The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984): Weird, Wild, and...Wonderful?

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension has a plot as long and winding as its title.W.D. Richter and Earl Mac Rauch's Buckaroo Banzai  is hard to explain and was challenging to market.Facing box office competition from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Ghostbusters, and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, the off-beat, complicated science-fiction comedy action film washed out of theaters.But after slipping onto home video, all the weirdness that made the film fail with its theatrical release won it fans.The film brings a knockout cast and care-free creativity, but does its screwball hi-jinx add up to a great watch or a middling mess?In this episode, I discuss the costume style of flamboyant whimsical chic, the natural design of sea-life like aliens and crafts, and why every movie needs a credits scene like Buckaroo Banzai's.Starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, and Christopher Lloyd.Connect with us on Bluesky:@not-ni-theaters.bsky.socialAnd to read more of Will's writing or check out more podcast episodes, you can visit him at: willturntale.com