The 'Burbs

Dana Olsen drew the script from his own suburban childhood and sums it up as Ozzie and Harriet meeting Charles Manson. It was then called Bay Window and ended with the hero killed; once Tom Hanks took the lead, Joe Dante says that ending became impossible. It was not the only thing rewritten. A writers strike left the crew assembling the finish on set, three separate endings were shot, and the preview audience turned down the original one, which was more critical of the main characters. The film was made entirely at Universal, mostly on the Colonial Street backlot, over ten weeks in the summer of 1988. The same street had served 1987’s Dragnet, also with Hanks, and housed The New Leave It to Beaver when production started. Dante says they resisted widening the story beyond the neighbourhood because it would violate the spirit of the piece. It opened at number one with 11.1 million dollars; the 18 million dollar production took 49.1 million worldwide. CinemaScore audiences graded it C. A good fit if you want everything staged on one cul-de-sac, the camera circulating between the neighbours’ yards. Not for anyone planning to put it on for small children: the British board labels it moderate violence, and the 1989 UK cinema print was cut for classification.