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Buffalo 66

Buffalo 66

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Perhaps the worst movie in ten years
Review: I do not think the producer's mother could sit through this all the way to the end. I managed 65 minutes. I have not seen a movie this bad in over 10 years. The plot is so disjointed and contradictory I assume they made up the dialog while filming. The characters are so absolutely ridiculous that stupidity is their only believable trait. They are ALL very unintelligent, but even that is not done in a believable way. The cameraman tripped while filming. There are numerous blank spots which may be intended as artsy but have no discernable meaning; I think it is just bad editing. Lighting and sound, to say nothing of any other technical aspects, are worse than a home video. If they paid Christini Ricci (which I doubt) to be in this movie that, along with gas for the moving vehicles, and the blank video tape had to be the only production costs. Other reviewers have mentioned Rosanna Arquette's performance, but she is not in the first 2/3 of the movie so I missed it. The other actors seemed to be stopping to think before they said their stilted lines, and what they said generally made little if any sense. The overall story and plot events might be funny in a college improv class. Unfortunately the movie is intended to be taken seriously (I think). The totally illogical events are full of holes and missing exposition (more bad editing) and your chin must actually drop as you attempt to reason why any people anywhere would do these things. My subconscious literally made me forget the movie for over 24 hours after I turned it off, and then like seasickness, it crossed over into my memory. My first thought was to find a website which would allow me to review the movie as warning to others. Be warned!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the best indie films I've ever seen.
Review: This movie is a wonderful work of art completely without pretensions. It is both humorous and somber all at once. As sad as it is to see how uncaring Billy's parents are, it's also rather funny. The bleak Buffalo locale works well in contrast to this movie's subtle humor.

My favorite -- and I thought the funniest -- scene was when Layla and Billy are in the photo booth and he emphasized the importance of "spanning time". This is one of my favorite movie moments! If you've never seen an indie movie before, BUFFALO 66 will make you fan of the genre. Next to SLACKER, this is my favorite indie move and one of the best indie movies of all time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BEAUTIFUL, BRILLIANT, AND BEYOND WORDS :BUFFALLO 66
Review: The only word that can describe this film is "masterpiece." Vincent Gallo wrote, directed starred, and composed the music for this movie.
Gallo and fellow cast members shine in their performances. An honest love story written and performed with such raw emotion one has to be dead not to become involved in the storyline.
No one, who is an honest and bright individual, will question Gallo's brilliance after watching this film.
Billy Brown(Gallo), an innocent prisoner just released from prison, kidnaps Layla (Ricci) in an attempt to impress his evil parents. While watching the movie one will experience the horrible childhood that permanetly victimized Billy and see the one hope of salvation in Layla.
This summary is lacking in describing the impact that this movie will make, but only watching the film can adequately express its intelligence and show how deep the great Gallo really is.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Unique!
Review: Buffalo 66 is one of those rare movies that you can't quite compare to any others. It is the story of a man who just gets out of jail and is eager to see and please his parents so much, that he goes as far as kidnapping a young woman on the way, to pose as his storybook wife, and play the part in what he elaborates is a storybook romance and marriage. This woman, played quite well by Christina Ricci, is completely willing to cooperate, and begins to see things from his point of view once the wheels are totally in motion. Pretending to be the wife of Billy, played just as well by Vincent Gallo, she sees that his parents are disattached, disinterested, and, to put it nicely, lousy. She begins to see why he wanted to impress them so much -- so that he would actually have their attention for once. She does her best at posing as the love of his life, and acting as if he is hers.. but, as the movie goes on, you realize that he just might be. After lying to his parents and telling them that he's in the CIA and was gone for years on business (remember, he just got out of jail), they hit the road and the story continues.

At first, you are bothered, angered, and disgusted by Gallo's character. One of the biggest signs of a good movie is getting you to change such strong opinions towards a character, whether you love them, then hate them, or vice versa (as is the case here). This movie really makes you think and glow with empathy towards those of us who haven't had the greatest of childhoods, and the fact that maybe we really did, compared to the hidden evils of parents and people around us that we've no idea of. Scenes of recollection are beautifully done, but are brief and to the point, so as not to get off track and distract you.

Buffalo 66 makes it's point, but doesn't drill it in. Rather, it lets you absorb it on your own.. and you will.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Make it a good one!
Review: A film that doesn't overexplain-that's not easy to find. Almost all film and stories always tell you exactly what the person is thinking. Stories always have the main characters verbalize how they're feeling about the stuff that's happening to them. The way they verbalize it always seems to be so smart and poignant. This always irritates me. People aren't that smooth. People aren't normally so aware. This film is so powerful because it throws that very traditional and common theory right out the door. Gallo's character of Billy is not the type of person to express what he's feeling in endless monologues about life. He simply yells and awkwardly apologizes. Does he explain what he feels about Ricci's character? He doesn't have to. His willingness to lay on a hotel bed in the most uncomfortable position imaginable (next to her, but not touching) tells her. His character is possibly the most realistic portrayal of a human I have ever seen. I may be dramatic at times, but I sincerely mean this. This film does everything right. The ending is the most hopeful and tender you'll see, but that doesn't mean there isn't enough grit to get you there.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: a must have
Review: Buffalo 66 is a touching creation that moves me every time I watch it. From start to finish it is brilliantly filmed and directed. Vincent Gallo's performance is gripping yet hilarious, and his role as Billy Brown is interesting throughout. I have never seen such a serious movie be so funny. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a story with profound meaning. A low budget film though it may be, the onscreen performances are priceless. Buffalo 66 is one of my favorite movies and definitely the best independent film I have ever seen.....A MUST HAVE!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Vincent Gallo should be a household name
Review: When a friend of mine brought over Buffalo '66 and asked if I had watched it, I thought it sounded familiar but couldn't remember where I had heard of it. From the time the opening preview that was on the VHS ran through, I knew I would fall in love with it. The trailer alone was just incredible!

You can tell that this movie was Gallo's passion. The story is one that no one can say they have lived but everyone can relate to. The chemistry between Ricci and Gallo is akward but perfect, and Ricci's performance is almost too good. You'll want to "span time" with her too.

You find yourself laughing at the parts where you don't know if the scene was supposed to be funny or if you should feel sorry for him. I'm not sure if ANYTHING was "supposed" to be comedic.

Anyway you can't tell someone how good this movie is. They have to see it for themselves. But, I swear, it moves me every time.

P.S.- Don't touch me!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Don't Miss this one!
Review: Not too many people know about this movie, probably because it was an indie film. However, this movie was brilliant and no one should go without seeing this! The story follows the character, Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo), an ex-con. He was jailed for a couple years for betting money that he didn't have, on a football game. Before he went to jail, he told his parents that he was working for the govenment, so they never knew he was arrested. Anyway, on the first day he is released from jail, he temporarily kidnaps a dancer, Layla (Christina Ricci), and presents her to his parents as his wife. Soon, Layla and Billy fall inlove. I, perosnally, thought this film was a masterpiece and very entertaining. I highly reccomend this one!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rent. Watch. Sob. Repeat.
Review: I've gotten used to seeing Gallo depicted as a scumbag. In every movie I've seen in which he was a principal (Palookaville, Arizona Dream), his characters, always executed to perfection, are nonetheless always the oily type, the kind that skulk around outside convenience stores hoping someone will throw away a cigarette pouch with a few smokes left. As I said, always performed to perfection.

This movie presents a different kind of sleazebag. Really a message movie, there are several motifs and themes here: Childhood trauma, debilitating mental illness, low self-esteem, revenge, ostracism, loneliness, et al. With this thematic pedigree, it would be easy to write this off as another Loser-Find-Redemption movie. But, the presentation, and the two stars prevent that.

I said it was essentially a message movie. The most obvious message (and the most fallacious) being that love, when strong and spontaneous enough, can level all bad memories. Billy Brown is a completely unloved, miserable loner until Layla, a beautiful but equally detached young lady, first plays his wife for Billy's indifferent parents, then guides Billy through a brief but harrowing near-breakdown, while Billy blames a field-kicker for his five year imprisonment, shamefully broken-backed with loneliness, desperate for love, desperately sick. Layla finally prevails upon him to tell her his story, and promises her love, unwittingly preventing Billy from murdering his scapegoat.

The message I see can only be understood after you digest the visuals. Billy, for instance, is a very symbol himself, a medley of motifs of Americana. He leaves jail, bound for his hometown of Buffalo (working class city, couldn't be more American) wearing red leather cowboy boots, speaking with a patent New York drawl. When he kidnaps Layla and finds that her car is stick, he launches a harangue about "luxury", projecting an accurate, and thus distorted picture of what American's dream. His mother is obsessed with football, his lounge-singer father patriotically horny. Billy's favorite sport, and only talent is for bowling. All this adds up to a stark value judgement, made even more apparent by the locality: America is a land in which, however "all American" a person seems, however much his dreams of conformity weigh on him, said person is nine times out of ten cast off for doing the very thing American's are best at, and make a taboo of: Showing frailty. Salvation comes only when a frail human tiredly realizes, as Billy does, that the only savior in this world is companionship. More importantly, he learns that the most crippling memories may chip away at, but can never shatter our spirit.

Mental illness seems overwhelming in this film, but one wonders if Billy is truly ill, or simply angry and irrational. To give this effect color, Gallo employs many techniques to give the film a singular feel: Slow motion, montage, still-frame, etc. When Billy is shown towards the end in an alternate destiny, his brains flying out with the bullet, the question of insanity, but also family trauma seems to be answered. Even if Billy were to die, his illness (if he has one) would persist in the parents who raised him to face the world portionless and alone. Layla, herself alone, saves Billy by doing what Billy most wants but also most avoids: She links him by however stringy a lifeline, and brings color to a world in which parents, friends, and love
were wanting.

The scenes that work best (the home scene, the love offerings in the hotel, the still-fame homicide), give great peaks to an always lofty film. A deranged but rewarding trip.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best of the nineties
Review: Vincent Gallo's fingerprints are all over this character driven film. And as he is a fascinating and openly flawed character himself, I would have it no other way. 66 is a quirky film that makes its own rules and moves at its own pace. Some of the shots and editing are so odd that you may wonder if it's true creative merrit of born of necessity. For example, the painfully long close up of Christina Ricci's character as she listens to Billy Brown rant. We beg to cut to Billy Brown but are forced to watch Ricci, for what seems like forever, as she looks into the camera and- listens. Creative choice? If so, very creative. Or did Gallo lack the necessary coverage and just have nothing to cut to. Either way it worked and I loved it. Remember penicillin? Discovered by accident. Buffalo 66 is a modern existential masterpiece, think The Graduate meets Five Easy Pieces, that is all the more impressive when you consider that Gallo wrote, directed, stared in, and scored it. A true Auteur.


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