Halloween Sugestion 2011: The Adventures of Bukaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Back in the mid-eighties when The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension came out, the makers touted that there had never been a character like him before; a neurosurgeon, astrophysicist, samurai warrior, secret agent and leader of the rockingest band to ever come out of New Jersey, The Hong Kong Cavaliers. The film was a strange combination of action, comedy and sci-fi horror that was just a little too different to find a mainstream audience, and disappeared quickly to resurface as a cult favorite on video, otherwise more would have realized Buckaroo Banzai was an updating of 30’s pulp hero Doc Savage and his Fab Five.
Such obvious origins aside, the film is goofily funny and exiting where Buckaroo and his bandmates, who are also scientific specialists in their own right, complete an experiment that allows a vehicle to pass through solid matter. When news of this is made public, committed mad scientist Dr Lizardo escapes from his asylum cell and heads for New Jersey, while Buckaroo is contacted by a race of aliens hovering outside the planet’s atmosphere where they reveal that a universe lies inside solid matter and if Dr Lizardo, who is reaally a disguised alien, and his followers get their hands on Buckaroo’s device, they will be forced to blow up the planet to prevent Lizardo from invading their world.
Which sets in motion an adventure full of shoot outs, chases and an aerial dog fight between two spaceships, with the hero taking time out to jump on stage and knock out a rocking jam session or rush to the hospital and perform a brain operation. The film is such a bizarre concotion with aliens disguised as either nerdy white guys or cool rastafarians, all of them named John, a hero who, when not in combat fatigues, dresses like Pee Wee Herman, and a Senator willing to look the other way about the evil aliens bent on conquest due to their company being the one that supplies the US military with most of it’s weapons and planes.
Truly an acquired taste of a movie, it’s fun to watch just for the cast list of then up and coming actors; Peter Weller, Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, Clancy Brown, Jeff Goldbloom, Christopher Lloyd and Vincent Schiavelli. Anyone who is a fan of pulp fiction or serials should get a kick out of this and remember, as Buckaroo says, “No matter where you go, there you are.”
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