---

This content was originally collated and submitted to Warner Brothers by BBI Mojo, who created and produced the special features for the Buckaroo Banzai Special Edition DVD. All of the DVD material was written by W.D. Richter and Earl Mac Rauch. All of the DVD menus and bios were also written by Earl Mac Rauch. You can purchase the Buckaroo Banzai DVD or the Buckaroo Banzai Blu-ray on Amazon.

Buckaroo Banzai Commentary transcript

This is a transcript of the Buckaroo Banzai commentary from the DVD. You can also see the questions that were prepared for W.D. Richter and Earl Mach Rauch before the commentary was recorded.


MGM HOME VIDEO
STORY SLUG: ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI
PRODUCER: UNKNOWN
INTERVIEWER: UNKNOWN
INTERVIEWEES: RENO MEMPHIS, W.D. RICHTER
TAPES: (1 THROUGH 2) 2
DATE: JULY 23, 2001
TRANSCRIPT DATE: July 24, 2001
BARS: 02:00:00

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI
JULY 23, 2001 UNKNOWN
2 TAPES - 30 PAGES

TAPE: 1.......................................................B-ROLL: NO...................................................................PAGE: 1
01:00:02 THROUGH 01:52:23....................................................Interview Date: July 23, 2001
INTERVIEWEES: Reno Memphis & W.D. Richter

TAPE: 2.......................................................B-ROLL: NO.................................................................PAGE: 18
02:00:00 THROUGH 02:50:02....................................................Interview Date: July 23, 2001
INTERVIEWEES: Reno Memphis & W.D. Richter


TAPE: 1

01:00:02 W.D. RICHTER
Um, my name is W.D. Richter, um, I'm sitting here today getting ready to look at the movie, for the first time in probably five or six years. Because I was selected, uh, in 1983 by the Banzai Institute to, uh, direct the documentary, the docu-drama we call it, based on the, uh, Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai. Uh, I'm not here alone, I have with me from the Banzai Institute, Reno Of Memphis, who, uh, penned the novelization, which really wasn't a novelization, it as a novel that existed before the movie but was withheld from me until after the film.

01:00:38 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Uh, Reno, I don't know if you want to say anything about why you're here, but there you are.

01:00:43 RENO MEMPHIS
I'm hanging with, uh, Rick this morning and, uh, just got into town, uh, last night. And, uh, I'm bringing, you know, um, uh, word from Buck Buckaroo that, um, he's really, uh, looking forward to the new DVD and, um, he, he's happy about it, you know, the man is happy. I saw, I saw him yesterday and he was really, really thrilled.

01:01:09 W.D. RICHTER
This is, this would became necessary, because we just didn't think we could get the movie off on the right foot if we didn't have something concise that just pinned him, at least as much as you can pin Buckaroo.

01:01:22 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, so much, I mean, so much where do you, where do you begin, though?

01:01:28 W.D. RICHTER
The first day of photography, that's where you begin, and you're scared. Even the title, uh, is problematic. Uh, The Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai was, uh, was forced on us by the studio. It was going to be Buckaroo Banzai, uh, but they said, well that's just too strange a combination of words, we have to, uh, do something else and stick some words on the top and on the bottom. And, uh, yeah, you fight the big battles to win, you know, with the little ones go and everyone calls it Buckaroo Banzai.

01:02:07 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Here come the memories, you know, uh, this is the, uh, the Block House. See that big slit was designed for Jordan Cronenweth to just give us a shaft of hot white light, uh, that people could move in and out of and then Fred Koenekamp, a really nice man, but a different kind of cinematographer has lighted the inside here and you're not really even aware that, that hot window it's there to, uh, sort of set the stage. Uh, and here comes the, the jet car. Now, that's, that's a real thing there you're looking at. It's built by Thrust Racing and Jerry Segal and those are real jet engines. Those aren't digital effects, we didn't have them. When they fired, they fired.

01:02:45 RENO MEMPHIS
This my boy, Pepe.

01:02:47 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, there you're looking at the fictional Reno Of Memphis, sitting there talking to Perfect Tommy, Lewis Smith. Oh, here's the famous, uh, under lit, uh, really neat looking operating room scene. That's a real neurosurgeon right there, just sort of playing an anesthesiologist so that he could, uh, tell us this, he's a friend of Buckaroo's and he, you know, he's there for a reason, we didn't, we didn't have any sloppy technical stuff. You'll hear reference to a curved yasargil, or a straight yasargil, that's the real thing.

01:03:33 RENO MEMPHIS
That's the first laugh in the movie, Buckaroo's only laughing about that.

01:03:37 W.D. RICHTER
He like, he likes that?

01:03:37 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, he, uh, likes that line.

01:03:40 W.D. RICHTER
(laugh) Yeah that's, that's great.

01:03:46 W.D. RICHTER
Here's, here's a wonderful actor, uh, bringing Rawhide to life, even if Rawhide is nothing like that, you know, Reno would know more than I but, uh, that's Clancy Brown. And, uh, he's just, he's the heart and soul of this Hong Kong Cavalier group.

01:04:14 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
See, that's, uh, we have wonderful actors here, they got into the spirit of it and came aboard really enthusiastically. Uh, they're almost, uh, first choices across the board. And, you know, you can't do it without people like that, just like Buckaroo can't. So, there's some analogy you could draw here to Team Banzai, in the real world and Team Banzai, making this movie. Uh, uh, I needed all these people to pull this off. You know, we pretty much got our first choices in, in one incredible week. Uh, we were ready to say that if Lithgow said, no to to, uh, play Lizardo we'd go to Chris Lloyd.

01:04:47 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Uh, who would have done a wonderful job, too, but Lithgow said, yes. So, we pretty much filled the roster with people we, uh, heard would satisfy the Institute and certainly satisfied us because I, this is, uh, just a great collection.

01:05:54 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Now, you're looking at the Oscillation Overthruster and, uh, I've been asked to, to sort of explain what the science of that is. I can't in my own words, so I'm going to read from the novel here. Um, that the, the, uh, so, this is actually directly from the book. 100 yards away, members of the Banzai Team filled the tank of the unusual looking asymmetrical car with extremely flammable jet fuel, while others, almost unnoticed, loaded aboard three special liquid helium doers for super cooling the magnetic components of the jet car.

01:06:27 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
These superconducting magnets were essential for the operation of the Oscillation Overthruster. The book goes on to say that the Oscillation Overthruster is a miniature colliding beam accelerator. Which created intermediate vector bosons from the annihilation of electrons and their antimatter counterpart, the positrons. That puts it as well as I could ever, myself.

01:06:46 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) No, and then obviously we cannot give away every nuance of the, the technology but that's the basic, um, it's the basic movie, uh, gibberish, you know.

01:06:58 W.D. RICHTER
Oh, that's nice to know, thank you. You know, uh, this was, uh, a tricky movie to shoot. You, nobody ever has enough time and enough money to do it, but we truly didn't because, uh, well, it was made independently. We were sort of out there on a shoestring, dealing with a lot of special effects and vehicles and a large cast. And, uh, the very, I think the second day of photography we're out in the desert. And it was wickedly hot and, uh, the studio was on our back for, uh, script changes that we'd made during rehearsal that were really inconsequential.

01:07:33 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
So, the whole process was exhausting. That's why I didn't direct another film for many, many years and why I haven't directed one since then. I'm, I find it harder sometimes than I think it's worth. Uh, we didn't, I don't know how many days we shot. Uh, I forget that stuff almost immediately because, uh, you're just so happy to be out of it, even though you like what you did, your memory of it is, uh, I don't know how we did it.

01:07:58 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Every shot has to be planned in a thing like this. Um, initially we had a much more elaborate storyboard
sequence because Mac Rauch wrote a sequence that, uh, involved the jet cars having to do battle with, uh, other vehicles. Ironically, very much, like, the, uh, foundation imaging trailer you saw when the aliens were chasing it. But it just was impossible for us to shoot it. So, we stripped it clean, storyboarded it this way. You, you have to work very closely with all these people, especially if you're directing this kind of stuff for the first time.

01:08:24 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
So, some of, actually some of the stuff is sort of, uh, going to be a mystery to me until I see this, the effects coming in. Uh, now here's Professor Hikita and Perfect Tommy, he really is this, the design genius of the Jet Car. Uh, Professor Hikita is the fellow who you saw in the home movie opening sequence, who saved Buckaroo as a little boy. And they are right now, throwing that Oscillation Overthruster into operation.

01:08:49 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping), I mean, there's still nobody in the world that can do this.

01:08:53 W.D. RICHTER
There's nobody that.

01:08:53 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) That's 20 years and there's still nobody that can go through solid matter, yet.

01:08:57 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah.

01:08:58 RENO MEMPHIS
Except one man.

01:08:58 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, one man. Uh, I have actually, uh, the rock that Buckaroo brought out of this mountain from the Eighth Dimension. And, uh, I, I, I'll show it, uh, to you when, uh, I guess, I'm going to do an on-camera interview at some point. Uh, uh, it was given to me, I was led to believe by Buckaroo, but it was handed through so many different channels. Uh, but I've looked at it, it is the prop, I don't know if it's the real thing because I don't know where the prop came from. It was just on the set one day.

01:10:41 W.D. RICHTER
Uh, the interior of the vehicle is definitely on a, on a sound stage to control the smoke. And, uh, stuntmen falling off of the Jet Car and, you know, here you come back to Peter.

01:11:10 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
This is really the first time you see him without a helmet, without a surgical bubble around his head. It's kind of his introduction, Peter Weller's introduction.

01:11:20 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, he's, he's a good looking guy.

01:11:23 W.D. RICHTER
Does he look anything like Buckaroo Banzai?

01:11:26 RENO MEMPHIS
Uh, uh, well, uh, around the, the, the hair, the hair is, you know, some similar, you know. And it was, I wouldn't say he looked, you know, in the eyes . . .

01:11:36 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah.

01:11:37 RENO MEMPHIS
Buckaroo's got eyes that, uh, you know, emerald, emerald strange eyes.

01:11:57 W.D. RICHTER
We talked about a variety of people, we wanted a relative unknown to the audience because we wanted to have them meet Buckaroo Banzai rather than an actor. Uh, you know, brought a little baggage with him and, uh, my wife and I went into New York and met him and, uh, had a drink with him, and liked what we saw and told Buckaroo he wanted to do it, and word came back that he could. Now, here, here we are with Dr. Emilio Lizardo, uh, inhabited by Lord John Whorfin, uh, Lithgow did an amazing job.

01:12:28 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
I have no idea whatsoever where he got all this stuff but, uh, he got an Italian voice coach on the lot, turned out to be a tailor who, uh, had a wonderful Italian accent and John had him fit him for some wardrobes in the past and said, I'm getting my accent I'll, I'll unveil it when I have it. Uh, there's a lot of stuff going on in this scene, uh, lot of wonderful little props. There's a chart on the wall to your left, now, uh, Lizardo could see it if he looked straight up. It's sort of a hierarchical, uh, description of his men on this planet.

01:12:57 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Uh, you know, you look somewhere else every time in these scenes because we had everybody on the set, and I mean everybody, uh, throwing ideas out. Like, there's a Last Supper there on the wall. Um, I guess that's a reference to Lizardo's Catholicism. Because, uh, awful lot of Catholics.

01:13:13 RENO MEMPHIS
Look like Lectroids in the picture.

01:13:15 W.D. RICHTER
Uh, in the, in the last supper.

01:13:17 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah.

01:13:19 W.D. RICHTER
Jesus.

01:13:21 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah.

01:13:22 W.D. RICHTER
Well, now we're sliding back to the past, 1930 something I think although, you know, uh, sort of
futuristic Frankenstein-like. I think actually some of those props are in Frankenstein, we, we got them out of, uh, storage and Mike Riva, a really, really great production designer just slammed everything together to, uh, make this happen. That is a real beam of light out there because when Hikita ducks under it, it's there on the set. Uh, you, you if you look at some of the, uh, there, there you go.

01:13:53 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Probably his mother.

01:13:53 RENO MEMPHIS
Um hmm.

01:13:56 W.D. RICHTER
Or maybe it's a classical painting, I can't remember those little things I, uh, uh, I but the set was packed with wonderful details. This is an industrial facility somewhere in Los Angeles, that had been, um, shutdown. It was a big, empty void when we took it over for a short period of time, filled it up with this stuff. Way in the background, uh, futurisms, some huge canvases with, um, kind of Italian. The language is English, but it feels like that European futurism. Just details that I say, oh if I could get it better on the screen wouldn't it be great. But you can't get everything.

01:14:42 RENO MEMPHIS
Now this, this is happening when, this is 19, uh, the 30s, right?

01:14:47 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah (clears throat) I think it was in 1938, with the Orson Wells, War Of The Worlds hoax was perpetrated. And, um, this moment, uh, it must, it must predate it slightly because Lizardo himself, uh, is only Lizardo himself is infested, or infected or whatever the term would be with Lord John Whorfin, who's come out of the Eighth Dimension because Lizardo got half in and half out and Whorfin was in there and it kind of inter-dimensional prison.

01:15:11 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
It's after this that Lizardo, uh, was able to figure out how to free his cohorts and that was the big exodus that would have been noticed by people in the area, if they hadn't all come under the mass delusion that, uh, they were imagining an invasion from outer space from Mars because of the Orson Wells radio program. So, uh, you know, there is talk that, uh, Whorfin coerced Orson Wells into doing that at that moment.

01:15:45 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, it's all before my time. I come aboard, like, in, uh, never mind.

01:16:02 W.D. RICHTER
Uh, uh, getting, uh, getting Peter Weller, you know, was, uh, symptomatic of the way the movie was cast,
because he was our first choice, he said, yes, as did Lithgow, so, uh, was a happy beginning.

01:17:35 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
This is the other side of Buckaroo this, this odd little bar band, a world-famous guy who might well be able to pack theaters, just sort of slips in and out of, uh, clubs. And, uh, you know, sometimes people know he's going to be there, sometimes they don't. And, uh, I know what you mean, uh, Reno, uh, about his being every man because, uh, look people appreciate him but they don't claw at him, they don't treat him like an idol. He's just gonna play some good music. Uh, we, we tried to get that part of it and, uh, surround him with real musicians as well as actors.

01:18:07 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
You're seeing Billy, Billy Vera up there, Billy And the Beaters, two of his guys . . .

01:18:10 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, I know Billy, Billy's good.

01:18:12 W.D. RICHTER
(laugh) Billy's great.

01:18:17 RENO MEMPHIS
I watch Billy a lot.

01:18:23 W.D. RICHTER
Peter is playing the guitar and Peter's playing the little pocket trumpet, but there's no rehearsal time, there's no way they can become a group. Just because it wasn't a band, I mean, there was no way these guys could sound like a band, they were just, uh, look Clancy's playing the piano.

01:18:41 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, this is the one question, um, um, uh, Buckaroo's asked me, he says, uh, you know, Peter, uh, Peter can sing, you know, but how come, uh, you know, in this scene Peter, uh, he's sitting down at the, at the piano and he starts to sing and it's, uh, he's not, uh, and I'm thinking the, the reason I'm not, I'm not the movie maker but I'm asking you, I mean, is the reason that Peter's vocal it's a little bit off is he's thinking, he's thinking hard about, you know, what's happening?

01:19:12 W.D. RICHTER
What do you mean off?

01:19:12 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, in, in it's I'll show you in.

01:19:14 W.D. RICHTER
Okay. Well, we get there in minute.

01:19:16 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah.

01:19:17 W.D. RICHTER
This is, uh, this is the introduction of a very important person in Buckaroo's life, uh, Penny Priddy, the thread.

01:19:25 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, yeah, it's all the emotion it's happening in this, in this moment. And I think it throws, it throws a Buckaroo a little bit when he, when he sits down.

01:19:35 W.D. RICHTER
Again, uh, a really fine actress, Ellen Barkin who's able to get a wonderful blend of humor and, and kind of sweet tragedy into this.

01:19:41 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, she's hot.

01:19:45 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, she is hot and, uh, so is her pink dress. See that when she stands up.

01:20:03 W.D. RICHTER
I had, uh, gotten, uh, Jordan Cronenweth, to photograph this film and it's the guy who shot Blade Runner. I thought that was a pretty wonderful fellow to have by your side. He was, uh, you know, instrumental in giving us this look if you can hold in your head the image of the blockhouse and sort of transpose that kind of lighting into this scene you wouldn't have half of what we have here. At one point when she takes a swig of that, this incredible string of spittle came out of her mouth and the thing is back lighted and, and you can't do that with, uh, front light.

01:20:37 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
There are, uh, florescent fixtures lying on the floor in places that just give kicks of blue and yellow. Uh, I feel real sneaky the way this movie is, was going to be lighted.

01:21:00 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Yeah. I'm not going to say anything about that line, it's just, it needs to be just, uh, floating out there as far as I'm concerned.

01:21:04 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) I was gonna have to ask, I was gonna have to ask about that line. Yeah, this is what I'm talking
about here, when, uh, you know, the man's got a pretty good, a pretty good voice.

01:21:18 W.D. RICHTER
Oh, uh . . .

01:21:19 RENO MEMPHIS
But I, I think right now, he's so over, overwhelmed, you know, with, uh, the emotion.

01:21:24 W.D. RICHTER
Well, I don't want to burst your bubble or give away ooh, there went the spittle. Well, again, Cronenweth light here. Watch what, uh, Reno's talking about.

01:21:36 RENO MEMPHIS
I mean, he's, he's not, like, sliding with the note, you know, he's, it's not his usual.

01:21:39 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Yeah . . .

01:21:40 RENO MEMPHIS
. . . I heard him sing, sing better, you know . . .

01:21:44 W.D. RICHTER
. . . Yeah. Well, you, you heard him when we were, uh, rehearsing this stuff in, in a less threatening
environment. I mean, Peter, as much as he's a performer, doesn't normally perform live and you've got, uh, an audience there and, uh, some of it's looped, I'll just say it, what the heck. But it's not looped with another actor, it's Peter Weller's voice. We went into a, uh, recording studio and got him to do it a few times, so we're getting the best of Peter. But what you're picking up on, uh, is a slight out of sync, uh, I guess I'd have to say.

01:22:37 W.D. RICHTER
I think this scene gets closer to, uh, that nervous edge that I imagine, uh, the real events had.

01:22:44 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) It feels, it has a real good feel to it.

01:23:19 W.D. RICHTER
You know, this is a tricky thing, uh, you, I don't even fully understand it myself, exactly. Because you could say all the other Lectroids take over human bodies, he was deranged, he was deranged because he's the only Lectroid who basically took over a human body. Uh, but they don't take over powerful figures. Uh, I have to assume they just took over average sort of aerospace workers. Whereas Lord Whorfin has got himself inside the mind of a first-class physicist, who was probably a wildly eccentric character himself.

01:23:44 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
You saw him, uh, charge at that wall in the, in the '38 sequence, and they're at war. Uh, I think you're seeing kind of a personality created by two strong individuals, uh, so that, uh, it's not quite like Dr. Strangelove, you know. Uh, but there's something happening underneath this that makes it ludicrous and scary at the same time.

01:24:04 RENO MEMPHIS
Because, uh, in the history book, I mean, the man was, uh, like, uh, a Einstein, and, uh, the man was so valuable I guess, the allied war effort had to put him away. I mean, he, he the man knows too much, you know.

01:24:15 W.D. RICHTER
You, you're talking about Emilio Lizardo?

01:24:16 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, the man was, like, uh, up there with Einstein.

01:24:19 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah.

01:24:21 RENO MEMPHIS
Um. And his future, you know, was, was limit, was limitless but, uh, if the accident had not happened.

01:24:29 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah. Now, we're in the bus. Uh, this is Buckaroo's touring bus. But it's also his sort of rolling, uh, you know, kind of, uh, I would, I guess you'd call it a nerve center. These guys are at home on this bus, like, they're at home, uh, at the Institute itself. It's got a, uh, we're in Buckaroo's room now. And I, I, you know, studied the, whatever information we've been given about the way Buckaroo lives, it seems like this is kind of close. Feel free to, uh, contradict that, Reno, if you want to. I don't know.

01:25:01 RENO MEMPHIS
No, I'm, I'm not here to I'm here to enjoy, um, I'm not going to pick it apart, I mean, I like it and it's, uh, it's a good piece of entertainment.

01:25:32 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, the Institute has, uh, vehicles in various parts of the country so, if you need to, uh, to, uh, you know, use whatever it's, it's there, you know.

01:25:43 W.D. RICHTER
Uh, you, you gotta, you get a feeling there's a fleet out there and I don't know if I'm seeing the same bus, here, here we are this is World Watch One. I don't know that the bus has a name, I was never told it had. But it was made real clear to us that, uh, World Watch One, was a, uh, was a key part of the bus and then we put some energy into designing it correctly.

01:26:08 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
We shot this movie, uh, out of sequence, obviously there was certainly not the luxury to do it chronologically, uh, and you can see there was so many places we have to jump around that, uh, my recollection was that we were, uh, behind schedule every morning I woke up and, uh, somehow got to the end of the day and kept going. Uh, but there's, uh, there's an urgency behind the scenes that doesn't, these actors don't show that, they have a wonderful easy manner.

01:26:37 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Jeff Goldblum's, uh, just nails this character for me. Uh, it's a difficult role, you know, I mean, he's potentially a buffoon but Jeff gives him enough dignity to, uh, to rescue him from the wardrobe that we hung all over him there.

01:27:04 RENO MEMPHIS
The thing with the, with the Goldblum, uh, like, he's, he's, like, every man, you know, like, every man has a fantasy of being a cowboy.

01:27:10 W.D. RICHTER
Well, you know, I just, uh, I just noticed something that Pepe Serna playing you, is wearing two belts. And so are you right now.

01:27:16 RENO MEMPHIS
We got a couple of thing, I talked to Pepe once, you know, and I said, Pepe, you know, you know, we, we have our little, our little chat.

01:27:37 W.D. RICHTER
Penny doesn't know she had a twin sister and she certainly doesn't know that Buckaroo married her. That was Peggy Priddy. Uh, I've always took it that she just liked rock and roll, and she was sitting there down on her luck in a, in a rock and roll club, getting drunk and putting herself out of her misery. When circumstances sort of just overwhelmed her and she encountered her dead sister's husband.

01:27:59 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, some kind of fate, you know, some kind of fate's bringing her.

01:28:01 W.D. RICHTER
Yep. This movie, uh, exists because, uh, David Begelman took a chance on us. Uh, he, he saw a very strange screenplay and a first-time director, and he said, uh, I think you have something special here. Uh, you can actually go make this movie. I thought that he saw the same special thing that I did. I have come to realize he saw much more of a straight-ahead movie, more of just, uh, an action adventure film with some typical heroes in it. That said, uh, some forces in him or out there said, uh, let these guys go, let this story be told.

01:28:45 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
So, uh, David Begelman is a very complicated, was a very complicated man. Uh, he sort of fits in Buckaroo's world in a, in a twisted way.

01:29:02 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Lewis Smith, uh, is a really interesting actor. He, he kind of doesn't want to be an actor, he doesn't act much now, anymore. He runs I think, uh, a motel that his dad left him, not a small one, it's a big one. Uh, I've lost touch with Lewis, but I think he's doing that. He's, uh, dark haired and, uh, we had cast a bunch of guys already when Lewis came in and they were all dark haired. And, uh, my wife was sitting in on some of the casting sessions and just said, would you dye your hair blond?

01:29:31 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And Lewis sort of locked eyes with her and said, sure. And, uh, went for it. By the end of the film, his hair was falling out because it's a wicked thing to strip all that color out and he was a really good sport, he's a wonderful guy.

01:30:05 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Now, we're at the press conference, uh, you know, our conceit here is that, uh, while this is an extraordinarily, there they are with the red glasses, uh, an extraordinarily important moment, um, that, there's just something wacky about Buckaroo's world that he would say, well I'm gonna make this announcement in this hotel, and to get it over with because we're in this area right now. And they said, well, you know, you gotta get out of there, there's a, uh, a motorcycle convention coming in.

01:30:28 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
That's okay with him, he'll get the job done and the motorcycles will be sitting on that same stage in an hour. The guy has a certain, he just lacks a sense of self-importance. Now, that's a Soviet Satellite, that's an actually copy of a Soviet satellite going behind the, uh, Red Lectroid mothership, now. Uh, this design is all based, mostly on undersea life, coral, urchins, things like that. And then, uh, the exteriors extrapolated into this sort of spray foam stuff, going on, on the walls and, uh, kind of a warrior culture, where, uh, rank or even individual taste can be expressed with feathers and, uh, different jackets.

01:31:06 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Uh, they're, they're people in a way. I mean, here we go. I think this is from the Eighth Dimension. And I
think Buckaroo wanted it on the set and, uh, I, I took it when, uh, when it was given to me to say, okay ...

01:31:22 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, you say this actually was this rock actually it's, is the eighth, from the Eighth Dimension, yeah. And a lot of this stuff with the, with the Lectroids you're talking about. That's, that's true.

01:31:31 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah.

01:31:32 RENO MEMPHIS
That's classified stuff.

01:31:44 W.D. RICHTER
Well, I have to take, uh, I have to assume stuff like the following. She is Penny Priddy, she's a Priddy, she is Peggy's twin sister. I think one of the reasons that Buckaroo liked Peggy was she's extraordinarily bright person, as well as a beautiful person. And Penny, who has no self-respect at all is obviously extremely well read. Uh, actually understands what she's read. And it's a classic case of a person with a low self-esteem, Buckaroo already bringing out of her, uh, you know, uh, it's one of his gifts.

01:32:16 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
He finds people down on their luck and sees their strengths and encourages them to, uh, bring those things forward and so that's going on in this scene, independent of all this other stuff. But let me try to explain this red glasses thing. I had a, uh, uh, a fellow on the set who was put there by Begelman to make sure we were behaving, staying on schedule, essentially shooting the script. But when, uh, he, when Begelman saw the red glasses on Buckaroo, he, uh, called me into the office and said, uh, you've used them, took me off the set and said, you've used red glasses on Buckaroo, heroes don't wear red glasses.

01:32:54 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And I said, well, I mean, I'm not gonna debate that with you but don't worry he doesn't wear in the home movie, he wears them only three times. And later on when we put them on the third time, they, this was the case. Where it was put on the third time, even though it's not the third time he's wearing them in the movie, since we shot it out of sequence. Begelman shut the film down and said to me, uh, I literally am, uh, I will cancel this movie if you're going to continue to defy me that way.

01:33:19 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And I said, I haven't, this is the third time. And he said, I told you only twice. Fortunately, Sidney Beckerman who was Begelman's friend was in the room, he's the producer of the movie, and he said, uh, the only time you really came to my aid, he said, David, I was here, you said, three. And Begelman, in one of those rare moments where, uh, a contemporary told him he was wrong, sort of actually was taken aback, uh, admitted he probably had forgotten. And looked at me then and said, I mean three.

01:33:45 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
You put it on him one more time and I'll shut the movie down, and he wasn't kidding.

01:33:55 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
When, when this film first came out, it was presented as, uh, a piece of fiction. Uh, just a pure Hollywood
entertainment. And, uh, I thought that's how it was going to spend its life. I'm, I was kind of surprised when, uh, rumors started circulating that it was a docu-drama that there was a real story behind all this. And, uh, I guess I was, I was initially, uh, frustrated by that because it looks like we, uh, didn't have the book. People have said, why is the book so rich, why is the movie moving on a different level and, um, well, the truth is that we didn't have the book because, um, it's kind of an interesting legal problem.

01:34:39 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
When, uh, when Buckaroo gave us permission to do this, I don't think he ever envisioned Reno's book being published. But, um, it, it came about that in signing a deal to write the script, Mac Rauch had an obligation to write a novelization. When Buckaroo realized that, he knew there was going to be a book out and, uh, for reasons only he understands, he decided it should be Reno's account, rather than Mac Rauch's. And so, he gave, as Mac tells me, uh, he gave Reno permission to slip the book to Mac.

01:35:08 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And there's some, I don't know if it's a hybrid or I don't know if every word is Reno's but, uh, the book is closer to the drama, uh, the docu-drama, than the movie.

01:35:19 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, in the book, you know, you can get into, you know, get into minds and the characters a little more, you know. But I know, I mean, when Rauch was writing the script, I mean, I'm not looking at it every day but, I'm, I'm, you know, occasionally a question come my way and I, I help, you know, try to do, try to answer the question. But, um, you know, and to a certain extent, uh, I think, uh, Buckaroo and I want to, you know, check for accuracy, everything in the movie. This is not about that.

01:35:47 RENO MEMPHIS (continued)
Like, I said, to you, if you wanted to put, um, his imprimatur on the movie he could make 20 movies. But he liked the humor, he liked the kind of what we're trying, you know, you guys were up to, you know, whatever it was you were doing, whatever vibe you were on. Uh, whatever you were tripping on, he liked it, he, he could relate to it, he could love Dr. Strangelove's one of his favorite movies.

01:36:08 W.D. RICHTER
Um hmm.

01:36:09 RENO MEMPHIS
And when he picked up on that kind of quirkiness of it, I think that's what he liked, you know. He, he's just a guy that, uh, is brilliant, you know, he's a brilliant guy. And . . .

01:36:18 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) He's got an inner security that doesn't make him want to micro-manage you, you know. So, he says go do this and he really means go do it. Uh, I think probably I always assumed he was kind of mildly curious . . .

01:36:28 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah . . .

01:36:28 W.D. RICHTER
. . . about what we do. Just, uh . . .

01:36:30 RENO MEMPHIS
Why does he want to go see a movie about what he did? I mean about every little thing that's accurate, I mean, the man did it, you know, once, what's he want to see it again for. He doesn't need hype, he doesn't need to, uh, as I said before, he doesn't need to sell it. He, he just like what, what you guys were putting together and, uh, I think his only disappointment was in fact that when it came out, it was to, uh, a degree by the studio a little bit. And missed, uh, anyways kind of misrepresented what it was.

01:36:54 RENO MEMPHIS (continued)
And people didn't know quite what to expect and but, I mean, he's, he's, you know, over the years he's gotten a lot of, uh, he's had access to some of the fans and, you know, people fan mail. You know, he doesn't get out there to, to sci-fi conventions, but he's seen the web-sites and that stuff gives him a kick, you know . . .

01:37:12 W.D. RICHTER
I think, uh, didn't I, I heard that he actually will jump on those, in those chat rooms and, uh . . .

01:37:15 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah . . .

01:37:15 W.D. RICHTER
. . . banter. The, uh, there's, there's an interesting paradox here. We're saying that Buckaroo is looking to
remain anonymous, be behind the scenes all the time, but somehow there are comic books about him and he appears in rock and roll clubs and he's hardly, uh, anonymous, uh, I mean, I guess, I have to say that if you've been to one of his concerts you kind, like, do know what he looks like. But, uh, that would be a limited number of people because they're not big concerts.

01:37:38 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And, uh, I'm gonna, I have to turn over to Reno, the question of, of how it is to live in that world or that, that tension between nobody knows what I look like and yet, I'm famous.

01:37:51 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, it's, uh, interesting question I, I think he, he doesn't, uh, crave the publicity. Uh, he craves what he does. And along with that, you know, he, a certain amount anyway. A certain amount of notoriety, publicity but he, he's not, you know, the man has so many diverse interests. So much going on with him, that if he sought publicity, it would just detract from so many of the things that he's doing. You know, I mean, he doesn't want to get up there and, and, you know, be bigger than the president, or, you know, speak for the world or go to the United Nations.

01:38:25 RENO MEMPHIS (continued)
I mean, that's, that's a trip he's not on. He's not on that trip. He takes delight however, in, in solving problems. The man's a scientist.

01:38:34 W.D. RICHTER
To you, you're seeing us squirm here trying to answer these questions and I think that's why he stays out of the limelight. It's just possible that he's a little too, uh, complex to bother to try to encapsulate in a paragraph or two.

01:38:44 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) True, that's true, and I think he, he totally actually despises the whole celebrity aspect of the culture.

01:38:55 W.D. RICHTER
You're seeing a Black Lectroid here, uh, one of the good guys. And, uh, they're called Lectroids because, uh, they're primary source of nourishment is electricity. I can't answer whether they call themselves Lectroids or whether, you know, Robin's don't call themselves Robins. That may be a name we've given them but it was the name I was given by the Institute, uh, and it made sense. Uh, it certainly has a little punch, nice two syllable sound.

01:39:22 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Um, one thing that's fascinated the fans sort of kind of a slight, uh, second banana to the watermelon is the famous pink box that John Parker takes out of that crashed Thermopod and, uh, brings to the Institute, and, uh, delivers to Pinky Carruthers, uh, a complete coincidence that, uh, his name is Pinky Carruthers. Uh, what it's supposed to contain is a sweet potato pie. Um, a homemade sweet potato pie that, uh, he could carry through the streets and, uh, if somebody stopped him and said, what's in the pink box, he'd say, sweet potato pie.

01:39:22 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Because it was obviously something that, uh, nobody but Buckaroo and his closest circle should see. I have learned that it's kind of (clears throat) a little icon from the movie and that fans bring pink cake boxes to screenings of the movie. That's fun, I'm glad they do.

01:40:48 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
There are a lot of wonderful props in this movie and, uh, our prop man, Erik, uh, oh god, this is awful, I'll have to get this right. Uh, really contributed so much to the design of the movie. You think that's a production designer's responsibility, but Erik would walk in, Erik, Erik Nelson? I think Erik Nelson would walk in with these contraptions that were maybe slightly referenced in the script and they were gnarly and weird and, uh, they were all really special things. Uh, he has, he created the device that comes up later that, uh, the little document the president reads.

01:41:25 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
A declaration of war, the short form. Uh, that's the kind of spirit this movie was made under, uh, or in. (clears throat) Where, uh, everybody kind of felt pushed, you know, do something in your area that kind of crosses out of your area, like, that's writing. I mean, that's, that's a line. And there it was.

01:41:42 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) yeah, I know. Buckaroo, you know, I, I think, uh, he, he has a funny thing about movies. He likes movies, and his, his whole philosophy is, he likes things that seem improvised because if it seems improvised, it seems real and that is a reflection possibly of, of good writing, you know. Because if it's improvised it looks improvised but actually it's, it's well written, you know.

01:42:05 W.D. RICHTER
Well, it if you have an ear, you, you have to fragment sentences, crack them apart. We talk almost incoherently, if you read a transcript of, uh, oh an inquisition or a courtroom transcript, you, you, you understand what the person's saying, but if you look at the structure of sentence, it's just madness. And that's an interesting way language works and, uh, I felt that in the script. That, uh, Earl Mac Rauch wrote, and I don't know if it came from him or if it came from you Reno or, I mean, you made it up or you just have an incredible and you remember what these guys actually said.

01:43:02 W.D. RICHTER
They’re the secret weapon, you know, the Cavaliers can only do so much. And, uh, they never know, uh, what kind of resources they're going to need when they wind up, uh, in some strange part of the globe or the country. And, uh, the Blue Blaze Irregulars. I don't know how many there are. I don't know if Buckaroo really knows either. It's not something he's, he would sort of obsess about. But man, he's, they've never come up short.

01:43:26 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
You're looking at Jordan Cronenweth light here. Uh, this was the, the sequence that, uh, he had to bring his, uh, cinematographer friends onto, uh, to, I mean, the stuff that didn't, that didn't come out well, it was underexposed is not in it. Uh, so you're seeing stuff that did work. It was very erratic. A reel would be crappy and another reel would be perfect.

01:43:48 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, what's that telling you?

01:43:48 W.D. RICHTER
Well, it's telling me, at the time something I now am starting to sense, uh, wasn't true in the David Begelman alone so hated the way this movie was looking. It was not turning into Raiders Of The Lost Ark. That he kind of didn't want it to finish. And he was finding some way to, uh, I think, uh, say I just shut this movie down the first-time director didn't know what he was doing. It was incoherent and, uh, I can't justify spending all the money on it. But now I guess, I'm starting to think that's not what was going on at all.

01:44:18 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, when he discovers that he can't shut the movie down or he doesn't shut the movie down for it would be so obvious, he'd find smaller ways, you know, like, when they released the movie, then he can, he can extract some kind of a revenge, you know.

01:44:30 W.D. RICHTER
Well, in the form of where he released it, they took these national ads and put them, uh, on I think the World Series, and then released the movie, uh, regionally. It had no, uh, nationwide release and it was shown primarily in Drive In theaters in the south. And he said to me, he says, there's no audience for this movie. When we went to our first preview, uh, I naively thought that everything would be on the up and up and we go to this theater and it's full, the lot is full of school busses, bright yellow school busses.

01:44:57 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And little kids, you know, little three-foot kids are getting out of all these busses with their counselors. I guess it was a camp, actually, camp bus. And he filled the theater with seven-year olds, or eight-year olds. And obviously, some of the stuff appealed to them, but for the most part, they were completely lost. And so, the laughs weren't there, and the experience was, just, I mean, to me it was a stupid experience, but to Begelman it was a case where he could turn to me and I remember he said, they don't like our movie.

01:45:24 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
It was the first time he said, our movie. As if he were sort of throwing an arm around me and saying, we failed together here. But, uh, (laugh)

01:45:31 RENO MEMPHIS
Because I remembered in, in the time that the movie's coming out, I hate to speak over the, the scene here. But, uh, I'm, uh, in India and I, I'm seeing the movie in India and I get home and a lot of people are not seeing the movie in this country. It, it's been hard that hard to find the movie, you know.

01:45:48 W.D. RICHTER
How did we do in India?

01:45:49 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, well people, uh, you know, it was a big smash, it, a lot of people like the movie, anywhere you go in the world today the people that, uh, they want, I mean, everybody wants to see anything about Buckaroo Banzai. But, uh, it was just, you know, poorly handled but the reason why it was poorly handled is another question.

01:46:08 W.D. RICHTER
Uh, you're right about the fan base is, it's totally unpredictable. I lived in Gloster, Massachusetts for a while and had a septic system in my front yard. And these guys came to pump it out, a big septic truck comes, the hose goes in, and we're standing around. I was looking into the hole because I'd never seen a septic system and one of the guys said, so you wrote Buckaroo Banzai? I said, no, no I didn't write it, a friend of mine did, I directed it. And they said, well, we call ourselves Team Banzai back at the, uh, septic office.

01:46:34 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
So, uh, I won't forget that moment, I don't know what it means, but it was kind of rewarding.

01:46:53 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
The questions asked a lot, uh, about what nerve does this touch in, in this many, many different kinds of people who call themselves, you know, Blue Blaze Irregulars or the fans of Buckaroo Banzai, uh, I just look back at the whole thing and say, it' says something about, uh, people working together, uh, finding a kind of a rhythm in their lives that, uh, allows them to help each other and bring the best out of each other.

01:47:17 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And I think secretly that's what we'd all like to walk into every morning, whether we're going to an office or a movie studio or a car dealership or a septic pumping company. You just want to walk in and feel like everybody's your buddy and everybody's working as a team to, you know, have a good time and get the job done. And that's what Buckaroo stands for, there's no bitterness or anger or prejudice or anything like that in the man. And it's encouraging to me that people are getting psyched about that.

01:47:40 RENO MEMPHIS
Man, I've seen so many wonderful stories, people show up at the Institute. A guy might be a plumber, uh, outside. But all his life, he's wanted to be part of the, you know, Buckaroo Banzai team, or he's wanted to make music or be a painter or whatever. And, you know, it changes lives. I've seen so many lives changed, and I've seen the world change. Um, the thing is with them, with the Buckaroo Institute, it tells you can be whatever you want to be. I mean, obviously, I'm not from Memphis, Tennessee, you can tell by my accent, I'm not from Memphis.

01:48:12 RENO MEMPHIS (continued)
I mean, uh, I'd like to be from Memphis, but that's why I chose my name, Reno Memphis, you know. But you can become something more than you are. And I think if you put your heart and soul into it, you can change the world.

01:49:27 W.D. RICHTER
Now, we're into an interesting area here, why all the Johns? Uh, I had, had assumed that it was sort of, like, mister. Uh, just coincidentally was a sound that we were comfortable with and also that, uh, since the Lectroids realized it was one of the most common names, uh, in America, they somewhat naively assumed nobody would, would look, uh, well, I guess nobody did notice that, uh, everybody there was named John until the, until Buckaroo and the Cavaliers got involved.

01:49:55 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And they just, uh, and then the last names. Uh, you know, I don't know what to say about them. They, some of them are absurd, others are so straight forward, uh, is that a reflection of the Lectroids misunderstanding what was funny to the American ear or is it Mac Rauch or is it, uh, you Reno playing with us?

01:50:09 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping), uh, yeah, no this isn't, uh, uh, had nothing to do with me. Uh, I, I . . .

01:50:14 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Then it's Rauch?

01:50:15 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) I think it's more, uh, Mac Rauch because, uh, (laugh), you know, a lot of screenwriters gotta invent, they gotta do what they gotta do.

01:50:19 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Yeah, he has, he has, uh, uh, a hyper lively imagination and, uh, you know, (laugh) you just do Mac's stuff. Uh, because it's good.

01:50:38 W.D. RICHTER
Mac had come to, uh, Los Angeles to try to be a screenwriter because I stumbled across a book he'd written while he was in college and it, it was called Arkansas Adios and it was a wonderful piece of writing and I tracked him down through his publisher and he wasn't doing anything that, uh, particularly satisfied him in Texas. And I lured him to California with, uh, the promise of riches and, uh, he showed up one day, and early on in our relationship, just told me and my wife Susan one night over dinner, that he had a story about a guy named Buckaroo Bandy, and he, he wanted to kind of write it.

01:51:11 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And told us a little bit about, he did not say it was based on a real person. And we said, uh, sounded like a serial. You know, it felt kind of goofy and funny and, uh, we gave him a little bit of money and said, because we had a fledgling production company at that time. And said, go ahead write it, and Mac would go away and come back with 30 pages, come back with 20 pages, we would make comments, he'd revise it by throwing out all the pages and coming in with 40 new ones.

01:51:37 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And character names began to appear, come and go and one day, Buckaroo Bandy turned into Buckaroo Banzai. And he said, something, like, oh, it's probably stupid idea, and we said, don't you dare throw that name out. And the guy never, ever I think he set us up. I think he knew that we would be seduced by that name and he attempted to take it away from us, and we wouldn't let him. So, uh . . .

01:51:56 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, I gotta backtrack a little on that. I think that, uh, I'm, I'm knowing old Mac Rauch since early on in the he wants to do Buckaroo Banzai. And I said, you know, who are you to do Buckaroo Banzai? And so he says, well, I know Rick and, you know, I like to talk about it. I said, well you can't use the name Buckaroo Banzai.

01:52:20 W.D. RICHTER
But you're saying at some point Buckaroo was okay with, uh, Mac using the real name?

01:52:23 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, he used his real name, uh, the, the question he, he Buckaroo wants to see the movie, wants to see the script. He wants to know that it's, you know, it's not going to make him, you know, look foolish or something.

[end of tape: 01:52:23]

TAPE: 2

[bars and tone: 02:00:00]

02:00:05 W.D. RICHTER
There you have Chris Lloyd wearing his Lectroid make-up and Vincent Schiavelli and Dan Hedaya there on the left. Uh, a dangerous collection of actors. This Lectroid make-up, um, evolved, uh, oh, gosh, over at least a six or seven-month period, uh, based on conversations with Mike Riva about, again, uh, sea life. Uh, they're based on lobsters. And that little spine that runs from the nose over the top of the heads, an inverted lobster tail. And we then did a lot of, uh, fooling around with war paint and ultimately stripped the war paint away but left feathers and other, you know, idiosyncratic, uh, dress on these guys so they could express themselves.

02:00:53 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Watch Lewis Smith, in the middle there, during this, he almost loses it, laugh. It's a tiny moment, but that's an actor falling out of character in the face of Goldblum and those lines. We're now inside a house, uh, designed by, uh, Cedric Gibbons, the, uh, famous production designer from the thirties and forties, I think. It was his home, and it was, kind of cutting edge modern for the time, and was our second choice after the Gamble House in Pasadena, which was all wood and warmer, two extremes. And I think Buckaroo's at home in either one of those things.

02:01:41 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
There's some great stuff scribbled on that plexiglass board, Minkowski space, a lot of (stammers) relevant concepts. Uh, that all play into the notion of manipulating space. This is Rosalind Cash, a really nice actress who, unfortunately, passed away. She's standing there in a dress designed by Aggie Rodgers, the costume designer, that weighed like a suit of armor, it is metal. And she could barely move in it. Uh, designed to kick light off and to make it sort of, uh, have a weight of its own. I think Aggie, it was overkill, but it was great overkill.

02:02:21 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And here's an Erik Nelson touch, these masks cut out of bubble wrap. Um, they're somehow right. They're just, you don't need to, to go any further. Because whatever they really had, what they were really looking through, is completely beyond us. I have no idea what kind of glass this came from, Planet 10, in that box.

02:02:54 RENO MEMPHIS
You know, I, I neglected to tell you something at the wrap party. There were a couple of us at the wrap party.

02:02:59 W.D. RICHTER
Get out of here.

02:03:01 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) No, I'm totally, totally serious. And, I'm dancing with Rosalind at the wrap party.

02:03:06 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Oh, man.

02:03:06 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah. She never knew.

02:03:09 W.D. RICHTER
Did she know?

02:03:10 RENO MEMPHIS
She never knew.

02:03:12 W.D. RICHTER
She never knew, oh, I see.

02:03:18 RENO MEMPHIS
A sweet lady. She was a sexy lady, too, she did a lot of, a lot of good film.

02:03:25 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah. And there's lots, a lot going on on this, um, in this scene on this shot. She basically stood in a revolving light so that there would be that action on her face, but the lights turning in front of you are put in after an awful lot of early special effects, um, manipulating this, uh, and obviously there. Points of simultaneity.

02:03:55 RENO MEMPHIS
You know, this man's a jazz singer (unintelligible)

02:03:58 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Yeah. (laugh)

02:03:59 RENO MEMPHIS
A pretty good jazz singer.

02:04:01 W.D. RICHTER
Yep. Um, (stammers) a question people ask, uh, all right, so you've got Red Lectroids and Black lectroids, well, you don't have red Indians, you have just some kind of red alien, why do you have such a specific Black Lectroid? Um, uh, I don't really have a fast answer for that, uh, maybe, it's factual, I think, Reno?

02:04:22 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, I think in a movie you gotta make some shorthand, you gotta have recognizable, you know, characteristics for these people, the people, creatures, whatever you want to call them. On their own world, um, you know, they can tell each other, you don't need colors. You know, they know who each other are. Uh, it's, it's a shorthand for the movies, you know, for the movies, people can say, okay, that's one side, there's another side, they wear uniforms, it's like a uniform, you know.

02:04:46 W.D. RICHTER
We, uh, don't have left in the movie, um, the complexity of this relationship you're seeing right now. Um, I can't say that it, it was complexity about their interpersonal relationship but much more about who Hanoi Xan was and how he had affected Penny's life because, uh, (stammers) the rumor is that Hanoi Xan killed her sister, trying to kill Buckaroo, and he certainly killed Buckaroo's mother and father, so these two people who, uh, are clearly attracted to each other, other sexually are, uh, or they share a very twisted destiny . . .

02:05:23 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah.

02:05:24 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) the same evil force has screwed up both of their lives.

02:05:26 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, it ain't no rumor, either.

02:05:28 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) It isn't?

02:05:29 RENO MEMPHIS
Xan killed, killed Peggy and he killed Penny. And then, it's gonna be in the next book, coming along.

02:05:38 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Oh my God.

02:05:40 RENO MEMPHIS
He killed Penny in a terrible way.

02:05:43 W.D. RICHTER
Oh.

02:05:44 RENO MEMPHIS
I mean, I could tell you, I mean, I don't want to, he, he strangled her with her own hair.

02:05:47 W.D. RICHTER
Personally, he personally killed her?

02:05:51 RENO MEMPHIS
Yes.

02:05:52 W.D. RICHTER
I didn’t think he did that sort of stuff.

02:05:54 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) At the Church of the Dead in, in Czechoslovakia. A church there made of human skulls. And, now I could tell you a story, but, I'll save it for later.

02:07:26 RENO MEMPHIS (continued)
Another thing about Xan. I mean, Xan can appear as different things, oh, here's the watermelon.

02:07:31 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah. Hanoi Xan could be that watermelon. The watermelon, from my point of view, is there because we had, uh, just decided to take a confrontational posture in the face of the David Begelman who, who really felt that, uh, that we were out of control and at some point, we speculated, stopped even looking at our dailies because he had stopped riding hard on us, and we thought there's one way to find out if we're right about that, we'll just take a scene that has no reference to a watermelon, stick a watermelon in a vice that was, uh, in the factory we were using, I'd seen some watermelons being sold on the street as we were, uh, driving by, on the way to the set, and, uh, Mike Riva went and got them and we did this.

02:08:09 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And (stammers) that just confirmed it for us. They'd given up on us and we then could take any kind of risks we wanted as long as we stayed on budget and on schedule, they had just sort of said, you know, we'll get 'em when they try to release this sucker.

02:10:09 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Carl Lumbly here playing John Parker, uh, just another wonderful actor who, uh, gave us little nuanced physical movements that, uh, the way Parker runs, the way his head twitches, the way his hands bend, uh, just a gift from an actor.

02:10:30 RENO MEMPHIS
A lot of people, uh, you know, the story of Rawhide, you know, um, you can't get into it in, in the movie here, but, you know, Rawhide, he's still with us, you know. I mean, he's not himself, but he's still, you know . . .

02:10:47 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) I had, I had heard that.

02:10:48 RENO MEMPHIS
They're waiting for the moment, you know.

02:10:50 W.D. RICHTER
You mean, maybe a, a medical breakthrough?

02:10:54 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, yeah, he's, he's on ice, but, you know, he'll be back.

02:10:58 W.D. RICHTER
Oh, that's a neat thought. People have asked about this, um, I'm just gonna say what it is. The President had a, a really wicked rectal operation and, uh, that is the way he had to recover, um, this is a real medical device. This is not something that was built for this, the movie. Um, and, uh, you know, I find it fascinating. You know, it, it looks like something out of Buckaroo's world because Buckaroo's world walks that line between, you know . . .

02:11:31 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, I think that's one of our inventions I think.

02:11:32 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Now, here's an interesting actor. Yakov Smirnoff just rolled that television set and he's in this movie because Mac Rauch said to me, I saw this real funny Russian comedian, we ought to use him in the movie, that's enough, why, I could use him. Where do we use him? Now, Yakov had a minor movie career after this but, I don't know if you can tell, the guy couldn't get three lines out straight without blowing his lines. He's a really funny, sweet guy, but when he got in front of the camera, he froze. And so, uh, I think he says a lot less than he was supposed to say.

02:11:58 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
We also have totally looped, uh, Ron Lacey, the, uh, actor playing the President because Begelman said, I can't understand him. Well, Ron was doing, uh, Citizen Kane here, I think you can kind of see Orson Wells hanging upside down there. And, uh, I was forced, you know, to have him looped, and if I didn't, they would. So I, I stuck around to make sure I could get it, you know, as good as could be. But, it's not Ron's performance, it was really neat. Oh, Matt Clark is playing the Secretary of Defense here. Uh, a (stammers) more than a character actor, but an actor who has had a wonderful career, all over the movies and, again, uh, our first choice for that role and, and he's, and he's walking a fine line there between, uh, being ludicrous and being the Secretary of State, or Defense, excuse me.

02:12:55 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
There are the glasses. I think if you go back and count, they are three times in the movie. Uh, there's a rumor going around that, uh, it's not a rectal operation that's put the President in that contraption, that he was spineless. Uh, I think that's just unfounded, uh, you know, the guy had a medical problem, he confronted it, and he's getting over it.

02:13:40 RENO MEMPHIS
No, he was shot in the ass, maybe.

02:13:41 W.D. RICHTER
Oh. Notice the rear-view mirrors. Now that does not come as standard equipment on that contraption, that's Erik Nelson again.

02:13:50 RENO MEMPHIS
Erik's a mad man.

02:13:51 W.D. RICHTER
He really is (laugh) disguised as a property master. Now, here we're in, uh, I think, Firestone Tire and Rubber. Uh, we shot most of the Yoyodyne scenes in that building. It was freshly closed down, gone out of business, so we were handed an awful lot of wonderful, uh, set dressing. And we just made the most of it. It was a pretty decrepit place. It looked like, uh, just a horrible place to work. You know, John Lithgow's stuff was, I don't want to say shot in chronological order, but, uh, kind of close together.

02:15:13 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And so, he just sort of unleashed this character on the set and, it was entertainment, for about two weeks straight. I, I remember not being able to direct him because I was just trying to laugh, trying not to laugh. Uh, if you've never seen this and you're standing there and it's happening right in front of you, it's an amazing thing.

02:15:37 RENO MEMPHIS
He's a big guy too. Oh, 6-6, 6-5.

02:15:41 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) He's gigantic. And the hair throws another couple inches on him. You know, everybody in this movie is pushing the character into slight caricature and, um, Lithgow is obviously out there farther than anybody else. But I think he fits into the movie, I think he's not just sort of like a, a beacon of, of, uh, you know, scene chewing performance. I really feel that he fits into this, but he had to be larger than life, so, we let him go. And, maybe he could have been pulled back, but I don't think there'd be much point to it.

02:16:27 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, kind of, in a sense, I mean, Buckaroo’s gotta be like a straight guy.

02:16:31 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Good point.

02:16:31 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) And everything going on.

02:17:38 W.D. RICHTER
People have wondered about the, uh, Panavision format that we used here in this film and said, well, you're just going for a, a large big movie effect. I don't recall whether that decision was something that was forced on me by the marketing department saying, you know, you've got an action adventure film here, we have to be able to throw it wide across the screen. I find it a difficult format to compose for and, um, certainly, looking down the road, the immediate future was, it was gonna be on a videocassette and it wasn't gonna have that format, and, uh, it's kind of unnerving what's not in, what's not in that first VHS tape.

02:18:19 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Now you see Fred Koenekamp starting to light better. We, we got him to come around to see what we were doing, and that scene, if you take a look at that again, you'll see it feels a little like Cronenweth's, uh, influence.

02:18:40 RENO MEMPHIS
I was a little disappointed in that, you know, my character, I mean, Pepe as Reno, wasn't, he didn't quite have enough lines. I, I talked to Rauch and I said, how come, you know, Reno's kind of, 'cause in reality, I mean, he's, he's a much more outgoing guy, you know.

02:18:57 W.D. RICHTER
Well, you ought to know.

02:18:58 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, that's okay, man. It's a movie, I mean.

02:19:10 W.D. RICHTER
Well, there's some interesting stuff here. Uh, Ellen doesn't like certain kinds of guys to touch her, but she loves spiders to crawl all over her and, uh, the thing you just saw was more unnerving to her than, uh, the scene with the spiders. Because it was just too much slimy water and, and hands upon her. And she looked forward to having the spiders crawl all over her. Now, we're coming to another Erik Nelson bit right here.

02:21:11 RENO MEMPHIS
I love his speech, he's great.

02:21:13 W.D. RICHTER
This is based a little bit on Mussolini and, uh, it's Lithgow's idea to do that. It's fantastic interpretation. These little moves he made were sort of sprung on us and, I'm standing down here laughing, uh, just thrilled to be getting this. It's scripted but, um, you can't write, you know, and you'll tuck your chin in and, you know, and purse your lips and spin your eyes around. That just is handed to you. But I think that the writing encourages that. I think the context gives the actor a sense of direction and, um, good ones really go with it.

02:22:23 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Now, the shock tower, uh, that's really not the name of it, um, I had to come up with some name and I was, uh, in a BMW dealership having my old BMW worked on and we were in pre-production and, uh, I was in the waiting room, reading a magazine and the guy came out and delivered the verdict and he said, you need a new shock tower. And, I thought, aha, that's what we'll call that thing. Because we didn't have names for everything. We weren't told what, you know, what anybody called anything, it's just strange science.

02:23:16 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Look at this styrofoam cup spinning around there.

02:23:18 RENO MEMPHIS
Um.

02:23:18 W.D. RICHTER
Mike Riva. I saw a book on the table and, like, I can't read the title, but I'm sure it was carefully chosen. Men of Earth, I believe it is. This helicopter was the only one we had and it's doing double duty. It's the one that Casper, uh, Lindley flew to save Buckaroo, and now the Secretary of Defense is coming down in it. I think that's, uh, that's the budget, pushing us around.

02:23:57 RENO MEMPHIS
Who the hell are the Rug Suckers?

02:24:00 W.D. RICHTER
Well, uh, a lot happens while you're making a movie and we were driving around looking at locations and a van roared by us and it was a carpet (stammers) cleaning and they called themselves the Rug Suckers and we thought, well, that wasn't in that one either, so, paint that on the van and bring them in.

02:24:40 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Well, you know, it's interesting question, uh, people ask, well, if these guys got out, if these Lectroids got out of the Eighth Dimension in 1938, uh, how did they spend their days. Well, they basically built, um, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems which is a major supplier to the government of, uh, weaponry. And, they are able to use the facility, uh, behind closed doors when they're building a bomb or for the government, they're siphoning off some money in a typical cost overrun to try to perfect an (stammers) Oscillation Overthruster. Because what they want to do, is get back into the Eighth Dimension and come out the other side of it and land on Planet 10.

02:25:15 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
The journey from Earth to Planet 10 is just something they can't fathom, trying to, uh, accomplish. There's an interesting signage scattered all around here. Uh, it says an excited, growing company. Um, just look in the corners, you'll see funny stuff. So the Lectroids basically have, uh, kind of ineptly put in 40 or 50 years trying to perfect this Overthruster which is why, when Banzai himself goes through solid matter and Lizardo's sitting there in the mad house and he sees that somebody has an Oscillation Overthruster that will allow him to get into the Eighth Dimension and out again, uh, he breaks out and the movie's off and running, because that's really how it started.

02:25:52 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
If, if Banzai had not figured out how to do that, then I don't think Lizardo would have escaped.

02:25:59 RENO MEMPHIS
A couple years ago, Thomas Pynchon, you know, the writer was, someone asked him, uh, well, like, someone, the movie took Yoyodyne from one of your books, and Pynchon says, now I think I got it back. What good is Yoyodyne, you know, he took Yoyodyne, he took the name from the, the corporation. It doesn't matter, you know.

02:26:22 W.D. RICHTER
I love this set. I believe it completely, even standing in it. It didn't feel like it was, uh, put together by a production designer. But look around, there's a pair of socks hanging there.

02:26:35 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) And it's hard, hard to believe that Riva is, like, son of Marlene Dietrich.

02:26:41 W.D. RICHTER
He's a grandson.

02:26:41 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Grandson.

02:26:42 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Grandson, yeah.

02:26:43 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) That's right.

02:26:44 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Yeah, he is. His mom is Marlene Dietrich's, uh, daughter and Mike, is her grandchild.

02:26:49 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, obviously her grandson.

02:26:52 W.D. RICHTER
And Mike found this. He found it in a novelty shop and brought it to the set and, um, it just seems right.

02:27:19 RENO MEMPHIS
I mean, they live like pigs, I mean, they're filthy.

02:27:22 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, look at this. This is like, uh, a lounge or something. Apparently, uh, uh, I was told this bit about the fire, that they always had them burning, but it wasn't clear to me whether they needed the heat or whether they just took comfort from the flames, you know. Or, it's just symbolic, I don't know what it is. Just, did it because I had it on good word that that's what it looked like.

02:27:40 RENO MEMPHIS
(overlapping) Yeah, it reminds him of home.

02:27:41 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Yeah.

02:28:18 RENO MEMPHIS
There's one of my few lines in the movie there. Pepe's a cool, Pepe's a cool, cool fellow.

02:28:26 W.D. RICHTER
(overlapping) Now you're making me feel real guilty, but Rauch is not here to take the heat because I shot his script, so, you know, notice the piles of yellow, I don't know, pigment? On the ground.

02:29:58 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
This light here, and I think that's Fred Koenekamp, you know, picking up on Jordan's style, is what I wish there was more of. Because I think he, he used light to tell a story. You, you, it creates mystery and it illuminates when somebody steps into it. And when I see the flat lighted scenes, I, I think you're not seeing the scene that we staged. Um, and I really wouldn't let that happen now, because, uh, it, it's tying a director's hands behind his back. Here's an interesting moment. Now that's a dubbed line, because Buckaroo initially said I don't know when asked where are we going?

02:30:31 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Well actually I think it's when he said where are we? But whatever, the moment has been changed because Begelman said, again, I will not let you have a hero who's indecisive when asked a direct question in a situation that has any jeopardy, he has an answer. So, there was a, just a general sense of don't let any idiosyncratic humanity sneak into this thing, just crank it out. We, we actually won more battles than we lost. Uh, part of, part of that ship is, is a matte painting. Uh, but something fairly large was hanging there. I think the bottom half of it was hanging there, with all the tentacles. And it did go down that track. But not the whole contraption.

02:31:24 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
There's a lot of use of loudness and softness in this sequence. You know, when we suck the sound out of that corridor of plastic, the secretary of defense walked through, it came right after some really raucous stuff.

02:31:43 RENO MEMPHIS
See, it's clear here that there's a connection between the defense industry, and Secretary of Defense, because these guys did a lot of defense work.

02:31:51 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, he really thought they were building a trenching bomber. Uh, and they were so close to, you know, with that new overthruster they're breaking out that they just basically, shamelessly put the big contraption right in the main hangar facility, and he just saw it. The people have said, um, what the heck would happen if this scene ran on for another two minutes. Um, I, I think it has something to do with eyeballs. But, uh, again, I'm kept half in the dark, and I just say, you know, you got enough to shoot, shoot.

02:33:40 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
One, one of the problems that I had to grapple with in this was the Lectroid's, uh, ability to use what's called electronic brain washing to make people see them as human beings rather than what you're looking at right now. Um, there is a concept here that, that's, that's in play in this scene, and that the Lizardo is walking around as himself, because Whorfin's using his body. These Lectroids on the left side and the right side have only alien bodies. I know
I said a little earlier, I share everybody's confusion on this point, that they inhabited ordinary human beings and that's why they didn't have to have this kind of inner war going on.

02:34:14 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
But I think the truth is closer to the fact that they, they walk around always in their alien, uh, bodies, and have the ability, electronically, to make people see them as they want them to see them. And, uh, we had to go with a, a kind of careful dance there to say that there would be moments when we would use the Lectroid masks to say they've dropped their guard. They're not trying to hide from the movie audience, they're trying to hide from, uh, any earthlings. And in that scene, there were no earthlings. Uh, in this scene it's a surprise to them that the earthlings are in there.

02:34:43 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And they're sort of caught with their pants down and their, um, Lectroid heads on. And I suppose they could brainwash Buckaroo, but certain things you just, you would drive the audience nuts throwing human faces in and out of here, so the concede is, right now, they're Lectroids, the jig is up, they're clearly going somewhere, and boxing gloves, look at the boxing gloves on that Lectroid. And their plaid pants and polka dot shirts. We found a book about, uh, ordinary Russians. An amazing collection of photographs of, uh, Russian everyday wear. And, uh, I guess it was probably from the '60s or, probably the '70s. And their outfits are based on strange collections of plaids and polka dots, and mismatched patterns.

02:35:33 RENO MEMPHIS
It brings back memories.

02:35:36 W.D. RICHTER
Probably different ones for you.

02:35:37 RENO MEMPHIS
Little, little bit.

02:35:40 W.D. RICHTER
This is a great contraption Mike Reva found. I'm not sure, it's just like a big metal iris. And, um, it's all used stuff, none of this has been built for the movie. See Whorfin's little tribute to himself, or whoever would fly that would have to look at him while they're flying.

02:35:59 RENO MEMPHIS
It looks like a tree house. No, I think people heard about a movie, about Buckaroo Banzai, and they're thinking Indiana Jones James Bond, and he's, he's the, he's the king, he's the king of action. He, and, uh, Begelman also probably thinking, oh Buckaroo Banzai, I'm gonna make a, you know, a billion dollars because he's, like, the most action guy there is. Um, but what turned Buckaroo on to this particular project I think was the irony, and there was the comedy, sort of like to make, uh, Buckaroo laugh, you know. So, he, he was comfortable with that. He didn't care, you know. He, he's got enough, uh, you know, he gets, he gets enough stroking, he doesn't need a movie to paint him as a action hero, you know. This is some of that, but it's also about, you know, sensibility and he, he liked the movie, he liked the movie a lot.

02:36:58 W.D. RICHTER
Well I, I think the general public just shied away from it. Uh, and that was very disappointing to us because we initially weren't even aware that there was a big fan base building of people who were really, really, uh, moved by it. I don't know what the right word is. So, a lot of disappointment, and a lot of a sense of, uh, you know, we tried something that was a little too, too strange and we failed. But every year it got more interesting when the fan base kind of coalesced and they started newsletters, and, and then the (stammers) Internet really let everything loose.

02:37:29 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And, and (stammers) I'm thrilled to have made this movie because it, it's really obvious it made a lot of people happy. That, that really means a lot to me.

02:37:39 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, you know, I mean, you, I know you don't want to talk about it, but he's, he's communicated with you, you know.

02:37:46 W.D. RICHTER
Not in person.

02:37:48 RENO MEMPHIS
Well but, you know. I'm telling you, I'm telling you.

02:37:49 W.D. RICHTER
Oh, in ways I don't even know?

02:37:51 RENO MEMPHIS
Well, I'm telling you that he likes the movie, and, you know, your gonna talk to him.

02:37:56 W.D. RICHTER
I'm not challenging, I believe he does.

02:37:59 RENO MEMPHIS
He's really happy, I mean, he was upset with the way it was handled, the movie, the release the movie. But like you, I mean, like a lot of people. But as far as the, the film is very, very happy with it.

02:38:12 W.D. RICHTER
I'd say about those outfits those Lectroids are strapping on. We came on the set one day when, uh, the, the art department was spraying the inside of the mother ship. We saw all that foam on it, and the Thermopod that was on the ground. And they were screwing around, fooling around with the extra foam and spraying it on, uh, crummy wardrobes. And, you know, jackets and things, and hanging them off of ropes, and it just looked wonderful. So, we turned that into the Lectroid sort of, uh, flight suits.

02:39:00 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Dave Begelman, I think was forever disappointed that the film didn't perform the way he thought it would. And he sort of wanted it to become a, a closed chapter in his life. And he didn't want it explored on television, he didn't want anybody interested, doing any kind of sequel, uh, scripts. And it just was controlled by him, and it had, it had to just sit in a drawer. Then through a series of bankruptcies, it worked its way through credit (word?) then Polygram owned it for a while, then Universal. And finally, MGM by buying the libraries acquired Buckaroo Banzai.

02:39:30 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And you're seeing this today because MGM has said, hey, you know, people might want to see this. Let's take it out of the drawer and do something nice and find out. We don't own this movie, so, uh, we have to get permission of the current owner at any time to say, uh, take it to a television production company, you know, like a network, and say do you want to do a pilot? We can't do that without permission of the owner. And Polygram for a brief period of time owned it and said, yeah, try to do stuff with it.

02:40:04 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
It didn't happen fast enough, and Polygram was consumed, or sort of folded into Universal. And Universal didn't do television the way they used to do it. So again, we were in limbo, and then one day MGM got it, and there's hope, as Penny says, you know. Buckaroo gives her hope to carry on, he's, like, Jerry Lewis. So, I guess MGM is our Jerry Lewis. I developed it with him, but Earl Mac Rauch wrote this thing, and, uh, two drafts, two very different drafts. One that's feature length, although we tried not to make it feature length, but it just had too much stuff going on it to stay television size.

02:40:48 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And then that was altered and slimmed down, and, um, could be a television pilot. And, um, it's not over. I don't know what's going to happen exactly, but it's certainly not over.

02:40:56 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, I hope it does, you know, I hope it continues, man, I mean, there's a hundred stories, hundred stories. I'm not sure which one you're thinking about doing, but, uh, you know, I sent over a couple dozen, uh, some of the files, you know.

02:41:11 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, I'm, I'd have a hard time picking the first one. It's not for want of material that you haven't seen sequels.

02:41:18 RENO MEMPHIS
'Cause, I mean, sequels in this, I mean, we're talking about Lizardo, who, basically Lizardo is like a second-rate villain. You know, he, he's cool, but, I mean, he's not Hanoi Xan you know. And, um, what happened then to Lizardo, I mean, that's still to be told.

02:41:37 W.D. RICHTER
You're looking at the best Lectroid make-up here. Tom Burman did this stuff and was able to apply some if it himself on the set early on. And that's what we've got here. But our budget prevented us from taking the time to do that kind of a first-rate job every day. So sometimes it barely looks passable to me, but there was no choice, no time and no money. Long journey there. It's going all the way back to Planet Ten.

02:42:20 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, and they don't know, they don't know that, uh, you know, bits and pieces of Lizardo are staying around. And so there's a second episode of this. The final battle has not yet, yet been fought.

02:42:38 W.D. RICHTER
Yeah, because, you know, Lizardo crash landed in New Jersey. That ship did not explode. And, um, there's been speculation about, uh, where he's been hiding. Uh, and if three or four or five of those other Lectroids survived, whether they're, uh, somehow building a power base again in New Jersey. And we, we dealt for that a bit in the, uh, pilot script. But they, um, they're not gone. You see an explosion, that doesn't mean he perished in it, you know. He's been through a lot of stuff and, uh, he took a hard bounce I bet.

02:43:06 RENO MEMPHIS
I, I don't want to worry the people, I mean, right now 19, what, 2001 he is gone. But in terms of what the movie's saying there's still a ways to go.

02:43:17 W.D. RICHTER
I think you get a little double talk there, I think he's trying to tell you that Lizardo didn't die in the crash.

02:43:21 RENO MEMPHIS
No, he did not die. But I, I don't want to panic the people now thinking, well, still 2001 Lizardo's around someplace. This was a tough scene to watch. For some of us.

02:44:14 W.D. RICHTER
It looks like the end of Buckaroo. He's replaying the alpha moment when he found Peggy dead. Uh, this is the final goodbye. I don't think he understands what's inside him from that encounter with Lectroids. Uh, the good ones are going to reward him here for what he's just done. The gift of life. I assume it's clear to people that the World Crime League is Hanoi Xan's front organization. Um, it appears to be a, uh, it's called WCL, World Capitol Lending or Limited, I'm not quite sure. And it has a public presence.

02:46:13 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
But it's, uh, it's something else entirely.

02:46:16 RENO MEMPHIS
Yeah, I was, uh, driving down the street, and it's a building about ten blocks away from this place. World Crime League, like, front.

02:46:24 W.D. RICHTER
They own a lot of real estate, in a lot of places. Some of it's rented under, you know, just purely for profit. But they're, they have their offices in very unlikely places. Well we, we shot this ending basically because the movie seemed to be over too fast, there was just some rhythm missing. And David Begelman said, well why don't we have a musical number, I'll pay for it. And, uh, it was an extraordinary gesture on his part after all we'd been through. I really don't know what motivated him, and, and, uh, it wasn't a strange, I mean, it was a strange choice to do this, and he endorsed it.

02:46:57 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
And he got us a choreographer, uh, and let us just go full out. You know, there's certain conceits here that this is not the real group, these are the actors, because there's Rawhide walking right in the middle of it. So, you make of that what you will. It's just, there are those belts, Reno.

02:47:14 RENO MEMPHIS
Man's got style, you know.

02:47:17 W.D. RICHTER
He's redundant. I'm, I'm always, I always find myself smiling when I see these people and read those names of everybody else behind the scenes. Because, except for the trouble given us by the studio, this was an incredible experience. Even though we didn't, you know, ever relax, you don't get these shots many times. And read these titles carefully. Richard Carter, Rick Carter is now a really, really prominent production designer. Uh, there's Erik Nelson our property master. Um, Bruce McBroom a wonderful still photographer. Really talented people. Michael Evje, production mixer, a funny guy, a really good, it was a happy set, you know, really, really happy.

02:48:20 RENO MEMPHIS
Now that movie had a real nice flavor, you know. Just the flavor of the movie is just, you can't put your finger on one particular part of it. It's just the flavor, it's the world.

02:48:34 W.D. RICHTER
The music is something that, um, you know, uh, has, has its own twisted history. Mike Boddicker did it, created it all in a little studio that he, a little electronic studio he had on Wilshire Boulevard in an unlikely kind of office building. It looked like an insurance company should be in there. And he wrote the score and, um, I had a problem getting, uh, a CD or a, I guess you'd say a tape at that time, or even an LP release. So there really, uh, it doesn't exist, uh, a real soundtrack album for this movie. Primarily because, uh, negotiations with the record companies fell apart.

02:49:09 W.D. RICHTER (continued)
Uh, I think probably when too much money was asked for. So, uh, listen to it when the movie goes by, and I think we're going to have something on this DVD where, uh, you can listen to some of it all by itself.

02:49:23 RENO MEMPHIS
Well we got a couple of tours coming up. And there's always some new Buckaroo stuff out there.
[end of tape: 02:50:02]



The information below is fascinating - a list of potential "smut words" from the commentary and the page numbers (from the original document) of where different topics that were discussed could be found in the transcript.

      "SMUT BOX"

      Some Possible 'Non G-Rated' Words Detected. Others May Also Exist.

      ass........................................................22

      rubber..................................................22

      sexy......................................................19

      suck......................................................26

      A

      Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai.......................1

      See Also Buckaroo, Buckaroo Banzai

      Aggie...................................................18

      See Also Aggie Rodgers

      Aggie Rodgers.........................................18

      See Also Aggie

      America................................................16

      Arkansas Adios.............................................16

      ass......................................................22

      B

      Banzai.............................................24, 27

      See Also Buckaroo Banzai

      Begelman............................11, 15, 21, 26-27

      See Also Dave Begelman, David Begelman

      Billy......................................................6

      See Also Billy And The Beaters, Billy Vera

      Billy And The Beaters..................................6

      See Also Billy

      Billy Vera................................................6

      See Also Billy

      Black Lectroid.........................................13

      See Also Lectroid

      Blade Runner............................................7

      Block House.............................................1

      BMW...................................................23

      Banzai Institute........................................1

      See Also Institute

      Banzai Team............................................2

      Bruce McBroom........................................30

      Buck.................................................1, 22

      See Also Buck Buckaroo

      Buck Buckaroo..........................................1

      See Also Buck, Buckaroo

      Buckaroo........................1-6, 8-19, 21, 24-30

      See Also Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai, Buck Buckaroo, Buckaroo
      Bandy, Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo Institute

      Buckaroo Bandy...................................16-17

      See Also Buckaroo

      Buckaroo Banzai...................................27-28

      See Also Banzai, Buckaroo

      Buckaroo Banzai............................1, 4, 15-17

      See Also Adventures Of Buckaroo Banzai, Buckaroo

      Buckaroo Institute....................................16

      See Also Buckaroo, Institute

      C

      California..............................................16

      Carl Lumbly............................................21

      Casper..................................................24

      Catholics.................................................4

      Cavaliers..........................................14, 16

      CD......................................................30

      Cedric Gibbons.........................................18

      Chris Lloyd.........................................2, 18

      Church.................................................20

      Citizen Kane...........................................21

      Clancy................................................2, 6

      See Also Clancy Brown

      Clancy Brown............................................2

      See Also Clancy

      Crash Thermopod......................................13

      Cronenweth..............................................7

      See Also Jordan Cronenweth

      Czechoslovakia.........................................20

      D

      Dan Hedaya............................................18

      Dan O'Shannon........................................29

      Dave Begelman.........................................28

      See Also Begelman

      David.................................9, 11, 14, 20, 30

      See Also David Begelman

      David Begelman...........................9, 14, 20, 30

      See Also Begelman, David

      Dead....................................................20

      Defense...........................................21, 24

      Dr. Emilio Lizardo......................................4

      See Also Emilio Lizardo, Lizardo

      Dr. Strangelove....................................8, 12

      Drive...................................................14

      DVD.................................................1, 30

      E

      Earl Mac Rauch...................................14, 28

      See Also Mac, Mac Rauch, Rauch

      Earth...................................................24

      Eighth Dimension...........................3, 5, 10, 24

      Einstein..................................................8

      Ellen.................................................6, 23

      See Also Ellen Barkin

      Ellen Barkin.............................................6

      See Also Ellen

      Emilio Lizardo...........................................8

      See Also Dr. Emilio Lizardo, Lizardo

      English...................................................5

      Eric................................................13, 30

      See Also Eric Nelson

      Eric Nelson........................................13, 30

      See Also Eric

      Erik............................................18, 22-23

      See Also Erik Nelson

      Erik Nelson...................................18, 22-23

      See Also Erik

      European.................................................5

      F

      Firestone Tire.........................................22

      FOX......................................................2

      Frankenstein............................................5

      See Also Frankenstein-like

      Frankenstein-like.......................................5

      See Also Frankenstein

      Fred Koenekamp..................................23, 25

      Fred Koenenkamp.......................................1

      G

      Gamble House..........................................18

      Gloster.................................................15

      God.....................................................20

      Goldblum............................................9, 18

      See Also Jeff Goldblum

      Grandson...............................................25

      H

      Hano Shean............................................29

      Hanoi Xan........................................19-20

      See Also Xan

      Hikita................................................3, 5

      See Also Professor Hikita

      Hollywood..............................................11

      Hong Kong Cavalier.....................................2

      I

      India...................................................15

      Indiana James Bond...................................27

      Indians.................................................19

      Institute.................................1-2, 8, 13, 16

      See Also Banzai Institute, Buckaroo Institute

      Internet................................................27

      J

      Jeff Goldblum...........................................9

      See Also Goldblum

      Jerry Lewis............................................28

      See Also Lewis

      Jerry Segal.............................................1

      Jesus....................................................4

      Jet Car..................................................3

      John...................................4, 13, 16, 21-22

      See Also John Lithgow, John Parker, Lord John Whorfin

      John Lithgow..........................................22

      See Also John, Lithgow

      John Parker.......................................13, 21

      See Also John, Parker

      Johns...................................................16

      Jordan.........................................7, 14, 25

      See Also Jordan Cronenweth

      Jordan Cronenweth................................7, 14

      See Also Cronenweth, Jordan

      L

      Last Supper.............................................4

      Lectroid...............................8, 18, 26, 28-29

      See Also Black Lectroid, Red Lectroid

      Lectroids..........8, 10, 13, 16, 19, 24, 26, 28-29

      See Also These Lectroids

      Lewis...........................................1, 10, 28

      See Also Jerry Lewis, Lewis Smit, Lewis Smith, Watch Lewis Smith

      Lewis Smit..........................................1, 10

      See Also Lewis, Lewis Smith, Watch Lewis Smith

      Lewis Smith.............................................1

      See Also Lewis, Lewis Smit, Watch Lewis Smith

      Limited.................................................29

      Lindley.................................................24

      Lithgow...................................2, 4-5, 22-23

      See Also John Lithgow

      Lizardo...................................2, 4-5, 24, 29

      See Also Dr. Emilio Lizardo, Emilio Lizardo, Lizardo's Catholicism

      Lord John Whorfin..................................4-5

      See Also John, Whorfin

      Lord Whorfin...........................................8

      See Also Whorfin

      Los Angeles.........................................5, 16

      M

      Mac...................................3, 11, 16-17, 21

      See Also Earl Mac Rauch, Mac Rauch

      Mac Rauch............................3, 11, 16-17, 21

      See Also Earl Mac Rauch, Mac, Rauch

      Man................................................16, 30

      Marlene Dietrich......................................25

      Mars.....................................................5

      Massachusetts.........................................15

      Matt Clark.............................................21

      Memphis................................................16

      See Also Reno Memphis, Reno Of Memphis

      Men.....................................................24

      MGM...................................................28

      Michael Evje...........................................30

      Mike.........................5, 18, 20, 24-25, 27, 30

      See Also Mike Boddicker, Mike Reva, Mike Riva

      Mike Boddicker........................................30

      See Also Mike

      Mike Reva..............................................27

      See Also Mike

      Mike Riva.................................5, 18, 20, 24

      See Also Mike, Riva

      Minkowski..............................................18

      Mussolini...............................................23

      N

      New Jersey............................................29

      New York................................................4

      O

      Orson Wells........................................5, 21

      Oscillation Overthruster............................2-3

      P

      Panavision..............................................23

      Parker..................................................21

      See Also John Parker

      Pasadena...............................................18

      Peggy......................................9-10, 20, 29

      See Also Peggy Priddy

      Peggy Priddy............................................9

      See Also Peggy, Priddy

      Penny...............................6, 9-10, 19-20, 28

      See Also Penny Priddy

      Penny Priddy........................................6, 10

      See Also Penny, Priddy

      Pepe........................................1, 9, 23, 25

      See Also Pepe Serna

      Pepe Serna..............................................9

      See Also Pepe

      Perfect Tommy.........................................1

      Peter..................................................3-7

      See Also Peter Weller

      Peter Weller......................................4-5, 7

      See Also Peter

      Pynchon.................................................24

      See Also Thomas Pynchon

      Pinky Carruthers......................................13

      Planet.........................................18, 24, 29

      See Also Planet Ten

      Planet Ten.............................................29

      See Also Planet

      Points...................................................19

      Polygram...............................................28

      President...........................................21-22

      Priddy..................................................10

      See Also Peggy Priddy, Penny Priddy

      Professor Hikita........................................3

      See Also Hikita

      R

      Raiders Of The Lost Ark.............................14

      Rauch....................................11, 16, 23, 25

      See Also Earl Mac Rauch, Mac Rauch

      Rawhide........................................2, 21, 30

      Red Lectroid...........................................10

      See Also Lectroid

      Reno........1-2, 5, 7-8, 11, 13-14, 16, 19, 23, 30

      See Also Reno Memphis, Reno Of Memphis

      RENO MEMPHIS......................................16

      Speaking............................................1-30

      See Also Memphis, Reno

      Reno Of Memphis.......................................1

      See Also Memphis, Reno

      Richard Carter........................................30

      Rick............................................1, 17, 30

      See Also Rick Carter

      Rick Carter............................................30

      See Also Rick

      Riva.....................................................25

      See Also Mike Riva

      Robin...................................................13

      Robins..................................................13

      Ron.....................................................21

      See Also Ron Lacey

      Ron Lacey..............................................21

      See Also Ron

      Rosalind................................................18

      See Also Rosalind Cash

      Rosalind Cash..........................................18

      See Also Rosalind

      rubber..................................................22

      Russian............................................21, 26

      Russians................................................26

      S

      Secretary.........................................21, 24

      See Whorfin...........................................27

      See Also Whorfin

      sexy....................................................19

      Xan...............................................19-20

      See Also Hanoi Xan

      Sidney Beckerman.....................................11

      Soviet..................................................10

      See Also Soviet Satellite

      Soviet Satellite........................................10

      See Also Soviet

      State...................................................21

      suck....................................................26

      Susan...................................................16

      T

      Team Banzai........................................2, 15

      Tennessee..............................................16

      Texas..................................................16

      These Lectroids.......................................26

      See Also Lectroids

      Thomas Pynchon........................................24

      See Also Pynchon

      Thrust Racing...........................................1

      Tom Burman...........................................29

      Troningwith............................................23

      True....................................................13

      U

      United Nations........................................13

      Universal...............................................28

      V

      VHS....................................................23

      Vincent Schiavelli......................................18

      W

      W.D. RICHTER.........................................1

      Speaking............................................1-30

      See Also W.D. RICHTER

      War Of The Worlds.....................................5

      Watch Lewis Smith...................................18

      See Also Lewis, Lewis Smit, Lewis Smith

      WCL....................................................29

      Whorfin.............................................5, 26

      See Also Lord John Whorfin, Lord Whorfin, See Whorfin

      Wilshire Boulevard....................................30

      World Capitol Lending.................................29

      World Crime League...................................29

      World Series..........................................14

      World Watch...........................................9

      Y

      Yakov...................................................21

      See Also Yakov Smirnoff

      Yakov Smirnoff........................................21

      See Also Yakov

      Yoyodyne..........................................22, 24

      See Also Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems

      Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems.........................24

      See Also Yoyodyne



---

---

This page was last updated on May 25th, 2020.
Maintained by Sean Murphy [figment@figmentfly.com]