It's a bit of a split-ticket in this episode as Geeks Jeff and Buddy introduce Geek-in-Training Chad to one of two gloriously awful 80s movies, "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the 8th Dimension!" This film, modeled after the Doc Savage serials of the 1930s, is a low-budget cult classic that only truly found its audience on VHS after it failed at the box office. Directed by W.D. Richter, Written by Earl Mac Rauch, and starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Rosalind Cash, Lewis Smith, Pepe Serna, Billy Vera, and Vincent Schiavelli, this is the story of a man who can do anything, including drive a jetcar through solid matter. What happens afterwards, however, matters more!
Part two of our look at modern road pictures comes 25 years after our first film, and is a completely different type of road picture. 2004's "Sideways" is a "coming-of middle-age" story about Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Haden Church) as they take off for a week of bonding and "guy time" the week before Jack's wedding. But Miles didn't plan for Jack seducing Stephanie (Sandra Oh), nor did he plan to fall for waitress and fellow wine-aficianado Maya (Virginia Madsen). This film is a journey on so many levels, even Buddy doesn't have time to discuss them all! DIrected and written by Alexander Payne, and co-written by Jim Taylor, based on the Rex Pickett novel, if you haven't seen this movie, you're missing out on more than just an education on wine and how to behave at a wine-tasting! As always, at the end of the episode, Buddy, Jeff, and Chad talk about the next two films they'll be reviewing, this time out of the "best of the bad of the 80s" category!
Episode 21 is focusing on modern "road pictures," where the journey (of one type or another) is integral to the story. And we're starting off with a film that is just plain fun no matter how young or old you are - 1979's "The Muppet Movie!" Made shortly after the Muppet Show took off on television, this movie tells the apocryphal story of how the muppets got together in the first place. Oh, and it's a musical to boot, with an Academy Award-nominated song (The Rainbow Connection) and lots of other catchy songs as well! Directed by James Frawley, written by two long-time muppet collaborators Jack Burns and Jarry Juhl, and starring the voices of Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, and Dave Goelz, this is a must-see! The film also features Charles Durning and Austin Pendleton, and has cameos from some of the greats of the time, including Dom DeLuise, James Coburn, Madeline Kahn, Telly Savalas, Paul Williams (who wrote the music as well), Elliott Gould, Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Milton Berle, Steve Martin, Mel Brooks, Bob Hope, Richard Pryor, Cloris Leachman, and Orson Wells himself!
Wrapping up our episode on political thrillers, we talk about the pinnacle of the genre, 1976's "All The President's Men!" Based on the book by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, with a screenplay by William Goldman, and directed by Alan J. Pakula, this movie tells the story of how two junior Washington Post reporters uncovered the greatest government scandal in the history of the United States. The film stars Robert Redford, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Hal Holbrook, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Meredith Baxter Birney, Ned Beatty, Stephen Collins, Penny Fuller, and F. Murray Abraham! And, at the end, the Geeks unveil their weird and unique take on the road picture genre for Episodes 38 and 39!