![]() ![]() His career did, unfortunately, end with a fizzle, when he came out of pseudo-retirement to pen Rob Cohen’s junk blockbuster Stealth (2005). He mostly worked as a Hollywood writer, including solo writing credits for Peter Hyams’ Peeper (1976), Kaufman’s superior Invasion of the Body Snatchers remake (1978), and Stuart Rosenberg’s Brubaker (1980), and, believe it or not, script doctor duties on Big Trouble in Little China. ![]() Richter’s cinematic legacy doesn’t end here, though. The opening Jet Car test sequence is also quite confident, even comparable to similar scenes in Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff, which had been released just a year prior in 1983. He makes rookie mistakes in terms of structure and the final act could use a spit-polish, but his colorful, comic book imagery and busy, graphic aesthetic is delightful. Richter’s only other movie as director is an underseen, apparently more down-to-earth sci-fi drama, Late for Dinner (1991), which is too bad, because The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is a pretty stylish debut feature. Those of us that love the film know that these loosely knit sequences often feature the funniest gags (there must have been hours of John Lithgow improv alone), but can also admit that they stifle the momentum as the story approaches the climax. Richter knows his cast is firing on all cylinders, so he neglects to edit their performances, instead continuously introducing new characters and relishing their improvisations. The film’s other obvious weakness is its pacing. It is a tailor-made cult film and I think it works as such, but setting out to appeal to an ironic and/or counter-culture audience is a good way to alienate viewers. Even ardent fans can probably admit that, even as it charms with fantastical ideas and fun special effects, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai feels overloaded. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai exceeds its counterparts with a much more unique take on old ideas – warring alien clans are invading, Buckaroo is Flash Gordon, Team Banzai is the Justice League, et cetera – but it also falls short by cramming too much ridiculousness into one package and wearing out most mainstream audiences. However, unlike those more popular films, Richter and writer Earl Mac Rauch updated the pulp references for the mid-’80s, both praising and spoofing the era. Like George Lucas’ Star Wars (1977) or Steven Spielberg’s Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), it celebrates the pulp traditions of the decades prior and builds an internal mythology on referential ideas. These aspects work in the film’s favor in terms of its originality and, ironically enough, nostalgia. The key issues for and against The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai is its weirdness and optimism. the Red Lectroids” in the backyard, but I’ll do my best. ![]() I don’t know if I’m able to approach this particular film from a genuinely critical place, seeing that I used to play “Team Banzai vs. Also, because The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai was one of three movies we owned – and because ‘80s daytime television was terrible – I usually ended up watching it when I stayed home sick from school. For a time, there was a loosely defined, pseudo-father/son tradition of watching either it or John Carpenter’s Big Trouble in Little China (1986, more on that in a moment) when my mother was out of town for work/school reasons. This is because it was (maybe still is?) my father’s favorite movie. For the record, both Ghostbusters and Empire were recorded from television (including commercials and TV censorship/edits), making The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai the only motion picture deemed important enough to actually purchase. It might seem unusual in the day and age of DVD/Blu-ray/4K UHD collections, digital streaming, and thousands of cable television channels, but there was a time when my household owned only three VHS cassettes – Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters (1984), Irvin Kershner’s The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Richter’s The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) is one of the most important movies in my development as a film fan. Still, sometimes we’ve all got to feed our inner hypocrite, so let me tell you about why W. ![]() ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia has grown into a billion dollar industry over the last decade, to the point that I’ve grown suspicious of any critical discussion revolving around it. ![]()
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