"I am sure, in the miserable annals of the Earth, you will be duly enshrined."

[snurri]

So I was watching The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou again, because I want to like it more than I do.* And because I saw a mention of how the end credits were Anderson's tribute to Buckaroo Banzai, I was thinking about it going in instead of at the end. It's there throughout the film, really: the fan club and the membership rings, the raid on the hotel, the fetishization of gadgets and boys and their toys. And so of course I had to watch The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai again.

Twice. (I watched the end credits four times. I want that music to play every time I walk anywhere, ever.)

Really, there is no greater movie than this. There are better movies, but not greater ones. John Lithgow gives the performance of his (largely underwhelming) career. Clancy Brown gets his chance to shine as a good guy. Christopher Lloyd, Dan Hedaya and Vincent Schiavelli are a pitch-perfect blend of alien menace and silliness. And I'm sorry, but Ellen Barkin has never been sexier.** It's not just the short hair (although that doesn't hurt). Carl Lumbly and his crazy fingers. Matt Clark's venal Secretary of Defense. Bad eighties guitar solos! Bad eighties hair! Awesome eighties fashions! (Project: Runway oughta do an episode based completely on designing suits for Perfect Tommy. Or, alternately, belts for Reno. The man wears two in every scene, didja ever notice?) Jeff Goldblum: the man is mesmerizing and hilarious. There's a scene where he's delivering some of the whacked-out dialog and you can see Lewis Smith nearly lose it.

Indeed, the primary reason this movie wins is the dialog. This calls for a poll:

[Poll #1156180]

If, by some sad quirk of fate, you have not yet seen this film, consider this your exhortation to witness the awesome. Now I give you footnotes.

*Note to Barb: I liked it better this time, partly for reasons above; but I'm still not connecting to it or to The Darjeeling Limited like I do the first three films. In part I think my issues are class issues, although that's more true of Limited than of Zissou. I think a larger issue may be the one of context. In part it's a geographical context, since in those most recent films there's no familiar American background to set the characters against. But it's also an emotional context, because Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums have secondary/peripheral characters whose emotional reflexes seem to be intact and not numbed or overlain with quirkiness like everyone around them. I'm thinking specifically of Seymour Cassel as Max's father and Ari and Uzi in Tenenbaums. Through them I find it easier to access some of the primary characters; Max's barber shop scenes with his father are really poignant, and the brief exchange between the kids and Gwyneth Paltrow's character in the cemetery is a lovely grace note. Most of the scenes with the kids really work, and they also make Stiller's character work better than it should. It's always him that gets me choked up at the end, when he says, "I've had a rough year, Dad." Anyway, Zissou is a great-looking film, and it has some great moments, but tonally it's erratic, and there isn't a particular character who serves that function for me. Klaus comes closest, probably, and Defoe's performance almost rises out of caricature, but not quite. Cate Blanchett's character might have done it, but there again her emotional reflexes seem magnified and erratic. Ned/Kingsley isn't real enough; he's too much symbol, not enough person. What it comes down to is that--and this may make me a lazy viewer in some ways, but it's true--Steve is too much of an asshole for me to connect with without a way in, and I haven't found it, yet.

**Which does sort of point to one problem with the flick; there's not a lot for the girls to do in it except get rescued and (in the case of Mrs. Johnson) handle the reception area. If they ever get that TV series greenlit, they'll have to do better with the female roles. And good lord why hasn't anyone made this yet?!? If they can get Heroes and Torchwood off the ground, there's no reason not to make it. But it must be set in the eighties, so as to preserve the fashion madness of it.

Comments

[infinitehotel.livejournal.com]

I feel the same way about "The Life Aquatic"; I keep trying to like it (and there are many reasons to do so) but for whatever reason, the various characters don't quite get me there.

As far as Ellen Barkin, I highly recommend The Big EasyM/u>. She gets a little more to do as a crusading district attorney, and she's *really* never been sexier than in that movie.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Her hair's too long in that movie. Just doesn't do it for me.

I may have some kind of a neck fetish.

[ocvictor.livejournal.com]

If I'm honest with myself, I have to admit that "Buckaroo Banzai" is my favorite movie. Ever.

And in the favorite quotes category, you didn't have: "No matter where you go, there you are."

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I left that quote off deliberately. I figured it was kind of stacking the deck. Although "Laugh-a while you can, Monkey Boy!" has a similar quality to it.

It may be my fave, too. I can't express the glee I was feeling as I started watching it. Not many movies do that for me.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_stranger_here/]

Yes on all, except I liked Life Aquatic more than you did, and BB should never be made into a television show. Unless they go back in time and recast the entire movie cast in the show roles. I would, however, like to see the original cast return for the sequel, Buckaroo Banzai vs. the World Crime League.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Apparently all the actors are still under contract for a sequel, including Clancy Brown. Rawhide is not so much dead as "on ice."

[veejane.livejournal.com]

I cannot tell a lie: I did not see Buckaroo Banzai till my mid-20s. ...I made up for lost time after that.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I sort of randomly saw it not long after it came out on video; I was probably fifteen or so. I remember that a friend I saw it with declared it stupid, and I was incredulous that he didn't think it was the greatest thing he had ever seen.

[johnaegard.livejournal.com]

The Royal Tennenbaums was the last Wes Anderson flick I saw. Maybe I am too mainstream in my tastes, but I found it was way too coy and understated to really be engaging. It was like I met it at a party and said "I know you! You're a movie!" and it was like "Maybe."

Gimme Bottle Rockets anytime. That was a riot

I want to pit Tennenbaums vs. The Man Who Wasn't There in an understatedness contest. But how to judge it?

[snurri.livejournal.com]

The Man Who Wasn't There was so understated that I barely recall seeing it, so I think that'd win for me :-)

Anderson does seem to be a love-him-or-hate-him type of director. I love Tenenbaums, myself, but most of the criticisms that are leveled at him, about the muted emotional threads, the over-emphasis on style and soundtrack, etc. have something to them; it's just that for me some of the movies work anyway.

Bottle Rocket, though, hell yes. Part of what's so great there is that you really feel like he's making fun of himself as much as anything.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I, too, really wanted to like Life Aquatic but really didn't at all. I haven't tried watching it again but that's because I feel like in the limited free time I have I don't really want use it on a movie I didn't really like the first time and will maybe like only moderately more a second time. I feel like the characters in Life Aquatic are quirky just for the sake of being quirky without any real meat behind their idiosyncrasies or foibles whereas in Rushmore and Tennenbaums those quirks were either there to hide something deeper inside the characters to protect them from the outside world or else a sign of some deep flaw in that person. I just never really got behind any of the Life Aquatic characters to think much about them. It's a movie that didn't stick with me much past the closing credits. By the way, have you seen the Wes Anderson AmEx commercial that spoofs Day for Night?

As to Buckaroo Bonzai I think we were just talking about that movie (as to it's intended sequel becoming some other film but I can't recall what it was). I really should watch it again because I saw it shortly after it came out in the '80's when it was on video and don't recall much from it at all except that I tend to lump it together with Remo Williams (which was actually a pretty good movie, I thought).

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that commercial is awesome. At least, the full-length version is. I have to admit that sometimes I really enjoy commercials, and not just ones made by great directors. My current fave is one where John McEnroe is waiting in this couple's bedroom when they wake up because he can't wait to tell them about this great new cereal. It cracks me up every time.

I think I was saying that Big Trouble In Little China was originally Buckaroo Banzai Vs. the World Crime League in a much different form, but I'm not finding anything to back that up and I'm not sure where I heard it. W.D. Richter did work on the Big Trouble screenplay, and the head of the World Crime League (and in the backstory, the man who killed Buckaroo's parents and his first wife, and who may have been aided in Lizardo's escape) is a guy named Hanoi Xan, who seemed like he could have been the template that David Lo Pan came from. But now I'm not sure there's any truth to that theory.

[rnb.livejournal.com]

I don't want to Pick a Fight, but this comment doesn't ever get happy.

I loathe Wes Anderson's films. I saw Rushmore and wanted to punch the TV. At the time, I assumed this was because I think Jason Schwartzman is a terrible human being, but The Royal Tenenbaums was even worse and he wasn't in that. I gave up after that, although honestly a small part of me still wants to see Steve Zissou or whatever it's called. I just don't think they're funny or interesting and they come across as snotty for some reason. Maybe there's something wrong with me.

I've also never seen Buckaroo Banzai. It just hasn't come up.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

It's not picking a fight to disagree. Although I STRONGLY disagree :-) I think Anderson has a tendency to be a little twee, and that may be part of what you're reacting against.

You should definitely kick BB up to the head of your Netflix list, though. It's awesome.

[bondgwendabond.livejournal.com]

You and Christopher should have gotten married. He LOVES Buckaroo Bonzai. I seem to always fall asleep (a moral failing for which I feel sad).

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Wait, does that mean you have never seen the entire film? Tell me that's not so.

Christopher is a man of taste. Which explains why he married you and not me.

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

Did you watch all of the BB easter eggs too??

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I've watched them all in the past, but I didn't watch all of them this time. I was too lazy to find them again :-)

[giantsloth.livejournal.com]

Buckaroo Banzai was one of those geek touchstones that I had never seen until a couple years ago. And actually I did fall asleep the first time through, watching it at colonelrowe's. I can see the appeal, but I wasn't feeling it at this advanced age.

I'm divided on Wes Anderson movies. Sometimes the troweled on precious/twee/coy crap suffocates the wistful sense of loss, sometimes it doesn't. I love RUSHMORE, but I can also see how it could drive someone nuts. I hated ROYAL TENENBAUMS. Thought I'd hate LIFE AQUATIC, but I liked it for more than just the busting of caps while "Search and Destroy" played sequence. DARJEELING was pretty but soulless.

I should probably rent BOTTLE ROCKET again.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I dunno, maybe BB is the sort of thing you need to hit when you're at that impressionable age. Like Lovecraft, say.

I haven't seen Bottle Rocket in quite a while myself; I should rent it and see if it slots into my Unified Theory of Anderson or not :-)

[bibliogrrl.livejournal.com]

I totally remember seing this IN THE THEATER when I was what, 8? In Indianapolis. With my elderly aunt. wwho had NO CLUE what was going on. And I LOVED IT.

I was a weird kid.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

That doesn't make you a weird kid. That makes you an EXACTLY RIGHT kid.

[podling]

My roommates and I used to watch it every night. And that was before they remastered it. When it was remastered, oh my gawd, it was like the heavens opened and gave the gift of BB to me. Truly.

And now I feel I should go watch it again.

Oh, and interesting side note, my mom believed for a while that I went to Rutgers just so I could live in New Brunswick.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Every night! Wow, that's commitment. But if you were REALLY obsessed, you would have lived in Grover's Mill and commuted to school :-)

[carnwrite.livejournal.com]

I didn't see BB until last year, and while I found it amusing, I didn't think it was _that_ wonderful. Maybe I'm just getting old?

Agreed on The Life Aquatic, though. BB is definitely the more entertaining of the two.

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Hmph!!!

You need to re-watch it, I think. About twelve hundred times. :-P

[ludickid.livejournal.com]

Pretty much anything that comes out of John Worfin's mouth is my favorite line, from the ones that you cite to "HISTORY ISSA MADE ATTA NIGHT! CHARACTER IS WHATTA YOU ARE INNA DA DARK!" to "Shut up, Bigboote, you coward! You are the weakest individual I ever know!" Fucking Lithgow, he has such a good time with that role.

It's also the best character-actor-crammed movie ever -- Lithgow, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Ronald Lacy, Clancy Brown, Vincent Schiavelli, Carl Lumbly, Dan Hedaya...

[snurri.livejournal.com]

The cast is really mind-boggling. And Lithgow's entire speech in the factory is a highlight. Richter says in the commentary track that he was riffing off of Mussolini for that scene.

Also great are the intercom announcements that show up in multiple settings, but especially in the factory. And the signage, too. "PITT." "NOBODY CUMZ IN HERE."

[barbmg.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to rewatch Royal Tenenbaums for the same reason, but then I picture Ben Stiller and those little boys in the red track suits and put it off again. I will admit my dislike of the movie partly comes from my deep dislike of Stiller and Paltrow.

One of the things I love about Life Aquatic is the alternate reality of exotic settings, cartoon-y sea creatures and outdated technology. (It's true that all of his movies have precious, storybook feel but I think with this one he commited to it more than with the others.)

I don't mind Steve being an asshole but then again I think Max Fischer is a *bigger* asshole, we simply see his motivations are hormones and inexperience. I always felt that Zissou was trying his best to connect but wasn't very good at it. (like after he's pulled a gun on Jane and made her cry: "I was just trying to flirt with you!") Actually I think there's a huge similarity between Max Fischer and Steve Zissou- overachievers who pull everyone along by the power of their personality and vision but when it comes down to it are kinda jerks.

More to say but I should have been out the door a minute a ago. Yikes!

[snurri.livejournal.com]

I think I'd forgotten that your love of Aquatic was paired with a dislike of Tenenbaums. I guess it just goes to show again how divisive these movies are, not just as a group but from film to film; I rewatch Tenenbaums as much as I do Rushmore, maybe even more. We oughta have a Wes Anderson film fest sometime, and watch the crowd shift after every film :-)

I agree that there's a really great sensibility about the look and the "biology" of Aquatic; I like that the film becomes about re-discovering the awesomeness of that. I agree, too, that Max Fischer is an asshole, though I don't agree that he's a bigger asshole than Steve. Max isn't tossing around epithets (except at Buchan) the way Steve is, which is one of the things that makes him so hard for me to like.

[trollpete.livejournal.com]

actually, my very favourite line is:

"John Big-butay, you are a-such a coward!"

(BB flips him off)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

Christopher Lloyd has such an air of indignant exasperation throughout the entire film. It really is beautiful.

[trollpete.livejournal.com]

I think he may be the most talented character actor in history.

[scarypudding.livejournal.com]

I would like to make a write in vote for "Please fasten your seatbelts and extinguish all smoking materials." Or perhaps just for John Lithgow kicking off his shoes and wiggling his toes through the holes in his socks to operate the pedals.

(That aside, "Where are we going?" etc. definitely has my vote. Why hasn't Lithgow ever played Mussolini?)

[snurri.livejournal.com]

If I'd had room for twenty choices I'd have put in the entire airplane riff and half-a-dozen of the intercom announcements. Plus random acting choices like the way Lithgow's posture changes when he offers the tip to the orderly.

Re: Buckaroo Banzai

[(Anonymous)]

In the scene where they are viewing the Yoyodyne "yellow file" showing photo ID's of all the "John's"... is John Parrot John Cleese? It looks like him to me, but I wanted to find others who have seen this recently and might know what I'm talking about here....

Re: Buckaroo Banzai

[markgritter.livejournal.com]

I think it is John Cleese. I was watching this on video-on-demand last night. But this was the only google hit I found for 'buckaroo banzai "john parrot" cleese'.

(Hi, snurri! We've met IRL, I think.)