The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)

Director:

W.D. Richter

Writer:

Earl Mac Rauch (writer)

Release Date:

15 August 1984 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Romance | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Beings from Another Dimension have invaded your world.

Plot:

Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.

Plot Keywords:

Musician | Alien | Creature | Interdimensional Travel | Hero

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Peter Weller	...	Buckaroo Banzai
John Lithgow	...	Lord John Whorfin / Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Ellen Barkin	...	Penny Priddy
Jeff Goldblum	...	New Jersey
Christopher Lloyd	...	John Bigboote
Lewis Smith	...	Perfect Tommy
Rosalind Cash	...	John Emdall
Robert Ito	...	Professor Hikita
Pepe Serna	...	Reno Nevada
Ronald Lacey	...	President Widmark
Matt Clark	...	Secretary of Defense
Clancy Brown	...	Rawhide
William Traylor	...	General Catburd
Carl Lumbly	...	John Parker
Vincent Schiavelli	...	John O'Connor

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (USA) (short title)

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Portugal:M/12 | UK:12 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Norway:15 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

609 E. Channel Rd., Rustic Canyon, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Sherwood

Trivia:

Overall concept and several names appear to be taken from the Doc Savage pulp magazines of the 30's and 40's: both main characters are multi-talented surgeons, adventurers, and musicians; and both have an inner circle of sidekicks with nicknames (Renny, Ham, Monk, Long Tom, and Johnny, compared to Reno, New Jersey, Perfect Tommy, and Rawhide).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the two hunters are poking at the thermopod up in the tree, a shower of sparks falls when they hit the pod. You can see the power-cable they used to produce these sparks fall away as the pod slides out of the tree.

Quotes:

Artie: I don't care if you drove through a mountain in Texas. This is New Jersey, and when you play my... when you play my joint, you're just another act. I want some music out'a you characters!
Reno: You want it, Artie? You got it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's New, Scooby-Doo?: Farmed and Dangerous (#3.5)" (2005)

If you're looking for a predictable film, do not watch this

TAOBBATED, as I will acronymize this film, is neither the stupid low-budget piece of excrement nor the sublimely original cult masterpiece you've been told it is, but it's a lot closer to the latter than to the former. Peter Weller plays Buckaroo, the titular neurosurgeon/inventor/modern-day samurai/Billy Joelesque rocker, and he plays him frightfully well, low-key and distant but with occasional glimmers of genius and intensity. The stellar supporting cast includes Jeff Goldblum, Clancy Brown, John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, and Ellen Barkin, and they're all pretty darn good.

I'm not even going to pretend to be rational or unbiased about this movie. It's too utterly offbeat and original and just damned _odd_ to not love. Some favorite scenes: the opening sequence of the Jet Car test run; Buckaroo's phone call with the Black Lectroids, and his subsequent detection of the sinister Red Lectroid agents in his midst; the eerie recorded message from the Black Lectroid leader, the "good guys" who threaten to blow up Earth unless Buckaroo stops their enemy, Dr. Lizardo (Lithgow, in a truly twisted scene-chewing performance). Yes, it looks cheesy and dated, but damn it, you have to take a stand somewhere in life, you have to roll up your sleeves and step up to the plate and put yourself on the line, and have the courage to say, "I don't care what anyone thinks of me, I love this movie." That's the way I feel about old Buckaroo and his Hong Kong Cavaliers, and I still consider myself a loyal Blue Blaze Irregular fifteen years after seeing this film.

As a post-script, I'd like to mention that the novelization of this movie, written by Earl Mac Rauch, is great, and actually contains about 3 times the information and plot that is in the movie. If you can find it on Amazon or at a garage sale somewhere, snap it up, it's worth the search. Also, there's a script for BUCKAROO BANZAI VERSUS THE WORLD CRIME LEAGUE floating around too, which should be made no matter the cost if only to film one priceless scene - the cameo appearance of Jack Burton, Kurt Russell's swaggering truck driver hero from John Carpenter's BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, who appears as a Blue Blaze Irregular and gives Team Banzai a lift!