Blu-Ray Review- Where The Buffalo Roam (1980)

Where The Buffalo Roam over the years since its disastrous release in the spring of 1980 has gained a cult following. The following is pretty much only down to Bill Murray’s performance, which like Johnny Depp’s (albeit more successfully) in the latter Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas inhabits the persona of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson. The cult following is certainly not down to the ridiculously poor script by John Kaye (which ruined his film career) which everyone involved cites as the film’s major failure, and Thompson went one step further calling it in characteristic venom “bad, dumb, low-level, low rent”.  To get the big question out-of-the-way for fans of the film have about this Blu-Ray release is despite the press release citing it has the original soundtrack full of hits by Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and The Four Tops it’s the later VHS/DVD soundtrack which contains the Neil Young score, the Creedence song and anachronistic 80s score music.

The resulting film is a complete mess that suffers from never having a concrete narrative to follow, it’s not based on a singular event of Hunter’s life or his writing but simply “the twisted legend of Hunter S. Thompson“. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas worked because it had a beautifully written source novel to draw from but even this can be a problem for writers adapting Thompson’s work to the screen – The Rum Diary anyone? It ends up being a series of amusing escapades of Hunter and Peter Boyle as Carl Lazlo, who is obviously a roman à clef of his dear friend the Mexican attorney Oscar Acosta who’s Mexican heritage is offensively whitewashed here. It lacks the drug induced surrealism that runs rampant in Hunter’s work from the late ’60s onwards which Terry Gilliam naturally was drawn to when he directed Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Where the Buffalo Roam was directed by noted producer Art Linson who actually took a course in film directing in preparation for the film, shame it didn’t rub off on the final product, he would only direct once more 4 years later with The Wild Life.

It’s not without any redeeming features at all however. The film is pretty funny overall and certainly sures Mark Kermode’s 6 laugh rule for a comedy. It contains some comedic set pieces that work very well, including the plane ride where Hunter sings Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, and the confrontation scene where Hunter meets his arch nemesis President Richard Nixon. The Nixon meeting did happen in real life but Hunter and Nixon got on ok and talked about American football. Bill Murray’s performance, also despite being overly zany at times for his own good, inhabits Hunter’s mannerisms and of course his distinctive speech pattern.

Where The Buffalo Roam is now on its 35th anniversary and unlike Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas it’s initial frosty reception is understandable. It’s a failure on most levels especially the editing which was so problematic to the point that a press screening had to be cancelled because of editing problems. Despite all the flaws I can’t help but buy the ticket, take the ride and Bill Murray’s performance elevates it to the point it’s decent and becomes a worthwhile film to see if you’re a Hunter S. Thompson fan. However if you haven’t seen Terry Gilliam’s brilliant adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas see that first.

[rating=3]
Ian Schultz

Genre: Comedy | Distributor: Fabulous Films | BD Release Date: 27th April 2015 (UK) | Rating: 18 |Director: Art Linson ! Cast: Bill Murray, Peter Boyle, Bruno Kirby, Rene Auberjonois Buy: Where The Buffalo Roam [Blu-ray]