Wednesday, April 22, 2009

the adventures of buckaroo banzai



does every family have a personal cult film, a movie that each person pretty much knows by heart (and can recite, annoyingly, line by line)? for my family, that film was buckaroo banzai, which came out in 1984. we owned it on vhs and watched it dozens of times and subjected our friends to it and quoted from it in unison. here's how much i loved it at the age of 16 or 17: you know those rocks, way up above the road, that in most towns high school kids will paint with sports-related or school-spirit-type messages, such as "JJ LAX '85" or whatever? i shanghaied my high school friends into climbing up there with me so we could paint "BUCKAROO BANZAI." i was so proud of myself.

m, boo, and i are visiting my mom and dad in cambridge for a couple of days, and last night we realized that boo had really never experienced buckaroo banzai (officially he'd seen it, but i think he was about two), so we all watched it. it's just as bizarre and wonderful as ever, twenty-five years later!

"hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. hey. don't be mean. we don't have to be mean. because, remember, no matter where you go,...there you are."

8 comments:

holly said...

thank you! i haven't laughed with tears in my eyes in a long time....i think i'll go out and rent it for my kids (really, me)!
xoxo

Liz Woodbury said...

aw! wouldn't it be fun for us all to watch together some time?! i hope your kids appreciate the absurdity...

margot said...

why have i never seen buckaroo banzai?

Liz Woodbury said...

you have, but you were also little. maybe...4 or 5? your brother was a mere infant.

Emily said...

Matt doesn't get that movie. How could I have married him. Can we watch Splendor in the Grass and The Way We Were too.

Liz Woodbury said...

yes! yes! we need to have a weepy film festival very soon -- want to, for real?

allisonmaranz said...

heck yeah! I have the main song in my head right now...can I join your film festival? And--we can maybe have it down at our house in leeee. We have a projector and watch tv/movies theater style on the wall :). g'night.

Liz Woodbury said...

yes! buckaroo banzai in leeee! you tell me when.