Tom and Gage discuss Vincent Gallo's Buffalo 66 from 1998.

Buffalo ’66 (1998) — Summary

Buffalo ’66 is a bleak, off-kilter indie film that mixes deadpan humor, romantic fantasy, and emotional trauma.

The story follows Billy Brown (played by Vincent Gallo), who’s just been released from prison after five years. Too ashamed to admit the truth to his emotionally abusive parents, Billy kidnaps Layla (Christina Ricci), a shy tap dancer, and forces her to pose as his wife for a visit home. What begins as coercive and unsettling gradually softens into something more complicated and intimate.

The film drifts between:

• Billy’s crippling resentment toward his parents
• His obsession with the Buffalo Bills’ Super Bowl loss, which he blames for ruining his life
• Fantasies of violence and revenge
• Unexpected moments of tenderness between Billy and Layla

Stylistically, it’s stark and stylized: long silences, washed-out colors, abrupt emotional shifts. The tone walks a tightrope between cruelty and vulnerability. By the end, the film becomes less about crime or revenge and more about whether deeply damaged people can choose connection over self-destruction.

It’s controversial, uncomfortable, and very personal—basically a cinematic emotional wound.

Vincent Gallo — Career Overview

Vincent Gallo is one of those artists where the work and the personality are inseparable, for better or worse.

Early Career

• Started in the 1980s New York art scene, involved in music, painting, and experimental film
• Acted in films like Arizona Dream (1993) and The Funeral (1996), gaining attention for his intensity and unpredictability

Breakthrough: Buffalo ’66

• Gallo wrote, directed, starred in, composed the music for, and partially shot the film
• It became a cult hit and was praised for its originality, performances (especially Christina Ricci), and raw emotional honesty
• Cemented Gallo as a major indie auteur—but also as a difficult, polarizing figure

Later Film Work

• Directed The Brown Bunny (2003), infamous for:
  • An explicit sex scene
  • Being brutally panned at Cannes, then partially redeemed after re-editing
• Acted in films like:
  • Trouble Every Day (2001)
  • Essential Killing (2010), which won him Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival

Music and Art

• Released several lo-fi, melancholic albums blending post-punk, blues, and experimental sounds
• Continues to paint and exhibit visual art
• His music and art share the same themes as his films: alienation, nostalgia, masculinity, and romantic despair

Controversy and Reputation

• Known for provocative, offensive, or inflammatory statements
• Frequently clashes with critics, audiences, and collaborators
• Seen by some as a misunderstood auteur; by others as self-indulgent and misogynistic
• His public persona has often overshadowed his actual work

Big Picture

Vincent Gallo is best understood as:

• A deeply personal artist who puts his own damage onscreen
• Someone whose work can feel honest, cruel, romantic, and repellent all at once
• A figure who thrives on discomfort—both emotional and cultural

If you like Buffalo ’66, you’re usually responding to its lonely, wounded sincerity, not necessarily to Gallo himself.

If you want, I can also:

• Compare Buffalo ’66 to The Brown Bunny
• Talk about why the film became such a cult classic
• Or unpack the Billy/Layla relationship in more detail