Jack Burton and Buckaroo Banzai are two of my childhood Saturday afternoon scifi movie heroes. The two movies bookended Back to the Future in 1985 with Peter Weller bringing Buckaroo to life for us in 1984 and Kurt Russell gracing us with Jack Burton’s presence in 1986.
Jack Burton was a simple American Truck Driver thrown into the interdimensional evil oriental war based on ancient knowledge and sorcery. Jack has an innate ability to utilize weaponry and, of course, is fighting to get the girl at the end. Remember, it’s all in the reflexes.
Jack’s true value was his ability to say just the right thing. Here’s some more classic Jack Burton.
Before RDJ became Chuck’s hero there was Buckaroo Banzai. The man was a rock star, engineer, race car driver (in fact he drives a rocket truck through a mountain), and fights off aliens from the 8th dimension. Here’s a well-under rendered jet car trailer from a 2001 DVD release of Buckaroo Banzai.
But Buckaroo Banzai himself? the man was unstoppable.
Today, the two will square off in a GWC Deathmatch. Who will you choose, Buckaroo or Burton?
