rsu@cbscc.UUCP (Rick Urban) (09/10/84)
I seem to remember that in a Hollywood Reporter article on fall movies, "Buckeroo Banzai" was to be released (presumably a wide break) on September 28. At the moment, it has been released only on a regional basis. Cross your fingers
garret@oddjob.UChicago.UUCP (Trisha O Tuama) (09/23/84)
***** BB opens here in Chgo this Friday. I was all set to offer Jeff Meyer our kind hospitality in case he wanted to fly in and see it here -- but after his unkind remarks in net.books I've changed my mind. Trisha
ecl@hocsj.UUCP (10/08/84)
BUCKEROO BANZAI
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
The phenomenon of the midnight audience cult classic has given rise to
a number of films trying to outdo each other for weirdness. It seems that
to capture this highly profitable audience the filmmaker has to create a
film unlike the kind of fare that one usually sees when common work-a-day
people can get to a theater. In nature the majority of mutations are non-
viable, and the same principle applies to films that try to be different to
catch the after-midnight crowd. Most are films everyone should see at most
once. And that isn't the idea at all. Rare is the person who sits through
ERASERHEAD repeatedly. In any town big enough to make showing midnight
films profitable, people who would see ERASERHEAD more than once will find
other establishments to cater to their masochistic tendencies.
More light-hearted than most attempted classics is BUCKEROO BANZAI:
ACROSS THE 8TH DIMENSION. This film bears roughly the same relationship to
comic books that head cheese bears to meat. It is a very strange dicing and
throwing together of many very odd ideas. It is sort of DOC SAVAGE crossed
with THE MONITORS dones in the style of THE LAST DAYS OF MAN ON EARTH. It
seems that we really were invaded the night of the famous Orson Welles
broadcast of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS on October 30, 1938. (The scriptwriter
and most of the rest of the world think the date was the 31st, but the
correct date was really Sunday the 30th.) There are two groups of battling
aliens, the red Lectroids and the black Lectroids, with Earth caught in the
middle. The only person who can save us is super-scientist/rock-
singer/neurosurgeon Buckeroo Banzai. This over-achiever leads a band of
loyal compatriots and an army of child confederates. On the side of evil is
B.B.'s arch-enemy Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) and the nasty red Lectroids.
Allied with Buckeroo for good are the black Lectroids. The aliens are all
around but without special glasses, the red Lectroids look like AT&T
executives and the blacks look like Rastafarians. Does that sound odd?
There is more to come. B.B. has a new device that lets him move through
solid matter by projecting him into the eight dimension which turns out to
be the subway tunnel the Lectroids use to get here from Planet Ten (of
course!). If that sounds confusing, don't worry. You now have a concrete
advantage over the rest of the audience toward understanding this film. It
may even give you a fighting chance to assimilate what is going on. Maybe.
Confusion, camp, bad acting, strange action, rock music, and homilies
like, "No matter where you go, there you are" combine to make this
film,...well...odd. Not too bad, but a long way from perfect. Rate it +1
(on a -4 to +4 scale).
(Evelyn C. Leeper for)
Mark R. Leeper
...ihnp4!lznv!mrlecl@hocsj.UUCP (10/08/84)
The problem with a movie where anything can happen is that *anything* can happen. Evelyn C. Leeper ...ihnp4!hocsj!ecl
carey@uiucdcs.UUCP (10/16/84)
Interesting that you mention its resemblance to a comic book. While glancing over the shoulder of my little sister while she was reading her Marvels (but John you don't have a little sister!) I saw an advertisement for Buckaroo Banzai "soon to be a major Marvel comic" For all you fans out there it did not mention when it would start coming out.
disc@houxz.UUCP (S.BERRY) (10/18/84)
The comic book has been out a few months already, coinciding with the first release of the film. SJBerry
lmaher@uokvax.UUCP (10/20/84)
/***** uokvax:net.movies / uiucdcs!carey / 12:11 pm Oct 16, 1984 */
Interesting that you mention its resemblance to a comic book.
While glancing over the shoulder of my little sister while
she was reading her Marvels (but John you don't have a
little sister!) I saw an advertisement for Buckaroo Banzai
"soon to be a major Marvel comic"
For all you fans out there it did not mention when it
would start coming out.
/* ---------- */
The Buckaroo Banzai comic book adaptation is already out, both in
a magazine-size high quality paper version and as two regular-
size comic books. They're not as good as the movie or the book,
but then few things are.
From that last line you can tell I liked the movie very much.
It's much closer to being a Pulp for the 80's than a comic book.
Note that Evelyn Leeper's description of the movie is wrong in
places - whether due to confusion or not paying attention I don't
know. I'm always suspicious of reviewers that mix up the details
in their spoilers - nothing personal, Evelyn.
As I said in my first review of this movie when it was released,
"If you like the Pulps, see it. If you're not sure whether you
like Pulps, see it and then you'll know. If you don't like the
Pulps, buy a ticket for it anyway so it'll make enough money to
justify the sequel."
If you liked the Movie, then by all means read the book
afterwards!
"If it's not one thing, it's another."
Carl
..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher