bkoganbing Watching Buffalo 66 because as per the title the film was shot a good deal in the city that is home to me now. I did recognize a few places, but the rather weird story kind of put me off.Vincent Gallo plays a young man newly released from prison who has hidden his incarceration from his parents is now coming home to his less than loving parents Ben Gazzara and Angelica Huston. He's said he's married so he has to produce a wife. What to do but kidnap a wife and in this case Christina Ricci.Usually that kind of premise signals a comedy, but Buffalo 66 is anything but. Sadly the best part of the film is with the parents which covers about half. The rest is half.Gallo and Ricci are quirky but in this case it wasn't enough to grab me and hold my attention. I'm in agreement with other reviewers who say Gallo feels no self worth due to the environment he was raised in. The future isn't optimistic for either of them.Acting honors go to Gazzara and Huston. Wish the whole film had been about these two self centered jerks.

Tweekums Billy Brown has just got out of prison having served five years for a crime he did not commit. While inside he let is parents believe that he was busy with a government job, living with his childhood sweetheart Wendy Balsam. He goes to visit his parents and his mother wants to meet Wendy… so he kidnaps a young woman and forces her to play the role. Layla, the woman concerned plays the role rather well; rather too well in fact as she gushes about how she fell in love with Billy while working for the CIA! While there we learn more about Billy and his unloving parents; we also learn how he ended up in jail and that he plans to kill the man he holds responsible… the former kicker for the Buffalo Bills who missed an important kick that meant Billy lost a $10,000 bet; a bet he couldn't pat. After leaving the family home Billy and Layla go bowling, go out for a hot chocolate then find a hotel before Billy goes off to seek his final revenge.This is an unusual little film with a strange pair of protagonists. Billy is initially hard to like; he is a kidnapper after all, and Layla is a mystery; we know nothing about her including why she goes along with Billy even after he says she can go… since the whole story takes place over the course of a few hours it can't be Stockholm Syndrome! Vincent Gallo does a fine job as Billy and Christina Ricci is equally good in the role of Layla. Gallo didn't just play the male lead; he also wrote this interesting story and directed the film. Some parts of the film are likely to leave the viewer squirming; the scenes in the family house are painful to watch for anybody would isn't keen on socially awkward scenes! There are also some laughs to be had along the way. Overall I'd recommend this to anybody looking for something a bit different; it won't be for everybody but I enjoyed it.

cbockiii Almost every sentence that comes out of Vincent Gallo's mouth makes me laugh. He says terrible things in his movies and in interviews, but he's one of the most interesting people in show business.Every actor in this movie did a super job. Gallo, Christina Ricci, Mickey Rourke, Ben Gazarra, Anjelica Huston, Goon... the list goes on. How much of it was because of Gallo's direction, I don't know, but I loved every minute of it.You can imagine the hilarity in an innocent, kind woman falling for a guy who is a miserable jerk. She never gives up, and the audience reaps the rewards of that. He's a jerk to his family, he's a jerk to his friends and he's a jerk to her. And all of it is hilarious.

paul2001sw-1 Vincent Gallo's darkly comic, ultimately touching debut film, 'Buffalo 66', has a stellar cast playing unglamourous roles and a central turn from Gallo himself as insecure loser Billy, fresh out of prison and back in his native Buffalo, but with no real sense of home. The film departs occasionally from literal realism is a mostly effective, entertaining manner, but behind the quirkiness, this is a serious movie about the ability to be love and be loved. It is, however, all about Gallo: Christina Ricci's character presumably has some issues of her own (why else would she be hanging out with a loser like Billy?) but instead of exploring them, the film allows her at least a hint of the role of the forgiving angel, sent (or rather kidnapped) to rescue an otherwise doomed man. But it's still a successful film, one that visits some dark places, but brings the viewer out the other side.