The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is something that cannot, and should not, ever be attempted to recreate. It's one of those bizarre mutations that came out of mid-80s Hollywood despite the machinations of mid-80s Hollywood. I love it and I never want it to change.
Not only is Peter Weller underrated as a actor, but the dude has a frickin’ PhD (and NOT an honorary one). It’s DOCTOR Peter Weller thank you very much!
Well, you and he may think a PhD is something special, but not one PhD alive is conscious, because I can prove everyone of them is not. Every PhD is afraid of me, because I have proved they have been formed as conscious as Frankenstein- alive with no age. Besides not one PhD can be in a conversation without telling you they have a PhD, it's like saying "i have a big dick, and you don't", and not one PhD has a dick (mind) that can match mine. Do you see any challengers? Well, do you? I will be right here, the only conscious human. Why am I the only conscious human? I am the 2012 Apocalypse, and every PhD allowed their TV to tell them, I did not happen, when I was written to be over 2,000 years ago. Logic begins at Zero, and you weren't, and neither was Peter. I am fact, and I have made fact 8-8-15 that moved Pope Francis to nearby NYC ten days later. Peter is fiction and the best he's moved is his bowels with his lips. I will be right here if Peter ever finds the nerve to face me LIVE. He won't, because PhD's are like JEWS, and all Jews are cowards. Check Twitter a few months before William Shatner donned a space suit to pretend to go into space when we are under a Dome, because I proved to him I am the 1st space traveler, the 1st man outside our Dome, and that JEW blocked me and his ego made itself prove to himself, that I was wrong. Shatner fears me like the plague- all JEWS do, because I prove JEWS are DEMONS, because no Jew has a right to call me anti-anything. The fact they think they can, makes them DEMONIC. I will be right here Jew. I will be right here PhD. I am fact and in my presence you are fiction.
John Lithgow absolutely is a Top Tier actor. I’ve never seen him “phone in” a performance. He makes everyone around him better and still shines brightest.
I remain heartbroken that this didn’t become a series of movies. Glad to hear the nod to Adam Ant (I always felt it). I still think there was a big Doc Savage vibe to the work (I read all the Doc Savage books as a kid). Nobody but Peter Weller could have played the role.
Buckaroo Banzai remains to this day one of my favorite movies of all time. I was 8 yrs old when it came out and I am 46 in a month from now. It remains one of the defining movies of my life.
Don't overthink it. Just watch it. Repeatedly. You'll figure it out, without help from anybody. And then you'll know joy better. And you'll deserve it.
He’s not only an impressive actor and director, he has a PhD in Italian Renaissance Art History. I loved Buckaroo and was disappointed when they didn’t make a sequel.
One of my all-time favorite films. Dr. Buckaroo Banzai was more than a great character, he was an inspiration. I always wished I could be a "Blue Blazer regular."
I LOVE this movie! I've been quoting it for years and most people don't get it . When they do, it's a weird bond. Wherever you go, there you are, It's not my planet, monkeyboy! And I still have a serious crush on Peter Weller, as anyone of taste would.😘
I had a guy waiting by my truck one day at Walgreen's and I thought he smashed into it but he just wanted to say he though Buckaroo was the best movie ever. I have a vinyl cutout with the Dr saying "Laugh while you can monkey boy" on my vent window.
Buckaroo Banzai is hands down one of the most entertaining and incredible movies ever made. That it got made at all is amazing, it never would today. I've watched it at least a dozen times and never tire of it. How many movies can you honestly say that about? And it has some of the most classic quotes since Casablanca with of course the best being "don't be mean, we don't have to be mean, because remember, no matter where you go...there you are". I've seen the entire quote, and more often the last eight words, repeated in various places all over the world. And how many movies can you say that about too? I don't care what other movies or tv shows he's been in, or that he has a PhD and taught college courses in real life, to me Peter Weller will first and foremost always be Buckaroo Banzai.
Buckaroo Banzai is a great great movie. If you get it you will love this movie. If you don't get it then your brain will hurt by the time the movie is over.
I saw Mr. Weller introduce the movie at a screening. He said Rauch had a bible like 3 inches thick about BB, and he said he skipped that and went with "Adam Ant". The original novelization is fantastic, btw - it's like reading Book 22 of the series, with footnotes referencing other adventures, it explains the watermelon, and more.
Buckaroo Banzai is my 2nd favorite all-time movie behind only the incomparable Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Great cast, great writing, great music, funny little details in all the sets, and just hilarious. I saw it twice in the theater and I've bought it on both VHS and DVD as time has moved on. Truly, this is a great movie and I hope it picks up a new generation of fans :)
This movie is in my Scifi collection of DVDs and gets a regular watch from me. I love movies that don't take themselves seriously and this certainly fits that description.
There has never been a film like The Adventures Buckaroo Banzai, it's like a tootsie roll of all your favorite, weird, bizarre, fun, funny, witty, nerdy fantastical flavors all rolled up in one. I'm from the generation of TV Guide and not even that circular could adequately describe what the heck this is 😂 I remember watching this film back in the 1984 and it came on the late late show and I caught it somewhere around 15/20 minutes into and I knew immediately this was going to forever be apart of my life journey and a film I would never forget. Wes Andersen's 'Life Aquatic w Steve Zissou' is chock full of references to this film. The cast was the perfect assemble of wacky wafers right down to the adorable little Scooter Lindley. To this day whenever I watch this film I'm still in child like awe of it. Thanks for the post Chief!
There isn't a single frame of Buckaroo Banzai that I don't positively adore. I must've seen it 30 times and it never loses its charm. I only wish they would've made a sequel!
I got to see Buckaroo Banzai in the theater as a kid. I loved it, though there were parts I couldn't quite follow. There was just so much to it. After reading the Marvel Comics adaptation and seeing it a couple more times on VHS I finally got it, and that's when I became a true fanatic (and collector of books, memorabilia, and doesn't versions of the movie). Several years ago, a good friend and fellow Blue Blaze Irregular once gave me an original Team Banzai promotional headband from just before the movie hit theaters. I had to fight back tears. When I got a 3D printer, I made him an oscillation overthruster.
@illuminator777 No beef... I'm the one that upvoted your comment, since it is an absolutely correct observation, albeit a very obvious one. Are you one of the pedantic, easily offended 'guys' that takes any correction as a personal attack? Thanks for the confrontational response, and baiting me to waste 30 seconds on a reply.
I love this movie! The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension is extremely underrated. It doesn’t get nearly enough love and attention! Also, I can totally see Adam Ant in Buckaroo’s character now that Peter Weller explained where he got the inspiration from. Wry cool indeed. 👍🏻😎
Years ago, when I found the VHS of this film at a local discount store I almost wept! Still one of the few movies I know by heart and can quote whole scenes from...
Peter Weller, thanks for one of the most memorable movies of all time. I’ve seen Buckaroo Banzai at least a dozen times start to finish. Such a fun time, every time. Signed, John Papwithanhatchet.
One of the ways I've heard it described is that it's designed to feel like a middle episode of a larger series that doesn't exist, as if you were to pick up one issue of a comic book you've never heard of.
I so love this movie. I didn’t get to see it in a theater (poor me) but I have seen it every time I am able to find it on the TV. I was a big fan of the Doc Savage series of novels in my early and mid-teens and somehow this movie seemed to plug right in to that. Doc Savage (genius, perfect physical specimen - nearly superhuman, world class surgeon, scientist, on-and-on) and his group of five (?) associates - each an expert in a different field, all adventurers and evil-fighters. Buckaroo Bonzai was not exactly the same as Doc Savage, but was brilliant and Uber-talented in his own way, and surrounded by his own group of devoted good-doers. How I so expected to be treated to not one but several sequels. Dang it!
I never felt so betrayed after leaving the theatre where they put at the end "Buckaroo Banzai will return in..." and...nothing happened. I loved this movie.
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. Well as of this moment, for my 60th Birthday I now actually own a genuine Oscillation Overthruster. In my opinion the holy grail of prop replicas. Mr. Peter Weller you will always be my favorite actor who in this movie could not place in any one movie genre. No matter where you go, there you are.
Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers always reminded me of Doc Savage and his group of scientific crime fighters. Loved this movie. Always wanted to see him fight the World Crime League.
Dr. Weller is one of my all-time favorites. I have watched this movie 50+ times (I have it in my VuDu library) and can still come away with small things I had not seen before. Back in the 90s, when I was fresh out of Coast Guard OCS, I reported to my new duty station in Alameda. I found that my new boss had a Ford AeroStar Van with the bumper sticker "No Matter Where You Go, There You Are." We got along great!
Lord John Whorfin: "History is-a made at night. Character is what you are in the dark." Lord John Whorfin: "Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife. Doomed is your soul and damned is your life." Even the VILLAINS had awesome quotes! 😎
There was a lot to like in this film. One part, when the evil space ship is preparing for launch, an all systems report came up. "Sir, Vacuum Chamber #3, there's nothing here!" And the background PA system had other gems.
I wanted to see it but my gf at the time insisted on seeing Dreamscape (she loved Dennis Quaid lol). A couple of weeks later BB had already been pulled from the local theater and I had to wait for the video release. Needless to say we rented it and loved it, but to this day I wish I had seen it on the big screen.
@@chiefscheider I worked in a "2nd run" theater that brought it back quite a few times. such a classic- good reminder to watch it again, it's been quite a few years
Loved this movie when it came out. Must have seen it over 6 times in the theater, and recently watched it on a streaming site. One of my favorite lines was in the mental asylum where they make an announcement in the background that lithium is no longer available on credit.
I saw it in the theater when it was released in 84. Will never forget it. Saw it at the Fayette Mall in Lexington, Kentucky. I watch it 3 or 4 times a year and now my son loves it as well.
Louisville here! (the late, lamented Showcase Cinemas). I think I got my dad to bring me to two showings. Dad was born in 1939, and had already turned me on to a cassette of the War of the Worlds radio broadcast (I have since performed it as an actor in a staged reading, which is on RU-vid). My only memory of dad's reaction was "The drummer has an UZI!!!!"
"Buckaroo" is one of my all-time favorite films. I have the novel, the Blu-ray, the comics, a framed mini poster over my computer desk with a Banzai Institute Visitor pass clipped onto it, my 22-song extended soundtrack and a fading T-shirt that I need to needs a replacement. So yeah, I'm a fan. The film is a classic. Totally agree that Lithgow nailed the role of Lizardo perfectly.
"Laugh while you can, MonkeyBoy" This film is certainly a litmus test. Thanks for posting this - it led me to Elia Kazan, who I had not learned about before. Also, for Peter Weller fans who may not have seen it, PW also played John Paxton, one of the most three-dimensional villains in Star Trek, in what many consider the true series finale of Enterprise.
This isn't enough for me. I need to hear the complete interview. I love Peter Weller and could listen to him talk for days. I really wish I could get my hands on some authentic Buckaroo Banzai material. This movie deserved and deserves a sequel, or something.
I was so taken by that film. Of course it was absurd, but it was done for us. The cast is legendary and I still get excited when I think about Buckaroo Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers. Tnx for the interview.
When I saw Buckaroo Bonzai on Betamax or VHS around 1985, it clicked because it felt like the days when my group of friends were outside pretending there was some alien invasion, unrelated to any existing sci-fi property. Each kid was fully immersed in the scenario, to the point we could almost see what we were interacting with in our imaginations, and each of us making up our characters as we went based on some exaggeration of our own interests. We were all different in some ways, but all completely bought into this pretend world unfolding in that place where our backyards all connected. Each of us trying to one up the other's with some extraordinary talent belonging to our character, so we could contribute to saving the day. We were all completely oblivious to the absurdity of our playing and just loved the moment. No two days of this type of imaginative play would ever be repeated. I can't say I was a diehard fan, but to me the movie never needed an explanation, and it was entertaining.
