Backaroo banzi movie#

Now that Buckaroo has perfected the necessary Overthruster, all they need to do is steal it and they are home free.Īfter receiving a mysterious electric shock that allows him to see Lectroids as they really are and prevent the attempted theft of the Overthruster during a press conference, Buckaroo learns of the existence of Yoyodyne.

What they have really been doing with the government’s money is building a spaceship that will allow them to rescue their comrades still trapped in the 8th Dimension and return to take over Planet 10 once and for all. Before being locked up, he managed to bring many fellow Red Lectroids to Earth, where they have been living in plain sight and are now running a defense contracting company based in Grover’s Mills, New Jersey that is currently in charge of building a new bomber for the US Air Force. (Get ready because now things are about to get a little confusing.)Īs it turns out, when Lizardo was trapped in the eighth dimension all those decades ago, he had his mind taken over by Lord John Whorfin, a fearsome Red Lectroid who was banished there alongside many of his followers after an unsuccessful attempt to take over their home world of Planet 10 from the more peaceable Black Lectroids. Upon hearing this news, Lizardo breaks out of the asylum, claiming that he is going home. (A flashback to this scene was cut from the original release but can be seen in the deleted scenes, where we discover that Buckaroo’s mother was played by Jamie Lee Curtis.) Buckaroo, however, succeeds and not only manages to drive through a mountain with nary a scratch, he has returned with some kind of alien organism attached to the Jet Car. In 1955, an attempt by Hikita and Buckaroo’s parents was sabotaged by crime lord Hanoi Xan via a bombing that killed his parents. Emilio Lizardo ( John Lithgow) when he tried to pass through-the experiment was a botch that lodged him partway through a wall, and landed him in the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane. Hikita was working for the eminent physicist Dr. This is not the first attempt to make a go of the Overthruster. The real experiment, however, involves the Oscillation Overthruster, a secret device that they hope will let them drive through solid matter. Hikita (Robert Ito), are ostensibly preparing to test a new Jet Car with the capacity to drive at the speed of sound.

(All of this is summed up for viewers in an opening roll of text not dissimilar from the ones that kick off the “ Star Wars” films).Īs the film proper opens, Buckaroo ( Peter Weller), along with his men and mentor Dr. However, he chose to become a modern-day Renaissance man and soon branched out into particle physics, designing high-powered automobiles, occasionally saving the world with the aid of his band of Blue Blaze Irregulars and performing with his other band, the hard-rocking Hong Kong Cavaliers, a group made up of geniuses from other scientific endeavors. The Japanese-American son of a pair of brilliant scientists, he first studied medicine and became a brilliant neurosurgeon. Perhaps the best place to start is to look at its hero, the one and only Buckaroo Banzai himself. Even the most basic, no-frills explanation of it will send many heads reeling, either out of excitement or confusion.

Backaroo banzi movie#

Of course, that is easier said than done because, as anyone who has seen it can attest, it's not exactly the kind of movie that can be summed up in a sentence or two. Even more happily, it gives me a chance to sit down and once and for all explain why I love this film so much. Happily, it is now making its long-awaited Blu-ray debut in a package from Shout! Factory that includes all the bells and whistles that members of its ever-widening cult could possibly ask for. Oh sure, I've proclaimed it as a favorite many times and have made reference to it every now and then-I even gave “ Sharknado 4: The 4th Awakens” an extra half-star for nodding to it-but I haven’t had the opportunity to properly explain my love of the film. And yet, it occurs to me that while I've been lucky enough to write at length about any number of favorites over the years, I've never had the occasion to do so for that particular film. Practically from the moment that I first saw it at the age of 13 during its very brief run at the long-defunct Golf Mill Theaters (thanks for the ride, Mom) in the fall of 1984, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension” has been my all-time favorite movie.