The film centers upon the efforts of the polymath Dr. The supporting cast includes Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Clancy Brown, Pepe Serna, Robert Ito, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Jonathan Banks, John Ashton, Carl Lumbly and Ronald Lacey. It stars Peter Weller in the title role, with Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Lloyd. The jokes come fast and frequently in the form of one-liners, puns, physical slapstick, goofy makeup - basically everything but the kitchen sink, gags adding up they appear to pile on top of each other.The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, often shortened to Buckaroo Banzai, is a 1984 American science fiction film produced and directed by W.D. When the president is given documents in order to declare war, he is presented with a short form. Christopher Lloyd plays an evil alien henchman named John Bigbooté who is constantly correcting people about the pronunciation of his last name (it’s Bigboo-TAY). There’s a sense of earnest goofiness to Buckaroo Banzai that keeps its comedy from flying off the rails. In lieu of offering his backstory, the movie would much rather show the audience Lithgow yelling, “Laugh while you can, monkeyboy!” Starting off in an insane asylum, the way Lizardo berates the attendant is pure mad-scientist behavior, with the villain cackling every step of the way. Lizardo by going full-tilt weirdo he’s the type of guy who electrocutes his tongue to get himself going. 20th Century Foxīut the real star of the show, as any fans of old serials know, is the villain. John Lithgow in The Adventure of Buckaroo Banzai. Jeff Goldblum has a small role as the newest Cavalier, a surgeon and pianist who is also a cowboy named New Jersey. Far more important than their backstory is how they look, especially in terms of Perfect Tommy’s (Lewis Smith) incredible outfits. Who are the Hong Kong Cavaliers? They’re Buckaroo’s friends. It’s the type of logic that works for kids but would never really fly in today’s backstory-laden sci-fi epics. The Hong Kong Cavaliers, who are also never really explained, make up for their mystery with a whole lot of style. An opening scroll reveals that Buckaroo Banzai has an American mother and a Japanese father, meaning he began life as he lived it: “going in several directions at once.” It’s a little ridiculous, to put it lightly, that the decidedly un-Japanese Weller, whose stoic cool is admittedly terrific, plays a Japanese character.īeyond that, the movie successfully creates a fun little world for itself, one in which presidents hang out in circular beds discussing alien invasions and in which scientists are constantly looking for a man named Buckaroo. It’s worth noting some details feel papered over. Rather than attempt to give audiences Flash Gordon, with the outer shell of a hero masking a deeper internal struggle (think Luke Skywalker), director Richter and screenwriter Earl Mac Rauch tried to build a new kind of character from scratch. The cast of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Very quickly, with its opening scene of Banzai performing surgery before driving an experimental jet car that can drive through matter, the movie establishes itself as having very little to do with reality. Kael called their lives “a boy hipster’s dreams of glory that are almost pre-sexual,” though she didn’t mean this in a particularly harsh way. Together with his best friends and backup band the Hong Kong Cavaliers (who are also all scientists), Banzai tests really cool cars, plays in bands, and fights evil villains. He’s a physicist, neurosurgeon, experimental test pilot, and rock star all at the same time. Buckaroo Banzai (pre- Robocop Peter Weller). If you asked a particularly imaginative 10-year old what they wanted to be when they grew up, their answer might accurately describe Dr. Buckaroo Banzai aimed to adopt a similar storytelling ethos but unlike its influences, Buckaroo Banzai wanted to be weird. Above all else, these sci-fi stories sought to wow audiences with far-out worlds, aliens, and never-ending twists. Not a direct parody of those franchises Kael mentioned, Buckaroo Banzai still shares an important strand of their DNA: namely, the golly-gee excitement of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and other comic-book or radio serials of the 1930s and ‘40s.
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