Plot
Adventurer/surgeon/rock musician Buckaroo Banzai and his band of men, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, take on evil alien invaders from the 8th dimension.

Release Year: 1984

Rating: 6.1/10 (11,538 voted)

Director: W.D. Richter

Stars: Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin

Storyline
Neurosurgeon/Rock Star/Superhero Buckaroo has perfected the oscillation overthruster, which allows him to travel through solid matter by using the eighth dimension. The Red Lectroids from Planet 10 are after this device for their own evil ends, and it's up to Buckaroo and his band and crime-fighting team The Hong Kong Cavaliers to stop them.

Cast:
Peter Weller - Buckaroo Banzai
John Lithgow - Lord John Whorfin / Dr. Emilio Lizardo
Ellen Barkin - Penny Priddy
Jeff Goldblum - New Jersey
Christopher Lloyd - John Bigboote
Lewis Smith - Perfect Tommy
Rosalind Cash - John Emdall
Robert Ito - Professor Hikita
Pepe Serna - Reno Nevada
Ronald Lacey - President Widmark
Matt Clark - Secretary of Defense
Clancy Brown - Rawhide
William Traylor - General Catburd
Carl Lumbly - John Parker
Vincent Schiavelli - John O'Connor

Taglines: Your only hope is Buckaroo Banzai.

Official Website: MGM | TV series support site |

Release Date: 15 August 1984

Filming Locations: 609 E. Channel Rd., Rustic Canyon, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA

Opening Weekend: $620,279 (USA) (12 August 1984) (236 Screens)

Gross: $6,254,148 (USA)

Runtime: 103 min

Trivia:
Lord John Whorfin's line, "Character is what you are in the dark," is a quote from the 19th Century evangelist Dwight L. Moody.

Goofs:
Continuity: After Buckaroo briefs the president on the situation, the president replies "I don't know what to say. Lectroids, Planet 10, nuclear extortion, a girl named John?" However, Buckaroo didn't mention John Emdall during his briefing and the president doesn't watch the video until later.

Quotes:
Lord John Whorfin: John O'Connor, install my Oscillation Overthruster!

Get over it, junior Eberts!

Rating:

I've read several comments by people under the age of 30 who trash on this film, call it crap, and characterize us fans as vapid, thorazine-addled retards. Whatever makes you happy, folks! If trashing on a film that was seminal in the annals of low-budget cinematic resourcefulness makes you feel special then I'm happy for you.

There is a reason we love this film. The script is clever, a veritable mosaic of silly twists and throwaway jokes so layered that it takes multiple viewings to keep up with it all (favorite line: "It's not my ******* planet, Monkey Boy!"). And the direction and approach is equally exciting: rather than annoy us with underfinanced special effects that pretend to be Lucasfilm quality, the director revels in his low budget, using conk shells as models for space ships and populating alien ship interiors with tubes, pipes, rods and duct tape. The aliens come off as resourceful-albeit-goofy packrats, bumbling about and managing to stay just a few steps ahead of Buckaroo until the very end.

For many of us over 30, this film was something special. We caught it at midnight movie houses and relished in the warm presence of a movie made by people who shared our dark, twisted senses of humor. In college, it was a regular rental; we held Bonzai parties, dressed as characters, turned it into our private video Rocky Horror. No, it's not Citizen Kane ... but what do you want from a movie called Buckaroo Bonzai?

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