1984’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension moves at a fast pace and demands the attention of the viewer, but it also delivers the quintessential cult film that counts as a sci fi classic.
What Is It?
This movie follows the adventures of the heroic Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) and his various groups of supporting staff as they deal with an alien threat to Earth. It starts out with Buckaroo performing a surgical procedure after which he is rushed away to test out a new jet-propelled car which he has equipped with an oscillation overthruster and which he drives through a mountain and into another dimension. When he emerges on the other side of the mountain, he finds a strange alien organism attached to the pod; proof that he traveled to the 8th Dimension. The mentally unstable Dr. Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) sees a report of Buckaroo’s successful experiment on the news which prompts him to escape from the institution where he is imprisoned so that he can steal the overthruster. Lizardo had previously done similar experiments through which he was possessed by Lord John Whorfin, an evil Red Lectroid from the 8th Dimension. The escaped Lizardo/Whorfin heads to Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems in Grovers Mill, New Jersey (yes, the link to Orson Wells’ radio broadcast is intentional) where fellow Red Lectroids John Yaya, John Smallberries, and John Bigbooté (yes, the recurring Johns are intentional) head up a group of renegades planning to return to the 8th Dimension and conquer Planet 10 once they acquire the overthruster. Meanwhile, a Black Lectroid spaceship commanded by the female John Emdall (yes, another John and this time a woman) orbits the Earth monitoring the situation. Emdall sends a message to Buckaroo and demands that he stop John Whorfin otherwise she will trick the United States and Russia into launching nuclear strikes on one another. With no other choice, Buckaroo calls into action his rock band/super adventurers the Hong Kong Cavaliers along with his civilian backup the Blue Blaze Irregulars and jumps into the crisis with guns blaring.
Cast: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Clancy Brown, Rosalind Cash
Crew: W. D. Richter (Director/Executive Producer), Earl Mac Rauch (Writer/Creator), William F. Nolan (Original Story), George Clayton (Original Story)
Original Release: 1984
Legacy:
This movie is equal parts parody and love-letter to science fiction movies, comics, and pulps that is packed with talent and moves at a frenetic pace that will leave the viewer behind if not paying attention. Ultimately, though, it gives us one of the quintessential cult sci fi films and a genre classic.
A Closer Look:
Coming out in 1984 at a time when big budget, sfx-heavy films were becoming more common at the Box Office, this film left a lot of people walking out of the theaters with their heads spinning and saying wtf! And if the synopsis above had you confused, then know that I really only scraped the surface of the experience that is Buckaroo Banzai. This movie delivered a cross-genre satire that poked fun at its comic book/science fiction origins while also relishing in the excesses of both as it adds plenty of wit and a bit of hipness. Eschewing the more broad Airplane-style of spoof and maneuvering past the low-brow humor of Spaceballs, the movie walked that fine line between comedy and drama with plenty of winks to the well-versed sci fi fans sitting in the audience.
It starts out by setting a breathless pace as it throws the viewer into the middle of the action and it never takes a break to let the audience catch up. And that’s part of its charm, even if it likely put off many viewers on its first go around. This gets the audience immediately involved in the action, even if they do not necessarily understand everything passing by on the screen as the story proceeds at light speed. The movie takes several passes to fully get your arms around it and each new viewing turns up yet another nugget that the screenwriters stashed away somewhere for the tenacious, curious fan to unveil later. (“Why is there a watermelon there?”, “I’ll tell you later”)
Buckaroo Banzai also managed to deliver a spirit of fun, adventure, and whim that the Hollywood machine had already started to squash in favor of cookie-cutter Blockbusters. Like a breath of fresh air, it departed from the more structured, formulaic cinematic output and verged on the anarchic. But it never got too brainy or geeky, either. It was not the type of movie that only the nerdiest of sci fi fans could get into, just anyone who appreciates a good amount of wit and angular story-telling. It also had a sense of hipness about it with its attractive, ultra-cool cast (was Buckaroo perhaps the first cool geek?) and its stylized look (that distinguished itself just enough from the fashion of the ’80s to create a timeless chic).
In many ways, Buckaroo Banzai was a superhero movie with its action-star, renaissance man hero, and it also included some throwback references to earlier adventure serials, the pulps, and ’50s sci fi, with Peter Weller along with his supporting cast making this all look cool and effortless. And what a cast that was with a who’s who of names that have since established themselves in movies and television such as John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Goldblum, Clancy Brown, and Jonathan Banks.
Buckaroo Banzai has the look of a low-budget film at times, but that appears to be intentional, and it had some money behind it with production costs coming in at $12 million. That was lower than other genre films that came out the same year like Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($28 million budget) and Ghostbusters ($30 million budget) and a slightly lower price tag than 1984’s Star Trek III: The Search for Spock ($16 million budget). But it still managed to deliver one of the quintessential cult sci fi films that has stood the test of time and should certainly be considered a classic in the genre.
Whatever Happened to the Promised Sequel?
At the end of the movie, we were promised the sequel Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, and those who enjoyed the first film were certainly looking forward to more adventures from this group. Sadly, though, that continuation never happened. This film thumbed its nose at the Hollywood establishment and delivered a completely unique product that defied easy categorization and that marketers found nearly impossible to promote. They chose instead to do very little promotion, and this resulted in a disastrous Box Office run (making back less than one fourth of its budget) when it was first released. Sherwood Studios ended up going bankrupt and that was the final nail in the coffin on the sequel at that time.
However, the movie quickly caught on in the home video market, and it went on to become a cult hit. The rights to the property were tied up in the bankruptcy proceedings, though, so the promised sequel remained dormant; even the home video release of the original film was held up. In 1998, FOX began developing a television series based on the character, but nothing ever came of that. In 2016, another television reboot was announced for Amazon’s Prime Video, this time with Kevin Smith attached, but that appears to have fallen off the radar as well.
The Story Continues:
A novelization of the film was written by Earl Mac Rauch and released in 1984. Marvel also did a comic book adaptation at that time. In 2006, Moonstone Books brought Buckaroo Banzai back in comics with Rauch writing the story for the Return of the Screw mini-series that was based on the 1998 television pilot. More adventures followed from Moonstone, some taking place before the events of the original film, and some after. In 2021, Rauch published Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League, Et Al: A Compendium of Evils which finally delivered the sequel story promised at the end of the original film.
Should It Be Rebooted?
It would certainly be difficult to do a revival of property with the original actors seeing as the film came out forty years ago. As mentioned above, a couple of television reboots have been considered, and something like that might work if the right talent is attached (Kevin Smith is certainly a good start). Perhaps the better way to do it would be an adult animated series that would pick up right from the end of the movie and carry on with the story of the World Crime League. Some of the original actors could be coaxed back to voice their characters (I’m certainly betting Jeff Goldblum would be up for it) and that would open up a good way to continue the adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Or perhaps more books and comics from Rauch would be the best way to carry the property on. In any case, fans of the original movie (myself included) would sure like to see the franchise stay alive.
Interesting Facts:
The original cut of the film had a scene with Jamie Lee Curtis playing Buckaroo’s mother in a flashback as well as references to his archenemy Hanoi Xan who would have been the big bad in the World Crime League sequel. These were deleted to keep the run-time of the film down, but have since been made available on later DVD and Blu-ray releases.
The idea that Martians had attacked Grovers Mill, New Jersey in 1938 followed by a cover-up with the help of Orson Wells was introduced in this film as a satirical element. The 1988 War of Worlds TV series later borrowed the same idea and offered a serious spin on the concept. Buckaroo Banzai did it much better.
Peter Weller starred in the short-lived sci fi TV series Odyssey 5 and the episode “The Trouble with Harry” has a reference to The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai in the 8th Dimension. The friendly Sentient Harry (played by fan-favorite Ted Raimi) tells Chuck Taggart (played by Weller) “as a rock-n-roll physicist once said: wherever you go, there you are”. (Read more about that series at this link.)
Where Can You Watch It?
The film has been released on DVD which is widely available, but the Blu-ray has since gone out of print. As far as streaming, it is available on Paramount+ and you can watch it for free (with ads) on services like Tubi TV, The Roku Channel, and FreeVee.
