Buffalo '66

1998 "Billy Brown just got out of jail. Now he’s going to serve some real time. He’s going home."
7.4| 1h50m| R| en| More Info
Released: 26 June 1998 Released
Producted By: Muse Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.vincentgallofilms.com/buffalo66.html
Info

Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry.

Genre

Drama, Comedy, Romance

Watch Online

Buffalo '66 (1998) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Vincent Gallo

Production Companies

Muse Productions

Buffalo '66 Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Buffalo '66 Audience Reviews

More Review
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.
Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
SnoopyStyle Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) is bitter and angry after five years in prison. He gets released, looking for a place to pee and kidnaps tap dancing student Layla (Christina Ricci). He had lied to his parents (Ben Gazzara, Anjelica Huston) that he's been married while away with a government job. She has to be his pretend wife Wendy Balsam. He is severely damaged and she's oddly interested in him. Billy had put $10k on Buffalo to win but the kicker Scott Wood misses the game winning field goal. Billy vows to kill him. His friend Goon (Kevin Corrigan) claims that Scott now owns a strip club. Billy and Layla bump into the real Wendy Balsam (Rosanna Arquette) who Billy had a crush on. Billy is a really annoying jerk. A few times, I almost laugh but mostly, he is really really annoying. I like the imaginative visual style in this indie but I really can't stand Billy. It's a good performance from Gallo. His character shows more vulnerability later on but his defensiveness is also very pathetic. The words too-good-for-him keep coming to mind. It's not good chemistry as much as morbid fascination with their relationship.
jimbo-53-186511 I'm totally shocked that at the time of writing this review that this film has an average IMDb user rating of 7.3. Huh?? I really can't understand what the majority of people see in this film. Basically, Billy Brown (Gallo) is released from jail for a crime he didn't commit and is intent on getting revenge on the person responsible for putting him in jail. Before he sets out on getting his vengeance, he kidnaps Layla (Ricci) after telling his parents that she is his wife - this is something that he had been lying to them about whilst he was inside. He persuades Layla to go along with his lie and tell them how brilliant he is and how much she loves him etc. After this unnecessary filler, we get a little plot development as Billy makes a call to his prison friend called Goon to try and track down the whereabouts of the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison. The rest of the film is basically Billy trying to track down the person he holds responsible for him being sent to prison.The main problems with Buffalo 66 (and believe me there are many) is that there are too many things that didn't make any sense or that weren't believable, Like what was the purpose of taking Layla back to his parents house? They didn't stay there, they didn't go there for money. Billy seemed to want them to think he had a wife for some reason. Also Layla had many opportunities to escape from Billy, but chose not to - this is a man that threatened her and was generally nasty to her, but yet she didn't want to leave him. Perhaps this is because she was a bit naive and perhaps she felt she could change him etc, but to me it all seemed a bit phony.The main plot itself was also quite absurd. In a nutshell, Billy bet $10,000 on the Buffalos winning a Superbowl game, but the game is lost due to a missed kick by Scott Woods. Therefore Billy loses the bet, but doesn't have the $10,000 dollars to pay the bookie. So the bookie (played with icy coolness by Mickey Rourke in the 5 minutes or so that he was on screen) tells Billy that the only way he can settle his debt is to testify to a crime that he didn't commit and let the guilty party go free - which he does and gets sentenced to 5 years. He then seeks revenge on Woods for missing the kick and making him lose the bet and for losing 5 years of his life in jail - he also believes that Woods was paid to throw the game. OK - a couple of things; 1) Billy shouldn't have bet $10,000 dollars if he didn't have the money to lose. 2) Why would he only target Woods when Rourke's character was ultimately responsible for sending him to jail? The above reasons make the whole revenge element seem rather flawed.Aside from script issues, the film was also boring and just seemed to drag on and there were many instances where there was just dialogue (most of which was uninteresting) with little to no plot development. The film also lacked any kind of suspense or tension. Also what was the need in Gallo repeating nearly every sentence twice? I realise that this can make characters seem menacing (which it does to an extent), but not in every single sentence - that to me was just overkill.The only positives I can really draw from Buffalo 66 was Gallo's performance (apart from when he was saying his sentences twice). He has a naturally menacing look about him and that helped in making him come across as 'convincing' in his role. Ricci was also good as his 'naive' pretend wife - she was really good at portraying a 'naive' innocent woman who wanted to do all she could to try and appease Billy. The direction and camera work were also pretty good (particularly towards the start of the film).I may have slightly forgiven the dodgy script and mind numbingly boring majority of the film if it would have at least had a good ending, but Gallo doesn't even manage to get that right. I understand the point that Gallo was trying to make about 'choices' but to me Billy's U-turn came out of nowhere and seemingly without any reason - considering how obnoxious he was throughout the entirety of the film.This was an astoundingly bad film which was only saved slightly by the 2 lead performances and fairly good direction, but I still wouldn't waste your time watching it.
Jigeeshu Joshi i had never heard of this guy Vincent Gallo before i happened to watch this movie. Later i also learned that he had been in company with likes of Jean Michael Basquiat.Verisimilitude of performances and sequence of events can actually make you feel all of it happening with you. Human being in despair develops dangerous ideas in their mind as a means to show their hatred towards things that disappointed them. And sometimes he is so obsessed with the idea, he becomes oblivion of all the facts.Billy brown was force to get himself convicted as a favor to pay his debt. When he is released from Jail he is filled with rage and his only motive is to kill Scott woods who he believes deliberately lost the game for 'Buffalo'. Billy batted for Buffalo and their loss got him into debt. But before that he once wishes to visit his parents who are least excited to see him after long. His mother is only happy to see his son alive and not eager to know anything except his good looking wife. Billy, to present himself reasonably for couple of hours in front of his parents abducts a young dancer who falls for him at first sight. Though the proposal of pretending herself as his wife and visiting Billy's parents seems an absurd idea she agrees to do so without any resistance. Billy's obsession to kill Scott Woods fails him to realize the true love of that girl until towards the very end of the movie.Billy's disturbed and confused state of mind is well portrayed by Gallo and it will drive you to hysterical laughters. Ricci is so adorable, no one but only Billy can neglect her charm.
Gordon-11 This film is about a man who has just got out of prison. He kidnaps a girl and makes her pretend to be his wife in front of his parents.You need to be in a certain mood to appreciate the subtle beauty of "Buffalo '66". The lead character Bobby Brown is not a likable person at all, as he is rude, aggressive, impulsive and egocentric. The plot might appear slow moving, but underneath this slow motion there is a wave of emotional undercurrent. Bobby is unloved throughout his life, which is so well portrayed by the shocking interaction of Bobby and his parents. The relationship between Bobby and Layla is strange and yet captivating. The motive of Bobby for finding someone to love is clear, but unfortunately we do not know why Layla cooperates with Bobby. She could easily have walked away, but she chose to stay. "Buffalo '66" would have been even better if Layla's backgrounds and state of mind were told.