Favorites : Buffalo ‘66 (1998)
Every movie fan, be they a fanatic or a casual one, has movies they consider their personal little hidden gems. Those movies that you can’t believe aren’t major hits or cult classics. The kind of film that, when someone says they haven’t seen it, you cannot rest until you’ve made sure they have. Right around my transition from high school into college, I discovered a film that holds this place for me... Vincent Gallo’s feature film debut, Buffalo ‘66.
Billy Brown (Vincent Gallo) is fresh out of jail after doing 5 years for a crime he did not commit. He was forced to do this time due to a $10,000 bet he placed on the Buffalo Bills to win the Super Bowl (which, of course, they did not), and in light of not being able to pay back the bookie (Mickey Rourke), he stood trial in place of a guilty man. Billy told his family he was away in the CIA, and now that he is out of jail, he wants to impress his family with his return. He told his mother (Anjelica Huston) that he was married, and in an act of desperation, Billy kidnaps Layla (Christina Ricci), a complete stranger, out of her tap dancing class. Billy has two thoughts on his mind... impress his mother and father (Ben Gazzara), and murder Bills kicker Scott Wood (Bob Wahl), whom Billy blames for most all of his life problems. At the behest of Layla and Billy’s longtime friend Goon (Jan-Michael Vincent), Billy seeks out on his quest for revenge while dealing with deeply ingrained personal demons.
For a debut film, this movie has some of the most strikingly beautiful sequences and cinematography I’ve ever witnessed. The entire mood evoked by Gallo’s choices read like those made by the hand of a seasoned professional, a la Robert Altman or David Lynch. In particular, his sequences that showcase deep passion or skill (Ben Gazzara’s singing scene and Christina Ricci’s dancing scene immediately come to mind) have such distinct lighting and framing that they come off as miniature pieces of high art. The scenes that take place with Billy’s family at the dinner table are definitely claustrophobic and rigid, but yet filmed in a way to provide a handful of cutting options, so as not to be stiff or visually boring. The strip club sequence alone plays with the tension and impact of a separate short film, telling a swift but effective setup/action/resolution story of its own. Even the still shots are framed like paintings or artistic photographs.
Gallo’s choice to play Billy like an emotionally and socially stunted man-child is brilliantly portrayed, especially in regards to his scenes with Christina Ricci. Every little thing that goes wrong either gets what essentially boils down to a tantrum, or it gets a long and didactic speech that ultimately holds no weight. The internal struggle of wanting closeness while being afraid of intimacy is a wonderful tug-of-war that drives a large portion of the film, both in the lack of love from Billy’s parents and the growing sense of romantic Stockholm Syndrome that develops in Layla. The way he treats his best friend Goon, or looks for positive reinforcement from the man at the bowling alley, is reminiscent of the short-sighted gratification children often seek. It is only when Billy is forced to face the facts of his choice to murder Scott Wood that we see a man develop out of the character.
Vincent Gallo is a tour de force in this film, so much so that he apparently created a fallout of resentment and anger from several key members of the cast and crew. His character, while being amazing on film, seems to have been deeply based on true-life personality traits that did not sit well with those working with him. Christina Ricci played her role well, especially against the ominous shadow of her career as a child superstar... the role helped break her out of the ‘safe’ space she seemed destined to be stuck in at the time. Anjelica Huston played her character with such a wonderful indifference and single minded focus that it’s painful to watch her interact with Gallo in the sense of what that family dynamic would be like in real life. Ben Gazzara makes the most of his moments, as per usual, being the consummate professional that he is. Jan-Michael Vincent, one of the most slept-on actors of the late 1990′s and 2000′s, turns in another wonderfully offbeat but incredibly on the nose performance, managing to be one of the few characters that comes off as both outrageous and believable both in the context of the film’s hyperstylized world and in real life. Rosanna Arquette and Mickey Rourke also make the most of their limited screen times, turning in respectively memorable scenes.
In my mind, this is the kind of film that should have kickstarted a long and fruitful career of creative freedom at a high level, but for whatever reasons, the cards did not fall that way for Gallo. Despite the way that actors may have felt about working with him, or how that made them feel about the final product, it is undeniable that this film is a brilliant piece of art.
