It was inspired in no small part by the old Doc Savage comics of the ‘30s. Their tale of the neurosurgeon/two-fisted physicist/adventurer/rock ‘n’ roll star had all the above elements and much, much more. Richter (who’d written the screenplay for the 1978 INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) left nothing to chance. In the case of THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI ACROSS THE 8 TH DIMENSION, screenwriter Mac Rauch (who’d previously written Scorsese’s NEW YORK, NEW YORK) and novice director W.D. And sometimes you had to wait for home video before that word of mouth really started to spread. Sometimes it worked (REPO MAN, RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD), sometimes it didn’t (TAPEHEADS ), sometimes it did for a bit but then sputtered away (LIQUID SKY, CAFÉ FLESH). But tapping into the zeitgeist ain’t always that simple. The formula was an easy one: take some off-beat characters, put them in a whacky plot (often with a science fiction or conspiratorial angle), give them a few immediately quotable lines and lots of unique, colorfully detailed set designs, film the whole thing in a fresh and energetic style, add a really cool soundtrack and bingo: you got yourself the next ROCKY HORROR or EL TOPO. Hit it right, make the next PINK FLAMINGOES and not only would the film live forever, but it could lead to much bigger things. There was money and status in that midnight movie circuit. A number of directors in the mid-80s set out quite consciously and deliberately to make the next big cult hit.
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