I was in the Army stationed in Germany from 1986 through 1989 and there was a day that we called "Black Sunday" when several people on our post were discovered to have a drug ring going on. The people implicated and taken away by MPs that day included several officers. My post was known for being able to get everything from hooker to heroin ON POST! Our Sgt,. Major walked around with an ax handle tethered to his wrist because he had been jumped at night so many times! So this movie is not a joke and is very close to the truth. There was even a second lieutenant that was murdered by putting him in a wall locker and pushing it out of a third story window. There was also times when you could not walk past some buildings or windows if you were white or black depending on which window and what color you were because of racial tensions, sometimes you might be hit by a beer bottle by someone of the opposite color. This movie very closely depicts what it was like vbeing a soldier in the US Army staioned in West Germany at the end of the cold war. Hooah!
113 Reviews
sadly, this film is pretty dead on
geddyneilalex2817 March 2004
i served in the army from 91-94 and i can tell you that i related to a lot of the themes in this film. i wanted anxiously for a chance to see it, and last night i finally did. i enjoyed it as much as it is possible to enjoy a film that takes some steps at telling a different side of the army. of course everyone in the army is not like the soldiers portrayed here, but some are. at no point did i get the feeling that the film tried to say that the army is filled with losers but like every other segment of society it has its share. it is also true that for a long time the army did take high school dropouts and it was used as a way to escape jail. it is not anti-american, it is a story about bad people doing bad things. i enjoyed it!
over-hyped for it's anti-american military commentary, which it isn't...
argv30 July 2003
Some films just suffer from bad luck, and `Buffalo Soldiers' is one of them. Not that the movie is all that bad, nor all that terrific; it just deals with a subject that Americans might not be comfortable about today: a less-than-glowing depiction of the American military.
The film made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival, three days before Sept 11, 2001, under great fanfare. It was billed as being a dark satirical look at the military, but after the attacks on 9/11, its future was buried. Now, almost two years later, `Buffalo Soldiers' is finally being released, but it's not clear that the climate will be any more accommodating.
The movie starts by presenting a criminal subculture operating among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall. The satirical billing is merely a backdrop for the film, and it does present just about everyone rather hyperbolically. Joaquin Phoenix plays Ray Elwood, a la Radar O'Reilly from MASH. He is the company clerk for a U.S. supply base, making most decisions for his oblivious colonel to rubber stamp. Like Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22, he goes about his normal routine of making money and duping the system, but in this case, Elwood is a small-time drug dealer who sometimes dabbles in black market booty. Things turn on him quickly when he happens across some heavy weaponry, and his plan for unloading the equipment puts him way over his head, getting him into far more trouble than what he can handle as the lightweight and inexperienced paper-pusher that he is. By the time the plot line is established, the backdrop of satire is abandoned, witty observations undone, and philosophical quips erased.
Indeed, the true essence of the film lies beyond the plot, but it doesn't go as far as it tagline philosophy: `Where there is peace, the warlike man attacks himself.', a quote from Nietzsche, whose keen observation was the original inspiration for the film. At most, `Buffalo Soldiers' depicts how people behave when they get in over their heads, and only a dash of commentary on anything military or philosophical.
As for the controversy around American soldiers doing bad things, it would be a stretch to feel this is commentary on the good ol' US of A. Only those looking to pick a fight would find any form of offense or unpatriotic flavor to this film. Still, all one has to do is suggest the notion, and people will simply adopt that view anyway, regardless of what's on screen. Ironically, that's the movie's fault, not the public's. If the movie were better at delivering a more profound message - one that it clearly wanted to make - or if the story line were multi-dimensional, rather than a straightforward crime caper, people would easily overlook its superficial qualities. To be sure, Joaquin Phoenix does an excellent job at portraying a frat boy who doesn't take the army seriously, and who learns the ropes the hard way, just before he gets busted down to hell.
In the end, `Buffalo Solders' is entertaining, has a splash of romance, and is certainly a good enough movie in its own right, but is not the cynical, anti-war, anti-patriotic movie that people will be told it is. Oddly, the film's perception may be disproportionately diminished and reviewed poorly because of the attention it's getting, but it doesn't deserve undue praise either.
The film made its debut at the Toronto Film Festival, three days before Sept 11, 2001, under great fanfare. It was billed as being a dark satirical look at the military, but after the attacks on 9/11, its future was buried. Now, almost two years later, `Buffalo Soldiers' is finally being released, but it's not clear that the climate will be any more accommodating.
The movie starts by presenting a criminal subculture operating among U.S. soldiers stationed in West Germany just before the fall of the Berlin wall. The satirical billing is merely a backdrop for the film, and it does present just about everyone rather hyperbolically. Joaquin Phoenix plays Ray Elwood, a la Radar O'Reilly from MASH. He is the company clerk for a U.S. supply base, making most decisions for his oblivious colonel to rubber stamp. Like Milo Minderbinder from Catch-22, he goes about his normal routine of making money and duping the system, but in this case, Elwood is a small-time drug dealer who sometimes dabbles in black market booty. Things turn on him quickly when he happens across some heavy weaponry, and his plan for unloading the equipment puts him way over his head, getting him into far more trouble than what he can handle as the lightweight and inexperienced paper-pusher that he is. By the time the plot line is established, the backdrop of satire is abandoned, witty observations undone, and philosophical quips erased.
Indeed, the true essence of the film lies beyond the plot, but it doesn't go as far as it tagline philosophy: `Where there is peace, the warlike man attacks himself.', a quote from Nietzsche, whose keen observation was the original inspiration for the film. At most, `Buffalo Soldiers' depicts how people behave when they get in over their heads, and only a dash of commentary on anything military or philosophical.
As for the controversy around American soldiers doing bad things, it would be a stretch to feel this is commentary on the good ol' US of A. Only those looking to pick a fight would find any form of offense or unpatriotic flavor to this film. Still, all one has to do is suggest the notion, and people will simply adopt that view anyway, regardless of what's on screen. Ironically, that's the movie's fault, not the public's. If the movie were better at delivering a more profound message - one that it clearly wanted to make - or if the story line were multi-dimensional, rather than a straightforward crime caper, people would easily overlook its superficial qualities. To be sure, Joaquin Phoenix does an excellent job at portraying a frat boy who doesn't take the army seriously, and who learns the ropes the hard way, just before he gets busted down to hell.
In the end, `Buffalo Solders' is entertaining, has a splash of romance, and is certainly a good enough movie in its own right, but is not the cynical, anti-war, anti-patriotic movie that people will be told it is. Oddly, the film's perception may be disproportionately diminished and reviewed poorly because of the attention it's getting, but it doesn't deserve undue praise either.
Bilko for the New Millennium
extravaluejotter1 May 2006
Without an enemy to fight, an army will fight itself or find its own enemies. In the tradition of "Sergeant Bilko" (the Phil Silvers TV show, not Steve Martin's ghastly remake) "Buffalo Soldiers" shows what happens when soldiers with nothing to do but wait for war begin to think for themselves and exploit the system.
In place of Bilko's poker games and lottery scams, Ray Elwood opts for black marketeering, drug dealing and gun running. However, the characters portrayed by Phil Silvers and Joaquin Phoenix respectively do have a lot in common.
The tone of "Buffalo Soldiers" is much darker than that of "Sergeant Bilko", but the film and TV series share the same absurd yet plausible vision. There are no chimpanzee conscripts like Private Harry Speakup in this movie, but there ARE characters who have clearly risen well above the level of their own incompetence. Ed Harris' Colonel Berman is a pathetic example of the uniformed, time-served bureaucrat, someone you could almost feel sorry for until you realise that one day he may have to lead men into combat.
Counterbalancing the Bilko-esquire vibe created by Elwood's wheeler-dealing is his nemesis, Scott Glenn's steely Sergeant Lee. Glenn clearly relishes his role in this movie and is very convincing as the model soldier with a true heart of darkness.
Joaquin Phoenix gives Elwood an understated charisma as he leads his troops from behind, rarely lifting the lid on the fear and frustration that simmers within him as the events he sets in motion go out of control.
To say that this film is anti-military is unfair as it contains portrayals of decent, honest and professional soldiers as well as the scammers, pimps and dopeheads that the plot focuses on. It is a film about human beings (with all their failings) in uniform, not soldiers. "Buffalo Soldiers" is anti-complacency, anti-indoctrination and anti-corruption, which is probably why its release was postponed after the September 11th terrorist outrage of 2001. In the light of recent despicable acts by a small group of US soldiers in Iraq's Abu Graib prison, this film seems eerily prescient. Without an enemy to fight in open combat, what happens to the aggression and contempt for that enemy that military training fosters?
Ignore the negative comments and give this under-rated film a chance. It was titled "Army Go Home" in Germany, where the film is set, echoing the feelings of German citizens who lived near foreign troops sent to defend them against Communism. The Beetle-crushing sequence (an absurdly comic high point of the film) is based on actual incidents involving bored, intoxicated British and American troops on manoeuvres, armed to the teeth and waiting for a war that never came.
In place of Bilko's poker games and lottery scams, Ray Elwood opts for black marketeering, drug dealing and gun running. However, the characters portrayed by Phil Silvers and Joaquin Phoenix respectively do have a lot in common.
The tone of "Buffalo Soldiers" is much darker than that of "Sergeant Bilko", but the film and TV series share the same absurd yet plausible vision. There are no chimpanzee conscripts like Private Harry Speakup in this movie, but there ARE characters who have clearly risen well above the level of their own incompetence. Ed Harris' Colonel Berman is a pathetic example of the uniformed, time-served bureaucrat, someone you could almost feel sorry for until you realise that one day he may have to lead men into combat.
Counterbalancing the Bilko-esquire vibe created by Elwood's wheeler-dealing is his nemesis, Scott Glenn's steely Sergeant Lee. Glenn clearly relishes his role in this movie and is very convincing as the model soldier with a true heart of darkness.
Joaquin Phoenix gives Elwood an understated charisma as he leads his troops from behind, rarely lifting the lid on the fear and frustration that simmers within him as the events he sets in motion go out of control.
To say that this film is anti-military is unfair as it contains portrayals of decent, honest and professional soldiers as well as the scammers, pimps and dopeheads that the plot focuses on. It is a film about human beings (with all their failings) in uniform, not soldiers. "Buffalo Soldiers" is anti-complacency, anti-indoctrination and anti-corruption, which is probably why its release was postponed after the September 11th terrorist outrage of 2001. In the light of recent despicable acts by a small group of US soldiers in Iraq's Abu Graib prison, this film seems eerily prescient. Without an enemy to fight in open combat, what happens to the aggression and contempt for that enemy that military training fosters?
Ignore the negative comments and give this under-rated film a chance. It was titled "Army Go Home" in Germany, where the film is set, echoing the feelings of German citizens who lived near foreign troops sent to defend them against Communism. The Beetle-crushing sequence (an absurdly comic high point of the film) is based on actual incidents involving bored, intoxicated British and American troops on manoeuvres, armed to the teeth and waiting for a war that never came.
A great film at the right time
Dorthonion7 December 2001
It might not be politically correct right now, but this very good indie pic with a stellar cast about a US Army soldier stationed in the West Germany of 1989 comes at the right time. Having served on an Army base for years I know this is very close to what it is actually like being there. Phoenix makes you care about his "evil" character Ray Elwood much the way he did the same in "Gladiator", and Ed Harris as well as Scott Glenn deliver top notch performances. Very well edited, cynical-yet-funny, with a good story and believable characters. Recommended, two thumbs up!
A Hip, Subversive Film
putitinthebasketchief12 March 2004
This is my favourite film of 2003. Why they waited two years before releasing this superb movie in the UK is anyone's guess - although it may have had something to do with its total lack of respect for the U.S. Army. I'm not sure this would have went down too well in the aftermath of 9/11. Regardless, Buffalo Soldiers is an absolute gem. It is nasty, intelligent and hilarious. It is critical of American values, specifically capitalism in the 80s and it takes no prisoners. This is an outsider's perspective on the American occupation of West Germany in 1989: Jordan is Australian and as a result he brings an Australian aesthetic to his work. But it is also a tender film that is structured around a touching central romance between Elwood and Robyn. I love their scenes in the pool, it is such a warm, intimate location - a perfect setting for the heart of an otherwise deeply cynical film. Jordan is a director of considerable talent and Buffalo Soldiers is magnificent.
Darkly humorous look at military life that doesn't deserve it's reputation as `anti-American'
bob the moo1 January 2004
Ray Elwood is a soldier stationed on a base in West Germany. With no war to fight the men become bored but Elwood has enough going on the side to keep him busy, whether selling off excess cleaning supplies or dealing drugs. When he lands two trucks worth of weapons he thinks his day has come, however at the same time a tough new officer, Sergeant Lee, is stationed on the base with the aim of cleaning it up - starting with Elwood dealings.
Of course, we all know that this film practically vanished after 9/11; suddenly America didn't want anything that seemed to be attacking America or the dedicated American soldier. This was unfortunate as the film isn't as blatantly anti-war or anti-American as I had been led to believe. Rather it is a dark comedy that looks at the reality of army life during peacetime. In fairness though it does show the soldiers out for cash, high on drugs and certainly not fitting the image that made Time magazine pick `the American soldier' as man of the year for 2003.
The basic plot makes MASH look like some sort of kids game - where Hawk-Eye made drink in his tent, Elwood cooks coke and deals in stolen weapons. The story works quite well although some of it didn't totally work and some of the characters and action didn't really make sense. It was amusing without being laugh out loud funny, although this wasn't so much of a problem as I certainly didn't expect it to be an out and out comedy. The drama works better than the comedy and it is for this reason it is a better attack on the ideal of the military. The upper levels of the military also take a knock; being shown as focused on rank climbing rather than keeping a sharp military machine well oiled!
The cast is good on the whole - both on paper and on the screen. Phoenix leads the film really well and delivers a likeable character that is still abhorrent enough to be seen as an attack rather than a spoof. Harris is OK but he only has a small role and it doesn't totally fit in with the main narrative very well - likewise McGovern. Pacquin is pretty cool but her character was a bit of a mystery to me but Glenn is well cast and he is able to deliver the goods in a borderline nuts character; only problem with his performance was that I didn't totally understand his character's aims by the end of the film. Both Leon and Pena were good in support and Dean Stockwell has an OK cameo.
Overall this was a good film despite the fact that it had a plot that was a little weakened by the side issues and characters who aren't totally clear in terms of what they're all about. Aside from this the film is pretty entertaining and is actually quite matter of fact in it's portrayal of military life rather than being scathing - coming from Northern Ireland, I have seen all sorts of stuff done by squaddies and am well aware of how true this can be! But to label it anti-American is just plain daft!
Of course, we all know that this film practically vanished after 9/11; suddenly America didn't want anything that seemed to be attacking America or the dedicated American soldier. This was unfortunate as the film isn't as blatantly anti-war or anti-American as I had been led to believe. Rather it is a dark comedy that looks at the reality of army life during peacetime. In fairness though it does show the soldiers out for cash, high on drugs and certainly not fitting the image that made Time magazine pick `the American soldier' as man of the year for 2003.
The basic plot makes MASH look like some sort of kids game - where Hawk-Eye made drink in his tent, Elwood cooks coke and deals in stolen weapons. The story works quite well although some of it didn't totally work and some of the characters and action didn't really make sense. It was amusing without being laugh out loud funny, although this wasn't so much of a problem as I certainly didn't expect it to be an out and out comedy. The drama works better than the comedy and it is for this reason it is a better attack on the ideal of the military. The upper levels of the military also take a knock; being shown as focused on rank climbing rather than keeping a sharp military machine well oiled!
The cast is good on the whole - both on paper and on the screen. Phoenix leads the film really well and delivers a likeable character that is still abhorrent enough to be seen as an attack rather than a spoof. Harris is OK but he only has a small role and it doesn't totally fit in with the main narrative very well - likewise McGovern. Pacquin is pretty cool but her character was a bit of a mystery to me but Glenn is well cast and he is able to deliver the goods in a borderline nuts character; only problem with his performance was that I didn't totally understand his character's aims by the end of the film. Both Leon and Pena were good in support and Dean Stockwell has an OK cameo.
Overall this was a good film despite the fact that it had a plot that was a little weakened by the side issues and characters who aren't totally clear in terms of what they're all about. Aside from this the film is pretty entertaining and is actually quite matter of fact in it's portrayal of military life rather than being scathing - coming from Northern Ireland, I have seen all sorts of stuff done by squaddies and am well aware of how true this can be! But to label it anti-American is just plain daft!
Good story with good performances
Danny_G1323 July 2003
It's difficult to sum Buffalo Soldiers up. On one hand you have the comedy aspect, particularly from Ed Harris, on another you have the romance, from Anna Paquin, and then you have the violence...from just about everybody. The story is set in Germany, 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and is based on a unit of the US army called the Buffalo infantry (Or something) who aren't exactly above board and legal with what they get up to. Truth is this movie really isn't to do with army combat, it's to do with the corruption of the vast majority of the soldiers who'll do anything to make a buck, such as drugs and weapons.
Dark comedy in many places, it seems many have taken great offence to Hollywood's portrayal of their 'heroes' - for goodness' sake don't take it so seriously. I'm jewish and don't care when I see my religion mocked on screen. So why should anyone be offended by this?
It's funny in places, dramatic in places, dark in places and risque. But what it is is a good movie which *will* entertain.
Dark comedy in many places, it seems many have taken great offence to Hollywood's portrayal of their 'heroes' - for goodness' sake don't take it so seriously. I'm jewish and don't care when I see my religion mocked on screen. So why should anyone be offended by this?
It's funny in places, dramatic in places, dark in places and risque. But what it is is a good movie which *will* entertain.
A story so funny it has to be true...
mentalcritic28 October 2004
Well, in reality, I suspect the story behind Buffalo Soldiers has picked up a bit of embellishment along the way from modern folklore to big screen, but that's hardly surprising. What is surprising is that such a basic story can be turned into such a funny film. It's not so much ha-ha funny as it is just ironic funny. Indeed, the story about one woman screaming protests about the so-called anti-American sentiment of the film and flinging a bottle at the screen tells me that some people still expect their comedy to be spoonfed to them.
If anything, this film reads like a celebration of the things that the citizens of Western societies take for granted. With soldiers situated far from home, and having nothing better to do than play games of indoor gridiron at times, it's a small wonder that soldiers turn to drug abuse or other such illegal activity in order to stave off boredom. Stir craziness is a problem in any army during peacetime, although one can't help but wonder if we're not being shown a rather extreme example here.
The basis of this black comedy is in the solid performances of the principal cast. Joaquin Phoenix shows once again that he has a great talent, while Ed Harris and Scott Glenn do an admirable job of playing the straight arrows. But it is another moderated little-girl-lost type of performance from the ever-wonderful Anna Paquin that at least kept this viewer engaged. This woman could make a ninety minute film in which she reads the telephone book, and I'd probably enjoy it.
The corruption shown in this film is hardly surprising, given how little soldiers seem to be paid in comparison to the stress they endure. If there is indeed any truth to the depicitions of drug abuse, then it's not surprising anymore that employers are currently employing random drug testing. Dr. Strangelove couldn't get more spot-on about how the human element of the military is generally its undoing. After one memorable sequence involving drugged tank drivers, I'll never be able to catch sight of an army vehicle without getting the urge to run away, screaming.
I gave Buffalo Soldiers an eight out of ten. Under normal circumstances, I would have given it a seven, but it has Anna Paquin in it, and any film with Anna Paquin in it can earn a bonus point. If you like your comedy without obvious prompts of when you're meant to laugh, then you can't go wrong with Buffalo Soldiers.
If anything, this film reads like a celebration of the things that the citizens of Western societies take for granted. With soldiers situated far from home, and having nothing better to do than play games of indoor gridiron at times, it's a small wonder that soldiers turn to drug abuse or other such illegal activity in order to stave off boredom. Stir craziness is a problem in any army during peacetime, although one can't help but wonder if we're not being shown a rather extreme example here.
The basis of this black comedy is in the solid performances of the principal cast. Joaquin Phoenix shows once again that he has a great talent, while Ed Harris and Scott Glenn do an admirable job of playing the straight arrows. But it is another moderated little-girl-lost type of performance from the ever-wonderful Anna Paquin that at least kept this viewer engaged. This woman could make a ninety minute film in which she reads the telephone book, and I'd probably enjoy it.
The corruption shown in this film is hardly surprising, given how little soldiers seem to be paid in comparison to the stress they endure. If there is indeed any truth to the depicitions of drug abuse, then it's not surprising anymore that employers are currently employing random drug testing. Dr. Strangelove couldn't get more spot-on about how the human element of the military is generally its undoing. After one memorable sequence involving drugged tank drivers, I'll never be able to catch sight of an army vehicle without getting the urge to run away, screaming.
I gave Buffalo Soldiers an eight out of ten. Under normal circumstances, I would have given it a seven, but it has Anna Paquin in it, and any film with Anna Paquin in it can earn a bonus point. If you like your comedy without obvious prompts of when you're meant to laugh, then you can't go wrong with Buffalo Soldiers.
Bored soldiers good subject for entertaining comedy
Ryu_Darkwood1 July 2007
American directors tend to glorify their war movies by adding a lot of heroism and false American nationalism. Buffalo Soldiers is a nice change on these kind of movies. It tells the story of a group of American soldiers so thoroughly bored that they kill time by smuggling drugs, drinking booze and fighting each other. It kinda reminds me of my father's stories of his short yet turbulent time in the army. He keeps on telling about all the wrong things they did to have a bit of fun in their forced presence in these days.
The movie doesn't really have a grand message to deliver to its audience, but it is most definitely good for a few laughs. And Joaquin Phoenix shows a bit of the strong charisma he has in store for us in later movies ( Walk the line- the Johnny Cash biography- as his strongest one )
The movie doesn't really have a grand message to deliver to its audience, but it is most definitely good for a few laughs. And Joaquin Phoenix shows a bit of the strong charisma he has in store for us in later movies ( Walk the line- the Johnny Cash biography- as his strongest one )
Interesting picture with an excellent interpretation by Joaquin Phoenix and surrounded by a highly capable support cast
ma-cortes13 February 2006
The movie deals with an US corporal (Joaquin Phoenix) whose slogan is ¨steal all that you can steal¨ . He has moneymaking plans for every occasion in the United States headquarter located in Germany during George Bush Sr time . His superior Colonel (Ed Harris) looks the other way until a new and veteran sergeant (Scott Glenn) turns up , but the corporal falls in love with his daughter (Anna Paquin) and the sergeant seeks vengeance .
The film is a ferocious and hilarious military critical , it's an anti-army and anti-war/protest black-comedy which follows exploits of a woolly and wild US unit ; being based on the 1993 novel by Robert O'Connor . Ironical recycling of the classic 1950s Television comedy series which was interpreted by Phil Silvers and ¨Sgt. Bilko¨ film by Jonathan Lynn with Steve Martin . Movie characters are utterly negatives , they are mean , greedy , villains or nuts and aren't politically corrects . Spectacular images when appear the tanks , these American tanks featured in the film are actually modified German L1 Leopards . The forest where the tank drives through was planted just for this movie on a green field in front of a real forest , though he tanks were not allowed to drive through the real forest .
Here Joaquin Phoenix plays a top-notch farceur and he is assembled by a perfect support casting such as Leon , Harris , Gabriel Mann , Dean Stockwell and Elizabeth McGovern . The picture obtained moderated success , giving a new meaning on the word 'irreverence' and really fierce criticism to Army institution . None relation to the film with same title ¨Buffalo soldiers¨ (1997) directed by Charles Haid with Danny Glover about post-civil war black cavalry corps . The motion picture was well directed Gregor Jordan . Rating : Good . Well worth seeing.
The film is a ferocious and hilarious military critical , it's an anti-army and anti-war/protest black-comedy which follows exploits of a woolly and wild US unit ; being based on the 1993 novel by Robert O'Connor . Ironical recycling of the classic 1950s Television comedy series which was interpreted by Phil Silvers and ¨Sgt. Bilko¨ film by Jonathan Lynn with Steve Martin . Movie characters are utterly negatives , they are mean , greedy , villains or nuts and aren't politically corrects . Spectacular images when appear the tanks , these American tanks featured in the film are actually modified German L1 Leopards . The forest where the tank drives through was planted just for this movie on a green field in front of a real forest , though he tanks were not allowed to drive through the real forest .
Here Joaquin Phoenix plays a top-notch farceur and he is assembled by a perfect support casting such as Leon , Harris , Gabriel Mann , Dean Stockwell and Elizabeth McGovern . The picture obtained moderated success , giving a new meaning on the word 'irreverence' and really fierce criticism to Army institution . None relation to the film with same title ¨Buffalo soldiers¨ (1997) directed by Charles Haid with Danny Glover about post-civil war black cavalry corps . The motion picture was well directed Gregor Jordan . Rating : Good . Well worth seeing.
An Awesome Film, one of 2001's best
PersianPlaya40811 August 2005
Jordan's film is a great anti-war comedy/drama with a capable cast. Its a story of a bored battalion clerk (Phoenix) stationed in east Germany, who runs a black market of legal and illegal items. THe story is very well written, nicely directed and has a great cast. I thought Phoenix was great in the lead role, probably my favorite performance from him yet (not to knock his brilliant work in U-turn, Return to paradise, Signs). Ed Harris was solid as his commanding officer who is a bit washed up. Scott Glenn is very good in his role as the top sergeant at the station (another great performance from this underrated actor). Elizabeth McGovern was also impressive as Col. Berman's (Harris) wife. I also liked Anna Paquin, who gave only an average performance in one of my favorite films, the 25th hour, she is better here as Sgt Lee (Glenn)'s daughter. THe film in general is very well written, one of the best screenplays of this day and age, and the direction fits, i like army films like this because of my own personal politics, and i thought it was done very well. 9/10
Crime Pays, Evidently
rmax30482321 July 2004
Warning: Spoilers
Who knows where they got the title from? Buffalo soldiers was supposed to have been a nickname given to African-American cavalrymen by Indians after the Civil War because the soldiers wore buffalo robes. (I'd like to see that etymology documented, but never mind.) I can't figure out why this picture was given such a title.
But there's a lot about this picture I can't figure out. Ostensibly it's about intrigue within a group of criminal bootleggers operating in Germany in the U. S. Army. And it starts off rather well. Joaquin Phoenix, the battalion clerk, is into moving materials illegally on and off base -- floor cleaner (out), drugs (in), and weapons (out). Phoenix is one mean and heartless E-4. He cooks Turkish morphine down to heroin and sells it to the other enlisted men. A tank crew, stoned, are too befogged to understand orders on maneuvers and they drive their tank around the city streets and mow down a gas station which shortly blows up, before finally and accidentally finding that they've rejoined their unit, whose commander compliments them. It's certainly a different view of how the caissons go rolling along than the one we're used to.
Yet already there is a sense of disquiet -- not just about the story that is unfolding on screen but about the movie and its assumptions. The runaway tank episode is played for laughs -- as if this were "MASH" or an Abbott and Costello movie. But when the gas stations blows, two innocent soldiers die horribly.
One private OD's on a cocktail of a dozen different drugs. The commander of the supply unit, Ed Harris in a touching performance, reads the report and can only say, "Gee! Where did he GET all this stuff?" The stuff includes LSD although by 1989, the year in which the film is set, LSD would have elicited only puzzled frowns among dopers. And poor Harris is made to play a full colonel, one step away from generalhood, but is so lacking in military presence, in common sense, that he apologizes to Phoenix after yelling at him a little. Ha ha ha. He's never shown as anything but a nincompoop.
Phoenix, with his Rollex watches and Mercedes Benz's, runs into a little problem when a new top sergeant appears -- Scott Glenn -- an actor who is invariably good. Come to think of it, he was Astronaut Carpenter while Ed Harris was Astronaut Glenn in "The Right Stuff". This new top sergeant is a real tough mother. He plays by the book. He infiltrates Phoenix's gang and ultimately destroys it. There is a subplot involving a romance between Phoenix and the top's daughter, Anna Paquin, which doesn't serve much of a useful purpose. I do want to mention Dean Stockwell though. He only has a minute or two of screen time but he can be an extremely engaging actor, as he is here.
The movie falls completely apart at the end -- shootouts in steamy warehouses, exploding fireballs, bodies falling in slow motion out of windows -- you can fill in the rest. I lost track of who was shooting whom because it was impossible to care about any of the characters. There is also a subplot about Phoenix having promised a shipment of arms to some kind of anti-Soviet revolutionary, which gets lost somewhere along the way.
Well, okay. What's the movie trying to tell us. "In Peace, the warlike man makes war against himself," observes Phoenix in voice-over. I guess I don't have much of a problem with that except that I don't see how it applies to this film. A better epigram would be, "The military sucks."
Colonel Ed Harris is a nice guy who belongs in Napa growing grapes. Joaquin Phoenix is a shifty selfish maniac who betrays the people who trust him, and who survives the fireballs to be awarded decorations. (What was he decorated for? The movie doesn't tell us. The medals are just there to make the army look stupid.) Another general brags at length about his being related to THE general Marshall. The law-abiding young lieutenant, the only truly straight guy, is an undercover operative within the gang and is killed while trying to carry out his duties. Scott Glenn, who seems to operate a little beyond the edge but still a moralist, confesses in the last few minutes that he just LOVED Vietnam and that he did everything there that Phoenix is doing here "and a lot worse." (Then why is he so antagonistic to Phoenix?) At the end, Phoenix recovers from wounds and takes his decorations to Hawaii where his new commander is a clone of Ed Harris. Phoenix has found another perfect venue for his criminal career.
Actually, it's the kind of story that might have been thought up by some literary type who was drafted and absolutely HATED his two-year hitch in Germany. Revenge is sweet, as they say.
But there's a lot about this picture I can't figure out. Ostensibly it's about intrigue within a group of criminal bootleggers operating in Germany in the U. S. Army. And it starts off rather well. Joaquin Phoenix, the battalion clerk, is into moving materials illegally on and off base -- floor cleaner (out), drugs (in), and weapons (out). Phoenix is one mean and heartless E-4. He cooks Turkish morphine down to heroin and sells it to the other enlisted men. A tank crew, stoned, are too befogged to understand orders on maneuvers and they drive their tank around the city streets and mow down a gas station which shortly blows up, before finally and accidentally finding that they've rejoined their unit, whose commander compliments them. It's certainly a different view of how the caissons go rolling along than the one we're used to.
Yet already there is a sense of disquiet -- not just about the story that is unfolding on screen but about the movie and its assumptions. The runaway tank episode is played for laughs -- as if this were "MASH" or an Abbott and Costello movie. But when the gas stations blows, two innocent soldiers die horribly.
One private OD's on a cocktail of a dozen different drugs. The commander of the supply unit, Ed Harris in a touching performance, reads the report and can only say, "Gee! Where did he GET all this stuff?" The stuff includes LSD although by 1989, the year in which the film is set, LSD would have elicited only puzzled frowns among dopers. And poor Harris is made to play a full colonel, one step away from generalhood, but is so lacking in military presence, in common sense, that he apologizes to Phoenix after yelling at him a little. Ha ha ha. He's never shown as anything but a nincompoop.
Phoenix, with his Rollex watches and Mercedes Benz's, runs into a little problem when a new top sergeant appears -- Scott Glenn -- an actor who is invariably good. Come to think of it, he was Astronaut Carpenter while Ed Harris was Astronaut Glenn in "The Right Stuff". This new top sergeant is a real tough mother. He plays by the book. He infiltrates Phoenix's gang and ultimately destroys it. There is a subplot involving a romance between Phoenix and the top's daughter, Anna Paquin, which doesn't serve much of a useful purpose. I do want to mention Dean Stockwell though. He only has a minute or two of screen time but he can be an extremely engaging actor, as he is here.
The movie falls completely apart at the end -- shootouts in steamy warehouses, exploding fireballs, bodies falling in slow motion out of windows -- you can fill in the rest. I lost track of who was shooting whom because it was impossible to care about any of the characters. There is also a subplot about Phoenix having promised a shipment of arms to some kind of anti-Soviet revolutionary, which gets lost somewhere along the way.
Well, okay. What's the movie trying to tell us. "In Peace, the warlike man makes war against himself," observes Phoenix in voice-over. I guess I don't have much of a problem with that except that I don't see how it applies to this film. A better epigram would be, "The military sucks."
Colonel Ed Harris is a nice guy who belongs in Napa growing grapes. Joaquin Phoenix is a shifty selfish maniac who betrays the people who trust him, and who survives the fireballs to be awarded decorations. (What was he decorated for? The movie doesn't tell us. The medals are just there to make the army look stupid.) Another general brags at length about his being related to THE general Marshall. The law-abiding young lieutenant, the only truly straight guy, is an undercover operative within the gang and is killed while trying to carry out his duties. Scott Glenn, who seems to operate a little beyond the edge but still a moralist, confesses in the last few minutes that he just LOVED Vietnam and that he did everything there that Phoenix is doing here "and a lot worse." (Then why is he so antagonistic to Phoenix?) At the end, Phoenix recovers from wounds and takes his decorations to Hawaii where his new commander is a clone of Ed Harris. Phoenix has found another perfect venue for his criminal career.
Actually, it's the kind of story that might have been thought up by some literary type who was drafted and absolutely HATED his two-year hitch in Germany. Revenge is sweet, as they say.
You having a laugh
sf_millar17 December 2006
The US Army is depicted as drug users, that's very kind, these people are murderers. Thought it was a good movie, can you image the stuff that the yanks are getting up to now in Iraq. Gang members signed up, people mentally unfit even for the Yanks getting into their armed forces wow, when this film was originally meant to come out all this might have looked like a bit of a lark but it is really dark when you think of what they will be up to now. Good movie that made you feel some sympathy for bad people. Would be real go d to see what they are up to. Seen pictures of yank soldiers clearly displaying gang and far right tattoos numerous times on the television - feel so sorry for those foolish farm boys that might be joining out of some form of misdirected patriotism. Loved the Ed Harris character captures the type of sycophant that rises to top in organization like that - nice to see him do good in the end though.
Excellent movie with great performances, uneasy throughout to an outrageous climax
Rich B6 February 2005
This was an excellent movie, and it really made you feel something. There are so many movies out there that just fly by and don't even touch you or merely brush your emotions as they fly by your eyes and ears, but this one really did get hold of them and drag them along through the movie. What was even better was that this dragging of your emotions wasn't something that followed the action on screen, and let me explain that.
For example when Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is going out with Robyn Lee (Anna Paquin) and you clearly see them beginning to fall for each other what you don't feel is excitement, joy or happiness. What you feel is impending dread and fear as in the sidelines you know that her father will not be happy.
It's that feeling that continues throughout the movie, building slowly from when you see Elwood and Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn) first meet, you know something is building up and things are going to go dreadfully wrong. This is something that you are taught in the movie early on, and it builds up to the incredible crescendo.
The characters are wonderfully rich and varied. The bored and disillusioned Elwood through to the naive and hapless Colonel Berman played wonderfully by Ed Harris. The performances are excellent from all, and you can hardly single out any one member of the cast for better praise, especially since the characters are all so different.
On story, you just can't fault it. There are so many "Oh my god" moments which are incredibly distressing or alarming and yet, so messed up you can't help but think they might actually be reality. It's a totally wild ride, and something I recommend everyone watches.
For example when Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is going out with Robyn Lee (Anna Paquin) and you clearly see them beginning to fall for each other what you don't feel is excitement, joy or happiness. What you feel is impending dread and fear as in the sidelines you know that her father will not be happy.
It's that feeling that continues throughout the movie, building slowly from when you see Elwood and Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn) first meet, you know something is building up and things are going to go dreadfully wrong. This is something that you are taught in the movie early on, and it builds up to the incredible crescendo.
The characters are wonderfully rich and varied. The bored and disillusioned Elwood through to the naive and hapless Colonel Berman played wonderfully by Ed Harris. The performances are excellent from all, and you can hardly single out any one member of the cast for better praise, especially since the characters are all so different.
On story, you just can't fault it. There are so many "Oh my god" moments which are incredibly distressing or alarming and yet, so messed up you can't help but think they might actually be reality. It's a totally wild ride, and something I recommend everyone watches.
Entrepreneurial GIs
jotix10027 October 2004
This movie packs a lot of punch as it reveals how a mighty army might be undermined by those that are there to serve and protect. It's a sad commentary on the reality of the times we are living.
Gregor Jordan, an Australian director gives a great account of what happens in a US Army base in Germany when unscrupulous soldiers do anything to supplement their meager incomes by stealing things from the supply department for profit. It is a moral tale that is told as a black comedy.
Mr. Jordan has extracted a splendid performance out of Joaquin Phoenix, an actor that has not played up to his full potential in the movies. He is an excellent actor, make no mistake. His choice of material might not have been the greatest. He shines as Roy Elwood, the corrupt supply soldier who knows how to flatter the ego of Colonel Berman, the base commander, as well as satisfying Mrs. Berman in bed.
Equally fabulous is Scott Glenn, as Sargeant Lee, who sees right through Elwood and his associates what they are doing to the Army. Sgt. Lee is the man who can potentially bring Elwood to justice and unmask his clandestine activities. He also has a daughter who falls for Elwood; he is at a loss because he can't do anything to get the girl away from this evil man.
Anna Paquin, as Robyn, is also good as the army brat who will do anything to bring pain to her father. Obviously, not everything is well between Sgt. Lee and Robyn. Ed Harris, as Col. Berman, is a man that has no clue of what's going right in front of his nose. He is more interested in what he will do after his army career than in anything else. This is a shorter but effective role that Mr. Harris can add to his distinguished career.
The irony of this tale is that some things, the more they change, the more they stay the same, as we watch in disbelief the final scenes of the movie.
Gregor Jordan, an Australian director gives a great account of what happens in a US Army base in Germany when unscrupulous soldiers do anything to supplement their meager incomes by stealing things from the supply department for profit. It is a moral tale that is told as a black comedy.
Mr. Jordan has extracted a splendid performance out of Joaquin Phoenix, an actor that has not played up to his full potential in the movies. He is an excellent actor, make no mistake. His choice of material might not have been the greatest. He shines as Roy Elwood, the corrupt supply soldier who knows how to flatter the ego of Colonel Berman, the base commander, as well as satisfying Mrs. Berman in bed.
Equally fabulous is Scott Glenn, as Sargeant Lee, who sees right through Elwood and his associates what they are doing to the Army. Sgt. Lee is the man who can potentially bring Elwood to justice and unmask his clandestine activities. He also has a daughter who falls for Elwood; he is at a loss because he can't do anything to get the girl away from this evil man.
Anna Paquin, as Robyn, is also good as the army brat who will do anything to bring pain to her father. Obviously, not everything is well between Sgt. Lee and Robyn. Ed Harris, as Col. Berman, is a man that has no clue of what's going right in front of his nose. He is more interested in what he will do after his army career than in anything else. This is a shorter but effective role that Mr. Harris can add to his distinguished career.
The irony of this tale is that some things, the more they change, the more they stay the same, as we watch in disbelief the final scenes of the movie.
Dark Comedy with Dark photography
PrettyPuyol19 December 2004
Warning: Spoilers
A previous reviewer said that the photography and scenes were dull, but I found them dark to match the theme and the humor in the movie. The music in turn was a bit sinister but also had a comical bounce to it to reflect the no-consequences attitude of the characters doing the dastardly deeds and the joy in which war-loving Sgt. Robert E. Lee inflicted the consequences of their schemes upon them.
I don't think the movie portrayed any kind of ongoing corruption in the military. It was a portrayal of a particular incident at the end of the Cold War and the human nature of "warlike men" who, without a war, will create one amongst themselves to combat the boredom. In the film the war is between Ray Elwood (Phoenix), a man who joined the army to avoid prison time for stealing a car and Sgt. Robert E. Lee (am very fitting name) who took three tours of Vietnam and knows and enjoys the realities of war. Lee can't stand the type of soldier that Elwood is, a soldier with no regard for the army and a smart ass attitude. It's in Lee's blood to be a "warlike man," somethings his colleagues Marshall and Berman, trying to prove embarrassingly via their pathetic stories about their supposed lineage.
Although the message is dark, the film always maintains a somewhat lighthearted view of the situation as we see at the end, after Elwood's heroine manufacturing operation literally blows up beneath his feet. He almost dies and falls five stories (he has a noted fear of heights and nightmares about falling) yet at the end after being awarded a Purple Heart (irony anyone?) he is transferred to Hawaii where he picks up right where he left off, pulling his schemes, broken leg, smirk and all.
I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it for those who like dark comedies.
I don't think the movie portrayed any kind of ongoing corruption in the military. It was a portrayal of a particular incident at the end of the Cold War and the human nature of "warlike men" who, without a war, will create one amongst themselves to combat the boredom. In the film the war is between Ray Elwood (Phoenix), a man who joined the army to avoid prison time for stealing a car and Sgt. Robert E. Lee (am very fitting name) who took three tours of Vietnam and knows and enjoys the realities of war. Lee can't stand the type of soldier that Elwood is, a soldier with no regard for the army and a smart ass attitude. It's in Lee's blood to be a "warlike man," somethings his colleagues Marshall and Berman, trying to prove embarrassingly via their pathetic stories about their supposed lineage.
Although the message is dark, the film always maintains a somewhat lighthearted view of the situation as we see at the end, after Elwood's heroine manufacturing operation literally blows up beneath his feet. He almost dies and falls five stories (he has a noted fear of heights and nightmares about falling) yet at the end after being awarded a Purple Heart (irony anyone?) he is transferred to Hawaii where he picks up right where he left off, pulling his schemes, broken leg, smirk and all.
I enjoyed it and definitely recommend it for those who like dark comedies.
It's better than Jordan's "Ned Kelly" although that is hardly a great appraisal
thirteenthfloorelevator21 February 2006
Buffalo Soldiers is consistently entertaining, but the biggest problem within is that it can't work out whether it is meant to be a satire or a proper comedy. At times it is funny, but at other times awful events are meant to be played for laughs, which left me feeling very uncomfortable. Phoenix is well cast and he certainly gives a great performance, which leaves me confused as to how he could have accepted a crappy role in The Village after this. The supporting cast are good, but the whole film feels terribly uneven and I can't work out what the director is trying to tell us. Does he intend for this film to a satire about contemporary politics? If so, he does not explore all the possible satirical opportunities he could, and at times I am left just wondering where on earth the film is meant to be going.
Blacker than black but funny as hell!
james_norman19813 February 2006
Warning: Spoilers
So you're going to the cinema to see a movie that's been shelved since 2001 because of the catastrophe at the twin towers. It's been very quietly hyped as EDGY and A BLACK COMEDY. All in all the only reason you're going is because you think Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris and Scott Glenn are all good actors and you're pretty bored that day. Expectations are low. You've never heard of the director, the film, as has been said, was delayed for reasons of patriotism, it's set in the 80's and it sounds like yet another tired rehash of Catch 22 and M.A.S.H.
And then you come out, a couple of hours later, after one of the most brilliantly funny, satirical films you've seen for years! Put simply Buffalo Soldiers is an incredibly funny black comedy with altogether excellent acting, dialogue, scripting, pacing and a near perfect blending together of the humorous and dramatic sides of the film. Whereas most genre blenders, from action-comedy to black comedy, seem to take the two halves as separate events, the first half usually funny with the second both much more sober and containing all of the action, Buffalo Soldiers keeps the pace constant between the two.
Set on a US army base in West Germany during the latter stages of the 1980's we quickly learn that life for a grunt in the Cold War is about as much fun as watching toxic paint dry... it's both uninteresting and deadly. Phoenix's Ray Elwood is our antiheroic narrator for this journey into the horrendous dullness of the edgy peace of the Cold War. A boy forced into a man's army as an alternative to prison, Elwood quickly realised that he'd made a big mistake but couldn't undo it. He's in the army for his full term.
Fortunately, outside of the tiresome monotony of army life, there is money to be made in the German black market, particularly if you inveigle yourself into a position of trust as battalion clerk with your incompetent, altogether too nice boss allocating the entire running of his section of the base to you. Elwood wheels and deals his way to a Mercedes Benz, leather jackets and numerous other perks through a potent mixture of the selling of legitimate goods on the German black market and the cooking, read distillation and purification, of heroin, dealt out by the US Military Police to their soldiers at night.
All this is established and running by the start of the film and provides much of the comedy. Ed Harris' useless Colonel Berman is a hysterical example of bureaucratic incompetence, a relic from World War 2 ill suited to peace keeping duties in the Cold War. Elwood runs rings around his superior who is blissfully unaware of what is going on.
However, the new top, first sergeant of your unit, Scott Glenn, is not quite so clueless. Glenn's Sergeant Lee is a Vietnam veteran with all the wit, knowledge and will to mess up Elwood's plans in the most terminal of ways. Lee's arrival coincides with Elwood discovering a stash of weapons that could set him up monetarily for life. But will Elwood be able to find a buyer, sell the weapons and get his money with Lee snooping around? To further add to his problems, Elwood decides to take up with Sgt Lee's daughter, a fantastically feisty Anna Pacquin showing there's a lot more to her than Rogue's girlish naivety. Elwood's poor career move provides plenty of laughs, romance and drama, not least because you can entirely sympathise with Elwood's attraction, particularly as the spectacular boredom that is his everyday existence cries out for a young, kindred spirit like Robyn Lee.
Anyhow, this powder keg of a situation inevitably leads to massive conflict, violence and disaster on all sides. The details are fascinating but are best viewed in the film. As for the rest of the cast: Liz McGovern is on terrifically waspish form as Col Berman's wife, Leon Robinson and Michael Pena do well in roles that must've read as Elwood's lapdogs numbers 1 and 2, Dean Stockwell turns up briefly as a wonderfully acidic General and Gabriel Mann, perhaps best known for his quiet but essential role in the two Jason Bourne films, is excellent as the clueless new recruit Private Knoll.
This film has moments of rolling in the isles humour, a love interest with genuine chemistry, dramatic buildup and climaxes throughout and strong performances from all. It is definitely worth seeing, although is not recommended for those with a weak stomach, aversion to drug use or beliefs in America's army. It was this last, the depiction of the good old American boys as drug dealing low lives, that caused the films delay. However, don't think that it is not worth watching because of that. In fact, the motivation of all the characters and their desperation to survive the horrendous boredom of modern army life is what makes this film so powerful and well worth seeing.
In my opinion, particularly with the current situation in Iraq, it is essential to remind ourselves that soldiers are trained to fight wars. In Buffalo Soldiers we see that, when this objective isn't realised, all that macho-ism and psychological motivation has no answer to boredom. With nothing but drill and exercises to occupy them, rather than battles and war, these troops in Germany stagnate and fall apart, becoming a useless, impotent machine that turns on itself in its frustration. Nowadays we have peace keeping missions in, for example, Iraq to occupy our soldiers, where they are once again being faced with a situation they weren't trained for. We can only hope that the powers that be in the US army have seen films like Buffalo Soldiers and have anticipated similar occurrences in Iraq.
And then you come out, a couple of hours later, after one of the most brilliantly funny, satirical films you've seen for years! Put simply Buffalo Soldiers is an incredibly funny black comedy with altogether excellent acting, dialogue, scripting, pacing and a near perfect blending together of the humorous and dramatic sides of the film. Whereas most genre blenders, from action-comedy to black comedy, seem to take the two halves as separate events, the first half usually funny with the second both much more sober and containing all of the action, Buffalo Soldiers keeps the pace constant between the two.
Set on a US army base in West Germany during the latter stages of the 1980's we quickly learn that life for a grunt in the Cold War is about as much fun as watching toxic paint dry... it's both uninteresting and deadly. Phoenix's Ray Elwood is our antiheroic narrator for this journey into the horrendous dullness of the edgy peace of the Cold War. A boy forced into a man's army as an alternative to prison, Elwood quickly realised that he'd made a big mistake but couldn't undo it. He's in the army for his full term.
Fortunately, outside of the tiresome monotony of army life, there is money to be made in the German black market, particularly if you inveigle yourself into a position of trust as battalion clerk with your incompetent, altogether too nice boss allocating the entire running of his section of the base to you. Elwood wheels and deals his way to a Mercedes Benz, leather jackets and numerous other perks through a potent mixture of the selling of legitimate goods on the German black market and the cooking, read distillation and purification, of heroin, dealt out by the US Military Police to their soldiers at night.
All this is established and running by the start of the film and provides much of the comedy. Ed Harris' useless Colonel Berman is a hysterical example of bureaucratic incompetence, a relic from World War 2 ill suited to peace keeping duties in the Cold War. Elwood runs rings around his superior who is blissfully unaware of what is going on.
However, the new top, first sergeant of your unit, Scott Glenn, is not quite so clueless. Glenn's Sergeant Lee is a Vietnam veteran with all the wit, knowledge and will to mess up Elwood's plans in the most terminal of ways. Lee's arrival coincides with Elwood discovering a stash of weapons that could set him up monetarily for life. But will Elwood be able to find a buyer, sell the weapons and get his money with Lee snooping around? To further add to his problems, Elwood decides to take up with Sgt Lee's daughter, a fantastically feisty Anna Pacquin showing there's a lot more to her than Rogue's girlish naivety. Elwood's poor career move provides plenty of laughs, romance and drama, not least because you can entirely sympathise with Elwood's attraction, particularly as the spectacular boredom that is his everyday existence cries out for a young, kindred spirit like Robyn Lee.
Anyhow, this powder keg of a situation inevitably leads to massive conflict, violence and disaster on all sides. The details are fascinating but are best viewed in the film. As for the rest of the cast: Liz McGovern is on terrifically waspish form as Col Berman's wife, Leon Robinson and Michael Pena do well in roles that must've read as Elwood's lapdogs numbers 1 and 2, Dean Stockwell turns up briefly as a wonderfully acidic General and Gabriel Mann, perhaps best known for his quiet but essential role in the two Jason Bourne films, is excellent as the clueless new recruit Private Knoll.
This film has moments of rolling in the isles humour, a love interest with genuine chemistry, dramatic buildup and climaxes throughout and strong performances from all. It is definitely worth seeing, although is not recommended for those with a weak stomach, aversion to drug use or beliefs in America's army. It was this last, the depiction of the good old American boys as drug dealing low lives, that caused the films delay. However, don't think that it is not worth watching because of that. In fact, the motivation of all the characters and their desperation to survive the horrendous boredom of modern army life is what makes this film so powerful and well worth seeing.
In my opinion, particularly with the current situation in Iraq, it is essential to remind ourselves that soldiers are trained to fight wars. In Buffalo Soldiers we see that, when this objective isn't realised, all that macho-ism and psychological motivation has no answer to boredom. With nothing but drill and exercises to occupy them, rather than battles and war, these troops in Germany stagnate and fall apart, becoming a useless, impotent machine that turns on itself in its frustration. Nowadays we have peace keeping missions in, for example, Iraq to occupy our soldiers, where they are once again being faced with a situation they weren't trained for. We can only hope that the powers that be in the US army have seen films like Buffalo Soldiers and have anticipated similar occurrences in Iraq.
Noir-ish
harry_tk_yung21 March 2004
Warning: Spoilers
spoilers
Why noir-ish and not outright noir. Take a movie like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) in which a dead man is dressed in honey garlic BBQ sauce, put in an oven, roasted to perfection, served on a classy platter, and his murderer is forced to taste his genital¡K¡Know ¡§THIS is noir¡¨, as Crocodile Dundee would say.
BS has not gone that far. One commenter seems disoriented by the inability to put this movie neatly into any genre. It¡¦s really not that hard. BS is an anti-hero story, with enough deaths to be quite noir-ish. But then, there are a few good laughs, plus a love story with an almost fairy-tale like innocence. A clever plot of sorts sustains the whole thing, which is complete with a Hollywood mayhem climax and a minor undercover-type twist. Genre? Who needs one.
What makes this movie work is a fine cast. Funny thing is all of the four lead roles have played something entirely opposite to the last movie I remember them with.
I¡¦ve seen Joaquin Phoenix in only one and one quarter movies. The one is Gladiator which everybody knows. The quarter-movie I saw recently in a hotel room, in a local arts and culture channel ¡V It¡¦s All About Love. While it had every sign of being promising, as well as two of my favourite artists Claire Danes (Terminator 3, The Hours) and Sean Penn (who needs no introduction), I was too tired to watch it through. But I have promised myself not to miss it if it crosses my path again. The lovable anti-hero he plays in BS is quite a change from the formidable villain in Gladiator.
Ed Harris I last saw in The Hours (which was actually made before BS), as a suicidal AIDS patient. It¡¦s a treat to see him here as a comical, almost clownish colonel.
While Scott Glen has always been active, albeit often in small roles, I always remember him in Silverado (1985), a brief but good revival of the westerns, portraying a traditional hero in the footsteps of James Stewart and Gary Cooper. It¡¦s an interesting change to see him equally adept playing a Vietnam veteran who has done things ¡§a lot worse¡¨ than the drug paddling and arms deals by our anti-hero.
Anna Paquin plays the role of lovely princess with a despot father. Other than adorning the screen with her sweet charm, however, she does not have much to do. In fact, its quite a pity that since The Piano, the grown Paquin has not had a really important role, although she has done well in Finding Forrester, Almost Famous and the X-men movies.
Bottom line? What I would suggest is that with the proliferation of movies glorifying the U.S. army as the saviour of our world, something like BS is divinely refreshing. In any event, it¡¦s only a movie.
Why noir-ish and not outright noir. Take a movie like The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (1989) in which a dead man is dressed in honey garlic BBQ sauce, put in an oven, roasted to perfection, served on a classy platter, and his murderer is forced to taste his genital¡K¡Know ¡§THIS is noir¡¨, as Crocodile Dundee would say.
BS has not gone that far. One commenter seems disoriented by the inability to put this movie neatly into any genre. It¡¦s really not that hard. BS is an anti-hero story, with enough deaths to be quite noir-ish. But then, there are a few good laughs, plus a love story with an almost fairy-tale like innocence. A clever plot of sorts sustains the whole thing, which is complete with a Hollywood mayhem climax and a minor undercover-type twist. Genre? Who needs one.
What makes this movie work is a fine cast. Funny thing is all of the four lead roles have played something entirely opposite to the last movie I remember them with.
I¡¦ve seen Joaquin Phoenix in only one and one quarter movies. The one is Gladiator which everybody knows. The quarter-movie I saw recently in a hotel room, in a local arts and culture channel ¡V It¡¦s All About Love. While it had every sign of being promising, as well as two of my favourite artists Claire Danes (Terminator 3, The Hours) and Sean Penn (who needs no introduction), I was too tired to watch it through. But I have promised myself not to miss it if it crosses my path again. The lovable anti-hero he plays in BS is quite a change from the formidable villain in Gladiator.
Ed Harris I last saw in The Hours (which was actually made before BS), as a suicidal AIDS patient. It¡¦s a treat to see him here as a comical, almost clownish colonel.
While Scott Glen has always been active, albeit often in small roles, I always remember him in Silverado (1985), a brief but good revival of the westerns, portraying a traditional hero in the footsteps of James Stewart and Gary Cooper. It¡¦s an interesting change to see him equally adept playing a Vietnam veteran who has done things ¡§a lot worse¡¨ than the drug paddling and arms deals by our anti-hero.
Anna Paquin plays the role of lovely princess with a despot father. Other than adorning the screen with her sweet charm, however, she does not have much to do. In fact, its quite a pity that since The Piano, the grown Paquin has not had a really important role, although she has done well in Finding Forrester, Almost Famous and the X-men movies.
Bottom line? What I would suggest is that with the proliferation of movies glorifying the U.S. army as the saviour of our world, something like BS is divinely refreshing. In any event, it¡¦s only a movie.
Bilko goes bad
ExpendableMan24 May 2006
Having been surrounded by a massive amount of media hyperbole since his A-list graduation performance in Walk The Line, now couldn't be a better time than to go back and re-evaluate some of Joaquin Phoenix's earlier work, especially Buffalo Soldiers, an edgy black comedy with a strong anti-authoritarian vein pulsing through it that has been more or less ignored. That could easily be put down to the fact it is a movie about American soldiers organising drug operations which was released two days prior to the September 11th atrocities but it would be a real shame if it were forever to be consigned to the drawer marked "forgotten." Coming across like a darker version of Sergeant Bilko, the film is set on an American military base in Germany just prior to the collapse of the Berlin wall and the end of the cold war. With no enemy to fight and little to do, Sergeant Elwood (Phoenix) the camp clerk and his motley crew (including a pre-Crash Michael Pena) pass their days running drugs on the black market and running circles around hapless camp commander Colonel Berman (Ed Harris). Everything seems safe and structured until the stoney-faced career soldier Sergeant Lee turns up and becomes determined to scupper all Elwood's plans...
To label the resulting film as anti-American may be a tad harsh however. Elwood and his crew may be devious and self-centred but they are human nonetheless. The top brass come in for a kicking too; Harris's Colonel Berman being portrayed as so much of a career driven apple polisher he fails to notice the fact that his own clerk is in charge of a major drug operation and having an affair with his wife right under his nose but this certainly makes a change from the clean cut heroics or "We're just trying to do our job" determination of regular war films. Giving the characters so much depth also makes the drama more effective and while not everyone may disagree with Elwood's actions, it's hard not to feel for him when an underworld kingpin refuses to sympathise with the death of one of his men.
Bleak as that scene may be it is all the more effective for what comes before it. The sight of a three man tank crew getting stoned then inadvertently causing havoc when they try to find the rest of their unit is a riot and Elwood's playful game of cat and mouse with Sgt. Lee provides many funny incidents, not least of which is a scene where Lee has an entire platoon unload machine gun clips into Elwood's prized Lamborghini.
At the heart of it all is the main Phoenix himself. His acting abilities really shine and Buffalo Soldiers is a good indication of why he was handed the job of portraying Johnny Cash as he handles both the sombre and the humorous equally well. That he is backed up by a witty and edgy script helps things no end and in these days where the US is more keen than ever to have us believe their armed forces are comprised of square-jawed patriots, it is a tremendous relief to see someone give us a differing view; an army made up of individuals from every corner of life, each with their own attitudes to their profession, not all of which may be as tasteful as the top brass would like.
To label the resulting film as anti-American may be a tad harsh however. Elwood and his crew may be devious and self-centred but they are human nonetheless. The top brass come in for a kicking too; Harris's Colonel Berman being portrayed as so much of a career driven apple polisher he fails to notice the fact that his own clerk is in charge of a major drug operation and having an affair with his wife right under his nose but this certainly makes a change from the clean cut heroics or "We're just trying to do our job" determination of regular war films. Giving the characters so much depth also makes the drama more effective and while not everyone may disagree with Elwood's actions, it's hard not to feel for him when an underworld kingpin refuses to sympathise with the death of one of his men.
Bleak as that scene may be it is all the more effective for what comes before it. The sight of a three man tank crew getting stoned then inadvertently causing havoc when they try to find the rest of their unit is a riot and Elwood's playful game of cat and mouse with Sgt. Lee provides many funny incidents, not least of which is a scene where Lee has an entire platoon unload machine gun clips into Elwood's prized Lamborghini.
At the heart of it all is the main Phoenix himself. His acting abilities really shine and Buffalo Soldiers is a good indication of why he was handed the job of portraying Johnny Cash as he handles both the sombre and the humorous equally well. That he is backed up by a witty and edgy script helps things no end and in these days where the US is more keen than ever to have us believe their armed forces are comprised of square-jawed patriots, it is a tremendous relief to see someone give us a differing view; an army made up of individuals from every corner of life, each with their own attitudes to their profession, not all of which may be as tasteful as the top brass would like.
Great movie
dunxy18 February 2006
I had not even heard of this movie until my girlfriend came home with the DVD tonight. Having just seen "Walk The Line" recently and was very impressed with Jaquin Phoenix in that i whacked the DVD on straight away! What a hoot, this movie is seriously funny as well as packing in some great action and a interesting story that kept me guessing the whole way through.All the acting was brilliant as was the cinematography and special effects, some really great explosions!The stoned tank crew at the beginning running over the VW and taking out the gas station and the drugged out knife fight near the end had me in stitches. Well worth the watch.
good movie
gnubunny8 May 2005
I am currently serving in the US Army, and I can say with out a doubt that this is a very good movie. The acting in my opinion is very believable, although the story is hard to swallow. But the actors portrayed very believable soldiers, some of the characters in the movie act a lot like some of my buddies in my platoon. And the top, hell, he acts and talks and even looks like my 1st Sgt. This movie is very believable in the sense that it looks and feels real. I maybe nit picking, but one thing that bothers me about any movie concerning the US Army is if they get things right, like uniforms, equipment etc
etc
and well this at least to me seems so spot on, it makes me wonder if we gave support to this movie via technical, and equipment.
Random comments
gillins-15 January 2005
I was in Germany during the time depicted. In fact, I was stationed at Siegelsbach Army Depot, where they filmed the mock battle scenario. I have seen a comment stating that HMMWV's (Hummers) were not used in Germany until after the Wall came down. I beg to differ. I actual got 2 of them stuck in the mud at S.A.D. in 1987... The depiction of all of us being disheartened would-be criminals is absurd. However they did capture, quite effectively, the colorful language we used. The attitudes portrayed may have been felt by some, but overall, we just felt we were there to do our jobs. We were all volunteers. Nobody twisted our arms to sign a contract. In fact, a lot of us CHOSE our assignments. The movie did what it was designed to do, and depict one soldiers version of life in Germany at the end of the Cold War.
If Quentin Tarantino had Directed M*A*S*H
mycranium8 July 2003
The movie was fairly charming, but ultimately the filmmakers couldn't reconcile the satirical tone of the comedy portions with the more standard drug story tone.
Joaquin Phoenix is at his best when he isn't speaking, but lots of his lines were flat or inaudible. Anna Paquin was just plain weird, I can't explain it. She seemed like she was trying to be very intense but she wasn't particularly good. It almost seemed like she was on cocaine or something.
Ed Harris and Scott Glenn were both very good. It was fun to see Ed Harris in this type of comic role.
I ended up feeling like this material probably worked well in the book (haven't read it) because novels seem to be more amenable to having comedy side-by-side with action. Movies are fine for blending the two, but when they don't synthesize the disparate tones they just seem like they don't know what they want to be when they grow up.
All in all it's more interesting than a lot of movies, but it misses the mark.
Joaquin Phoenix is at his best when he isn't speaking, but lots of his lines were flat or inaudible. Anna Paquin was just plain weird, I can't explain it. She seemed like she was trying to be very intense but she wasn't particularly good. It almost seemed like she was on cocaine or something.
Ed Harris and Scott Glenn were both very good. It was fun to see Ed Harris in this type of comic role.
I ended up feeling like this material probably worked well in the book (haven't read it) because novels seem to be more amenable to having comedy side-by-side with action. Movies are fine for blending the two, but when they don't synthesize the disparate tones they just seem like they don't know what they want to be when they grow up.
All in all it's more interesting than a lot of movies, but it misses the mark.
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