Buckaroo Banzai : Flipping the Cold War Narrative

[@chrisgenson2278]

The best description of Buckaoo Banzai that I've ever found is that it's the second movie of a trilogy without the first and third movie. Smiling yet? You're supposed to.

[@darkmyro]

Honestly it feels worse than that. It's like the 4th of 5th movie in a franchise and there is no franchise.

[@robertjamespennington2628]

It's episode 2 of season 4

[@stellviahohenheim]

Star wars have always sucked

[@RobDaCajun]

Buckaroo Bonzai is a Stand Alone Complex. A copy created with an absence of an original.

[@randallbesch2424]

Almost right ti is the first of at least 2 though we only see the title at the end, BB against the World Crime League. The novel is great for keeping all the WCL elements intact.

[@briangilmore6804]

100% first date move. But by then she'd already shown me her near-complete Farscape Starbust edition collection

[@TheHighSpaceWizard]

You're a lucky man.

[@brianhotaling5849]

alisha while you can, monkey boy!!!!

[@stellviahohenheim]

Nerdy girls can hide a pretty stacked body with baggy clothes

[@sirg-had8821]

Put a ring on it.

[@briangilmore6804]

@@sirg-had8821 I did

[@nicolasb.7052]

Buckaroo Banzai is a 10 year old's fever dream. The guy is a ninja astronaut rockstar scientist comic book hero with a hot girlfriend. Wild trip of a movie.

[@tommyzDad]

Prime Ellen Barkin with short hair. Oh my!

[@yojimbo6879]

I remember being 16 and going to the Soo Theater Friday, Saturday, and Sunday to rewatch this film just to catch everything I missed laughing through it. A classic of 1984.

[@CaptApril123]

me too.. my friends and I could quote it word for word

[@bpora01]

I first ran across BB not in the movie but in the board game battletech. For some reason they wanted to reference both banzai and the Hong Kong cavaliers in the game universe. I finally saw the movie on VHS in 88 or 89.

[@thelordofcringe]

Battletech had all kinds of great references hidden in its ridiculously expansive lore

[@bigd4366]

@@thelordofcringe We don't talk about Butte Hold.

[@lloydritchey]

OMG, I thought I was the only GenX Battletech nerd who noticed that back in the Reagan administration!

[@MrBlueBurd0451]

@@thelordofcringe Char Aznable and a load of other Gundam characters are canonically in the Wolf's Dragoons.

[@Andrealphus]

I had never thought of this movie in the context of the Cold War, but now... wow. This has really recontextualized the movie for me.

[@cypherian2]

Thanks for including this goofy, campy, and weird, little Cold War Era gem in one of your videos! Definitely one of my all time favorites!

[@bfwebster]

Excellent analysis of one of my all-time favorite films. When I did a software startup back in 1990, our first set of offices (in a business park) had two entrances. The main one, where the office manager was, had a placard with the company’s name on it. The other one, for the developers, had a placard saying “Banzai Research Institute.” I teach a senior-level CS class on real-world software engineering. My students can earn 1% extra credit for watching Buckaroo Banzai. 😂

[@randallbesch2424]

Though the Red Lectroids are super soldier versions of the Black Lectroids.

[@doctoronishispsychosislab1474]

"remember where ever you go, There you are!"

[@BigEpinstriping]

I'm a longtime fan of Buckaroo Banzai; I'm a Blue Blaze Irregular; In other words, I'm a member of the original, official fan club. There's a lot of lore that isn't in the film, most of which was disseminated through the fan club's newsletter, World Watch One. The promised sequel was going to be made, but never came about, The World Crime League, and it's enigmatic leader, Hanoi Xan are another deep rabbit hole altogether. Kevin Smith was going to do a film a while back (Either a reboot or the promised sequel, nobody's entirely sure) but it wouldn't have been "Buckaroo Banzai" in my eyes, not without the involvement of Earl Mac Rauch and W. D. Richter, especially the former. Many of the O.G. fans, as well as the creators, treat Buckaroo as a living, breathing character; One who wanders the earth to this day, while the rest of us await his call to action. Older and wiser, perhaps a bit less action oriented, but nonetheless alive and well. Incidentally, none of us can give you a definitive answer to what that watermelon was dong there, but there are some solid, plausible theories. Lastly, Ernest Cline, the author of Ready Player One was a BBI and a contributor to World Watch One (Known by his BBI codename: Rafterman back then) Which explains all his references to the film in his book.

[@randallbesch2424]

The novel retains the WCL elements taken out of the movie. I read part of a sequel script staring with Zin taking a blood bath but then he isn't human either from Yian-Ho so deep in China it is on the Leng plateau.

[@entreprenerd1963]

The novel (by Earl Mac Rauch) states what the watermelon was doing there.

[@turkeytrac1]

Two movies from that orwellian year that I love to this day, and say alot through comedy, "Backaroo Bonzai" and "This is Spinal tap". Great post.

[@MarkAndrewEdwards]

I appreciate this. BB was one of my favorites since I discovered it in college back in the 80's. Nice to see someone digging into it and shining more light on it. For me 'no matter where you go, there you are' stuck with me. But the movie is so quotable you can fill a jean jacket vest with buttons filled with BB quotes.

[@feralhistorian]

I've found more occasions to use "It's not my damn planet, monkey boy!" than I ever would have thought.

[@robertlehnert4148]

BB became a cult classic of us initiated few, because, even aside from the Producers deliberately scuttling the promotion and any chance of sequels (a bizarre story, even for Hollywood insiders) it's quirkiness, multi-layered insider jokes and Easter eggs, by its very nature only appealed to a very few, mostly within hardcore Science Fiction fandom, and yes especially those of us who read the Conde Nast _Doc Savage_ reprints in 1970s high school instead of doing our homework.

[@gadzilla6664]

Eagerly awaiting the Feral Historian's Cowboy Bebop video now. Not as much as his take on 40k, but I understand that will take time, as he's already explained......

[@Green_Tea_Coffee]

I don't think it's possible to do a take on 40k without being completely subsumed by it...

[@billsmith9050]

I have only watched it the once, while a new release... I should re-watch. 'John Dies at the End' struck me as the same kind of off the wall but strangely entertaining. love your work.

[@EvenTheDogAgrees]

Heh, when did you discover JDatE? When it was out in book form, or were you also one of the lucky ones who got to experience the weird creepypasta website it was initially published on? Those animated gifs and whatnot really added to the atmosphere. Should've downloaded it back then; now it's just another piece of culture that's disappeared.

[@DonHavjuan]

Except John Dies at the end was quite good. Bb was garbage.

[@tonygoodkind7858]

If a first date _wouldn't_ survive a Buckaroo Banzai talk/watch, then it isn't someone you want to be with long-term anyway.

[@morefiction3264]

It would be a second date for me. First date is a baseball game.

[@tonygoodkind7858]

@@morefiction3264 Fair, each person has their own different baseline requirements.

[@heli88]

One of my all-time favorites. And I did actually show this to a girl on our first date. We've been married over 20 years, so clearly it was the right choice.

[@Zarysazane12345]

Thanks for reviewing my mom's favorite movie. Hope you had a great Christmas an New Years! 😊

[@padawanmage71]

Gotta admit, you really do channel your inner Worfin there at the end 🤪

[@niyanlan8928]

Always look forward to your videos, the production value and narrative is excellent. They always seem to end too quickly though, like you’re just starting to explain some point. Would love to see you expand this channel with more in-depth videos that use films to make some real world philosophical points - Subscribers are ridiculously low for this excellent channel. Great stuff!

[@feralhistorian]

There's been an inverse relationship between total length of a video and how soon in real time the majority drop off. It seems like if I exceed 30 mins, 90% drop off in the first 5 so there's a KZbin-induced incentive to stay around the 15-minute range. That said, there are a few in the writing stage that are shaping up to be rather long and involved. I was half-joking a few weeks ago about doing a lengthy askew take on Dune when/if the subscriber count gets to 10191.

[@niyanlan8928]

Thanks for the reply man, appreciate it@@feralhistorian . It must be difficult for you as you have an excellent product but it bizarrely low number of subscribers thus far. I always look at your channel like the film version of someone like Jacob Gellers game-based presentations. Really looking forward to seeing what you present over the next year - Dune would be absolutely brilliant and a great idea as I think it’s widely acknowledged that Frank Herbert was more of a social philosopher than a writer. He also wrote stuff like - The Dosadi Experiment - which probably has more resonance today and would be really interesting for someone’s take on it but probably wouldn’t make a great film! Anyhow, all the best for the coming year.

[@1MiketheScribe]

I saw this movie when it first came out and frankly didn’t think too deeply upon it. Really illuminating analysis. I wonder what TFH would make of Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins?

[@Colorcrayons]

Have you ever gone for a hike and the whistling music during the end credits starts playing in your head? Yeah. Me neither.

[@Michael-Willis]

Another gem (both the movie and your analysis). Keep up the great work!

[@makdaddi3921]

Best movie ever... how it was permitted to be made is a blessing...

[@Omegasupreme1078]

This is one of two movies I can watch every day for a week and it never gets stale. I really wish they'd managed the sequel.

[@doktor_ghul]

I wasn't introduced to BB and World Watch One by the movie, but by the novel that expanded and filled in the backstory of Banzai, his world wide agents, and all the small details of his world, including Hanoi Xan and the World Crime League. When I finally got to see the movie, I got the references and saw the details others missed, including why there's a watermelon there. What can I say? I've been a Blue Blaze Irregular ever since.

[@mattresbert]

Brilliant ending ❤

[@adamwhite9330]

A full orchestral version of the main theme would be a thing of beauty

[@Zyzyx442]

Watching Buckaroo Banzai high af with a friend was a surreal experience, good movie... I think. At least we laughed a lot.

[@TheTimeshadows]

Great insights into a movie I hadn't watched in so long I forgot a lot of those details. I like your perspective on this.

[@biotrekker]

Love BB - it endures multiple watchings. My dad introduced me to Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, and I got many hours of fun reading those books, as well the John Carter series..

[@FermanSims]

This was an awesome breakdown of one a of my favorites movies!

[@billd66]

"Character is what you are in the dark" is a quote from evangelist Dwight Moody.

[@daviddesjardins7751]

Really enjoying your vlogs. Entertaining and thought prevoking.

[@marcuswalters8093]

7:47 One of the best sayings ever.

[@xyshomavazax]

I love this movie, I love this channel, and my brain hasn’t been this happy since the last time it was dosed with … substances. Also, “BigbooTAY! BigbooTAY!”

[@or_gluzman561Peace_IL_PS]

0:45 so like late 50's batman?

[@feralhistorian]

I almost made a Batman comparison there.

[@mojrimibnharb4584]

Absolutely first date, along with Company of Wolves. It's a screening device.

[@Torquemada70]

Saw this when it came out, I was young. Had no idea what was going on. Reached mid 40's - I'll try this again, maybe I can follow it. Had no idea what was going on.

[@RedSiegfried]

Someone once said something to the effect that Buckaroo Banzai was what a ten year old thinks the coolest people in the world would be like if they had an adventure. Yeah, kinda.

[@bluesoystercultist7164]

0:45 Superhero characters like Batman or Captain America have been around waay after Doc Savage or The Shadow left the Spotlight and the sensible stories were exhausted decades before I was even born. I don't see why pulp heroes couldn't last beyond the early 20th century when I've read FAR WORSE from their surviving contemporaries. Anybody remembers when Nightcrawler was a pawn in a plot to de-legitimize the catholic church ? Or batman's Knightfall arc in the 90s ? Or Spiderman's clone saga ? Or Jubilee becoming a Vampire ?

[@tw1sted1nc]

I had never considered the stylistic links between BB and Cowboy Bebop.

[@dubdelay]

Funny you say it, I suggested watching Das Boot for a second date. This was on the first date. Now we're a happy family. Real foot forward saves a lot of time, compared to best foot forward!

[@williamozier918]

This has great re-boot potential.

[@mikedowd6015]

BB even got an homage in BattleTech from the '80s, with the Merc group "Team Banzai".

[@timothyvincent3436]

I like your Draka material (what I could find on YT). Ever read Warworld with the Saurons on Haven?

[@feralhistorian]

I did read the first Warworld way back. I don't remember much about it beyond the CoDo and Haven being less than ideal. There's another Draka video in the lineup, waiting on new artwork. There's a surprising amount of material to cover in there.

[@timothyvincent3436]

The Warworld was the Draka on steroids (gene modification and subjugation of standard humans for labor and breeding). Humans get tough as nails in a hurry by culling process. Technology is about Ak 47 and steam power for most of the moon after Saurons take out manufacturing from orbit and control crash on the surface. Later books are not as good in my opinion.@@feralhistorian

[@toshibavoodoo]

GREAT MOVIE! Saw in 1984, as a teenager, changed my life perspective.

[@pharalj.w.3354]

Anyone else laugh hysterically at the bit at the end? I know I did. "I'mma going home!"

[@CraigHocker]

2:30 so true, growing up in the cold war, yeah, you assumed a nuke hitting downtown was always possible on any given day.

[@rhudson1976]

I'ma going home. Outstanding!

[@Dontlicktheballoons]

One of my favorite films!😅!

[@MissKellyBean]

Ohhhhh.... At 50, I'm really starting to reexamine how much of my early "boyfriend template" was shaped by brilliant but artsy, doomed 80's sci-fi protagonists.... 🤔 😂

[@CaptApril123]

God I love this movie..saw it the day it came out.

[@zamoragera13]

That jet powered Ford was pretty cool.

[@sahilhossian8212]

Lore of Buckaroo Banzai : Flipping the Cold War Narrative momentum 100

[@nedstarkravingmad1799]

6:57 Mike Ehrmantraut

[@williamjanak2013]

Still need to watch this movie.

[@PharadayCage]

I appreciate the hell out of you.

[@HebrewHammerArmsCo]

I loved that movie as a kid

[@ArmyJames]

“Home is where you wear your hat.”

[@JoakimHammarstedt]

Real soon!

[@CinnamonKnightEntertainment]

Soooo.... I don't know about you but that movie has a feeling I couldn't pin down till your review..... I reminds me of being a kid in the 80s and opening up a comic book mid story, references to other things you didn't see but containing a full story in of itself.... just longer and being the 80's somehow deeper than those wonderfully nieve comic books.....

[@bmhh123]

Yes please, take a look at Cowboy Beebop.

[@holidaywednesday4069]

have you looked at Deal of the Century? it's a satire of the Reagan-era defense industry

[@jasoncornell1579]

Once played a game in the late eighties where the character u play Johnny Jimbo Baby MacGivets a name so absurd u can't forget it

[@frederickburke9944]

BB is maybe the funniest movie ive ever seen. And i mean that in a good way. Every laugh it gets is intentional

[@Hugebull]

I have absolutely no connection to this movie. I don't even think my parents were in High School when this movie came out. I had never even heard about it. But there is something about stories and movies where a modern and powerful country is suddenly transformed and reduced down into a weaker state and a vulnerable position. Seeing the United States in the position of a pawn between Superpowers is interesting. I find it to be a very good tool for providing context. Especially to the United States, who is 150 years removed from large scale bloodshed on your own land. There is just something about the current stable, prosperous, powerful, and secure position being entirely subverted. 9 years ago, SaveTheChildren came out with a video called "Most Shocking Second a Day Video". We are shown a situation like that of the Syrian Civil War, but now shown to happen in England. An incredibly powerful video that is just over a minute long. Or the movie "How I Live Now". It is not a good movie. Yet, there are so many fantastic scenes throughout the film that I still like watching it. To see rebel blockades and martial law in the England after some un-named group detonates a nuclear bomb in a city. Seeing English civilians herded to safe zones and into forced labor by British soldiers. Seeing mass graves filled with English people. Very powerful. There are the "Red Dawn" movies. Neither very good. Yet, there is something about them. But the scene in the original, where Colonel Andy Tanner (played by Powers Boothe) is explaining the situation of what is going on when they are all gathered around the campfire. Easily one of the best movie scenes of all time. Teaching Americans about the Second World War must be nearly impossible. Compared to where I live, where I can drive 45 minutes and I can see a massive bunker complex built by the Germans as part of the Atlantic Wall (Sirevåg kystfort). And then there are smaller bunkers scattered all along the coast. But, reduce America from the mega-superpower that it is, down to that of a Poland or a Yugoslavia at the hands of the invading Germans. Now that is a powerful tool for context. "Tomorrow, When the War Began" This is basically an Australian version of Red Dawn. "Colony" with Josh Holloway and Sarah Wayne Callies. The first season is absolutely fantastic, and the second season was pretty good. We don't talk about the third. But the two first seasons are absolutely much-watch. Seeing America (and the world) beaten down and defeated absolutely and without question. Military gone, government gone, now everything being entirely at the hands of the occupying power. Simple men being put into positions of puppet governors by the occupying power. The main character, a good and highly capable veteran and FBI agent, being forced to become a collaborator. It's fantastic. Or we can go all the way back to the book "The War of the Worlds" from 1895-97 by H.G. Wells. Where the then mega-superpower of the world Britain itself, finds itself on the flip side of colonial invasion. And of course, as an honorable mention, "Stargate SG-1". Even though it dragged on for far too long, there is a great deal of gems that came out of it for those first few seasons.

[@feralhistorian]

Colony is vastly underrated. All of these mentions are coming up in a future video currently in the works. Maybe two, depending on what pieces break off.

[@Hugebull]

@@feralhistorian Nice

[@11C1P]

This came out when I was in Jr. High & not too many people I knew besides me really liked it. I'd say if you take a girl out on a date & she knows about this movie & likes it, either she's marrying material or you should get as far away from her as possible.

[@sheets75]

My dad took me to see this when I was a kid. He asked what I thought of it as we walked out and I happily said I liked it. He thought it was "pretty dumb". That's how it goes with this movie. I can't recall too many people in the "eh, it's alright" area.

[@pillscottvt6628]

Still own the VHS.

[@victorfinberg8595]

definitely EXACTLY the one

[@mrjpuff]

I must stop the video and watch the flick. Thank you.

[@MickMeasleyYT]

If I ever make videos I'm definitely casting you as a mad genuis military leader of some sort

[@gishman5539]

Does the art determine the costume or does the costume determine the art?

[@Sedgewise47]

The answer is “Yes.”

[@OWG1969]

It was recycled into Howard the Duck 2 years later. With Howard playing Buckaroo and more sex

[@3L_B4R7O]

Nice

[@HoosierDaddy2a]

You just added this movie to my list. I found your channel through the BoS video. Now I have a bigger question: where did you get your Micah Bell coat?

[@feralhistorian]

That coat is a Soviet Navy peacoat acquired during the great Communism Liquidation Sale of the early '90s.

[@HoosierDaddy2a]

@@feralhistorian did you get a tank in that sale? XD

[@erictolle6847]

I love this movie beyond all reason, so it has to be pointed out to me that this movie is also pretty much the perfect definition of a "Sexy Lamp" movie. That is, the female lead could be replaced by the lamp from "A Christmas Story", without really changing the plot. She has almost no autonomy, no real character development. In many ways, that's following the genre- it's a modern boy's version of a boy's genre. It just rather sticks out now.

[@PvtSchlock]

Ya-Hootie!

[@revans18]

Not only did Ronald Lacey (Who also played Toht in Raider of the Lost Ark) look like Orson Wells he apparently did a perfect imitation og him as well but the Studio hated that and made them redub all of the President's line which is why they sound terrible.

[@Jake-love939]

That coat of yours is awesome! Who makes it?

[@feralhistorian]

It's a Soviet Army coat I picked up during the USSR Liquidation Sale in the early '90s. They still turn up on the surplus market from time to time.

[@WilliamAGould]

Here is a thought. Since you did a good job of explaining how this film was a comment on the Cold War, what if the Red Aliens were not really "bad guys". They were not "evil". Hear we out. Yes. They were the designated antagonists that fought the "good guys". Though, we have no knowledge of the war between the Blue and Red aliens. All we know is that the Blue Aliens is they like to sit in VERY HIGH chairs and have no problems destroying a planet of sentient beings (Earth and humans), whom had no involvement with their war, to keep the red aliens from returning. On the matter of Emilio Lizardo and Lord John Whorfin, when their minds merged, they went mad. We know before hand the Emilio was a decent man. It is possible Whorfin was actually a good leader. Though, after having their minds merges and being committed to an insane asylum for decades, at a time when such places did horrible experiments on their patients, the result was a "Joker" situation. Even the red aliens were not really on the same page of Whorfin, when he returned. It was more like they were going through the motions. The reason I believe the red aliens were not evil is what they did and did not do. Leaning into the Cold War trappings, it is possible the blue aliens had oppressed the red alien worker class, whom revolts and were either captured and imprisoned, or fled to Earth in exile. The red aliens had been on Earth for decades. Instead of trying to take over the local government, they went into hiding and only got enough funds from the local government to build themselves a ship to return home and provide basic necessities. The red aliens could have done a full "They" situation. They had the tech and abilities. Instead, they kept to themselves.

[@brucea3103]

Granted, it's just the one side: JOHN EMDALL: Salutations, great Buckaroo Banzai. I am John Emdall, from Planet Ten. A common grave danger confronts both our worlds. After a bloody reign of terror... MRS. JOHNSON enters. She squints, trying to see what's going on. MRS. JOHNSON: Hey, what _is_ that? RAWHIDE puts a pair of the goggles on MRS. JOHNSON. JOHN EMDALL: ... the hated leader of our military caste, the self-proclaimed Lord John Whorfin, a bloodthirsty butcher as evil as your Hitler... MRS. JOHNSON: Oh, wow... JOHN EMDALL: ... was overthrown by freedom-loving forces, tried, and condemned, along with several hundred of his followers, to spend eternity in the formless void of the 8th dimension. Death was deemed... RAWHIDE: (to MRS. JOHNSON) Did you tell Penny Buckaroo was looking for her? MRS. JOHNSON: I looked in her room, she wasn't there. JOHN EMDALL: ... too good for them. Nothing like a Hitler reference to set a baseline.

[@randallbesch2424]

The main race is black and their soldier caste are red.

[@WilliamAGould]

@@randallbesch2424 That says a lot right there.

[@davegaracci1043]

"Its called a Bivouac"

[@beldin3013]

it honestly hides a lot from the day in a totally batshit film.

[@drmonroej4]

Why is there a watermelon there?

[@randallbesch2424]

Testing long term stress geometry of an ovoid of a high moisture content.

[@billd66]

Doylistic answer: To annoy the producer, and check if he was still watching the dailies.

[@5n8ke]

You're going to carry that weight...

[@charlybarley3247]

who you are in the dark can also be your character in the worst of times or situations. really bad situations is just as much of a test of character as when noone is watching. just an interpretation of dark. dark is absences of light. you could still be watched in the dark. my interpretation of the dark is a truly phucked up situation. you are always being observed by the universe cause it is not a closed system and it is a feedback intelligent system.. something is always observing you.

[@nonsequitor]

9:30 I think you missed a little thing inbetween "booted out the British empire" and "Snuffed out by the American war machine " 🤷‍♂️

[@slknvgdf]

It's Bigbooté!

[@norahjaneeast5450]

I realize this is a triplet film you know where the different Studios on the same project and come out with virtually the same movie but anyway aliens time travel rock and roll in the advertising for this they copied the style of Back to the Future for the movie poster butts must I say back to the future is the twin but guess what it was a triplet because if you look at Repo Man it's kind of the same combination of sci-fi time space travel and rock and roll Marty McFly's love of Edward Van Halen and the singing of the 50s song which I can't remember right now because anyway Buckaroo Banzai is a scientist a rockstar and like I forget other stuff and of course Otto with his love of punk rock cars and anyway these three movies were brought out about the exactly the same time within about a year

[@EricMcConnaughey]

Johnny B Goode, Chuck Barry.

[@Pan_Fryer]

[@SefuDonalBastet]

And somehow, you look more than a bit like Buckaroo... 😂

[@adhdessentials5919]

Buckaroo Banzai is a bigger marysue than Rey Skywalker will ever be.

[@spocko2181]

He’s interesting though. She’s just another Disney princess clone.

[@cvdevol]

Lithgow steals the show.

[@alcosmic]

Buckaroo Banzai is what cinema would look like if the axis powers had won the war

[@terencemccormick8178]

Only Americans, with their hyper-individualistic nonsense, would believe that the essence of one's character is so monolithic a matter. Being one, I know whereof I speak.

[@AncientRylanor69]

angelina valentine

[@corkball5315]

Wait... what? This movie had a PLOT? I think you are reading too much into it...

[@randallbesch2424]

i think you don't know what the word "plot" means.

[@mattgilbert7347]

"Taxpayer dollars" Oof. I was enjoying this until you dropped that stinker. Oh well, nobody's perfect. Wherever you go, there you are.

[@DonHavjuan]

What a terrible movie it was. The quality was like a bunch of guys shooting a movie in their back yard. But the closing credits music was dope.