It’s somewhat surprising that with the release of a big summer comedy like ‘Neighbors’ in recent times, there wasn’t more discussion, even in passing, about the other movie titled ‘Neighbors’ – the one starring John Belushi. It’s true that mentioning the 1981 film often leads to blank stares, indicating how much this particular entry in John Belushi’s filmography has faded from public memory.
Perhaps those who are old enough to remember the 1981 ‘Neighbors’ have reasons to keep it that way. A significant reason, and one that casts a long shadow over the film, is that it was the final movie John Belushi completed before his tragic death due to a drug overdose. This fact alone imbues the film with a somber tone, making it a difficult piece of work to revisit for many.
It seems even those involved in the film are hesitant to engage with it today. Attempts to reach out to figures like Dan Aykroyd regarding ‘Neighbors’ have been met with silence, a stark contrast to his usual openness when discussing projects like ‘Ghostbusters’ or his tequila ventures. This reluctance could stem from the heavy emotional weight the film carries after Belushi’s passing, and also because ‘Neighbors’ itself is quite an unusual and tonally inconsistent movie. While ‘The Blues Brothers’ stands as a beloved, if chaotic, tribute to the Belushi-Aykroyd dynamic, ‘Neighbors’ occupies a much stranger space in their shared film history. It’s a film that arguably shouldn’t be entirely forgotten, especially when another movie with the same title arrives and the original barely registers in the cultural consciousness.
And make no mistake, ‘Neighbors’ (1981) is a truly bizarre film.
Watching it now, it’s easy to see why critics at the time were so harsh in their reviews. However, viewing it through the lens of history, knowing what we know now about the circumstances surrounding its making and its aftermath, ‘Neighbors’ becomes a strangely compelling, if flawed, piece of cinema.
‘Neighbors’ marked the third and final on-screen collaboration between Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, following their earlier work in ‘1941’ and the iconic ‘The Blues Brothers.’ Adapted from the novel by Thomas Berger, with a screenplay initially penned by comedy legend Larry Gelbart, ‘Neighbors’ tells the story of Earl Keese (played by John Belushi, then 32 but aged up with white hair powder), a rather unremarkable middle-aged man whose life is thrown into disarray by the arrival of a boisterous and eccentric couple, Vic (Aykroyd) and Ramona (Cathy Moriarty), next door. Interestingly, the original casting idea had Aykroyd in the role of Earl, the straight-laced character, while Belushi was meant to embody the wild neighbor, Vic. However, director John G. Avildsen, famous for directing ‘Rocky,’ suggested a role reversal. This decision forced both actors to step outside their established comedic personas, a move that significantly altered the film’s dynamic. Adding to the behind-the-scenes turmoil, Belushi and Aykroyd heavily rewrote Gelbart’s script, leading to such dissatisfaction that Gelbart considered removing his name from the final product.
Reports from the set indicate a tumultuous production, with Belushi frequently clashing with Avildsen. Tensions escalated to the point where Belushi reportedly attempted to have Avildsen removed from the project, hoping to replace him with John Landis, who had directed ‘The Blues Brothers.’ Landis, however, declined to get involved. As detailed in Bob Woodward’s controversial biography, ‘Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi,’ Belushi’s escalating substance abuse issues severely impacted the film’s production.
When John emerged from his trailer, he could hardly talk. […] It wasn’t simply that John didn’t know his lines, or that he had a few drinks; he was blitzed. Everyone stood around looking at one another. John aware that he was not making sense, finally stumbled back to his trailer. There was silence on the set, and Avildsen announced they would wait.
Without understanding this historical context, ‘Neighbors’ can be a deeply perplexing viewing experience. The animosity between Aykroyd’s Vic and Belushi’s Earl is central to the plot, yet its origins remain frustratingly vague. Equally baffling is the inexplicable affection Earl’s wife, Enid (Kathryn Walker), and daughter, Elaine (Lauren-Marie Taylor), develop for Vic and Ramona, who often come across as crude and untrustworthy.
Consider the scene where Vic accepts $32 from Earl, ostensibly for takeout food, only to pocket the cash and cook a meal himself. It’s undeniably strange behavior, but the subsequent escalation – involving gunfire and a near-drowning incident in quicksand – feels wildly disproportionate to the initial petty theft. Then, just as abruptly, the characters become friends, only to revert to enemies moments later, and then friends again. In one particularly surreal scene, Ramona performs oral sex on Earl while Vic is outside, flying a remote-control airplane near the bedroom window.
The film culminates in Earl abandoning his wife – and setting his house ablaze in the process – to embark on a road trip with Vic and Ramona. This ending perfectly encapsulates the movie’s overall lack of coherent motivation and character logic. Adding to the film’s disorienting nature, the entire narrative supposedly unfolds within a 24-hour period, though the events depicted feel as if they span months.
As documented in ‘Wired,’ Columbia Pictures was acutely aware of the film’s shortcomings. Belushi, who had wanted Avildsen off the film from the very beginning, may have had valid concerns. The comedic timing consistently misfires, and reportedly, stronger takes of certain scenes were inexplicably left out of the final cut, much to the dismay of both Belushi and Columbia executives. One anecdote recounts Belushi’s reaction at an early private screening: in his anger at Avildsen’s edit, he physically attacked his chair with a shoe. Following this incident, Belushi was banned from future public screenings of the film.
Test screenings for ‘Neighbors’ were disastrous, even when specifically targeting audiences who were fans of Belushi and Aykroyd. ‘Wired’ notes, “It was worse than expected – the worst screening results that he [Columbia Pictures President Frank Price] or any other Columbia executive had ever seen.”
Despite these overwhelmingly negative indicators, ‘Neighbors’ surprisingly turned a profit. Produced on a modest budget of just over $8 million, it grossed nearly $29 million. The studio’s release strategy, dubbed “hit and run,” played a crucial role in this unexpected success. Originally slated for a December 4th release, Columbia, wary of negative word-of-mouth spreading before the lucrative Christmas holiday season in a pre-internet era, pushed the release date to December 18th. The hope was to capitalize on the holiday box office before audiences fully realized ‘Neighbors’ was not a critically well-received film – a tactic that would be virtually impossible to execute in today’s age of instant online reactions.
Tragically, less than three months after the release of ‘Neighbors,’ John Belushi passed away.
In light of this history, it’s somewhat remarkable that anyone would consider using the title ‘Neighbors’ for another film. Yet, a new ‘Neighbors’ movie did emerge. This later film, initially titled ‘Townies’ (a title thankfully changed, perhaps to avoid confusion with a short-lived 1996 sitcom), shares nothing with the 1981 version except the title and a loose premise involving adjacent houses. With this newer ‘Neighbors’ finding box office success, the 1981 ‘Neighbors’ starring John Belushi risks fading further into obscurity – and perhaps, given its troubled production and bizarre nature, that’s not entirely a bad thing.
