, the car alarm is going off, cut back to the basement. Ray has decided the giant furnace is to burn bones of the dead bodies. And he's decided to dig up the basement saying that the basement is where they're going to hide the rest, but they burn the bones. So we got to dig up the basement. So he starts digging a massive hole in the basement, cut to nighttime.
speaker-1 (01:14:42.766)
By the way, when they get down to the basement, there's a sled that's got rosebud on it. That's funny. Yeah, love that.
speaker-0 (01:14:51.714)
The Clopex return and they see a glow coming from their basement. So they back their car back down the street and leave. And in the basement, Ray has now dug like a five foot hole claiming that he's found something and he's hit metal. Outside, a car arrives at Walter's house and the passenger is helping Walter out of the back seat as Art steps out on the front porch of the Clopex house.
and sees that Walter is indeed not dead. And then the Clopex show up immediately after that with the police. So everything's hitting the fan at breakneck speed.
speaker-1 (01:15:30.066)
Mm-hmm and Cory does such a good job of distracting the car and the cops. He really nails it. Yeah, Good job. Good job,
speaker-0 (01:15:36.462)
He just runs and jumps on. Way to go, Coors. In the basement, Ray hits a gas line and Art runs back down to the basement just as he does that. And he says, we were gaslarking out of the house. Then we cut to a shot of the front porch. Art runs out of the house just as the house blows up behind him. The house just explodes, ball of flame. Everyone assumes that Ray was killed inside, but this ain't that kind of.
Then Ray stumbles out of the house charred and stunned as the porch behind him collapses. Great shot. Just like steps right off the porch and then the pole porch just falls.
speaker-1 (01:16:14.154)
Yeah, it really is a great shot and his face. What he looks like such a mess. It's awesome.
speaker-0 (01:16:22.104)
Carol arrives from her sister's house to see that the street is filled with people and that the Clopex house is on fire. She finds Ray, who's now had his head bandaged everywhere, but his mouth and one eyeball. And he's being escorted by a cop who has no dialogue. That cop is played by Ron Howard's father. What's his first name? I was blank on his first name.
speaker-1 (01:16:42.328)
I can't remember. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:16:43.83)
Anyway, Ron Howard's dead. So the next shot, Walter is on a gurney getting oxygen while there's a quick camera pan from the oxygen to Walter and you get a very brief uncredited cameo from Forrest J. Ackerman. Forrest J. Ackerman was a friend of Joe Dante, but best known as the editor for Famous Monsters of Filmland, the magazine that nurtured
and expanded all of our love for cinema when we were kids. It was my favorite magazine was when I was a kid. He makes a cameo in The Howling, he makes a cameo in maybe Inner Space? Dante film that he makes a cameo in. But he was the man. was, how about this for three friends, Ray Bradbury, Forrest J. Ackerman, and Ray Harryhausen. They were three best friends. But yeah.
speaker-1 (01:17:25.23)
Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:17:41.352)
I had to look it up because I couldn't find any mention of it. And then I froze it and I was like, it's Forrest Jackerman. Yeah, it is him. The very next scene, a detective played by Franklin Ajai, who as we said off camera, the only black actor in this entire fucking movie, which come on folks, it's the 80s. Franklin Ajai had his moment in the 70s with movies like Car Wash, Stir Crazy and The Jazz Singer, all which two of those three had Richard Pryor in it.
And he started as a standup comedian, always solid and everything he's ever been in and just enjoy plays great in car wash.
speaker-1 (01:18:14.796)
Yeah, he's really awesome. No, I thought he did a great job. And I think that's what struck me when I said earlier too, was like, finally a black person in this movie is the only one. But then like Lindsay said, it was so perfect because they were just a bunch of crazy white suburbanites and the person coming in with the reason would, you know, it was it was really perfect. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:18:35.918)
Ron Howard's dad explains all of the charges that Ray now faces, breaking and entering and destroying your home and kidnapping a dog, with that, misunderstanding of the note. And the gang is still arguing and Art is still yapping to the cops about there being bodies in the backyard. He still insists on it, even though Walter is fine. And Ray finally snaps, stands up to Art, one of half a dozen Tom Hanks freak out scenes, just yelling and yelling and yelling.
all charred and his rant culminates in him attacking Art and then climbs back into the ambulance with the gurney, drags the gurney up into the ambulance and then climbs into it and says, I'm sick. I'm sick. need to go to the hospital. And Carrie Fisher says, when they know what hospital, just let me know and I'll follow you to the hospital. You can tell she's almost like, I don't believe it. He's burned. He needs to go to the hospital for that alone.
speaker-1 (01:19:25.364)
Right, right.
think she was so very much like, I knew this was coming, it's fine. Yeah, but it is, you know, I love that rant that he gives because it is so true. Like, who's the crazy, who are the crazy ones? You know, we've been chasing these poor people around and we're the ones that are spying on them. We're the ones that are doing all of this and we're the ones with the crazy imaginations. You know, we are the ones. It's us.
speaker-0 (01:19:53.708)
Yeah, he's basically saying we thought it was them that were the bad guys, but we're the bad guys. So he's in the back of the ambulance waiting for, guess, them to drive him to the hospital.
speaker-1 (01:20:02.898)
And it's my understanding that he improvised a lot of just that last bit, right? Him picking up the thing and putting the gurney in there. I I think that was just all Tom Hanks.
speaker-0 (01:20:13.654)
That was pretty priceless. throws the gurney up into the ambulance and then climbs into it and buries his face.
speaker-1 (01:20:18.718)
And his foot keeps going like down and then back up and then down. Like he can't get comfy on the Kearney.
speaker-0 (01:20:24.396)
Dr. Klopik climbs into the back of the ambulance with Ray and he asks, do I look like an idiot, Mr. Peterson? You may have fooled the others, but you don't fool me. And he says, you were in my basement. Surely you looked in the furnace and you saw one of my skulls, didn't you? And so we realized they were right all along. He then gives Ray his whole confession, basically.
As he puts on these surgical gloves, he says he killed the previous neighbor named Nap. He offered to buy it, but they declined, so he murdered him. I think he suggests that maybe he stole Nap's skull. He pulls out a syringe with green liquid in it and says, perhaps I'll take your skull to replace Nap's, and then calls for his nephew, who is now behind the wheel of the ambulance to drive away, his nephew Hans.
speaker-2 (01:21:12.225)
Malachi.
speaker-0 (01:21:15.202)
A struggle ensues over the syringe. Ray grabs Hans's shoulder causing him to lose control of the ambulance. The ambulance crashes into the front of a house, driving up on the porch all the way into the front door of the house. We don't know whose house it is. Great shot. It basically just launches itself into the front of the house. The gurney rolls out of the back and Ray and Dr. Klopik are now on the gurney as it rolls down the street as they're still fighting with the syringe.
speaker-1 (01:21:27.662)
It's a great shot though.
speaker-1 (01:21:33.4)
Yeah.
speaker-1 (01:21:43.15)
Such a great camera.
speaker-0 (01:21:44.078)
The camera is mounted on the gurney, it's a really tight shot of them. You see everything flying by on the street around them. The gurney rolls out and Ray and Dr. Klopet continue to struggle. Ray grabs him, throws him against the car, and announces a citizen's arrest of Dr. Klopet. Now Carol thinks Ray has totally lost it as he's trying to convince everyone that the doctor confessed to him in the ambulance, but nobody's buying it.
Ron Howard's dad says, you don't have any evidence to prove he killed your neighbor. And just then Corey Feldman is standing next to the Clopex car whose trunk is now conveniently flopped open. And he pulls a blanket back and says, we do now inside the trunk. There are about a dozen skeletons.
speaker-1 (01:22:32.436)
It's more than that. Yeah. It's like hundreds of it's copies. Where were you going guys? Where were you going?
speaker-0 (01:22:40.206)
The trunk of skeletons and skulls is lit very well. I'd like a Halloween tree. Not only do they come with dead bodies in the trunk, but proper lighting to make them look spooky. Ray tells Carol, well, first the lieutenant sees Hans trying to escape, runs across the street and tackles him. That was a cool shot. So Hans slips in the yard first and then the lieutenant slips, but slips into a perfect trip.
speaker-1 (01:22:46.594)
Yeah, it is.
speaker-1 (01:23:04.735)
and goes underneath.
speaker-0 (01:23:08.231)
of Hans and trips him on top of him and grabs him.
speaker-1 (01:23:11.278)
And also why is he dressed like that? He says, hey, Pinocchio, where are you going? And I'm like, why? I don't understand. think Pinocchio, says, I mean, I guess I get it. They're, I guess, German or whatever. But like, also, what's going on?
speaker-0 (01:23:21.474)
He's dressed in German Lederhosen.
speaker-0 (01:23:31.867)
Was he wearing that when they arrive? I don't remember if he was when the same previously when they arrive in the car if he was wearing it.
speaker-1 (01:23:38.606)
when he was driving. I don't know, I'd have to go back and watch. But he's like, hey, Pinocchio. And he like turns around and I'm like, what the fuck? What's he doing? He's got the little short cloth and the suspenders and the hat and the little hat with like the feather in it or something. It's so weird.
speaker-0 (01:23:56.219)
We skipped the part about when Carol shows up, he says, you got a haircut, I like your hair.
speaker-1 (01:24:00.328)
yeah. that earlier. I love how you ask her like a couple of times too, because she's very out of it, you know.
speaker-0 (01:24:06.904)
Has she gotten a haircut since she left or is he just now noticing the haircut she's had all along?
speaker-1 (01:24:13.174)
I don't think she's potting in their haircut. I don't think so. Yeah, I really do like your hair.
speaker-0 (01:24:16.142)
Okay. I thought maybe I was just being a dude and didn't notice they trimmed it a little bit. And, but no, he's just so absent minded. It's almost like this fear has been released and now he sees and appreciates things in life. And he appreciates her haircut that he'd never complimented before. Right? That's what we're saying.
speaker-1 (01:24:32.942)
That's what I think, yeah. She makes mention of it before, I believe. It's like the mention of Corey Feldman's parents being away, right? There's a small mention of it before, which is why it comes out of nowhere when he looks at her with like one good eye and says, I really do like your haircut. But it's still funny. It still made me laugh. It's like him suddenly realizing how much he appreciates having her.
speaker-0 (01:24:58.53)
Right. With all of this mayhem going on in the street, the ambulances and fire trucks and cops are still there. The house is still on fire. All the neighbors are out. We get another shot of the garbage man arguing over a can of garbage. Ray tells Carol he's going to pack a bag and they're going to go to the lake. And Carol and Ray are walking towards their house while Art follows behind them like an annoying child, you know, telling them, hey, where you going? Geraldo Rivera is going to come excavate the basement.
speaker-1 (01:25:24.622)
I died. mean, died. Oh, Geraldo. So good. It's going to be a hot satellite. Yeah, yeah, because we all remember that. Yeah.
speaker-0 (01:25:36.972)
The lieutenant and his wife yell to Art that his wife is now home.
speaker-1 (01:25:42.146)
No, no, no, no. He says, art, your house is on fire and your wife's home. And he goes, my wife's home. He doesn't care that his house is on fire. Yeah. He cares that his wife is.
speaker-0 (01:26:01.155)
And that's when he says that he turns a look at the house and we see the house. It's his house now with the ambulance crashed through it and it is completely in flames as well.
speaker-1 (01:26:08.782)
And his wife with her luggage is sitting in front of the house.
speaker-0 (01:26:13.888)
I never saw her. kept looking for her. She was in that
speaker-1 (01:26:16.718)
She's totally in that shot. He's running towards. my god, and she's like With her luggage
speaker-0 (01:26:24.045)
Was she anybody would know I didn't know
speaker-1 (01:26:26.094)
Also, might have missed this. I've been meaning to ask you guys what why does art not go to work every day? Like Mr. Rumsfeld may be retired from the military. What is art doing? Why is he home every day?
speaker-0 (01:26:39.406)
Yeah, because there's a line he asks Ray earlier, like, what are you doing home from work? And he says, I'm on vacation, but he never asked his heart that.
speaker-1 (01:26:47.406)
Aren't that work at all? just his wife's not one of the wives out of town on business. It's like Mr. Mom. Yeah
speaker-0 (01:26:54.862)
After he says that about my wife's home, tells Ricky, Ricky walks up to Ray and Carol and Ray tells Ricky to keep an eye on the neighborhood while he's away and Feldman
speaker-1 (01:27:06.85)
Y'all didn't laugh at that? Yeah, he's got one good eye! And he says, keep an eye on my ha- on the neighborhood. It's funny! He only has one good eye, so he needs-
I would not have read that in that
speaker-0 (01:27:23.242)
Okay
speaker-1 (01:27:26.316)
Well, they meant it. I hate you. I hate y'all.
speaker-0 (01:27:30.646)
He says, keep an eye on the neighborhood while I'm away. And Corey Feldman agrees. Carol and Ray walk out of frame. Corey Feldman looks at camera and says, God, I love this street. In the movie.
speaker-1 (01:27:46.923)
End of movie.
speaker-0 (01:27:48.888)
They saved Corey Feldman breaking the fourth wall for the last line of the movie.
speaker-1 (01:27:54.326)
my god. Pauly sure auditioned for that part, which would have been more annoying.
speaker-0 (01:28:00.62)
Yeah, that's a tough call because Corey was trying to be his most annoying. So it's hard to say.
speaker-1 (01:28:05.88)
Wow. And there you have it. That's the burb. Got through it. I love
speaker-0 (01:28:08.91)
That's the burbs. So what we typically do, Alicia, Lindsay has three questions that she'll ask if there's anything we kind of covers, anything we missed and yeah, fire away.
speaker-1 (01:28:21.934)
So now that now Yeah, no, these are fun these are fun these are fun ones So we have kind of some signature wrap-up questions one is around a comedy horror meter So I have a feeling I know for this is gonna land On a scale and you know, it's like, you know 80 20 90 10 50 50
on a scale from kind of straight up horror to full on comedy, where does this one land for you guys? I know. God. It's full on comedy. There's like not even a 10 % chance. This was horror for me, Seth. Yeah, it's 100 % comedy. I mean, I understand the horror elements that you're trying to do with the house and the neighbors and the skulls. I mean, I guess because of some of that
element and suspense. You could maybe say, okay, 2%, maybe 5 % if you're generous, but basically it's 100 % comedy. So.
speaker-0 (01:29:28.238)
I agree, 100 % comedy. I think this is a horror comedy in the same sense that a movie like Nothing But Trouble is a horror comedy, remember that movie with Chase and Dan Aykroyd, which I found enjoyable. I used to watch it with my daughter a lot. It's a very weird, odd, atmospherically spooky. The characters are weird. So it's a horror in that sense. And I think it's also a horror in a sense that To Kill a Mockingbird is kind of a horror, though I find To Kill a Mockingbird to be more spooky.
than this and those nighttime scenes around the Radley house. But these scenes around the Clopeck house did remind me of scenes around the Radley home.
speaker-1 (01:30:07.276)
Yeah, that's a good call out. Yeah, they were pretty similar. But yeah, mean, it's basically 100 % comedy.
speaker-0 (01:30:14.094)
If we're not allowed to choose 100, then I would say 99 and 1.
speaker-1 (01:30:17.396)
Yes. This one may take a little bit more brain power if you hadn't thought it through, but so this one is kind of elevator pitch. So if you were trying to get this movie green lit or just you wanted to convince a friend to watch it, you know, what's your elevator pitch? What's the hook that kind of sums up it's chaos and charm in one, one or two lines. For me, I think it would be like,
you know, let's watch a great eighties movie where Tom Hanks, he's very young and you kind of start to see where all of his weird acting quirks come in. And I just think kind of seeing some of those people, Carrie Fisher and their early careers is really fascinating to me. Bart, what do you think?
speaker-0 (01:31:00.098)
I think I'd say it's an Imagine Joe Dante comedy that is a traditional Tom Hanks vehicle with some spooky elements and a terrible performance by Corey Feldman.
speaker-1 (01:31:14.266)
Yet another terrible performance. I think even mentioning Corey Feldman would make me be like, I'm not interested. The thing is, so many of the movies he's in are so darn good.
speaker-0 (01:31:28.824)
Yeah, I know. This movie is a pop culture Easter egg searcher's dream. In a sense that you were talking about the Lucy photos, things like that. And especially, I mean, I fucking didn't know it was Precious, the same dog. Those are gems that are just waiting to be discovered by someone who's never seen this movie and will discover it. What would your elevator pitch be?
speaker-1 (01:31:50.446)
So mine is basically a rear window in a cul-de-sac, but everyone is an idiot and Tom Hanks is slowly losing his mind in the driveway.
You win. But I mean, yeah, you're right. There's so many little nuggets. And then when you start to like really dive into some of the research of this film, just given the universal back lot and the famous street that it's on and these houses that are used over and over again, you know, and then you hear stories about like Fletch Lives being filmed in the lot next door and they're having to call cut because they're, you know,
trying to deal with sound bleed. So just some other fascinating things like that, just knowing like where it's filmed and how it's filmed and just this famous little cul-de-sac, it's just fun. But yeah, it's basically rear window in the eighties.
speaker-0 (01:32:47.416)
You're right. Good point. Never thought about that until now.
speaker-1 (01:32:50.848)
Okay, so the last question is recommendation. So would you recommend this movie to everyone or only to a certain kind of fan? You know, what's the right audience for the burbs? You know, I do think anyone can watch this movie. So you could, it is a good, you could recommend it to anyone. I think anybody would think it was funny and silly and whatever, but it does suit a specific genre of people for sure. Yeah. I mean,
I think you guys know where I'm going here, so I'm just gonna say it. Do do it. I would recommend this film to everyone. I'm like, you guys, it is a cult comedy. It is not a horror, so. But the right audience is someone who loves 80s movies. Joe Dante, complete weirdness. If you love Tom Hanks, you have to watch this movie. And adults behaving like complete lunatics. I mean, I think it's hilarious from start to finish. Do I think that everyone would love it? No.
But I would still force them to watch it.
speaker-0 (01:33:52.135)
Aye!
I would recommend this movie to people who, and I know this word is gonna come across as an insult, but I don't mean it as an insult, because they're just different types of movies. I would recommend this people who enjoy broad comedy. Like when it comes to weird neighbor movies, I prefer Neighbors with John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd. Really weird, creepy film. So yeah, I would recommend to people that like 80s stuff.
and like seeing actors in their younger days. But I caught this movie at the wrong time in life. Had I seen it when I was younger, I think I would have liked it a lot, much like Class Reunion. Class Reunion, obviously this is a way better movie than Class Reunion. I'm not comparing them. You bet. I'm not comparing them in that way. It's just like, we appreciate things based on the certain age. It catches us at the right time or the wrong time.
speaker-1 (01:34:39.736)
Thank you. Thank you.
speaker-0 (01:34:48.878)
This caught me at the wrong time. I was in my early 20s and I was only thinking about women at this point and what I was gonna do with my life. And it didn't resonate with me because it felt like it was for kids. And I was already aged out of that. Had I seen it when I was a kid, I would have fucking loved it. I would have loved it more than I loved Class Reunion, which I liked because I saw it when I was a kid.
speaker-1 (01:35:09.922)
Right. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, I love it. Now,
speaker-0 (01:35:13.582)
Fuck Out Neighbors, John Belushi and Dan Erica, if you wanna see a really fucked up, weird, very flawed weird neighbor movie.
speaker-1 (01:35:22.478)
Yeah, well that's so that's it those are our signature wrap-up questions I love it. Thanks guys. You made it through. How do you feel? I feel good It really brought up a lot of great memories when like I said earlier I loved so I married an axe murder and back just like you said Bart if I had watched this back Then it would have been in that you know class for me and I would have thought it was even more hilarious But I'm super glad I watched it and it felt very
speaker-0 (01:35:27.981)
The bird.
speaker-1 (01:35:51.01)
going down memory lane. So yeah, I do wonder what they're going to do with the new one and it's come out, right? Hasn't it come out? Yeah. Kiki Palmer is in it. Obviously Brian Grazer, Seth MacFarlane is an executive producer on it, which is why, you know, Wendy Shaw is the voice of the mom and American dad is basically because Seth MacFarlane loves the burbs.
speaker-0 (01:35:59.448)
Yeah, it's already out.
speaker-0 (01:36:15.694)
I'll be damned. I think about that.
speaker-1 (01:36:17.582)
And it's also on that universal back lot where the original was shot. So they're using the same location. So I'm curious to see kind of how it's done. The poster's great.
speaker-0 (01:36:26.776)
I had a wonderful time. always enjoy getting to talk about these movies with you fine people. Thanks.
speaker-1 (01:36:31.596)
Yeah, thanks inviting me. I'm such an author. Yeah, thanks for spending your afternoon with us. You're awesome. We really appreciate you being on. We love you so much. Thanks. I love you guys. you.
speaker-0 (01:36:43.73)
Absolutely. Thank you for doing this. It was a wonderful time and so good to see your face and get to chat with you.
speaker-1 (01:36:49.216)
Unitom. Thanks Alicia. Awesome. Thanks guys.
speaker-0 (01:36:52.582)
Thanks Alicia.
speaker-1 (01:36:54.69)
You know what? I love her. She's one of my favorite humans because it is so fun to laugh with her. You know, like she's just so genuinely kind and happy. And I feel like she's one of those people that I could say the dumbest thing to. And she would be like, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard. And so it just, it's fun being around her and watching her laugh because it's her laugh is so great and so genuine and.
speaker-0 (01:36:56.641)
Thank
speaker-1 (01:37:23.81)
Her smile is so beautiful, man, she just makes me, she brings me joy just being in her presence. She's such a kind and sweet, sweet soul.
speaker-0 (01:37:32.162)
Yeah, and hence there in a while. So it was a absolute pleasure to get to sit down and talk with her and see her.
speaker-1 (01:37:37.838)
Next time where the three of us are together in public, I'll do my Alicia George impression. It's pretty spot on.
speaker-0 (01:37:44.414)
I cannot wait to see that. Do you have one of me?
speaker-1 (01:37:47.934)
No, but I'm sure I could come up with one though, probably on the spot.
speaker-0 (01:37:51.342)
I used to have impressions of all of my friends and I guess I have a knack for picking the one thing that they're insecure about because they never go over.
So if you do have an impersonation of me, just keep it to yourself, because I'm too insecure to... I remember a friend of mine doing an impersonation of me in high school and it was just me rubbing my hand through my hair and going, fuck! Fuck! I do tend to wig out over small things.
speaker-1 (01:38:18.006)
You do Joe Dante thing?
speaker-0 (01:38:20.078)
I do, I totally do. I can't believe, first of all, that we're into May already. And we're heading straight into the summer. You're about to be an empty nester. We already have a couple of shows lined up on the calendar. And until next time, my friend.
speaker-1 (01:38:25.122)
I know, it's amazing.
speaker-1 (01:38:37.164)
Yeah, absolutely. Looking forward to it again. This was a fun one today and I know we're gonna keep it rolling. You too, Fran. Bye.
speaker-0 (01:38:43.116)
I'm here. Enjoy your week.
speaker-0 (01:38:50.776)
All music for this podcast is provided by MKE. To hear more of his music, visit his band's website at detectivemusic.com and Detective on Spotify.