See What the Jet Car Almost Looked Like in BUCKAROO BANZAI Designs by Stephen Dane



Check out Buckaroo Banzai concept designs by Stephen Dane!

Every Friday, I try to feature artwork from a classic of science fiction cinema or television. This week's "Flashback Friday" post is on The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984).

In the movie The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai (theatrically titled The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) the main character (Peter Weller) drives a modified Ford F-350 pickup truck powered by a jet engine and capable of exceeding Mach 1 through a mountain. Stephen Dane was art director on the film and helped design the futuristic car along with production designer Michael Riva and Thrust Racing owners Jerry Segal and George Haddebeck. The Special Edition DVD of Buckaroo Banzai had some schematics but some of Dane's original drawings were sold recently. They show a slightly different look for the iconic car.

Stephen Dane is a professional art director and set designer who's worked on classic movies like Blade Runner (1982), Ghostbusters (1984) and Brainstorm (1983).

Click on the images to enlarge.

Here's what the car looked in the film



Here are the drawings for the car. Notice that the air scoops on the hood are missing from the final car design.










Click on the links if you want to see more of Stephen Dane's work or Buckaroo Banzai artwork on my blog.

Some images via mauvais-genres.com and hollywoodlostandfound.net

What do you think of the concept art? If you've seen Buckaroo Banzai what do you think of the Jet Car?

Official The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension Summary
"Buckaroo Banzai is a rock-star/brain-surgeon/comic-book-hero/samurai who along with his group, the Hong Kong Cavaliers, must stop evil creatures from the 8th dimension (all named John) who are trying to conquer our dimension. He is helped by Penny Pretty, who is a dead ringer for his ex-wife, and some good extra-dimensional beings who look and talk like Jamaicans."
Directed by W. D. Richter
Cinematography by Fred J. Koenekamp and Jordan Cronenweth
Production Design by J. Michael Riva
Starring Peter Weller, John Lithgow, Ellen Barkin, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Lloyd, Lewis Smith, Rosalind Cash, Robert Ito, Pepe Serna, Ronald Lacey, Matt Clark, Clancy Brown, William Traylor, Carl Lumbly, Vincent Schiavelli, Dan Hedaya, Mariclare Costello, Bill Henderson, Damon Hines, Billy Vera
Release Dates: August 15, 1984
Official Site: http://www.buckaroobanzai-themovie.com/
© Copyright 1984 Sherwood Productions, 20th Century Fox. All rights reserved

Comments

  1. Maurice MitchellMarch 14, 2015 at 9:47 AM

    Though I always love the high quality art, I think I like the version that made it to the movie. Have a good weekend, Maurice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maurice MitchellMarch 16, 2015 at 6:19 PM

    The Buckaroo Banzai movie is unfamiliar to me but I do like how the Ford F-350 car turned out in the final pictures, based on Stephen Dane's drawings. His work on this film sorta looks like the kinda blueprints that an architect or construction company working on a commercial building would use.


    They're very machine-like and I can understand how that works for the type of tricked out truck needed for Buckaroo but outside of that, I'm with Cheryl on this one. The final product looks great. Still, it's always nice to see how these things came to be from concept to completion. Thanks for sharing :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Maurice MitchellMarch 17, 2015 at 7:14 AM

    "Laugha while you can, Monkeyboy!" - Cult classic from my high school days... Thank you!

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