Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to con... Read allAdventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.Adventurer, brain surgeon, rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his crime-fighting team, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil alien invaders from the eighth dimension who are planning to conquer Earth.
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Featured reviews
No matter how cheesy the sci-fi plot sounds, some great actors & acting make this a cult winner...Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum, Ellen Barkin, John Lithgow, and Christopher Lloyd - who else could successfully mix neurosurgery, 80's clothes (the only cliché characteristic of the movie) and a Rock Band into a Sci-Fi plot? I like it because it's a good balance of using a bit of science brain cells, a bit of budding FX stunts...It goes further to reassure those of us who believe you can still have a great movie without bad language or skin. The writer had some fun with names too - just enough to make you smile and not take away from anything. Who knows? Maybe Yoyodyne Propulsion Labs is THE precursor to Star Trek-dom?
What a great way to start the New Year! I just watched this flick for the first time in ages and remember now why I agree that it is a "cult classic"!
Made in 1984 way before most of the actors achieved real star status, this movie has so many "inside" references and jokes, it's a wonder that more isn't made of it! And if you are a real Star Trek fan, you will know that Yoyodyne Propulsion is on the commissioning plaque for the Enterprise as well as other Star Fleet vessels. The references to Grover's Mill and Orson Wells along with the whole deadpan tone of the film makes this an unbelievably funny experience. I only wish that "Buckaroo Banzai versus The World Crime League" had been produced.
Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Dan Hedaya, the entire cast must have had a great time making this movie. It is full of technojargon, double speak and just plain funny stuff that pokes fun at every bad B-movie scifi thriller/comic book/Saturday serial ever made. There is no bad language and no skin and lots to hear and see in this great movie!
It has one redeeming quality above all else for me... it makes the effects on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and all of those other poor excuses for Saturday kid's entertainment look ridiculous. If the producers of this crap on TV that passes for action need some pointers on how to take useless stuff and make a cool, funny scifi flick, they need look no further that "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension"!
Made in 1984 way before most of the actors achieved real star status, this movie has so many "inside" references and jokes, it's a wonder that more isn't made of it! And if you are a real Star Trek fan, you will know that Yoyodyne Propulsion is on the commissioning plaque for the Enterprise as well as other Star Fleet vessels. The references to Grover's Mill and Orson Wells along with the whole deadpan tone of the film makes this an unbelievably funny experience. I only wish that "Buckaroo Banzai versus The World Crime League" had been produced.
Peter Weller, Jeff Goldblum, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Dan Hedaya, the entire cast must have had a great time making this movie. It is full of technojargon, double speak and just plain funny stuff that pokes fun at every bad B-movie scifi thriller/comic book/Saturday serial ever made. There is no bad language and no skin and lots to hear and see in this great movie!
It has one redeeming quality above all else for me... it makes the effects on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and all of those other poor excuses for Saturday kid's entertainment look ridiculous. If the producers of this crap on TV that passes for action need some pointers on how to take useless stuff and make a cool, funny scifi flick, they need look no further that "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eight Dimension"!
A totally ridiculous 80's Sci-fi movie. The first scene has our hero drive through a solid mountain, and from there it gets bonkers. Great fun, makes Mars Attack look sensible. As for the cast, it's a who's who of 80's / 90's TV and film actors.The effects are terrible but the movie is great fun. A must watch.
This is a fun film. It doesn't take itself seriously and neither should the viewer.
The plot centres around a pre-Robocop Peter Weller's character (the implausibly named Buckaroo Banzai) who is a scientist/rock musician/surgeon...seems to be talented at just about everything. In his lab he perfects a device for travelling through solid matter on the pretext that 'solid matter' is in fact 80% empty space. True enough and so far so good.
In the movie, the 80% of matter that is space turns out to be the 8th dimention, and Banzai unwittingly causes some nasty alien "lectoids" to enter our dimension. With the help of good lectoids he and his rock band have to save the day.
John Lithgow really steals the show with some excellent madcap lines. The big name actors clearly knew this was not to be taken seriously and though the plot is OK it is the one-liners in the script that make the movie so enjoyable. Special FX are early 80's par for the course, this is not the highest budget film ever! The only question is why didn't the advertised sequal ever make it to the screen?
The plot centres around a pre-Robocop Peter Weller's character (the implausibly named Buckaroo Banzai) who is a scientist/rock musician/surgeon...seems to be talented at just about everything. In his lab he perfects a device for travelling through solid matter on the pretext that 'solid matter' is in fact 80% empty space. True enough and so far so good.
In the movie, the 80% of matter that is space turns out to be the 8th dimention, and Banzai unwittingly causes some nasty alien "lectoids" to enter our dimension. With the help of good lectoids he and his rock band have to save the day.
John Lithgow really steals the show with some excellent madcap lines. The big name actors clearly knew this was not to be taken seriously and though the plot is OK it is the one-liners in the script that make the movie so enjoyable. Special FX are early 80's par for the course, this is not the highest budget film ever! The only question is why didn't the advertised sequal ever make it to the screen?
Yep - it has corny writing, over the top acting, weird special effects, and you'll either love it or think it sucks! It's one of those tongue-in-cheek movies that never takes itself too seriously, has an incredible cast, and is a cult classic!
Did you know
- TriviaThere is a scene in the movie where Reno (Pepe Serna) and New Jersey (Jeff Goldblum) go through a room with a watermelon in a machine really out of place for the scene. Reno says "I'll explain it later". In the Blu-ray audio commentary, filmmakers explain that they had a "confrontational" relationship with one of the producers. When they stopped receiving notes from the production, they decided to put the watermelon in a scene with no mention about it anywhere on the script. When they received no questions about it, they deduced that no one was screening the dailies anymore and they could keep making the film the way they wanted to as long as they remained within the budget.
- GoofsDuring the closing credit sequence with Buackaroo Banzai and the gang walking in the aqueduct, Perfect Tommy is first seen wearing a white jacket and black pants. As they take their final turn in front of the "Buckaroo Banzai" graffiti on the wall, Perfect Tommy is wearing a completely different outfit - gray jacket and red pants.
- Quotes
New Jersey: Why is there a watermelon there?
Reno: I'll tell you later.
- Crazy creditsThe credits end with the announcement of the upcoming sequel "Buckaroo Banzai Versus The World Crime League". As of 2023, that film has yet to be made, pending approval from the film's current rights holders, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Lion Corp.
- Alternate versionsUK theatrical version was cut a little bit due to the distributor wanting a PG rating. It has since been released uncensored on video with a 15 rating (later re-rated to 12 in 2003).
- SoundtracksSince I Don't Have You
(uncredited)
Written by Joseph Rock and James Beaumont with The Skyliners
Performed by Peter Weller
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Las aventuras de Buckaroo Banzai
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $6,254,148
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $620,279
- Aug 12, 1984
- Gross worldwide
- $6,254,862
- Runtime
- 1h 43m(103 min)
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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