Suburbia (film)
{{Infobox Film
| name = Suburbia
| image =Suburbia (film).jpg
| caption = Video release cover
| director = Penelope Spheeris
| producer = Bert Dragin
Roger Corman
| writer = Penelope Spheeris
| starring = Bill Coyne
Chris Pedersen
Jennifer Clay
Timothy Eric O'Brien
Wade Walston
Michael "Flea" Balzary
[[Derek O'Brien (drummer)|Derek O'Brien
| music = Alex Gibson
| cinematography = Timothy Suhrstedt
| editing = Ross Albert
| distributor = New World Pictures
| released = April 13, 1984 (USA)
| runtime = 94 minutes
| rating = R
| country = United States
| awards =
| language = English
| budget =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
- For the play by Eric Bogosian and its 1996 film adaptation, see subUrbia and subUrbia (film), respectively.
Suburbia, also known as Rebel Streets and The Wild Side, is a 1984 film written and directed by Penelope Spheeris about suburban punks who run away from home. The kids take up a minimalist, punk lifestyle by squatting in abandoned suburban tract homes. The punks are played by Chris Pedersen, Bill Coyne, [[Derek O'Brien (drummer)|Derek O'Brien and the Red Hot Chili Peppers' bassist Flea, amongst others.[1]
With the exceptions of Bill Coyne , who was a professional actor, director Penelope Spheeris recruited street kids and punk rock musicians to play each role, rather than hire young actors to portray punk rockers.
Suburbia was filmed in and around the cities of Downey and Norwalk in California . The abandoned housing tract was a former neighbourhood which was placed-along the west-side of I-605 , around the Alondra Bl offramp ; Firestone Bl CA 42 was to its north , with Alondra Bl to its south . The entire area was Eminent Domain starting in the late 1960's / early 1970's , wherein it sat mostly-vacant until its demolition in c.1990 ; some houses still had inhabitants up until c.1980 . . This was a gang-infested area ; many abandoned houses were "drug houses" , or , just as in the film , "crash houses" ( e.g. , the "T.R. House" ).
I-105 now occupies most of the property , and has since the early 90's .
Vincent Canby called it a "clear-eyed, compassionate melodrama about a bunch of young dropouts" and "probably the best teen-agers-in-revolt movie since Jonathan Kaplan's Over the Edge."[2]
The movie contains live footage of D.I. performing "Richard Hung Himself", TSOL performing "Wash Away" and "Darker My Love," and The Vandals performing "The Legend of Pat Brown". In turn, the movie inspired the Pet Shop Boys song "Suburbia."
The film is a part of Shout Factory's Roger Corman Cult Classics series, reissued on DVD in May 2010.