I have learned that "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai," a cult classic, is an acquired taste. I acquired it when a college roommate quoted from it occasionally.

But you have to love a movie where: the Defense Department is queried about “the possibility of war in the eighth dimension, Mr. Secretary?”; the President of the United States sputters: “I, uh... I don't know what to say. Lectroids? Planet Ten? Nuclear? Extortion? A girl named John?” and contends with “Declaration of War - the Short Form”; a General says: “Mr. President, I am a soldier. And I'm a damn good one…I am scared. I'm barely holding my... fudge, right now”; the villains work at "Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems" and seem all to be named John—including John Whorfin, John Parrot, John Bigboote, and John Small Berries; the lead character is a neurosurgeon and a particle physicist and a rock star; the item causing problems is an “oscillation overthruster”; and the actors include Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, and Vincent Schiavelli.

Lines of note:

“This is Chase One. We got his tracks, they go right up to a wall of rock! Holy shit!”

“Laugh-a while you can, monkey-boy!”

“Hey, hey, hey, hey now. Don't be mean. We don't have to be mean. 'Cause, remember, no matter where you go..... there you are.”

“Yeah. Well, last night he kills a guard and breaks out of the Trenton Home for the Criminally Insane. Ten minutes later he cops a Maserati Bora?... Totalled it, a block away.”

“Yeah... yeah. That's me. I've been ionized, but... ah, I'm OK now.”

“Why is there a watermelon there?”

“Use more honey! Find out what she knows!”

“History... is-a made at night! Character... is what you are in the dark!”

“Damn John Whorfin and the horse he rode in on!”

“Sealed with a curse as sharp as a knife... Doomed is-a your soul, and damned is your life!”

“Bigboo-tay! Tay! TAY!!!”

“I'm sure, in the miserable annals of the earth, you will be duly enshrined!”

“We must-a work faster, to finish the Great Vehicle Itself, so we can enter the 8th dimension, and FREE our trapped comrades, so we can return home, and seize power once again!”

“Where are we going? (Planet Ten!) When? (Real Soon!)

“So what. Big deal.”

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