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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension or just Buckaroo Banzai is a cult film released in 1984, starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Christopher Lloyd, and Jeff Goldblum. Clancy Brown delivers a strong supporting performance.
Buckaroo Banzai (played by Weller) is a physicist, neurosurgeon, adventurer and musician (in the Hong Kong Cavaliers) who battles to save the world from evil Red Lectroids from Planet 10. The film feels like it's a middle chapter in a series, alluding to other adventures and characters.
The credits mention a sequel, Buckaroo Banzai versus the World Crime League, which was never made. A fan script was written Ernest Cline, posted on the Internet and subsequently bought, but the prospects of production seem slight.
Comic book publisher Moonstone has announced plans to release a graphic novel in 2005 that covers further adventures of the characters.
Some sources claim John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China began as another sequel to this movie. This is incorrect. The original Big Trouble in Little China script was written by Gary Goldman and David Z. Weinstein and was set in the old West. Screenwriter W.D. Richter (who directed Buckaroo Banzai) was brought in to work on the script and bring the story into the present day.
The novelization by Earl Mac Rauch is told through fake documents written and compiled by "Reno Nevada," and further expands on the backstory of the film, including the murder of Peggy Banzai by the minions of Asian crime lord Hanoi Xan, the deaths of Buckaroo's parents in an early Jet Car accident, and at least two other fictitious novels.
A substantially longer print was shown in test screening in Texas and in Washington State before general release, but the "restored" DVD print is still missing much of the test print material. It has been suggested that the large amount of deletions is a partial explanation for the unusual pace of the film.
Buckaroo Banzai owes a debt to pulp hero Doc Savage.
A number of film critics state that unlike other cult films (Brazil, Blade Runner, The Evil Dead), much of the initial popularity of Buckaroo Banzai stemmed from 20th Century Fox's publicity campaign, which was produced with the deliberate intent of "creating" a cult following for this movie.
Many names and terms were taken from Thomas Pynchon's book The Crying of Lot 49. In turn, Pynchon's novel Vineland (published 1990) mentions "Eddie Enrico and his Hong Kong Hotshots."
Tagline: Beings from Another Dimension have invaded your world. You can't see them ... but they can see you. Your only hope is Buckaroo Banzai.
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The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
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