Buffalo Soldiers (2001)

Inviting casual comparison to Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Buffalo Soldiers is an Army-base comedy about soldiers "with nothing to kill except time." It's 1989: The Berlin Wall is falling, completing the cold war's thaw, and Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix)--a clerk with the 317th Supply Battalion, stationed in West Germany--combats boredom with a variety of black-market schemes, from cooking heroin for the base's corrupt MPs to dealing stolen arms to the highest bidder, in addition to having a shallow affair with the two-timing wife (Elizabeth McGovern) of his outgoing commander (Ed Harris). Elwood's new CO (Scott Glenn) clamps down on his illegal activities while protecting his daughter (Anna Paquin) from Elwood's advances. Fine casting and positive buzz couldn't prevent this movie's ironic fate: Acquired by Miramax one day before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Buffalo Soldiers--based on the celebrated novel by Robert O'Connor--was shelved for nearly two years, by which time this dark and defiantly amusing exercise in political incorrectness had been overshadowed by world events. --Jeff Shannon Amazon.com

Waste of Time

The acting was lame, the dialogue unbelievable, and the story far-fetched. Comparing this to Catch-22 or "Three Kings", as the cover reviews do, is like comparing a cheese-burger (with the emphasis on "cheese") to a sirloin steak. Although it may keep you just interested enough to finish it, by the end of the movie you'll realize you've just wasted the past two hours.
November 14, 2007

Entertaining action film, sufficient plot and charismatic cast

BUFFALO SOLDIERS (2001), is of interest to fans of Joaquin Phoenix,
Ed Harris and Scott Glenn, who comprise the star cast of this picture
taking placing in West Germany, before the Cold War ended, as the
Berlin Wall fell. It also is especially entertaining to those having
served in the military.

The story captures well the self-contained world of the military, in
terms of bases, discipline, the constant reminder of belonging to a
group, and the expectations imposed that must be met in terms of
uniformity, and standards that met by all in innumerable aspects of
conduct. The picture shows a few of these: the mess, drills, marches,
deployment exercises, etc. It also brings up the physical and
mental stress of being in a chain of command, where there is no
outsider, per se, who can come to a soldier's rescue, if there is
misconduct, abuse of authority, physical violence, even to one's life
in extreme and rare cases of bullying.

An intriguing suggestion made by the movie, is that the volunteer
nature of enrollment (vs. conscription) has resulted in a lack of
recruited manpower, leading the Army to force convicts to serve, such
that many of these bring their prior shady activities to their new
place of employment. We see drug users and drug labs built on an Army
base, narco-trafficking, as well as black market reselling of Army
commodities. The picture shows the numerous tentacles of those
operations, as perhaps 30 or more are on the take, to look the other
way, or participate actively.

The entertainment goal is met, such as from a few moments of juvenile
humor (a tank runs over a car, gas station), or the mini-romance
with Phoenix and a teenage girl, played by Anna Paquin, but mostly
from thrill and action aspects, culminating in a climax of
explosions, and a fire fight and man-to-man combat.

Some interesting lessons are learned by Phoenix, as he tries to pull
out of his deal, being told by the international arms dealer that he
can't do that, under penalty of losing his life, as up until then he
was small-time, dealing only with commodities, not rifles or grenade
launchers.

The story also underlines how some individuals in the chain of
command (in civilian life, supervisors, bosses, but here, officers,
sergeants) due to lack of oversight can create their own rules, and
get away with it, preparing an ordeal for their rivals in the
organization, such that they are themselves the judge, jury and
executioner, later leaving appearances of either a suicide event or
of an accident of their coworkers.

Overall, this work is entertaining because it intentionally doesn't
take itself too seriously, has a charismatic cast, the required
ingredients for an action film, and a sufficient plot to keep people
interested for 90 mins. June 14, 2007

A dark look at US Army life in Germany in the late 1980's

Buffalo Soldiers is the story of US Army supply clerk Ray Elwood, played by the handsome and mysterious Joaquin Phoenix. Elwood is one of those go-to-guys who can score anything you need in exchange for the right favor. He has his hands all over the supply chain, drives a sweet German sports car, and knows who to cook up a batch of heroin in spare warehouses. He's a stoic who is well-respected by his peers. He helps his goofball desk jockey boss (played by Ed Harris) keep the base in West Germany in line.

Elwood's life is thrown into personal and romantic turmoil with the arrival of Sgt. Lee (played by Scott Glenn) and his beautiful daughter (Anna Paquin). Sgt. Lee has a personal goal of cleaning house and exposing Elwood's dabblings in the black market. Elwood, of course, decides to antagonize Lee by dating his daughter, and then he falls hard for the young lady. The movie is a dark game of cat and mouse between Lee and Elwood, with the base commander bumbling around in the background in truly comedic fashion. With a few healthy plot twists and elements of both satire and horror, Buffalo Soldiers is a movie to catch on DVD for anyone who likes dark drama/comedy in which the viewer ends up rooting for a handsome "bad guy." Fans of this movie should check out Wonderland and Lord of War. April 19, 2007

Fighting on Arrival?

Joaquin, dear heart, what were you thinking?

This is another film that had a great cast with no synergy whatsoever. I can't imagine what the original script must have been like to get these talents to sign off on this film, or what must have happened in the process of shooting it that rendered such an awful product. February 26, 2007

Who says soldiers can't be creative, a dark comedy of a soldier pushing the limits.

This was an interesting film I discovered by chance, overlooking it on the rental shelf, and hearing about it last year through a friend. Finally I rented it, and now own a copy of it. Joaquin Phoenix plays private elwood, a young man that chose the army instead of jail. Most of the movie takes place in 1989 germany, just before the berlin wall fell. Elwood has managed to make it through training and is now stationed in one of the supply divisions. He manages to become in charge of ordering for his company, and ordering he does. Though paperwork and orderforms, he manages to become a big suppler of goods (cleaners, equipment etc) to many germans as well as the rest of europe, making a few pennies as well. Eventually, he decides to put some other skills he has to use becoming a supplyer of refined heroin, attempting to make one last big profit. Along the way, love is thrown into the mix, and amazingly he falls in love with the worst available option, his commanding officer's daughter, played by ed harris. this doesn't make the boss happy. Well, the movie goes from their, and lets just say elwood's life gets complicated, just a bit. The ending is great. Must watch. you'll be suprised. February 15, 2007

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