Well, the revised plan was to do a "Redux" of the scene from The Graduate about "outside agitators" but as that's been one of the most "hit" articles this week (no doubt from googling the words in search engines), I'm going to fall back on the original plan with this one...
The Story: It was probably a bit ahead of its time (he said charitably), hence the bad box-office when it was released in theaters in 1984.
That would be The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension,* a mouthful of a title for a movie that was chock-a-block with ideas, few of which were serious, but most were not, dealing as it did with an invasion of Earth from the 'Lectroids, beings from the tenth planet in the eighth dimension, the discovery of which is due to a land-speed test to crack the sound barrier, but secretly is to test the perfected Oscillation Overthruster to crack the barrier between dimensions...and maybe...just maybe...come back sane.
Who could accomplish such a feat? Well, that world-famous polyglot, the neurosurgeon/physicist/test-pilot/rock n' roller/style-master Buckaroo Banzai, that's who!
Buckaroo Banzai is a post-modern update of the old "'Doc' Savage" pulp novels about a Renaissance Man of many interests and his "literal" band of experts investigating the secrets and the threats in the Universe (although screenwriter Mac Rauch claimed the inspiration was 1970's kung-fu movies). For me, there are a couple of memorable stand-out scenes from the film—this is one of them, at a point in the film when it was being lit and photographed by the brilliant Jordan Cronenweth, who had provided the distinctive look to the original Blade Runner.
Intended to be a series of films—the end-credits announce a sequel "Buckaroo Banzai Versus the World Crime League"—the film's slack box-office nixed those plans...Mac Rauch put out a subsequent novel versionof the story, published in 2021.
The Set-up: It's been a day for Buckaroo Banzai (Peter Weller): performing intricate brain-surgery, recruiting a new surgeon (Jeff Goldblum) for Team Banzai, and then heading off to a test-site to set a land-speed record and doing a test on his father's life-research—perfecting the Oscillation Overthruster that could crack the barrier between dimensions. Time to unwind at a gig with his band, the Honk Kong Cavaliers.
But, his past is about to catch up with him.
Action!
which falls into his
hand. He is just about to sing when he suddenly freezes. The band abruptly
stops playing.
CROWD:
Noooo! (assorted yells)
BUCKAROO BANZAI:
Is, ahh... is somebody...
Long shot of stage. Crowd members are looking back at PENNY PRIDDY, wondering
what's going on.
The crowd is getting fed up with the delay.
Words by Earl Mac Rauch
Pictures by Jordan Cronenweth (and Fred J. Koenekamp) and W.D. Richter
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension is available on DVD from M-G-M Home Video.
Under the Command of Captain Hikaru Sulu, if I remember...
* The script went through many versions and many stories that were ultimately not finished and abandoned, but alternate titles for the film were such things as "Find the Jetcar, Said the President - A Buckaroo Banzai Thriller" and "Lepers from Saturn."
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