The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Page #15

RAWHIDE:

Look out, Buckaroo!

Rawhide putting himself in the line of fire, suddenly clutching his

lower back...Buckaroo starting toward Rawhide but...

RAWHIDE:

Behind you!

Buckaroo turning as THE SHADOW OF THE ALIEN JOHN O'CONNOR falls on his

back!

...Buckaroo firing his guns, wounding the creature, the disoriented

FIGURE retreating out into the corridor as Buckaroo turns in time to

see Rawhide's assailant dive into a hole in the floor! A hole in the

floor?

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

You okay?

RAWHIDE:

Yeah. Just grazed me. The Professor's under the floor too...with the

Overthruster...

Buckaroo edging toward that strange orifice in the linoleum, going into

it himself...

INT. DOWNSTAIRS CORRIDOR - NIGHT289

As Penny rushes in, her ears picking up weird noises...THE SOUND OF

PEOPLE in the acoustical tiles overhead...Penny trying to follow the

racket down the first-floor hallway...

INT. CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT290

Buckaroo in the dim light of the crawl space, making his way past air-

conditioning ducts toward the sound of someone or something crawling up

ahead...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Professor--!?

PROF. HIKITA'S VOICE

Here, Buckaroo!

SOUNDS IN THE DARKNESS, Buckaroo holding his pistol still at the ready

but useless in these cramped quarters...Buckaroo finding a worklight,

flicking it on...

INT. DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE - NIGHT291

Penny meanwhile following the NOISES AND VOICES OVERHEAD into an empty

office, grabbing a ladder and knocking out a ceiling panel...

PENNY PRIDDY:

Buckaroo! Rawhide! Reno? Anybody?

292

ANOTHER POV...unfortunately someone else is watching Penny from inside

that very office...the wounded John O'Connor sitting in a swivel desk

chair behind the door, oozing blood of a strange color and consistency,

staring ferociously at Penny...MORE CLATTER OVERHEAD...as Penny

elevates herself partially into the hole...

INT. CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT293

PENNY'S POV...Professor Hikita only yards away, on his belly, able to

come no further, unable to wedge himself beneath a large duct...the

arachtoid John Bigbooté closing in behind the professor...Buckaroo

closing in behind Bigbooté.

PROF. HIKITA

Take it, young lady! Grab it!

294

Unseen by John Bigbooté, the OVERTHRUSTER skittering across the crawl

space and into Penny's hands!

INT. DOWNSTAIRS OFFICE - NIGHT295

Penny stepping down off the chair and onto the desk top, her back still

to the wounded John O'Connor as she quickly stuffs the OVERTHRUSTER

into her purse...an action unseen by the ghastly, bleeding thug who...

296

...EXTENDS HIS ARM UP AND ACROSS THE ROOM...HIS HUMAN HAND TIGHTENING

AROUND HER MOUTH...

INT. CRAWL SPACE - NIGHT297

Buckaroo advancing toward the professor...

PROF. HIKITA'S VOICE

Go back, Buckaroo!

The arachtoid John Bigbooté whirling, firing a STINGER that whizzes

past Buckaroo's head, missing by inches...as Buckaroo FIRES

twice...John Bigbooté screaming...kicking at a small fresh air vent,

somehow squeezing his huge body out the tiny opening like a rat.

INT. DRAFTING ROOM - NIGHT298

Buckaroo helping Professor Hikita up out of the floor...Rawhide lying

very still now, surrounded by Reno, Perfect Tommy and New Jersey...

...one look between New Jersey and Buckaroo sufficient to tell us that

Rawhide hasn't got a chance...Buckaroo kneeling beside his old pal,

Rawhide forcing a smile...

RAWHIDE:

You're a welcome sight...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Just 'grazed' you, huh?

New Jersey extracting a strange MANY-PRONGED STINGER from Rawhide's

back. Buckaroo looking at it...Rawhide maintaining a sense of humor...

RAWHIDE:

Apache?

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Arachtoid.

RAWHIDE:

So I was right. That's nice to know...

Across the room, Pinky Carruthers comes in with Casper and Scooter

Lindley, and that black man from Planet 10, John Parker...

PINKY CARRUTHERS

We found the guy, Rawhide, sucker dug a hole and tried to...

Pinky's words catching in his throat as he sees Rawhide's condition.

299

Buckaroo turning, seeing not a 'guy' but A GIANT ARACHTOID standing

there...

300

Rawhide fading fast, Buckaroo lobbing the STINGER to "John Parker"...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Any antidote for these things?

John Parker holding the stinger in his palm...

JOHN PARKER:

No, none.

...as it suddenly comes alive! He drops it to the floor, stomps it to

death...

PERFECT TOMMY:

That mean you're on our side?

RAWHIDE:

(sinking)

We gotta stop 'em, Buckaroo.

Buckaroo turning from the BLACK ARACHTOID to his dying buddy...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

We will, old fried, we will.

RAWHIDE:

Sure do pack a mean wallop...let's go...

BUT RAWHIDE CLOSING HIS EYES FOR THE FINAL TIME, as Buckaroo feels for

a pulse...the look in the great man's eyes saying it all...sadness

mixed with anger...

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

There's another one we owe 'em.

...THE SOUND OF A HELICOPTER STARTING UP...

CASPER LINDLEY:

They're stealing my chopper!

The Cavaliers racing for the window...

RENO:

And they got Penny! Look!

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

Don't shoot!

PROF. HIKITA

She has the Overthruster!

JOHN PARKER:

Then your planet is doomed.

BUCKAROO BANZAI:

No!

(calmer)

We'll get it back.

Buckaroo shoving Perfect Tommy aside, at the window himself now.

301

BUCKAROO'S POV...a fleeting glimpse of THE STOLEN LINDLEY CHOPPER...

INT. WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL - NIGHT302

CLOSE ON the familiar face of the Secretary of Defense seen from an

unusual angle...PULLING BACK TO REVEAL PRESIDENT WIDMARK lying on his

belly, surrounded by the electronics of his temporary set of

government, staring down at a special mirror that reflects his

Secretary of Defense, the Secretary pressing a point further an

igniting a Camel with a lighter from the President's nightstand.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

It's not Buckaroo Banzai per se, Mr. President. It's his men...some of

then foreigners...Asiatics, their names changed, their true backgrounds

shrouded in secrecy! I mean, when you come right up against it, what do

we really know about any of 'em?

A NURSE appears with two little pills...

NURSE:

These'll make you a tenny bit drowsy, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT WIDMARK

That's okay, Bonnie, I won't be operating any heavy machinery today.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

(desperate)

We've never had a weapon like the Jet Car in the past, Mr. President.

Light-weight, highly mobile, stick on some anti-tank missiles, a couple

grenade launchers, hell, we could buy ourselves two hundred Jet Cars

for the price of ten tanks, send 'em swarming all over Ivan like bumble

bees, sir, right clear through their precious little Iron Curtain like

it was Swiss cheese! They gotta be just scared shitless!

PRESIDENT WIDMARK

As are all sane men today.

SECREATRY OF DEFENSE

Hey, and me too. That's why I'm saying until Buckaroo Banzai agrees to

submit his boys to at least a routine government security check, that

Jet Car should be in the hands of Defense, and if they won't sell us

the technology, then Mr. President, by God, sir, we have got to take

it! In the national interest.

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