The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Synopsis
“John Valuk is dead. He fell on his head.”

Most cult classics didn’t start out trying to be that way. We’re fairly confident the people behind The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Death Race 2000 and maybe even Santa Claus Conquers the Martians thought they had some pretty good movies on their hands. But every once in a while, some brave soul actually tries to make a campy, loopy, outrageously born-to-be-cult-classic film. Today’s case study: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.

The over-the-topness isn’t long in coming. Buckaroo Banzai is introduced as a man of many talents—among them, particle physics, brain surgery, and rock n’ roll. During a test of his latest invention, the Oscillation Overthruster, Buckaroo revs his Jet Car up and drives right through a solid rock face, crossing over into the 8th dimension. Unfortunately, it isn’t uninhabited. The evil Red Lectroids from Planet 10 have been banished to the 8th dimension, and now that Buckaroo has broken the dimensional barrier, they want out.

Meanwhile, Buckaroo rocks out with his East Texas bar band, the Hong Kong Cavaliers. But good-hearted Buckaroo stops the show when he spots someone who isn’t having a good time. The glum one is Penny Priddy, a suicidal lass with a thing for Buckaroo and a face just like that of Buckaroo's dead wife. Despite what looks like an assassination attempt (Penny was really trying to shoot herself), Buckaroo takes the lady under his wing.

Once the Lectroid assault gets fully underway—with the help of Dr. Emilio Lizardo, a dimension-breaker himself, now possessed by Lectoid spirit Lord John Whorfin—the fun really starts. The Lectroids, all named “John” something (“John Ya-Ya… John Smallberries…”), are after the Overthruster, which they hope to use to go fight the Black Lectroids back on Planet 10. We should point out here, by the way, that the Black Lectroids are also good guys, and that they all have Jamaican accents. But the Black Lectroids also take no Red Lectroid crap, and they're prepared to spark a nuclear war to stop the Red menace—unless Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers can do something about it.

The movie definitely had its weird factor amped up, but that was kind of the point. A solid cast of movie pros, including Peter Weller (the original Robocop), Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, and the Red Lectroid army of John Lithgow, Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya and others, kept things from getting so nutty that your head exploded. Buckaroo Banzai filled its cult classic role well—it may never be confused with Citizen Kane or The Godfather, but it’s definitely the best movie ever made about a rock and roll particle physicist brain surgeon (so far).

“Wherever you go, there you are.”

Release History 1984 - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension

Sub Categories live-action
sci-fi/fantasy
action/adventure
comedy

Studio 20th Century Fox

Cast

Buckaroo Banzai		Peter Weller
Doctor Emilio Lizardo / Lord John Whorfin		John Lithgow
Penny Priddy		Ellen Barkin
New Jersey		Jeff Goldblum
John Bigboote		Christopher Lloyd
Perfect Tommy		Lewis Smith
John Emdall		Rosalind Cash
Professor Hikita		Robert Ito
Reno Nevada		Pepe Serna
President Widmark		Ronald Lacey
Secretary of Defense McKinley		Matt Clark
Rawhide		Clancy Brown
General Catburd		William Traylor
John Parker		Carl Lumbly
John O'Connor		Vincent Schiavelli
John Gomez		Dan Hedaya
Senator Cunningham		Mariclare Costello
Casper Lindley		Bill Henderson
Scooter Lindley		Damon Hines
Pinky Carruthers, Blue Blazer Regular		Billy Vera
Mrs. Johnson		Laura Harrington
Billy Travers		Michael Santoro
Lizardo Hospital Guard		Jonathan Banks
Radar Blaze		Robert Gray
Radar Blaze		Gary Bisig
Mission Control		Kent Perkins
Highway Patrolman		John David Ashton
Duck Hunter Burt		Kenneth Magee
Duck Hunter Bubba		James Keane
National Security Advisor		Yakov Smirnoff
Artie Duncan		Leonard Gaines
TV Anchorwoman		Francine Lembi
Star Surgeon		John Walter Davis
Exhibitor		Reed Morgan
John Yaya		James Rosin
Reporter		Raye Birk
Reporter		Jane Marla Robbins
John Gant		Kevin Sullivan
Black Lectroid Commander		Jessie Lawrence Ferguson
Marine Lieutenant		Radford Polinsky
Kolodny Brother		Sam Minsky
Kolodny Brother		Robert Hummer
Rug Sucker		Gerald Peterson