Buckaroo Banzai is a rock-star/brain-surgeon / comic-book-hero/samurai/ etc 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 late wife, and some good extra-dimensional beings who look and talk like they are from Jamaica.

When it came time to film the end titles sequence, where Buckaroo and pals are walking around a dry L.A. aqueduct in step to the music, the music wasn't ready. Composer 'Michael Boddicker' told the film crew to use "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel as a placeholder because it was the exact same tempo. Those scenes were filmed with "Uptown Girl" blaring from a boom box tied to the back of the camera truck.

John Bigboote:
Let's go back up to my office and talk about this like two reasonable beings.

Continuity: John Bigboote's glasses disappear and reappear between shots when he holds Professor Ikeda in a head-lock.