Yes. I actually erased a comment as I was watching the review. It’s a good movie! I met “Pinky Carruthers” aka Billy Vera, on a job in 1991, Vera is a musician making a brief cameo in BB. I was overjoyed, and mentioned it to him, and he seemed pleased that someone enjoyed his BB scene.
@@roddmatsui3554 if you go into this thinking its s serious film, then its not good, but if you go into it as being a comedy played straight. then its so so funny and great
Fun Fact, Jen: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension was directed by W.D. Richter, who also co-wrote John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China, which you should also check out. 😁
It's even better than that, Big Trouble in Little China IS the sequel to Buckaroo Banzai, since the first movie did not do well in the box office, BB vs The World Crime League was put on hold, and after a few years they rewrote the script and made it as Big Trouble.
@@gregorybrown3272 No, not really. Big Trouble In Little China was originally going to be a western fantasy set in late 1880s San Francisco. It was rewritten by W.D. Richter as a contemporary fantasy adventure in the present day. It had nothing to do with Buckaroo Banzai.
@@44excalibur Richter also didn't write Buckaroo Banzai, even though he's best known as a screenwriter. Maybe he helped the writer wrangle it into a better script though.
Everyone makes fun of the "Wherever you go.." line but its actually a key tenet of Stoicism. The idea that if you aren't happy with who you are or if you are a terrible person no change of scenery is going to make you happy because you bring yourself wherever you go and if you are unhappy one place you will most likely be unhappy anywhere.
Imagine being happy... Not things you think might make you happy, but just being happy. Imagine yourself. Imagine yourself being happy. Have it everywhere you are.
The first guy you recognized in the mental hospital was Johnathan Banks. He was in a ton of movies in the 80s, usually playing a cop, but you might know him as Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The second guy was Clancy Brown. He was in Pet Cemetary 2. There was no comic book or source material to speak of. That's part of the beauty of this film. It's presented as a single chapter from the middle of an extensive series within an extended universe, complete with meta references and in-jokes, none of which actually exists. Great reaction!
In his Q&A with Kevin Smith and Peter Weller (on UA-cam, and worth watching again and again) Lithgow says that both his sons think that Buckaroo Banzai is their father's greatest performance on film, and he adds, "And you know? I'm fine with that." Even though this movie went nowhere when released, everyone who worked on it is incredibly proud of it, and apparently it was a ridiculously happy and fun set to work on, as well.
War of the Worlds was a radio broadcast; my mother heard it in real time. She told me that it was *not* a hoax, though it's remembered that way. It was a radio drama, and was so announced at every commercial break. Unfortunately, people came in in the middle of it and thought it was a real news broadcast, so during the commercials they were talking about this horrific "news," and didn't hear the announcement that it was a radio drama. It caused a huge panic.
"What is that watermelon doing there?" "I'll tell you later." Narrator: There is no later. Trivia: The end of the movie invites the viewer to watch for the upcoming film "Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League". This was the real title for a sequel that Sherwood Studios planned to make, if this film had been successful. Unfortunately, it was a box-office bomb, and Sherwood Studios went bankrupt. After its release on video and cable, however, the film became a cult favorite, much in the same way as Mad Max (1979) (which crawled from obscurity to spawn two sequels). Legal wrangling, due to the bankruptcy, prevented any other studios from picking up the sequel rights, and even many years later, MGM had to fight through a pile of red tape simply to get the OK to re-release it onto home video and DVD.
When they remastered the original (definitely improving the sound over the original theatrical release, so that you could actually hear the tannoy announcements clearly), about 30 of us went en-masse to the cinema showing it. Well, about 31 counting the watermelon, which we bought a ticket for as well, and had prime of place in the front row. On the walk back a bouncer asked "what's the watermelon for" and was quite taken back when all of us immediately responded with "I'll tell you later."
The watermelon was added in to see if the backers were still watching the dailies. They had been nervous about such a weird script, and insisted on seeing rushes. But as the shoot went on, Richter was getting fewer notes, so they added the watermelon as bait. Since they didn't get a note about it, Richter concluded that the backers had given up and weren't watching the rushes anymore.
There's an in-Universe explanation for the watermelon in the hydraulic press: having developed a watermelon that could survive an airdrop into war torn countries, they're now working on finding some way to crack it open so people could eat it.
@@BigGator5 ikr? Team Banzai is always grappling with the Law of Unintended Consequences. It's perfect. (I am pretty sure that that explanation comes from the novel, maybe from a published interview but one way or another it's from Richter or Earl Mac Rauch, I'm sure of it). I'm pretty sure it's NOT from a DVD extra, because as I recall, in that material, Richter presents a completely alternative in-Universe explanation, that it's part of (maybe) Reno Nevada's famous "Chicken in a Watermelon" recipe: Richter says something like, "I don't know about you, but that's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of." OMG, this movie, and the people who made it.
"Why is there a water melon?" "I'll tell you later." They never explain the water melon which describes this movie perfectly. It took me watching the movie about three times until I understood the plot. The mountain is not a shell. He drove through the mountain by going through the 8th Dimension. Which is where the evil aliens had been exiled to.
My experience is the same in many ways. I had to view the film about four times, before I could properly understand what I was seeing. It’s a tangled story full of weird details that drift by, and if they aren’t noticed, the viewer is easily confused.
His whole speech about how you could pound the mountain to rubble and sift through it, and would never find the life form stuck to the bottom of the car. It’s a crucial bit of talk that the plot kind of swings on, the 8th dimension.
@@roddmatsui3554 thing is it is actually true any item is built with holes so in theory you could walk through walls, like water through a sieve. so long as you could keep the cells apart and connected at the same time, read about Quantum Tunneling
The watermelon was actually addressed by lithgow at the NY film festival. Basically, Richter was getting a lot of scrutiny from new fox execs coming into the production and so they threw crazy things into the dailies and, eventually, the watermelon scene came back with no remarks...he then knew they had given up their scrutiny and was able to leave it in as a subtle middle-finger while making the movie he wanted. Pretty punk-rock!
I was obsessed with this movie from the moment I picked up the Marvel Super Special comic book adaptation. I went on to read the novelization, which in many ways I liked even more than the movie (it was written by the screenwriter), as it provided a lot more details and background information. I also dressed up as Buckaroo Banzai for Halloween that year. ETA: While there have been comics based on the movie (including the aforementioned adaptation by Marvel), Buckaroo Banzai was an original creation, though it does draw a lot of inspiration from all kinds of sources, like old pulp novels and comics.
This is the funniest Sci-fi Comedy films I've ever seen! Such a shame they never made a sequel to the movie. I would love to have seen more crazy adventures with Buckaroo Banzai and his friends.
There was also the slight problem that most of the funding for the first film was discovered to be the result of a a money-laundering operation. A problem with a lot of film investment in the 1980s.
The overthruster used a laser to open a portal to the Dimension on the side of the mountain and another on its opposite face-he didn’t go *through* the mountain; he traveled through the Eighth Dimension equivalent of the space taken up by that mountain. Whence came the brain you later saw in the jar-an Eighth Dimensional life form partial to brandy.
5:20 "Il Duce" is Italian for "the sweet one", and was Mussoline's nickname. It's pronounced ill DOO-chay. "Why are they wearing bubble wrap masks?" Because their special effects budget was $16.53, a pocket full of lint, and a button.
I saw Clancy Brown (Rawhide) mentioned in your comments, He plays the Kurgan in The Highlander , a great movie. John Lithgow also starred in Third Rock From The Sun, a tv series that let him exercise his comedic abilities.
Peter Weller once said in an interview that Buckaroo Banzai is a movie that to this day he still doesn't understand. He added that he'd give you money if you could explain it to him. lol 😆
Sooo happy that you finally got around to this forgotten gem! I knew that you would love it. Much fun as always! Fun fact - the split toe "socks" were actually jika-tabi, or "tabi boots". They are traditional Japanese footwear, mainly used as work boots but more commonly known (to outsiders) as "ninja" or "martial arts" boots.
The President is played by *Ronald Lacey. Lacey played Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark - got his face melted off,* if you remember. Well: Remember he burned the image of the medallion into his PALM, recording that important information in a “unique way”? Important information is similarly transferred - from Banzai to Professor Hikita - with the image going from Banzai’s PALM to Hikita’s forehead. I just realized that. It’s a strange link between the two films.
Rodd Matsui says: You forget: An angry mob thinks chaotically, not logically. An angry mob won’t take the brain cells to understand that all human genetics are linked and we are one species , it rapidly begins focusing mental attention on “who looks different from me/mine” and believe me - once you start drawing lines, dividing populations into defined groups, if categorization is your goal, there is no end to the road. You can keep on subcategorizing humanity until you have 5000 shades of, well, Gray. There are no whites, no blacks, no yellows, no reds, just variations of skin tone and physiognomy, bone structure. Any person that can’t understand this is missing out on the most freeing of thoughts.
It's a homage to larger than life pulp heroes such as Doc Savage (who had a crew of adventurers and scientists) and his world spanning adventures (many of which extremely outlandish).
@@roddmatsui3554 Which brings up that she needs to watch "Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze" (1975) and "Mission Stardust" (1967) the Perry Rhodan movie, which even though it is bad, is not nearly as bad as some of the stuff she has watched!
@@Greenwood4727 Yea, I had all of the English published Perry Rhodan books(Multiple editions of a lot of them), even the magazine format that the last ones were published, and I had nearly all the Doc Savage books in paperback. But last year, three days before Christmas, I came home from a trip and found my house had been torn down by the county and everything I owned had been taken to the city dump, because they thought it was 'abandoned'! hundreds of thousands of dollars of tools, electronic equipment, family heirlooms, collectables, books, telescopes, camping equipment, guns, and a HUGE knife collection, all gone... They said I could go to the dump and try and dig for the stuff... Still trying to find a place to live, as I had just retired a few months before, and now I have no house... That's life for you... I probably miss my book collection most of all. I had rooms lined with bookcases filled with books, many of them limited editions, and some signed... There were a few fan films of the Perry Rhodan stories that were good, you may still be able to find them on UA-cam.
@James Kenney that’s a hurtful story, very sorry that happened. Hopefully you’re okay now. I don’t like losing books! But I have lost many and they tend to be a little obscure.....
Fun Fact: In Star Trek Thee Next Generation, the metal name plate on the bridge of the Enterprise says the ship was manufactured by YoYoDyne Industries.
WOW!! Great selection... I think you may have just won the Internet for the day ;) Fun fact: Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" copied the ending and had his cast all come walking together as well (also starring Jeff Goldblum).
Yeah, despite the differences the two have a very similar feel of existing in their own weird reality. Highly recommend everyone who love Buckaroo check it out.
I have no less than 5 copies of the movie on DVD, two tshirts, a movie poster, a fridge magnet, several cosplay identification badges, quite a few pins, a copy of the Marvel comic book adaptation and the topper is a YoYodyne Propulsion Systems coffee mug. To this day the movie remains my favorite of all time. I might attend a Comic-con soon and get a pic with Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller). Buckaroo Banzai was my first real action hero even before they were called that. Peter Weller in an interview once said Buckaroo isn't a superhero and is made better by the people he surrounds himself with. Those hard rockin' Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroos most trusted inner circle. Turning 60 this year reminds me that next year the movie celebrates its fortieth anniversary. I even have my eye on an Oscillation Overthruster. Update: I actually now have a screen accurate Oscillation Overthruster
@@geo386 It doesn't differ in any substantial way. May have been written (as is often the case) from a working script. It does make Lizardo's "co-option" by Whorfin a little more explicit and there's a side bit about one of the characters testifying before Congress.
Gotta love the 80's! I have used monkeyboy as an insult ever since this movie, lol. Unfortunately we never got a sequel. We had the cheesiest and most fun movies. The whole point of so many of these cult faves were the over-the-top performances. So many of this cast were staples in films back then, either as lead or character actors. Along similar lines you should check out Remo Williams the Adventure Begins, Big Trouble in Little China, the Burbs (it's got Tom Hanks in it), Escape from New York, UHF, Bloodsport, Repo Man and Working Men. The last two star Emilio Estevez and Estevez and Charlie Sheen, respectively! As an aficionado of 'silly cinema' myself I love that you are delving into a lot of my all time favorite films! Looking forward to many, many more. And since you're in Canada I would like to add the quintessential hockey film from 1977, Slap Shot starring Paul Newman. Avoid the remake AT ALL COSTS!
Apparently,everybody else avoided it.I didn’t even know it existed.The PaulNewman original is definitely the right way to go,and speaking of Canada-centric movies(and comedies) Strange Brew would be a good one to watch.
@@pathatfield2543 I can't imagine why I left that one off the list. Bob and Doug should be Canadian national heroes. I have that one in my DVD collection. Absolute classic!
@@LordToddtastic666 that’s another one that should have had a sequel(provided,of course,that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis reprised their original roles)
weird fact: During the ending credits where everybody is walking/marching to the theme music, the original music--which would have been blaring out live from a truck so the actors could keep in step--hadn't been completed. So instead the director used Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" which sounded like the theme (does it really?). One can see the amusement in some of the actors' faces and some (like the kid) can barely contain themselves from dancing. Also gotta wonder what the neighborhood thought about "Uptown Girl" being blared out repeatedly at high decibels lol
This isn't based on a book/series/comic, it is instead written to behave as if it was based on a pulp serial story. So there are plenty of references to past adventures, events, places, and side characters, that didn't actually appear anywhere before the movie. It's a strange, different type of "meta".
So there used to be a lot of pulp novels in the 1930s-on like Doc Savage, Tom Swift-- impossibly brilliant forefathers of Tony Stark who traveled the world with their friends fighting evil. But if you started like a lot of people who got into the novels, you probably picked up a book with a cool cover, and then find a lot of references to earlier installments with very little exposition to explain those who wandered into the middle of it. The overall joke with Buckaroo Banzai involves dropping you into an adventure of already-established characters and just having to accept a lot of ridiculous plot points for the sake being able to keep up.
I loved this movie when it came out, still do, because it drops the audience into this well developed world, and gives us credit for being smart enough to keep up. It didn't talk down to me, and I really liked that. 😊
If i remember correctly, the dance walk at the end was filmed using a michael jackson song at first because the final music wasnt done yet. Edit: it was shot to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl.
@@jean-paulaudette9246 - excactly! I saw this in the theatre as a kid with my friends and we wore out the VHS rental watching it at my friends house with all the neighborhood kids.
I love this movie. It was designed to be new unique hero, except instead of doing the traditional origin story and build up they wanted to just jump right into the story after he was already established. This is pretty much without any other source. So many good quotes that I use all the time still. Thanks for the great review!
The movie is its own, original thing. Comics were made after the movie came out, and a TV show went through many iterations of development, most recently with Amazon. Kevin Smith was to be the show runner, but last I heard the project fizzled out.
The end credits are great. I keep thinking we need a US president who starts his campaign rallies by marching to the podium down the major city streets to this song.
@@dr.burtgummerfan439, I’m sure there are enough talented Millennials out there who have the business acumen and chops to run for office, and of those, a few who’d go Buckaroo Banzai style. As long as they don’t mimic Young Einstein.
24:11 Those are a traditional Japanese style of socks called 'tabi,' and I believe they are split-toed like that so that they can be slipped into raised wooden sandals that are used to keep the feet out of mud & dirt.
Banzai is a Neurosurgeon, Martial Artist, Particle Physicist, and Musician. The mid 1980's definition of a Renaissance Man. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath They do exist.
AS I mentioned to you before when suggesting this movie, you have to watch it like this is a part 6 or 7 in a franchise and you just happened to have missed the other films, so you can basically follow what is going on but you know you are missing a bunch of stuff. It is like if I showed you Capt America Civil War for your 1st Marvel movie, you can follow it but you know there is a ton of content that you are not understanding but the people around you get it.,
5:46 That's Johnathan Banks who plays Mike on _Breaking Bad_ and _Better Call Saul._ He also had a small role in _Airplane._ 11:10 That's Clancy Brown who has been in _Starship Troopers,_ _The Shawshank Redemption,_ and he's also the voice of Mr. Krabbs on _Spongebob Squarepants._
If you've never seen Third Rock from the Sun, Lithgow plays an alien in that show. While not such an over the top performance as here, he is still able to let his crazy side out.
BB is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s creative, weird, absurd, and tons of fun. Too bad we never got the sequel. There have been several attempts to bring the characters back, but all failed for various reasons.
War of the Worlds was an H.G. Wells novel from the late 1800s. In the novel the story takes place in England and the Martians invade London. Orson Welles adapted the book as a radio play and infamously freaked out America with his radio broadcast of Martians invading Grovers Mill, New Jersey. The book was adapted several more times as a movie in 1953, a TV series in 1988 - 1990, a stage play, another movie in 2005 starring Tom Cruise and more recently as a BBC miniseries.
I will take exception to two of your comments. 1) The dialog wasn't "So dumb it's funny", it was deliberately silly. and B) he movie isn't "So bad it's good". That implies that your enjoyment comes *in spite* of what is on the screen, but the parts you enjoyed were deliberate. OK, the parts you didn't like were also deliberate, but I think there is a distinction between something like Birdemic, which is goofy and off-kilter because absolutely no one on that project was competent, and this, which the creators deliberately made goofy and off-kilter.
That actor with the unmistakable voice who plays Rawhide, and whom you say looks familiar, is Clancy Brown, who has been in numerous science fiction and action films, but is most well known for having played The Kurgan in 1986's Highlander.
Somebody just made this up entirely-the first version was called “Dirty Pictures from the Prom,” and a later version was “‘Find the jetcar!’ said the President, a Buckaroo Banzai Adventure.”
So glad to see this reaction. This movie rarely gets any attention from reactors. It’s the kind of movie you either love or hate. I personally love it. It’s just so out there. BTW, the Orson Wells reference was not a movie, but rather a radio adaptation that was made to sound like an authentic news broadcast and was aired on Halloween. It was such a brilliant concept that many listeners thought that aliens were actually invading Earth and it caused a major public panic.
The sequel, *Against The World Crime League,* was released a couple years ago as a novel by Earl Mac Roach who wrote the original and several comic miniseries released between this and that. There was also a weird tv series pitch that just would have had Buckaroo going around saving the world with the jet car.
The writer explained (in a Starlog issue IIRC), "the watermelon". They were running experiments in compressing food for long missions. It's why the watermelon is in a pneumatic press. 😃
Did you recognise Jenny Calendar's Uncle Yanos as one of the bad guys? The actor you can't name is Clancy Brown, been in many things but will always be the Kurgan from Highlander.
"Il Duce" is Italian for 'the Duke', which was what they called Mussolini. "No matter where you go - There you are!" LOL, been saying that for nearly 40 years. That end credit music is part of my theme soundtrack. When he drove thru that mountain it was by travelling thru the 8th dimension. There was going to be a second film, but got tied up in litigation. There also was a comic book back in the day and tv cartoons if I recall. Two novels in paperback form have been published, but hard to find.
But it's worse than that. We aren't descended from chimps but we share a common ancestor. That animal doesn't exist anymore because they evolved into us, chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas, but apes are not monkeys. Apes hate being called monkeys, especially humans. 😅
"Why are his socks like that". Those are split toed ninja shoes. Buckaroo is supposed to be half-Japanese, and takes his heritage seriously (hence the samurai outfit later in the film, and his rising sun bandana). There's an extended edition that shows an alternate intro, explaining a little bit of Buckaroo's backstory.. showing 30 year old 8mm home movie footage of his Japanese dad and American mom (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) with Young buckaroo in the desert.. where they are killed in an "accidental" explosion of the prototype rocket car... but was really an assassination by their nemesis, Hanoi Xan. The sequel script basically morphed into Big Trouble in Little China after this didn't do well at the box office.
The actor you recognized but couldn't name is Clancy Brown. He was the kurgan in Highlander he was the drill sergeant in Starship Troopers most people know him nowadays as mr. Krabs from SpongeBob.
One more to add to your list. Definatly a bad good movie. Hell Comes To Frogtown. Stars Rowdy Rodney Piper from They Live, which you watched a little while ago.
As for Orson Welles movies to watch,My favorites are The Third Man(though he only appears in that,and where and when he appears is a surprise),The Stranger,and The Trial,which might blow your mind since it’s kind of a weird movie,and none of the movies you watch are weird.Oh…wait.
I recommendation is to listen to the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast that created a panic in real life. People who missed the opening thought it was really happening and left their homes to evacuate to the mountains. The 1953 movie was based on that and the original book by H.G. Wells. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do a reaction to the original radio broadcast. 👍
Loved the campyness of Buckaroo and I knew you would love the cast especially seeing John Lithgow after your comment on him from your reaction to Blow Out. I'd also recommend the Movie Ready Player One which references Buckaroo Banzai.
There are Buckaroo Banzai Comics but they came after the movie. The main hook of this movie is that you're dropped into this fully-realized world without any context. They reference backstory and characters that never appear on screen and never explain any of it to you like you should already know. Imagine watching one of the later Marvel movies like Civil War or Infinity War having never read a Marvel comic or watched one of the earlier movies because they just didn't exist and than being left to keep up with the plot. Also Jamie Lee Curtis is in a deleted scene playing Buckaroo Banzai's mother.
When I was a kid my dad took me to see Ghostbusters and this on the same day. Miss those days as a kid when we'd knock out most of the movies released that year over a couple of weekends.
I am exaggeratedly offended by your description of this as a bad movie. This is a classic! Edit: That being said, Remo Williams, the Adventure Begins as well as Hudson Hawk seems right up your alley.
Hi! First video of yours I’ve watched. I enjoyed your take on the movie, glad you in general really liked it, it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I saw it with a fellow geek college roommate in a big theatre in its original release, and it blew us away. So just a quick note since you like the science behind the fiction in what you watch. There are 2 scientific concepts that are the basis for what happens in this movie that are kind of mixed together in a jumble and not very well defined, but I’ll separate and explain them a bit: Buckaroo goes into this a little, most of matter is empty space, the space between the nucleus and electrons, the space between atoms, and so forth, means that actual physical matter makes up very little of what we perceive as solid objects, and supposedly his “Overthruster” allowed him to travel in this empty space, allowing the matter in his atoms to fit between spaces in the matter of the mountain. It is true that actual matter is contained in tiny bits, protons, electrons, neutrons, quarks, etc. but the technology to fit the matter in one object between the spaces in the matter in another object would be very strange indeed and most physicists don’t think such a think would be possible. Quantum physics has shed a new light on the theories and says there are significant roadblocks to that sort of thing ever happening. Here is a really good article if you want to take a peek into the nature of matter in layman’s language. It’s a very good easy-to-understand thing, and might be fun to spend a few seconds going through the first few screens of it. conackamack.piscatawayschools.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=6532887 The second concept is that of the “eighth dimension.” Science fiction for many many years has talked about the concept of “Other dimensions.” A lot of this is bad science and just mixes up dimensions with the thought of “other realities” or “parallel universes.” A lot of it is just made up stuff to allow authors to tell stories. The four dimensions we deal with every day are length, width, height and time. Three dimensional objects are just material objects that are so tall, so wide, and so long. The X, Y, and Z axes. Time is just time (sounds simple, and you and I experience it in an easy to explain way. Things happen. In order for things to happen time moves forward. Three dimensional objects move forward through time, the fourth dimension. The 1st 3 dimensions are measured in inches or meters, the 4th dimension is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, etc. In our reality time moves one direction. Forward. Doc Brown made a DeLorean into a great story telling device in 3 of my favorite movies ever. Dimensions beyond time, the 5th, 6th, 7th, and so forth supposedly go off in even different directions than time. The 5th Dimension is fairly well accepted by many to be the way that gravity and electromagnetic forces are tied in to reality. They refer to it as a “micro-dimension,” and people smarter than me have a better understanding of it. After that, things get weird. You may have heard of String Theory. String theory talks about up to 10 dimensions to explain all the other stuff that’s out there. I have yet to delve into string theory, I have enough to do just to deal with everyday life lol. But it’s fun to have an idea about it, so if you’re curious, look up 5th dimension and String Theory. Here’s a page from Northrup Grumman (The guys that do lots of fighter jets and aerospace stuff) that will give you a flavor for the stuff: now.northropgrumman.com/what-is-the-fifth-dimension/ There are scientists and charlatans out there who talk about an infinite number of dimensions. Each dimension is supposed to measure SOMETHING. For the life of me, I don’t know what exists that need all those dimensions to measure. But when you hear “dimension,” think of the first 3. Length Width Height. You can measure them. Then Time. You can measure it. Dimension 5 measures something to do with gravity and electromagnetic forces. Like I said, from there it gets weird and is further than I’ve studied. Hope I’ve not bored you. Happy Holidays.
"I'm sad Bigbooty didn't make it." Bigbootay! Tay tay! 🤣🤣🤣 A movie before and after it's time, strangely enough. Nowadays, this would be a later entry in the BBU (Buckaroo Banzai Universe), after a Perfect Tommy or Pecos movie. It also would have fit right in among the pulp serials of the 30's & 40's.
This movie used to be on hbo all the time and you couldn’t help but watch parts or all of it numerous times thanks it definitely gets better with age and you definitely should watch War of the worlds original and the Tom cruise version both are excellent!
No, Buckaroo Banzai wasn't based on a comic book or any other previously published material. Buckaroo Banzai was the creation of Mac Rauch, a novelist and aspiring screenwriter who met director W.D. Richter after Richter's wife had read Rauch's work and recommended him to her husband. Richter invited Rauch to Los Angeles and the two began collaborating, and Rauch eventually developed the character of Buckaroo Banzai and told Richter about his idea for a screenplay, which ended up becoming this movie.
Cool story I saw this film in a theater at a pre-release preview, They asked us to fill out a comment card and I mentioned it was a remake of "Radio Ranch" with Gene Autry (1040). A week later someone from the production company telephoned me to ask about "Radio Ranch" I told them it was about a muti-talented music star who battled pan-Dimential intergaltic beings from another dimension, but since that film was out of copywrite so they probably did'nt have to have to worry.
The "no matter where you go" line is the most quoted, but my favorite is "President of what?". It reveals a lot about the character that he's so blase about it.
I remember this being a huge cult film in the 80's. Its quite goofy and oddball, (intentionally) but its got a great cast so it gets a thumbs up from me. And John Lithgow is hilarious in this with his weird indeterminate European accent. All the side players in this were busy working actors of the period so you've definitely seen them in other things. As far as I know this was an original film, not from any other source, although obviously influenced by many other things. There definitely was no sequel, though they may have hoped for one.
Clancy Brown, the head prison guard in "Shawshank Redemption." Jonathan Banks, who played the asylum attendant was in the tv show "Wiseguy." And let's not forget Pepe Serna, who starred in "Scarface." Rosalind Cash, who played the lead alien, starred in "The Omega Man." (Unfortunately.)
Although there was no comic that the movie was based on at the time it was created, it was inspired by the 1930's pulp magazine hero Doc Savage. He had a group of buddies on his team all experts in different fields while he himself was basically like Batman with no costume - super smart, super physically unbeatable and expert at everything. Buckaroo Banzai was an attempt to bring the idea up to date - to the MTV era.
Not a terrible movie. This movie is great!The concept for Buckaroo Banzai is meant as an 80s interpretation of the old Doc Savage pulp novels from the 30. Doc Savage was a renaissance man quite similar to Buckaroo Banzai. Doc Savage is a physician, scientist, adventurer, detective, inventor, explorer, researcher, and, as revealed in The Polar Treasure, a musician. And Doc Savage has too a team of aides them help him on his adventures. One of Doc Savages aides is called "Johnny Littlejohn" so there might be even a nod in the movie to the doc. Buckaroo Banzai took that whole setup and transposed it to the 80s, and they started - as they say - in medias res. The movie is not an origin story, but one of Banzais adventures that follows countless other adventures that were never scripted anywhere.
The President is played by Ronald Lacey. Lacey played Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark - got his face melted off, if you remember. Well: Remember he burned the image of the medallion into his PALM, recording that important information in a “unique way”? Important information is similarly transferred - from Banzai to Professor Hikita - with the image going from Banzai’s PALM to Hikita’s forehead. I just realized that. It’s a strange link between the two films.
Rodd Matsui says: You forget: An angry mob thinks chaotically, not logically. An angry mob won’t take the brain cells to understand that all human genetics are linked and we are one species , it rapidly begins focusing mental attention on “who looks different from me/mine” and believe me - once you start drawing lines, dividing populations into defined groups, if categorization is your goal, there is no end to the road. You can keep on subcategorizing humanity until you have 5000 shades of, well, Gray. There are no whites, no blacks, no yellows, no reds, just variations of skin tone and physiognomy, bone structure. Any person that can’t understand this is missing out on the most freeing of thoughts.
While a number of War of the Worlds movies have been done; what they are referring to here is a 1938 RADIO broadcast. It did panic thousands of people, you can buy recordings of it still 85 years later, but no one has ever seen it.
There's a prologue that explains Buckaroo's Name, and why he's a scientist..and what happend to his mom and dad. You should watch it! It has a real big Cameo!!!
Saw it in the theatre when it came out with a half dozen friends. We remembered enough quotes from the movie to use them for the next few years. If anyone ever said "What's this?" the correct response was from the movie... "It's your hand, Buckaroo" allowing the response: "No, no, the formula!" -- stupid stuff but fun at the time,
"It's not my goddamn planet. Understand, monkey boy?" this really is a reimagining of doc savage man of bronze originally a thirties pulp fiction character there is a 70's movie if you want to check it out. its not that the mountain is hollow its he went into another dimension
_The War of The Worlds_ (1953) is a fantastic movie. I can't say enough good things about it. However, it is not an Orson Welles movie, although it's easy to think it is. Yes, Welles did the radio play but it was based on the novel of H.G. Wells. The names are easy to confuse and conflate. Orson or no, I still highly recommend the movie. I've yet to see _Citizen Kane,_ partly due to to the ending having been spoiled for me, long ago.
The MOST important unanswered question: Why IS there a watermelon there? Clancy Brown (Rawhide) was Captain Hadley in "The Shawshank Redemption". And a bunch of other stuff.
Worth watching for John Lithgow. Apparently, Jamie Lee Curtis played Buckeroo's mother in a flashback scene, which was subsequently cut from the film, but available on the DVD release. My fave Orsen Welles film is probably "Touch Of Evil" (1958). There was meant to be a sequel, but because the film apparently bombed, it never happened. Use more honey!! Pawer Rangers!!
The only issue with your opening is that this isnt a terrible movie! Not in the least! But excited to see your reaction!
Hundred percent agree. Was just about to comment that when I saw yours.
Yes. I actually erased a comment as I was watching the review. It’s a good movie!
I met “Pinky Carruthers” aka Billy Vera, on a job in 1991, Vera is a musician making a brief cameo in BB. I was overjoyed, and mentioned it to him, and he seemed pleased that someone enjoyed his BB scene.
@@roddmatsui3554 if you go into this thinking its s serious film, then its not good, but if you go into it as being a comedy played straight. then its so so funny and great
Yeah! Something like that.
@@Greenwood4727 you should watch the cheerleader camp movie😈
Fun Fact, Jen: The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension was directed by W.D. Richter, who also co-wrote John Carpenter's Big Trouble In Little China, which you should also check out. 😁
It's even better than that, Big Trouble in Little China IS the sequel to Buckaroo Banzai, since the first movie did not do well in the box office, BB vs The World Crime League was put on hold, and after a few years they rewrote the script and made it as Big Trouble.
@@gregorybrown3272 No, not really. Big Trouble In Little China was originally going to be a western fantasy set in late 1880s San Francisco. It was rewritten by W.D. Richter as a contemporary fantasy adventure in the present day. It had nothing to do with Buckaroo Banzai.
@@gregorybrown3272 that makes too much sense to be fake. Dude, thanks.
@@44excalibur Richter also didn't write Buckaroo Banzai, even though he's best known as a screenwriter. Maybe he helped the writer wrangle it into a better script though.
Everyone makes fun of the "Wherever you go.." line but its actually a key tenet of Stoicism. The idea that if you aren't happy with who you are or if you are a terrible person no change of scenery is going to make you happy because you bring yourself wherever you go and if you are unhappy one place you will most likely be unhappy anywhere.
Imagine being happy... Not things you think might make you happy, but just being happy.
Imagine yourself.
Imagine yourself being happy.
Have it everywhere you are.
The first guy you recognized in the mental hospital was Johnathan Banks. He was in a ton of movies in the 80s, usually playing a cop, but you might know him as Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. The second guy was Clancy Brown. He was in Pet Cemetary 2.
There was no comic book or source material to speak of. That's part of the beauty of this film. It's presented as a single chapter from the middle of an extensive series within an extended universe, complete with meta references and in-jokes, none of which actually exists.
Great reaction!
I remembered him from a show called "Wiseguy". And there may not have been a comic book, but there is now.
Lithgow is still spitting out pieces of scenery. almost a Tim Curry level performance.
In his Q&A with Kevin Smith and Peter Weller (on UA-cam, and worth watching again and again) Lithgow says that both his sons think that Buckaroo Banzai is their father's greatest performance on film, and he adds, "And you know? I'm fine with that." Even though this movie went nowhere when released, everyone who worked on it is incredibly proud of it, and apparently it was a ridiculously happy and fun set to work on, as well.
John Lithgow was mainly a dramatic actor before this movie; it opened up a whole new career for him in comedy just like Leslie Nielsen in Airplane.
Cool comment
This is a great under appreciated movie. The 80s in full force!
War of the Worlds was a radio broadcast; my mother heard it in real time. She told me that it was *not* a hoax, though it's remembered that way. It was a radio drama, and was so announced at every commercial break. Unfortunately, people came in in the middle of it and thought it was a real news broadcast, so during the commercials they were talking about this horrific "news," and didn't hear the announcement that it was a radio drama. It caused a huge panic.
"What is that watermelon doing there?"
"I'll tell you later."
Narrator: There is no later.
Trivia: The end of the movie invites the viewer to watch for the upcoming film "Buckaroo Banzai vs. The World Crime League". This was the real title for a sequel that Sherwood Studios planned to make, if this film had been successful. Unfortunately, it was a box-office bomb, and Sherwood Studios went bankrupt. After its release on video and cable, however, the film became a cult favorite, much in the same way as Mad Max (1979) (which crawled from obscurity to spawn two sequels). Legal wrangling, due to the bankruptcy, prevented any other studios from picking up the sequel rights, and even many years later, MGM had to fight through a pile of red tape simply to get the OK to re-release it onto home video and DVD.
When they remastered the original (definitely improving the sound over the original theatrical release, so that you could actually hear the tannoy announcements clearly), about 30 of us went en-masse to the cinema showing it. Well, about 31 counting the watermelon, which we bought a ticket for as well, and had prime of place in the front row. On the walk back a bouncer asked "what's the watermelon for" and was quite taken back when all of us immediately responded with "I'll tell you later."
The watermelon was added in to see if the backers were still watching the dailies. They had been nervous about such a weird script, and insisted on seeing rushes. But as the shoot went on, Richter was getting fewer notes, so they added the watermelon as bait. Since they didn't get a note about it, Richter concluded that the backers had given up and weren't watching the rushes anymore.
There's an in-Universe explanation for the watermelon in the hydraulic press: having developed a watermelon that could survive an airdrop into war torn countries, they're now working on finding some way to crack it open so people could eat it.
Alan Canon ...That's funny.
@@BigGator5 ikr? Team Banzai is always grappling with the Law of Unintended Consequences. It's perfect. (I am pretty sure that that explanation comes from the novel, maybe from a published interview but one way or another it's from Richter or Earl Mac Rauch, I'm sure of it). I'm pretty sure it's NOT from a DVD extra, because as I recall, in that material, Richter presents a completely alternative in-Universe explanation, that it's part of (maybe) Reno Nevada's famous "Chicken in a Watermelon" recipe: Richter says something like, "I don't know about you, but that's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard of."
OMG, this movie, and the people who made it.
"Why is there a water melon?"
"I'll tell you later."
They never explain the water melon which describes this movie perfectly.
It took me watching the movie about three times until I understood the plot. The mountain is not a shell. He drove through the mountain by going through the 8th Dimension. Which is where the evil aliens had been exiled to.
My experience is the same in many ways. I had to view the film about four times, before I could properly understand what I was seeing. It’s a tangled story full of weird details that drift by, and if they aren’t noticed, the viewer is easily confused.
His whole speech about how you could pound the mountain to rubble and sift through it, and would never find the life form stuck to the bottom of the car. It’s a crucial bit of talk that the plot kind of swings on, the 8th dimension.
@@roddmatsui3554 thing is it is actually true any item is built with holes so in theory you could walk through walls, like water through a sieve. so long as you could keep the cells apart and connected at the same time, read about Quantum Tunneling
The watermelon was actually addressed by lithgow at the NY film festival. Basically, Richter was getting a lot of scrutiny from new fox execs coming into the production and so they threw crazy things into the dailies and, eventually, the watermelon scene came back with no remarks...he then knew they had given up their scrutiny and was able to leave it in as a subtle middle-finger while making the movie he wanted. Pretty punk-rock!
I was obsessed with this movie from the moment I picked up the Marvel Super Special comic book adaptation. I went on to read the novelization, which in many ways I liked even more than the movie (it was written by the screenwriter), as it provided a lot more details and background information.
I also dressed up as Buckaroo Banzai for Halloween that year.
ETA: While there have been comics based on the movie (including the aforementioned adaptation by Marvel), Buckaroo Banzai was an original creation, though it does draw a lot of inspiration from all kinds of sources, like old pulp novels and comics.
I was given a copy of the novelization. It’s pretty fascinating, going into the Banzai Institute training regimen! Cold water baths in the morning.
You should watch this. Tons of amazing backstory: ua-cam.com/video/qi_ixer1-5M/v-deo.html
Nice, this always was awesome up there with Remo Williams also from written word
I own a yo yo dine t shirt
This is the funniest Sci-fi Comedy films I've ever seen! Such a shame they never made a sequel to the movie. I would love to have seen more crazy adventures with Buckaroo Banzai and his friends.
There was also the slight problem that most of the funding for the first film was discovered to be the result of a a money-laundering operation. A problem with a lot of film investment in the 1980s.
They couldn't make another one.. Nearly the entire Cast became A and B list Stars before they could even try
@@scotthartman8993 Most of the Hong Kong Cavaliers signed a five picture deal but the studio wanted nothing to do with it after it was done.
his, headband with Japanese characters he puts on over his hood. The headband says "seikatsu bei" ("the joy of living")
The readout of the overthruster from the first scene, when inverted, became the model for the flux capacitor in Back to the Future.
Really?! That’s so cool! I love that movie, thanks for watching!
The overthruster used a laser to open a portal to the Dimension on the side of the mountain and another on its opposite face-he didn’t go *through* the mountain; he traveled through the Eighth Dimension equivalent of the space taken up by that mountain. Whence came the brain you later saw in the jar-an Eighth Dimensional life form partial to brandy.
And for the brief moment you see it, it’s like the Other Planet in “Phantasm” - the 8th dimensional equivalent looks pretty darn weird.
"It's so bad, it's good." I believe that it's so ultimately non-sequiturial, that it's great. Best. Leo.
5:20 "Il Duce" is Italian for "the sweet one", and was Mussoline's nickname. It's pronounced ill DOO-chay.
"Why are they wearing bubble wrap masks?"
Because their special effects budget was $16.53, a pocket full of lint, and a button.
Can't believe you did this! One of my all-time favorites!!! Awesome! Thank you!!! 😃
Thank you for watching! Hope you enjoy the video!
Thank you for enjoying movies, regardless of the decade. No offense but you are one cool chick.
I saw Clancy Brown (Rawhide) mentioned in your comments, He plays the Kurgan in The Highlander , a great movie. John Lithgow also starred in Third Rock From The Sun, a tv series that let him exercise his comedic abilities.
Peter Weller once said in an interview that Buckaroo Banzai is a movie that to this day he still doesn't understand. He added that he'd give you money if you could explain it to him. lol 😆
Strange coming from the star of Naked Lunch.
@@shaitanlavey Good point. lol 😆
Sooo happy that you finally got around to this forgotten gem! I knew that you would love it. Much fun as always! Fun fact - the split toe "socks" were actually jika-tabi, or "tabi boots". They are traditional Japanese footwear, mainly used as work boots but more commonly known (to outsiders) as "ninja" or "martial arts" boots.
The President is played by *Ronald Lacey. Lacey played Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark - got his face melted off,* if you remember. Well: Remember he burned the image of the medallion into his PALM, recording that important information in a “unique way”? Important information is similarly transferred - from Banzai to Professor Hikita - with the image going from Banzai’s PALM to Hikita’s forehead. I just realized that. It’s a strange link between the two films.
Rodd Matsui says:
You forget: An angry mob thinks chaotically, not logically. An angry mob won’t take the brain cells to understand that all human genetics are linked and we are one species , it rapidly begins focusing mental attention on “who looks different from me/mine” and believe me - once you start drawing lines, dividing populations into defined groups, if categorization is your goal, there is no end to the road. You can keep on subcategorizing humanity until you have 5000 shades of, well, Gray. There are no whites, no blacks, no yellows, no reds, just variations of skin tone and physiognomy, bone structure. Any person that can’t understand this is missing out on the most freeing of thoughts.
It's a homage to larger than life pulp heroes such as Doc Savage (who had a crew of adventurers and scientists) and his world spanning adventures (many of which extremely outlandish).
And Perry Rhodan, to some degree even Flash Gordon. And Wizard of Oz, maybe.....
@@roddmatsui3554 Which brings up that she needs to watch "Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze" (1975) and "Mission Stardust" (1967) the Perry Rhodan movie, which even though it is bad, is not nearly as bad as some of the stuff she has watched!
@@jamesraykenney I managed to get a lot of Doc savage and Perry rhodan books (ebooks) many years ago
@@Greenwood4727 Yea, I had all of the English published Perry Rhodan books(Multiple editions of a lot of them), even the magazine format that the last ones were published, and I had nearly all the Doc Savage books in paperback. But last year, three days before Christmas, I came home from a trip and found my house had been torn down by the county and everything I owned had been taken to the city dump, because they thought it was 'abandoned'! hundreds of thousands of dollars of tools, electronic equipment, family heirlooms, collectables, books, telescopes, camping equipment, guns, and a HUGE knife collection, all gone... They said I could go to the dump and try and dig for the stuff... Still trying to find a place to live, as I had just retired a few months before, and now I have no house... That's life for you...
I probably miss my book collection most of all. I had rooms lined with bookcases filled with books, many of them limited editions, and some signed...
There were a few fan films of the Perry Rhodan stories that were good, you may still be able to find them on UA-cam.
@James Kenney that’s a hurtful story, very sorry that happened. Hopefully you’re okay now. I don’t like losing books! But I have lost many and they tend to be a little obscure.....
Fun Fact: In Star Trek Thee Next Generation, the metal name plate on the bridge of the Enterprise says the ship was manufactured by YoYoDyne Industries.
This movie has a serious "Doc Savage" vibe.
WOW!! Great selection... I think you may have just won the Internet for the day ;)
Fun fact: Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" copied the ending and had his cast all come walking together as well (also starring Jeff Goldblum).
Yeah, despite the differences the two have a very similar feel of existing in their own weird reality. Highly recommend everyone who love Buckaroo check it out.
I have no less than 5 copies of the movie on DVD, two tshirts, a movie poster, a fridge magnet, several cosplay identification badges, quite a few pins, a copy of the Marvel comic book adaptation and the topper is a YoYodyne Propulsion Systems coffee mug. To this day the movie remains my favorite of all time. I might attend a Comic-con soon and get a pic with Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller). Buckaroo Banzai was my first real action hero even before they were called that. Peter Weller in an interview once said Buckaroo isn't a superhero and is made better by the people he surrounds himself with. Those hard rockin' Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroos most trusted inner circle. Turning 60 this year reminds me that next year the movie celebrates its fortieth anniversary. I even have my eye on an Oscillation Overthruster.
Update: I actually now have a screen accurate Oscillation Overthruster
I have the paperback novelization.
@@geo386 It doesn't differ in any substantial way. May have been written (as is often the case) from a working script. It does make Lizardo's "co-option" by Whorfin a little more explicit and there's a side bit about one of the characters testifying before Congress.
Gotta love the 80's! I have used monkeyboy as an insult ever since this movie, lol. Unfortunately we never got a sequel. We had the cheesiest and most fun movies. The whole point of so many of these cult faves were the over-the-top performances. So many of this cast were staples in films back then, either as lead or character actors. Along similar lines you should check out Remo Williams the Adventure Begins, Big Trouble in Little China, the Burbs (it's got Tom Hanks in it), Escape from New York, UHF, Bloodsport, Repo Man and Working Men. The last two star Emilio Estevez and Estevez and Charlie Sheen, respectively!
As an aficionado of 'silly cinema' myself I love that you are delving into a lot of my all time favorite films! Looking forward to many, many more.
And since you're in Canada I would like to add the quintessential hockey film from 1977, Slap Shot starring Paul Newman. Avoid the remake AT ALL COSTS!
I second "Repo Man" that movie deserves to be seen more.
Apparently,everybody else avoided it.I didn’t even know it existed.The PaulNewman original is definitely the right way to go,and speaking of Canada-centric movies(and comedies) Strange Brew would be a good one to watch.
@@johnrust592 the Hansens should be life coaches! I bet that was a blast
@@pathatfield2543 I can't imagine why I left that one off the list. Bob and Doug should be Canadian national heroes. I have that one in my DVD collection. Absolute classic!
@@LordToddtastic666 that’s another one that should have had a sequel(provided,of course,that Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis reprised their original roles)
I love this film. So unique and quirky as hell. Glad you enjoyed it Jen! I enjoyed watching you react to it.
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed the video!
@@ReelReviewsWithJen it's interesting that you mentioned Ted, from scrubs. The actor who played ted, Sam Lloyd, was Christopher Lloyds nephew.
8:20 "There's a snake in my boot!" Yes, exactly. Buckaroo is Woody. Too wholesome for you [us]!
New Jersey: Why is there a watermelon there?
Reno: I'll tell you later.
weird fact: During the ending credits where everybody is walking/marching to the theme music, the original music--which would have been blaring out live from a truck so the actors could keep in step--hadn't been completed. So instead the director used Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" which sounded like the theme (does it really?). One can see the amusement in some of the actors' faces and some (like the kid) can barely contain themselves from dancing. Also gotta wonder what the neighborhood thought about "Uptown Girl" being blared out repeatedly at high decibels lol
not that it sounded alike, but had the same cadence.
Ohhhh, YEAAAA... I have been wanting this for a long time... For some reason no one ever reacts to this movie!
This isn't based on a book/series/comic, it is instead written to behave as if it was based on a pulp serial story. So there are plenty of references to past adventures, events, places, and side characters, that didn't actually appear anywhere before the movie. It's a strange, different type of "meta".
like the Melon. that have always bothered me ;)
So there used to be a lot of pulp novels in the 1930s-on like Doc Savage, Tom Swift-- impossibly brilliant forefathers of Tony Stark who traveled the world with their friends fighting evil.
But if you started like a lot of people who got into the novels, you probably picked up a book with a cool cover, and then find a lot of references to earlier installments with very little exposition to explain those who wandered into the middle of it.
The overall joke with Buckaroo Banzai involves dropping you into an adventure of already-established characters and just having to accept a lot of ridiculous plot points for the sake being able to keep up.
I loved this movie when it came out, still do, because it drops the audience into this well developed world, and gives us credit for being smart enough to keep up.
It didn't talk down to me, and I really liked that.
😊
The orderly is Jonathan Banks, AKA Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad / Better Call Saul.
I love this movie. Now that you've seen this, I think you'd really like Repo Man. An absolute classic.
I haven’t seen it and I’ll add it to watchlist! Thanks for the suggestion!
If i remember correctly, the dance walk at the end was filmed using a michael jackson song at first because the final music wasnt done yet. Edit: it was shot to Billy Joel's Uptown Girl.
I have come to realize that in the intervening decades I have forgotten far, far more than I remembered about this movie.
I love this movie. I bought the collector's DVD years ago.
LOL the commentary track and extra footage on there is priceless!
@@jean-paulaudette9246 - excactly! I saw this in the theatre as a kid with my friends and we wore out the VHS rental watching it at my friends house with all the neighborhood kids.
YAY! This movie was rich food for my RPG-playing imagination, as a youngster. So many amazing concepts, crammed into it!.
I love this movie. It was designed to be new unique hero, except instead of doing the traditional origin story and build up they wanted to just jump right into the story after he was already established. This is pretty much without any other source. So many good quotes that I use all the time still. Thanks for the great review!
"Monkey boys are loose in the facility."
I do love the tannoy announcements in the background when they attack Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems.
"Work, work, work. John Emdall must die. John Whorfin must live." Yeah, great sound design throughout.
The movie is its own, original thing. Comics were made after the movie came out, and a TV show went through many iterations of development, most recently with Amazon. Kevin Smith was to be the show runner, but last I heard the project fizzled out.
One to add to your watch list should be Krull. It's a fantasy/sci fi mix.
I’ll add it to the list! Thanks for the suggestion!
Double feature of “Krull” and “Lifeforce” - space violence special effects fantasies. Or maybe a Kevin Connor film ......
The end credits are great. I keep thinking we need a US president who starts his campaign rallies by marching to the podium down the major city streets to this song.
We'll NEVER have a President with that much style.
@@dr.burtgummerfan439, I’m sure there are enough talented Millennials out there who have the business acumen and chops to run for office, and of those, a few who’d go Buckaroo Banzai style.
As long as they don’t mimic Young Einstein.
24:11 Those are a traditional Japanese style of socks called 'tabi,' and I believe they are split-toed like that so that they can be slipped into raised wooden sandals that are used to keep the feet out of mud & dirt.
Popularized in the US due to the 80s Ninja craze.
Banzai is a Neurosurgeon, Martial Artist, Particle Physicist, and Musician. The mid 1980's definition of a Renaissance Man. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath They do exist.
AS I mentioned to you before when suggesting this movie, you have to watch it like this is a part 6 or 7 in a franchise and you just happened to have missed the other films, so you can basically follow what is going on but you know you are missing a bunch of stuff. It is like if I showed you Capt America Civil War for your 1st Marvel movie, you can follow it but you know there is a ton of content that you are not understanding but the people around you get it.,
So many callbacks to things that are never explained. Pecos, the watermelon, etc. Love the lore built into this crazy movie.
Buckaroo Bonzai, a movie so much a part of the pop culture world that it's referenced in the lyrics of LL Cool J's song "I'm Bad."
5:46 That's Johnathan Banks who plays Mike on _Breaking Bad_ and _Better Call Saul._ He also had a small role in _Airplane._
11:10 That's Clancy Brown who has been in _Starship Troopers,_ _The Shawshank Redemption,_ and he's also the voice of Mr. Krabbs on _Spongebob Squarepants._
John Lithgow and Christopher Lloyd should have made 100 movies together. Best evil villain duo ever.
If you've never seen Third Rock from the Sun, Lithgow plays an alien in that show. While not such an over the top performance as here, he is still able to let his crazy side out.
BB is easily one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s creative, weird, absurd, and tons of fun. Too bad we never got the sequel. There have been several attempts to bring the characters back, but all failed for various reasons.
War of the Worlds was an H.G. Wells novel from the late 1800s. In the novel the story takes place in England and the Martians invade London.
Orson Welles adapted the book as a radio play and infamously freaked out America with his radio broadcast of Martians invading Grovers Mill, New Jersey.
The book was adapted several more times as a movie in 1953, a TV series in 1988 - 1990, a stage play, another movie in 2005 starring Tom Cruise and more recently as a BBC miniseries.
I will take exception to two of your comments. 1) The dialog wasn't "So dumb it's funny", it was deliberately silly. and B) he movie isn't "So bad it's good". That implies that your enjoyment comes *in spite* of what is on the screen, but the parts you enjoyed were deliberate. OK, the parts you didn't like were also deliberate, but I think there is a distinction between something like Birdemic, which is goofy and off-kilter because absolutely no one on that project was competent, and this, which the creators deliberately made goofy and off-kilter.
That actor with the unmistakable voice who plays Rawhide, and whom you say looks familiar, is Clancy Brown, who has been in numerous science fiction and action films, but is most well known for having played The Kurgan in 1986's Highlander.
Somebody just made this up entirely-the first version was called “Dirty Pictures from the Prom,” and a later version was “‘Find the jetcar!’ said the President, a Buckaroo Banzai Adventure.”
I know that your new thing is reacting to "terrible" movies. Your suggesters have given you a bum steer on this one. Best. Leo.
Heads up!.
2nd novel based on this movie being published by dark horse this month. ☺
So glad to see this reaction. This movie rarely gets any attention from reactors. It’s the kind of movie you either love or hate. I personally love it. It’s just so out there.
BTW, the Orson Wells reference was not a movie, but rather a radio adaptation that was made to sound like an authentic news broadcast and was aired on Halloween. It was such a brilliant concept that many listeners thought that aliens were actually invading Earth and it caused a major public panic.
The sequel, *Against The World Crime League,* was released a couple years ago as a novel by Earl Mac Roach who wrote the original and several comic miniseries released between this and that. There was also a weird tv series pitch that just would have had Buckaroo going around saving the world with the jet car.
The writer explained (in a Starlog issue IIRC), "the watermelon". They were running experiments in compressing food for long missions. It's why the watermelon is in a pneumatic press. 😃
You made one mistake at the beginning - you assumed this was a bad sci-fi movie.
Only mistake was pronouncing Banzai as Bonanza.
@@CaptainFrost32 and confusing Ellen Burstyn with Ellen Barkin.
Did you recognise Jenny Calendar's Uncle Yanos as one of the bad guys? The actor you can't name is Clancy Brown, been in many things but will always be the Kurgan from Highlander.
"Il Duce" is Italian for 'the Duke', which was what they called Mussolini. "No matter where you go - There you are!" LOL, been saying that for nearly 40 years. That end credit music is part of my theme soundtrack. When he drove thru that mountain it was by travelling thru the 8th dimension. There was going to be a second film, but got tied up in litigation. There also was a comic book back in the day and tv cartoons if I recall. Two novels in paperback form have been published, but hard to find.
We are Monkey Boys because we are descended from chimps. Genius Burn.
But it's worse than that.
We aren't descended from chimps but we share a common ancestor.
That animal doesn't exist anymore because they evolved into us, chimps, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas, but apes are not monkeys.
Apes hate being called monkeys, especially humans. 😅
"Why are his socks like that". Those are split toed ninja shoes. Buckaroo is supposed to be half-Japanese, and takes his heritage seriously (hence the samurai outfit later in the film, and his rising sun bandana). There's an extended edition that shows an alternate intro, explaining a little bit of Buckaroo's backstory.. showing 30 year old 8mm home movie footage of his Japanese dad and American mom (played by Jamie Lee Curtis) with Young buckaroo in the desert.. where they are killed in an "accidental" explosion of the prototype rocket car... but was really an assassination by their nemesis, Hanoi Xan. The sequel script basically morphed into Big Trouble in Little China after this didn't do well at the box office.
The actor you recognized but couldn't name is Clancy Brown. He was the kurgan in Highlander he was the drill sergeant in Starship Troopers most people know him nowadays as mr. Krabs from SpongeBob.
One more to add to your list. Definatly a bad good movie. Hell Comes To Frogtown. Stars Rowdy Rodney Piper from They Live, which you watched a little while ago.
As for Orson Welles movies to watch,My favorites are The Third Man(though he only appears in that,and where and when he appears is a surprise),The Stranger,and The Trial,which might blow your mind since it’s kind of a weird movie,and none of the movies you watch are weird.Oh…wait.
Orson Welles last movie just hit its 35th Anniversary Transformers the movie.
I recommendation is to listen to the 1938 War of the Worlds radio broadcast that created a panic in real life. People who missed the opening thought it was really happening and left their homes to evacuate to the mountains. The 1953 movie was based on that and the original book by H.G. Wells. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone do a reaction to the original radio broadcast. 👍
Both the first 1953 movie and Spielberg's 2005 take on the story are worth a watch.
they use the same line when the first lectroid comes out of the sphere as in the radio show and movie
Loved the campyness of Buckaroo and I knew you would love the cast especially seeing John Lithgow after your comment on him from your reaction to Blow Out. I'd also recommend the Movie Ready Player One which references Buckaroo Banzai.
There are Buckaroo Banzai Comics but they came after the movie. The main hook of this movie is that you're dropped into this fully-realized world without any context. They reference backstory and characters that never appear on screen and never explain any of it to you like you should already know. Imagine watching one of the later Marvel movies like Civil War or Infinity War having never read a Marvel comic or watched one of the earlier movies because they just didn't exist and than being left to keep up with the plot. Also Jamie Lee Curtis is in a deleted scene playing Buckaroo Banzai's mother.
There was a book and a comic book, but they came out after.
BB was W. D. Richter's attempt to create a Doc Savage-style pulp hero.
When I was a kid my dad took me to see Ghostbusters and this on the same day. Miss those days as a kid when we'd knock out most of the movies released that year over a couple of weekends.
I am exaggeratedly offended by your description of this as a bad movie. This is a classic!
Edit: That being said, Remo Williams, the Adventure Begins as well as Hudson Hawk seems right up your alley.
Buckaroo is a neurosurgeon, physicist, martial arts expert, international spy, high-speed car designer, _and guitar hero!_
Hi! First video of yours I’ve watched. I enjoyed your take on the movie, glad you in general really liked it, it is one of my favorite movies of all time. I saw it with a fellow geek college roommate in a big theatre in its original release, and it blew us away.
So just a quick note since you like the science behind the fiction in what you watch. There are 2 scientific concepts that are the basis for what happens in this movie that are kind of mixed together in a jumble and not very well defined, but I’ll separate and explain them a bit:
Buckaroo goes into this a little, most of matter is empty space, the space between the nucleus and electrons, the space between atoms, and so forth, means that actual physical matter makes up very little of what we perceive as solid objects, and supposedly his “Overthruster” allowed him to travel in this empty space, allowing the matter in his atoms to fit between spaces in the matter of the mountain. It is true that actual matter is contained in tiny bits, protons, electrons, neutrons, quarks, etc. but the technology to fit the matter in one object between the spaces in the matter in another object would be very strange indeed and most physicists don’t think such a think would be possible. Quantum physics has shed a new light on the theories and says there are significant roadblocks to that sort of thing ever happening. Here is a really good article if you want to take a peek into the nature of matter in layman’s language. It’s a very good easy-to-understand thing, and might be fun to spend a few seconds going through the first few screens of it. conackamack.piscatawayschools.org/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=6532887
The second concept is that of the “eighth dimension.” Science fiction for many many years has talked about the concept of “Other dimensions.” A lot of this is bad science and just mixes up dimensions with the thought of “other realities” or “parallel universes.” A lot of it is just made up stuff to allow authors to tell stories. The four dimensions we deal with every day are length, width, height and time. Three dimensional objects are just material objects that are so tall, so wide, and so long. The X, Y, and Z axes. Time is just time (sounds simple, and you and I experience it in an easy to explain way. Things happen. In order for things to happen time moves forward. Three dimensional objects move forward through time, the fourth dimension. The 1st 3 dimensions are measured in inches or meters, the 4th dimension is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, etc.
In our reality time moves one direction. Forward. Doc Brown made a DeLorean into a great story telling device in 3 of my favorite movies ever. Dimensions beyond time, the 5th, 6th, 7th, and so forth supposedly go off in even different directions than time.
The 5th Dimension is fairly well accepted by many to be the way that gravity and electromagnetic forces are tied in to reality. They refer to it as a “micro-dimension,” and people smarter than me have a better understanding of it. After that, things get weird.
You may have heard of String Theory. String theory talks about up to 10 dimensions to explain all the other stuff that’s out there. I have yet to delve into string theory, I have enough to do just to deal with everyday life lol. But it’s fun to have an idea about it, so if you’re curious, look up 5th dimension and String Theory. Here’s a page from Northrup Grumman (The guys that do lots of fighter jets and aerospace stuff) that will give you a flavor for the stuff: now.northropgrumman.com/what-is-the-fifth-dimension/
There are scientists and charlatans out there who talk about an infinite number of dimensions. Each dimension is supposed to measure SOMETHING. For the life of me, I don’t know what exists that need all those dimensions to measure. But when you hear “dimension,” think of the first 3. Length Width Height. You can measure them. Then Time. You can measure it. Dimension 5 measures something to do with gravity and electromagnetic forces. Like I said, from there it gets weird and is further than I’ve studied. Hope I’ve not bored you. Happy Holidays.
"I'm sad Bigbooty didn't make it."
Bigbootay! Tay tay! 🤣🤣🤣
A movie before and after it's time, strangely enough. Nowadays, this would be a later entry in the BBU (Buckaroo Banzai Universe), after a Perfect Tommy or Pecos movie. It also would have fit right in among the pulp serials of the 30's & 40's.
This movie used to be on hbo all the time and you couldn’t help but watch parts or all of it numerous times thanks it definitely gets better with age and you definitely should watch War of the worlds original and the Tom cruise version both are excellent!
No, Buckaroo Banzai wasn't based on a comic book or any other previously published material. Buckaroo Banzai was the creation of Mac Rauch, a novelist and aspiring screenwriter who met director W.D. Richter after Richter's wife had read Rauch's work and recommended him to her husband. Richter invited Rauch to Los Angeles and the two began collaborating, and Rauch eventually developed the character of Buckaroo Banzai and told Richter about his idea for a screenplay, which ended up becoming this movie.
One of my personal goals is to hear Jen fangirl squee for Clancy Brown ("Rawhide") as happily as she does for Jeff Goldblum.
Cool story I saw this film in a theater at a pre-release preview, They asked us to fill out a comment card and I mentioned it was a remake of "Radio Ranch" with Gene Autry (1040). A week later someone from the production company telephoned me to ask about "Radio Ranch" I told them it was about a muti-talented music star who battled pan-Dimential intergaltic beings from another dimension, but since that film was out of copywrite so they probably did'nt have to have to worry.
Oh hell yeah. This is not a terrible movie lol. LOVE IT A LOT. I know way too much trivia about this.
The "no matter where you go" line is the most quoted, but my favorite is "President of what?". It reveals a lot about the character that he's so blase about it.
I remember this being a huge cult film in the 80's. Its quite goofy and oddball, (intentionally) but its got a great cast so it gets a thumbs up from me. And John Lithgow is hilarious in this with his weird indeterminate European accent. All the side players in this were busy working actors of the period so you've definitely seen them in other things. As far as I know this was an original film, not from any other source, although obviously influenced by many other things. There definitely was no sequel, though they may have hoped for one.
Clancy Brown, the head prison guard in "Shawshank Redemption." Jonathan Banks, who played the asylum attendant was in the tv show "Wiseguy." And let's not forget Pepe Serna, who starred in "Scarface." Rosalind Cash, who played the lead alien, starred in "The Omega Man." (Unfortunately.)
Although there was no comic that the movie was based on at the time it was created, it was inspired by the 1930's pulp magazine hero Doc Savage. He had a group of buddies on his team all experts in different fields while he himself was basically like Batman with no costume - super smart, super physically unbeatable and expert at everything. Buckaroo Banzai was an attempt to bring the idea up to date - to the MTV era.
Not a terrible movie. This movie is great!The concept for Buckaroo Banzai is meant as an 80s interpretation of the old Doc Savage pulp novels from the 30. Doc Savage was a renaissance man quite similar to Buckaroo Banzai. Doc Savage is a physician, scientist, adventurer, detective, inventor, explorer, researcher, and, as revealed in The Polar Treasure, a musician. And Doc Savage has too a team of aides them help him on his adventures. One of Doc Savages aides is called "Johnny Littlejohn" so there might be even a nod in the movie to the doc.
Buckaroo Banzai took that whole setup and transposed it to the 80s, and they started - as they say - in medias res. The movie is not an origin story, but one of Banzais adventures that follows countless other adventures that were never scripted anywhere.
The President is played by Ronald Lacey. Lacey played Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark - got his face melted off, if you remember. Well: Remember he burned the image of the medallion into his PALM, recording that important information in a “unique way”? Important information is similarly transferred - from Banzai to Professor Hikita - with the image going from Banzai’s PALM to Hikita’s forehead. I just realized that. It’s a strange link between the two films.
Rodd Matsui says:
You forget: An angry mob thinks chaotically, not logically. An angry mob won’t take the brain cells to understand that all human genetics are linked and we are one species , it rapidly begins focusing mental attention on “who looks different from me/mine” and believe me - once you start drawing lines, dividing populations into defined groups, if categorization is your goal, there is no end to the road. You can keep on subcategorizing humanity until you have 5000 shades of, well, Gray. There are no whites, no blacks, no yellows, no reds, just variations of skin tone and physiognomy, bone structure. Any person that can’t understand this is missing out on the most freeing of thoughts.
While a number of War of the Worlds movies have been done; what they are referring to here is a 1938 RADIO broadcast. It did panic thousands of people, you can buy recordings of it still 85 years later, but no one has ever seen it.
There's a prologue that explains Buckaroo's Name, and why he's a scientist..and what happend to his mom and dad. You should watch it! It has a real big Cameo!!!
Yeah, that was a deleted scene, I think it might be available on the Blu-Ray but not on all streaming versions.
Saw it in the theatre when it came out with a half dozen friends. We remembered enough quotes from the movie to use them for the next few years. If anyone ever said "What's this?" the correct response was from the movie... "It's your hand, Buckaroo" allowing the response: "No, no, the formula!" -- stupid stuff but fun at the time,
"It's not my goddamn planet. Understand, monkey boy?" this really is a reimagining of doc savage man of bronze originally a thirties pulp fiction character there is a 70's movie if you want to check it out. its not that the mountain is hollow its he went into another dimension
_The War of The Worlds_ (1953) is a fantastic movie. I can't say enough good things about it. However, it is not an Orson Welles movie, although it's easy to think it is. Yes, Welles did the radio play but it was based on the novel of H.G. Wells. The names are easy to confuse and conflate. Orson or no, I still highly recommend the movie. I've yet to see _Citizen Kane,_ partly due to to the ending having been spoiled for me, long ago.
The MOST important unanswered question: Why IS there a watermelon there? Clancy Brown (Rawhide) was Captain Hadley in "The Shawshank Redemption". And a bunch of other stuff.
Worth watching for John Lithgow. Apparently, Jamie Lee Curtis played Buckeroo's mother in a flashback scene, which was subsequently cut from the film, but available on the DVD release. My fave Orsen Welles film is probably "Touch Of Evil" (1958). There was meant to be a sequel, but because the film apparently bombed, it never happened. Use more honey!! Pawer Rangers!!
This movie when he drives through the mountain and runs over aliens gave me Nightmares as a kid and I didn't know where they came from for decades.
Haha yeah it’s a pretty weird scene and felt like the Willy Wonka boat scene lol
Same.
The orderly was Jonathon Banks, AKA Mike from Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He also had a small part as a cop in Gremlins (among other things).
So many years since I've seen this. Thanks.
11:17 --- That's Clancy Brown. He played the Kurgan in "Highlander".. He's also the voice of Mr. Krebs and the Sea Captain on Spongebob ...
And Captain Hadley in "The Green Mile".