With The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) they just tried too hard.
There was money and status in that midnight movie circuit.
And sometimes you had to wait for home video before that word of mouth really started to spread.
Richter (whod written the screenplay for the 1978INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) left nothing to chance.
Their tale of the neurosurgeon/two-fisted physicist/adventurer/rock n roll star had all the above elements and much, much more.
It was inspired in no small part by the old Doc Savage comics of the 30s.
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Maybe they were too sure of themselves or maybe they overplayed their hand.
In any case the film didnt last in theaters long enough for the geeks to find it.
(I honestly dont know if anyones actually made that argument, but they could.)
And maybe its for the best.
Its not that there isnt a lot of wonderful stuff going on in the film.
The film looks great, and its brought to life by a wonderful cast.
Although hes the most watchable character onscreen, Lizardo is nowhere to be seen for most of the film.
And Buckaroo himself, together with his inner circle, is pretty dull.
He makes no mistakes, he has no human frailties.
Theres very little to associate with in a character like that.
But that credits business is simply embarrassing.
Richter insists the producer put him up to that, but still.
But I guess it worked anyway.
Hey, wait a second .
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