Most of the cast had no idea what they were signing up for either, yet it is clear from the interviews in the new documentary that everyone involved holds immense affection for Buckaroo Banzai, especially leading men Peter Weller and John Lithgow, who plays Dr. If you find yourself scratching your head at times, don’t worry, you are not alone. Or something like that.… “Lectroids? Planet Ten? Nuclear extortion? A girl named John?” source: MGM Emilio Lizardo, breaks out of an asylum to steal Buckaroo’s device and return to Planet Ten, destroying the world in the process. Though the test is a success, it unleashes an invasion of Red Lectroids from the 8th Dimension whose leader, the partially possessed Italian scientist Dr. Globally feted physicist (and part-time neurosurgeon and rock star) Buckaroo Banzai takes part in an experiment to drive through solid matter in a jet-car powered with his patented Oscillation Overthruster – cinematic precursor to Doc Brown’s Flux Capacitor. The Hong Kong Cavaliers are not just a formidably intelligent band of brothers, known and revered as heroes worldwide and with the ear of The President ( Raiders villain Ronald Lacey), but to add to the teenage fantasy of it all, they also play regular gigs, with Buckaroo taking centre stage on lead guitar. Buckaroo Banzai develops this further into the impossibly delicious idea of continuing the kids-club unit into adulthood. Buckaroo Banzai, though, was an original concept based on a new kind of hero dreamt up by his college buddy Earl Mac Rauch (who had recently written Scorsese’s New York, New York).Īround the time of its release, many ’80s movies were forged around the concept of a group of kids getting into adventures ( ET: The Extra Terrestrial, The Goonies, Explorers). Richter.īig Trouble’s co-writer, Richter had made a name for himself as a highly skilled interpreter, rewriting Don Siegel’s Invasion of The Body Snatchers for Phillip Kaufman in 1979, and John Badham’s Dracularemake in 1979. The two films share several things: a tremendous sense of fun, a rigid adherence to their own specific unique internal logic, and the presence of director W.D. While one has to question the very sanity of a Howard The Duck devotee, Big Trouble in Little China has risen like Buckaroo from a box office quagmire to become a beloved cult film darling. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension shares some DNA with many goofily titled, ‘wacky’ movies from the early-mid 1980s like Leonard Part 6, Howard The Duckand Big Trouble in Little Chinathat might possibly have been bankrolled after Time Banditsunexpectedly made an absolute fortune in 1980. Anderson is an ardent vocal supporter, and Kevin Smith is such a fan that he tried recently (and failed) to spearhead a new Buckaroo Banzai TV show. Neither film was a box office triumph upon release, but Buckaroo Banzai especially (and with 20 extra years to percolate in the mind) has woven a magic spell over a devoted band of followers. It wasn’t just that Anderson had stolen…er, paid tribute to the closing titles sequence from Buckaroo, or that both films featured a group of adults obsessed with their own self-created club paraphernalia, it was more that I never warmed to either film on the first viewing. I was struck by a sense of déjà vu at the climax of Buckaroo, which brought back vivid memories of Wes Anderson’s rather divisive 2004 underwater opus The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. “If there’s one thing I hate, it’s to be mistaken for somebody else.” source: MGM Richter’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across The 8th Dimension takes pride of place there was something imperceptible about this unique film that never really left me, so I recently revisited Buckaroo’s world, courtesy of a superb new Blu-Ray transfer. Upon the rarefied mantelpiece of such secret cult movies, I suspect that W.D. Some films, you don’t want to become popular you want them to just be yours. The Usual Suspects was another one.īut then there are other cult films whose merits you deliberately keep to yourself, lest the secret gets out. It was the kind of film that you would demand that your friends go and see, and brag that you’d seen it first before anyone else, and then later you’d dismiss it slightly when suddenly everyone else had seen it, including people you didn’t much care for. The Legend of Kantara: Man, Myth and Masculinity | Video Essay
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