Buddy (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Buddy

Directed by	Caroline Thompson
Produced by	Fred Fuchs Steve Nicolaides
Written by	Gertrude Davies Lintz (book) William Joyce & Caroline Thompson (screenplay)
Starring	Rene Russo Robbie Coltrane Alan Cumming
Music by	Elmer Bernstein
Cinematography	Steve Mason
Editing by	Jonathan Shaw
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	1997
Running time	84 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
IMDb profile

Buddy is a 1997 film directed by Caroline Thompson. It starred Rene Russo as Mrs. Gertrude 'Trudy' Lintz and Robbie Coltrane as her husband.

The film was based on the life of a gorilla called Massa^[1] with elements of Gertrude Lintz's other gorilla Gargantua (who was called "Buddy" at the time). In real life, Massa became the oldest Gorilla on record while Buddy/Gargantua died young as a circus attraction and is now on display in a museum.

1 Synopsis
2 Production notes
3 Reception
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Synopsis

Rene Russo as Trudy, with baby Buddy in hand

Millionaire animal lover and overall spoiled rich girl Trudy adds the title animal, a gorilla, to her family. The ape, named Buddy, finds life in the city very difficult to deal with. Although Trudy raises him as her own son in her mansion (which also houses a few comical chimpanzees), he becomes hard to control due to his strength. A particularly bad experience in the Chicago World's Fair makes things even harder for Buddy.

[edit] Production notes

Rene Russo began rehearsals with the chimps a month before principal photography even started.

[edit] Reception

In spite of the film's message, animal activists still objected over the depiction of chimpanzees as docile pets, happily carrying on wearing human clothes. Among their concerns, the perpetuation of the idea of chimps as acceptable pets is often cited.

The film has been criticised for its unrealistic animatronics, especially when compared to the real ape performers.