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

Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.

Director:

W.D. Richter

Writer:

Earl Mac Rauch

Stars:

Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin

5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Weller	...	Buckaroo Banzai
John Lithgow	...	Lord John Whorfin / Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Ellen Barkin	...	Penny Priddy
Jeff Goldblum	...	New Jersey
Christopher Lloyd	...	John Bigbooté
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

Storyline

Brain surgeon, rock musician, adventurer Buckaroo Banzai is a modern renaissance man and has made scientific history. Shifting the Oscillation Overthruster into warp speed, he's the first man to travel to the eighth dimension - and come back sane. But when his sworn enemy, the demented Dr. Emilio Lizardo, devises a plot to steal the device and bring an evil army back to destroy Earth, Buckaroo goes cranium to cranium with the madman in a battle that could spell doom for the universe. With the help of his uniquely qualified team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo is ready to save the world on a moment's notice.

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Plot Keywords:

interdimensional travel | alien | sci fi spoof | pastiche | u.s. president | 

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Taglines:

Beings from Another Dimension have invaded your world.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Romance | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 November 1984 (Australia)

Also Known As:

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai

Filming Locations:

Mount Hollywood Dr Tunnel, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$620,279, 12 August 1984

Gross USA:

$6,254,148

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$6,254,148

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sherwood Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

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

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When John Whorfin calls collect for John Bigboote, he tells the operator he is calling "Grovers Mill". Grovers Mill was a real-life community in New Jersey, which was used in Orson Welles' famous radio broadcast of "War of the Worlds", and is now a part of West Windsor Township in Mercer county.

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Goofs

A running gag has Buckaroo shocking whoever he touches after he is charged by the Lectroids. When he first touches Penny in the Pitt there is no shock.

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Quotes

SOD McKinley: Geez! What the hell is going on here, Bigboot? Where's my bomber?
John Bigbooté: BigbooTAY. John O'Connor, put this on the track.
SOD McKinley: Hey, I don't give a flying handshake what your name is. I'm here to see a bomber. This sure ain't it.
John Bigbooté: Let's go back upstairs to my office and talk about this like two reasonable beings.
SOD McKinley: Now, you listen to me. Your private life, that's your own concern, but I'm here to see a bomber, and I'm damned sure going to see it now. Look at this place! Don't you have any pride? It's like a ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

During the closing credits, Buckaroo's team assembles, one by one, walking along. Included in the group is Clancy Brown, whose character, Rawhide, dies during the film. (There is a claim that his character is not dead but in a coma under constant supervision and that was simply never dealt with in the film.) Also in the Closing Credits, Perfect Tommy's (played by Lewis Smith) outfit changes

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Alternate Versions

The Special Edition DVD contains 14 deleted scenes and an extended introduction, several of which make reference to Hanoi Xan, the leader of the World Crime League, who murdered Buckaroo's parents and his wife, Peggy. As mentioned in the "Crazy Credits" section, the World Crime League was mentioned at the end of the film as the focus of a planned sequel, but as of 2010 that film has yet to be made.

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Connections

Referenced in At the Movies: RoboCop/The Squeeze/Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs/Withnail and I (1987)

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Soundtracks

Since I Don't Have You
(uncredited)
Written by Joseph Rock and James Beaumont with The Skyliners
Performed by Peter Weller

User Reviews

Don't take it too seriously and you will enjoy

This is a fun film. It doesn't take itself seriously and neither should the viewer.

The plot centres around a pre-Robocop Peter Weller's character (the implausibly named Buckaroo Banzai) who is a scientist/rock musician/surgeon...seems to be talented at just about everything. In his lab he perfects a device for travelling through solid matter on the pretext that 'solid matter' is in fact 80% empty space. True enough and so far so good.

In the movie, the 80% of matter that is space turns out to be the 8th dimention, and Banzai unwittingly causes some nasty alien "lectoids" to enter our dimension. With the help of good lectoids he and his rock band have to save the day.

John Lithgow really steals the show with some excellent madcap lines. The big name actors clearly knew this was not to be taken seriously and though the plot is OK it is the one-liners in the script that make the movie so enjoyable. Special FX are early 80's par for the course, this is not the highest budget film ever! The only question is why didn't the advertised sequal ever make it to the screen?