![]() ![]() It's the kind of love of 'the corps' eventually leads to the worship of secret military forces and uniform fetishism. Small boys will always respond to the kind of male camaraderie being proffered by the Cavaliers. ![]() Buckaroo's action team the Hong Kong Cavaliers is a collection of nerds and pretty boys devoted to their true-blue leader and the United States of America, in that order. What makes a cult film? Buckaroo Banzai certainly qualifies even if its makers planned for such status from the beginning. ![]() ![]() Buckaroo contacts stalwarts Reno (Pepe Serna) and Rawhide (Clancy Brown) and enlists new members New Jersey (Jeff Goldblum) and Penny Priddy (Ellen Barkin) into the crusade to make the Earth safe from the Red Lectroid scum. Black Lectroid John Parker (Carl Lumbly) brings a grim message from leader John Emdall (Rosalind Cash): Earth will be destroyed unless Buckaroo and his Cavaliers stop the Red Lectroids in time. But the lawful, benign Black Lectroids don't want them back. Red Lectroids John Bigboote (Christopher Lloyd) and John O'Connor (Vincent Schiavelli) steal the Oscillation Overthruster invented by Professor Hikita (Robert Ito) and are working to return to and re-conquer the 8th dimension. They've taken possession of Doctor Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) who now goes by the name of Lord John Whorfin. Surgeon, rock musician, particle physicist and commander of the Hong Kong Cavaliers, Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller) comes back from a trip to the 8th dimension with the ability to see the villainous Red Lectroids who have come from that alternate reality and are living among us. Grab a pencil because I'm only going through this once. I mean, there's still a fan base out there for the animated buddy ensembles in Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest, not to mention their Top Cat. The particular hip attitude employed may tickle some viewers and annoy others - there's no way of telling. Purposely confusing and sometimes laboring too hard to be off-the-wall flippant, Buckaroo Banzai nevertheless shapes up as a fun adventure along the lines of a Republic Serial, but with a relentlessly hip attitude. Had things gone differently with a hero who combines Doc Savage, The Lone Ranger and a rock 'n roll superstar, writer Earl Mac Rauch would have been on the top of a mountain of sequels, tie-ins and merchandising. The title was originally a box office flopparoo in 1984. The Banzai cult is small but enthusiastic, so I think we need to chalk up the hero's one screen outing The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension as a success. Well, I guess they tried that with John Carter, and got their fingers scorched. One would think that rights holders would be scrambling to re-ignite the equally rich franchises of heroes like Doc Savage. Today's 'extended universe' pulp franchises of Marvel superheroes dominate all action filmmaking. Richter and Earl Mac Rauch must have bristled at the success of the Indiana Jones franchise, and promoted the wild and wooly pulp hero Buckaroo with the idea of creating their own ever-broadening super-franchise. Richterīuckaroo is back! There exists a Blu-ray release from a company called 'Umbrella', but I could not resist this Region B Blu from Arrow Video, which adds new extras to the ones concocted for the first MGM DVD back in early 2002. Produced by Sidney Beckerman, Neil Canton, W.D. Starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Robert Ito, Pepe Serna, Ronald Lacey, Matt Clark, Clancy Brown, Carl Lumbly, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Bill Henderson, Damon Hines, Billy VeraĪrt Direction Richard Carter, Stephen Dane ![]()
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