Suburban Fury (2024) directed by Robinson Devore tells the story of Sarah Jane Moore and that time she attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975. In non-linear order, Devore traces the life of the then 45-year-old, single mother and the events leading up to that day in September. We learn that Sara Jane wasn’t just a simple housewife assassin but a woman with a murky past who had been working with the FBI. After high school in Charleston, West Virginia, Sara Jane briefly studied nursing before joining the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) and getting married for the first time.
Buy Suburban FuryThe timeline gets foggy after that point and before Sara Jane joins the FBI as an informant, recruited to assist in the Patty Hearst case due to her “good name on the streets.” By 1974, she had been married and divorced a few times and had a few children whom she shipped off to live with others. One husband worked for a big Hollywood studio and it’s this particular hubby that has been noted as describing Sara Jane as a nymphomaniac. Should that tidbit be true, the FBI could have very well used that to their advantage in a few different ways. Through her work with the FBI, Sara Jane seems to have become radicalized as she became more deeply involved with such names and organizations like Popeye Jackson (United Prisoners Union), The Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), Cesar Chavez and the Farm Workers Union as well as Charles Manson disciple and fellow failed presidential assassin, “Squeaky” Fromme.
Suburban Fury (118 min) is thought-provoking and filled with just as many questions as answers. I loved it. Director Robinson Devore does well presenting his documentary in a non-linear, fragmented way that also captures the disjointed mind of Sara Jane. At times while recounting her story from the back of a 1970s station wagon or in an empty hotel ballroom, she seems, or is presented as, quickly agitated/frustrated with the questioner. Sara Jane is indeed a disturbed woman but she makes a great point when she says her attempt on Ford’s life was to call attention to the fact that both Ford and his VP Nelson Rockefeller were appointed and not elected by the people. She highlights that should Ford be killed, Rockefeller would assume the presidency and people should wake up and be alerted to the fact that something was amiss and some sort of cabal was at work. Sara Jane claims her attempt was no stunt, she fully expected to succeed and be killed herself a la Lee Harvey Oswald. Sara Jane insists she only missed her mark because she bought a gun with misaligned sights.
Suburban Fury makes one think long and hard on the strange case of Sara Jane Moore. The same woman who passed out in front of the White House on a tour as a teen and claimed amnesia. The same woman who on the day of the assassination attempt claims she was in a fugue state but completely sane. Was Sara Jane a government plant all along? A radicalized feminist and quiet rebel with a cause? Or just a narcissist with mental disorders wearing many masks, seeking the ultimate spotlight? Suburban Fury leaves that for its viewers to decipher and decide. Also, reading the book Housewife Assassin by Geri Spieler for more details is a must as Sara Jane only agreed to do the project if she was the sole person interviewed.
