“The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension” to “Airplane!”
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension (1984) Enormously fun SF film pitting Buckaroo Banzai and his Hong Kong Cavaliers against the nefarious Black Lectroids led by John Worfin. Buckaroo Banzai neurosurgeon, physicist, rocket-car driver, rock band leader, government troubleshooter with his own comic book is my hero. (GS)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) Two gay men (Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce) and a transsexual (Terence Stamp) go on a road trip to a remote Australian town after accepting a gig at a hotel. Its a moving and often very funny story with three-dimensional characters and a lovely bittersweet romance. Great disco soundtrack too. (GS)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) This is nothing like the classic story Robin Hood was a criminal! Made in glorious color, starring Olivia DeHaviland, Alan Hale, Basil Rathbone, Claude Raines and a swashbuckler that trivializes Mr. Depp, Errol Flynn! Big sets, lots of fun, great chemistry and REAL sword fighting. If its ever on a big screen and you can see it with others GO! There are many good reasons some films win awards and others live on forever this is one of them. (KWR)
The African Queen (1951) Katherine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Theodore Bikel, John Huston, Humphrey Bogart, and one heck of a little boat Its a ship! Bogey and Kate, in their only pairing, have unbelievable chemistry. The scenery, guts, humor, and story make this film still work, even with repeated showings on a little television screen. War has begun, he is trying to get himself and her out in one piece, but they are like water and oil at first. We are talking explosive chemistry. (KWR)
Airplane! (1980) When this movie was released I had just moved for the second time in a year and was in desperate need of a laugh… I had no idea what I was in store for. Full of slapstick, sight gags, and double-entendres galore, this was unlike anything that had come for many, many years prior. It gave new life to the careers of Robert Stack and the inimitable Leslie Nielsen. Who amongst us still doesn’t get the giggles when they hear the exchange “Surely, you jest. I told you not to call me Shirley.” Me, I’ve never heard the word pterodactyl in quite the same way again. (SB)
Originally published in Raspberry World – Volume 2, Issue 1 (June/July 2007)