The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) on Netflix
PG19841h 43mAdventureComedyRomance
Buckaroo Banzai, neurosurgeon and rock star, perfects a device that lets matter pass through solid matter. He drives his Jet Car through a mountain into the 8th dimension. Red Lectroids want it.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb6.2/1033,396 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
With his mentor Tohichi Hikita, Buckaroo Banzai completes the oscillation overthruster, which can send an object through solid matter. He tests it in his Jet Car, drives through a mountain, passes into the 8th dimension, and comes back with an alien organism clinging to the car. Word of the test reaches Dr. Emilio Lizardo, who has been locked up since 1938, when a prototype overthruster left him stuck between dimensions. Lizardo escapes and plots to steal the device. Messengers from the peaceful Black Lectroids of Planet 10 tell Banzai that their Red Lectroid enemies were banished to the 8th dimension and that the device could free them. Banzai and the Hong Kong Cavaliers set out to stop them.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Believing producer David Begelman had stopped paying attention to the shoot, the crew tested the theory by slipping in an unexplained scene where a watermelon becomes a topic of banter; when it passed through without comment, they concluded they had free rein.
- Begelman was adamant that all references to the villain Xan be removed, including the original opening, which showed Buckaroo's father being killed by Xan and featured Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo's mother.
- Actor Robert Ito was so determined to land the role of Dr. Hikita that he disguised himself as an old man, designing his own makeup to age himself thirty years for the audition.
- Original cinematographer Jordan Cronenweth was replaced midway through production by Fred J. Koenekamp, yet several scenes Cronenweth shot, including the film's iconic nightclub sequence, made the final cut with him left uncredited.
- Lewis Smith was asked to dye his hair blond for the film; the process took eight hours, and he watched his hair go from red to orange to fluorescent yellow before it finally reached white.
- Opening on just 236 screens against Star Trek III, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Ghostbusters, the film earned only $6.2 million domestically, recovering less than half of its production costs.
- The film's end-title song was not ready in time, so the crew shot the closing sequence while playing Billy Joel's "Uptown Girl" as a stand-in track.
