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Summary: Buffalo 66
Review: Buffalo 66 is an amazing depiction of one man's franticaly depressing and bizzar life. This movie takes you through a life you are glad not to have in a poetic and raw maner. You meet the most horribly insensative parents as you begin to sympathise with our hero. By the end you are hoping for a better life for him although he seems destined to fail. Shortly after getting out of prison from a fall he took for a booky, he descides to rid himself of the root of his problems. He has spent the past few years in prison determaning that one man is responcible for his miserable existance thus far. He endevours to kill him. This movie is a roller coaster of excitment and amazement as you hope for the best for our hero. You want him to get the girl and the happy ending but he is fraught with bad luck or perhaps in some cases dumb luck. This movie is a must see.
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Summary: Godard for the Nineties
Review: An excellent film, mixing the better of the indie-film off-color colors with the better of the French new wave innovative techniques. It is also a great situation comedy, with a great respect for emotion in the way it was filmed. Everything that Vincent Gallo's character feels, we feel. If he needs to urinate, we feel it. If a moment is awkward, the audience will feel it. The confusion of the strip club echoes Billy's confusion inside. It is by far the best movie of 1998 and among the best of the decade. Superb, funny, and strange-anyone currently lacking in invention and greatness should buy this film.
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Summary: Best Film From a Bad Script Ever
Review: Regardless of what you think of Vincent Gallo's "Buffalo 66," one thing is pretty evident after one viewing: Gallo is a far more capable director than a writer. Standing alone, the script is awful. Full of nonsensical rants (though not out of character) and long conversations with no point, it sounds like David Lynch with manic depression. In short, the script is way too close to real life for its own good. However, director Gallo (also the star, co-writer, and score composer) pulls off the greatest trick since the days of Houdini by making what could have been one of the worst films ever made into a compelling, at times unconventionally heart-wrenching picture. Gallo stars as Billy Brown, an ex-con who kidnaps a young girl (the seldom boring Christina Ricci) to assist him in keeping up the charade for his parents that he is a happily married CIA agent. If the rest of the plot were only that simple to explain. The major highlight of the film is the dinner scene with Billy, his "wife" Layla, and his parents (Ben Gazzara and Anjelica Huston). This scene is the definitive example of how Gallo's directing style, as well as great performances from Ricci and Huston, saved a potentially disastrous screenplay.Overall, "Buffalo 66" is NOT for everyone's tastes, not by a longshot. But if you're feeling adventurous the next time you're at Blockbuster, it doesn't get much more adventurous than this. In fact, I look forward to Gallo's next directorial effort, whatever it is... just as long as he doesn't write it.
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Summary: A modern classic - best independent film of the late 90s
Review: This video is so great! I rented it from the local video store the other week, and the next day I had to order a copy to keep. Vincent Gallo has accomplished something amazing with this film - beginning as a very bleak picture of a total loser (just let out of jail, running around town trying to find a toilet and eventually kidnapping an amateur ballerina - Christina Ricci - to pose as his wife in front of his parents) it develops into something deeper. You end up really caring about Billy, despite his attitude and general all-round surface nastiness. The last ten minutes are really touching - Billy's phone call to his friend Goon is achingly sad - and the last scenes... well, I won't give the plot away, but I'll admit that I rewound the final ten minutes as soon as the credits rolled, to watch it all over again! As soon as my multi-region DVD player arrives, I'm ordering the DVD edition of this title from Amazon.com!
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Summary: Brutal, Original Movie
Review: This movie was odd but compelling. You couldn't help but have sympathy for Vincent's pained character, ignored and insulted by his monstrous parents. Layla was a strong character, played by the brilliant Christina Ricci. I'd recommend this movie to those who are fans of uncommon, independent films.
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Summary: Original and Poignant
Review: Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is a powerhouse of fine acting, writing, and direction, not to mention a showcase for some hilariously inventive cinematography. Buffalo 66 is one of the finest independent films that I have ever seen, and perhaps the most fascinating character study I have yet to see on film. Christina Ricci provides a quietly poignant performance as Layla, the odd but tenderhearted tap dancer who provides Gallo's Billy Brown with the only true love he has ever received. Ricci is brilliantly understated, and she relays just as much heartfelt meaning in one glance of her beautiful, dark eyes as Gallo does in his barrage of rapid-fire monologues. There are also fine supporting performances from Ben Gazzara and Anjelica Huston, as Billy's utterly dysfunctional parents, Mickey Rourke, as a sleazy bookie, Jan-Michael Vincent, as Billy's touchingly loyal crony and owner of a bowling alley, and Kevin Corrigan, as Billy's slow but well-meaning best friend. Buffalo 66 is an incredibly moving and beautiful film. It provides some of the starkest movie images of blue-collar society to come along since the '70s. The on-location Buffalo, New York sites are haunting in their bleakness, and the filtered photography emphasizes this all the more. On top of all of this, Gallo provides a mesmerizing performance as Billy Brown--a man who has spent so much of his life pining for love and tenderness that he doesn't know how to deal with it once it is staring him in the face.
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Summary: BUFFALO 66
Review: The "dinner scene" is reason enough to view this film. There is a fine line between madness and genius. BUFFALO 66 flosses its crooked, coffee- and nicotine-stained teeth with this line.
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Summary: Sweet & Surprising
Review: Although I don't think Vincent Gallo could act his way out of a paper bag, I truly thought this was a great little venture for him in showing off his directing and writing ability. Christina Ricci is excellent as always; and I loved her tap dancing sequence in the bowling alley. (One friend remarked that scene was very David Lynch-esque). The cinematography was creative, and the love story out of a kidnapping was kind of cliche, but it worked very well here. It's definitly worth a look-see.
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Summary: laugh and scorn
Review: Vincent Gallo's directorial debut is phenomenal. This film is proof you can make a mediocre story fantastic through brilliant cinamatography and score. This film is so visually stimulating, the muted technicolor pallet and 70's feel is astonishing. At times i diddnt know if my laughing was appropriat but you cant help it. Gallo's performance as actor is hilarious and unique and Ricci's accompaniment is incredibly. A film good enough to appreciate with volume on or off. not for everyone I admit but definately worth a chance.
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Summary: A ray of sunshine in a bleak midwinter world
Review: I waited ages for this to come out on DVD and now I have seen it, it is even better than I was hoping for. Gallo is a genius. He has constructed an incredible story that takes you through the transformation of a young man. We first meet Billy as he is leaving prison (his crime being nothing other than a debt following a stupid bet). We learn that he has created a web of lies mainly to impress his parents (and a crazier family you will not meet in a hurry - makes the EdTV family look like the Waltons). Anyway he kidnaps a girl (Ricci) to pretend she is his wife and we learn that he is simply playing a game to wreak revenge on the person he thinks ruined his life. Well the story turns out beautifully: a wonderful twist on what could have been a dark tale. There is great understated humour (but I did laugh out loud at least once). Watch it and love it.
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