Tuesday's Overlooked Films: Where the Buffalo Roam (1980)
In 1977 Gonzo journalist Hunter Thompson sold the film rights to his article "The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat," a eulogy of sorts for his longtime attorney and friend Oscar Acosta, who disappeared and was presumed dead in 1974. Since his much more famous FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS had had several aborted attempts at being filmed, Thompson was sure the movie would never be made and saw selling the rights as a way to get some quick cash. However, much to Thompson's displeasure, the film, which as its subtitle states, is "based on the twisted legend of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," was finally made in 1980 as the directorial debut of veteran producer Art Linson and starring Bill Murray as Thompson.
The film that finally got made is a highly fictionallized and exaggerated version of Thompson's life and career. It's virtually plotless, more a collection of scenes than a movie with a beginning, middle and end, yet the film's disjointed nature seems right considering its subject. The movie seems almost as stream of consciousness as Thompson's writing tended to be. Still, the film manages to hit most of the high points (if you'll pardon the pun) of Thompson's life. We start in 1968 with Thompson and Acosta (here named Carl Lazlo for legal reasons and played by Peter Boyle) covering the Super Bowl while making a shambles of their hotel and not bothering to stick around to actually watch the game. From there we move into a brief dramatization of some of the events from FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS before finishing up with Thompson covering Richard Nixon's 1972 Presidential campaign, end with a restroom confrontation with the candidate himself. Through it all Thompson is seen swilling bottles of Wild Turkey, swallowing handfuls of pills (apparently the blue ones are the most potent) and generally acting like a maniac to everyone who has the misfortune to cross his path.
Since the film has barely any structure the only thing holding it together is the performances of its stars. Murray spent quite a bit of time with Thompson researching his role and it shows. He crawls into Thompson's skin and gives a spot on impression of the doctor in his younger, madder days. Boyle gives an equally committed performance as Acosta/Lazlo, especially in a courtroom scene where he defends some kids arrested on a pot bust. As it's written, this role could easily have been played as a loudmouthed buffoon but Boyle gives him a genuine personality. The supporting performances are good as well, if a bit more thankless, especially Bruno Kirby as Thompson's long suffering editor at Blast magazine (subbing for Rolling Stone) and Rene Auberjonois, who has a funny cameo near the end of the film as "Harris from The Post."
Since this is a movie about the legend of Hunter Thompson (a legend he created and encouraged right up to his death) it doesn't tell the viewer a whole lot about the man. In fact, viewers without at least some background regarding who Thompson was will likely be totally confused as to why this guy merits having a movie made about him in the first place. We just see him do crazy things and sometimes he writes about them. There's never any sense of the impact that his writing had on people. Mostly we just wonder why he's not dead, what with all the drugs and alcohol constantly being poured into his system.
When Universal released WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM in 1980 it was a financial disaster and was quickly exiled to endless showings on pay cable. Apparently not one to learn a lesson, Universal tried again in 1998 when they finally produced the long gestating film version of FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS which also failed to gain any traction at the box office. If they stick to their established timetable Universal should give it another shot sometime in 2016. I hope so. There's still a great film to be made based on Hunter Thompson's life. Until it gets made Thompson junkies like myself will have to content ourselves with this near miss.
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