Laugha while you can, monkeyboy!

Buckaroo Banzai is a cult classic that bombed at the box office. It was released in 1984. It starred Peter Weller in the title role, with Ellen Barkin as his love interest, and John Lithgow (in his greatest role) as Buckaroo's maniacal alien nemesis Dr Emilio Lizardo (a.k.a. Lord John Whorfin). Jeff Goldblum is great, and uncharacteristically understated, as the hero's naive surgeon buddy. Christopher Lloyd is brilliant as Red Lectroid henchman John Bigboote (pronounced "boo-tay").

The story begins with Rock-singing neuro-surgeon adventurer Buckaroo Banzai discovering a strange lifeform, killed by his experimental car, while driving through a mountain (that's right folks!). The remains turn out to be those of an evil Red Lectroid, exiled from the 8th Dimension. Soon afterwards, Buckaroo and his band, the HongKong Cavaliers, are visited by a Black Lectroid (a Rastafarian look-alike, also from the 8th Dimension), who warns them that the Earth will be destroyed if the Red Lectroid plot to escape incarceration on the planet is not foiled. Buckaroo is given a special mask, which enables him to recognize Lectroids, who are otherwise perfectly disguised as Human Beings.

Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) enters the story as a mental patient - Brilliant performance! - ranting permutations of 'home is wear you hanga you hat...show me the way to go home... home is whera you heart is...etc..', as he sketches plans for transdimensional travel on his cell wall. He escapes... and the chase begins.

After a complex series of plot twists, involving the musical seduction of Ellen Barkin and the torture of Ellen Barkin with a space slug, we are led to a secret factory, where the rest of the Red Lectroids (all named John), ostensibly working on a government contract to build a bomber, are building an escape ship. Here is the high point of the film, to my mind perhaps the greatest line in movie history, delivered by one of the greatest character actors ever... Christopher Lloyd: A pesky government inspector, after harassing John Bigboote (Lloyd) beyond the limits of his patience, begins to complain about the disorderly condition of the factory. Erupting in a manner that is the uncontested domain of Christopher Lloyd, Bigboote lifts him from the ground by the throat and, holding him at arm's length, bellows:

IT'S NOT MY GODDAMNED PLANET! UNDERSTAND MONKEYBOY?

Needless to say, Ellen Barkin is eventually rescued and, after a dog fight by two space ships that resemble toffee cured in ice water, the future of the Earth assured. Great stuff!