| Buffalo Soldiers | |
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Buffalo Soldiers film poster |
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| Directed by | Gregor Jordan |
| Produced by | Rainer Grupe Ariane Moody |
| Written by | Robert O'Connor Eric Weiss Nora Maccoby Gregor Jordan |
| Starring | Joaquin Phoenix Ed Harris Anna Paquin Scott Glenn Haluk Bilginer |
| Cinematography | Oliver Stapleton |
| Editing by | Lee Smith |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | 2003 |
| Running time | 98 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $2,300,684 [1] |
Buffalo Soldiers is a 2001 film, based on the 1993 novel by Robert O'Connor, which follows the rogue activities of a group of US soldiers based in West Germany during 1989 when the fall of the Berlin Wall is imminent. It stars Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Anna Paquin, Haluk Bilginer, Scott Glenn, and Elizabeth McGovern and is directed by Gregor Jordan.
The world premiere was held at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival in early September. However, being a satire of the US military, the film's wider theatrical run was delayed by approximately two years because of the 2001 US attacks.[2]
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Specialist Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix) is an American soldier stationed in Germany in 1989. He has become bored with the lack of a war, and devotes his attention to black market deals. He is cooking heroin for a gang of drug-dealing MPs. Elwood, a supply specialist, poses as a good soldier to his commanding officer Colonel Berman (Ed Harris) giving him the opportunity to turn Army protocol to his advantage. Berman has no idea what supplies he is requisitioning or that Elwood is sleeping with his wife (Elizabeth McGovern).
But Elwood's company gets a new First Sergeant Robert E. Lee (Scott Glenn). The new Top is both menacing and savvy, quickly assessing that soldiers like Elwood are on the fiddle. Meanwhile a tank crew, under the influence of heroin, kill two soldiers in charge of a weapons convoy by crashing through a gas station. Elwood happens upon the cache and steals the trucks and hides them in a missile base.
Lee confronts Elwood but Elwood tries to bribe him. Lee removes all of Elwood's privileges, and makes him share his room with a new honest soldier, Knoll, who doesn't fit well with Elwood's lifestyle.
To get back at Lee, Elwood pursues his daughter Robyn (Anna Paquin), whom he takes out for the night and then deliberately brings home to her father's house to have sex with in his car, while Lee is looking on from the window of the house. The next morning, Elwood finds that he and his squad are doing weapons training. The object of Lee's exercise is to use Elwood's car as target practice. Lee also leaves a hand grenade trap in a locker that some soldiers have been using to hide heroin. The grenade explodes and kills one of Elwood's friends.
Elwood attempts to sell the weapons to a Turkish dealer who will only exchange them for a massive amount of opium. Reluctantly, Elwood accepts and plans to cook it into heroin. A fight between the soldier in charge of heroin sales, MP Sergeant Saad, and Knoll ensues. Elwood saves Knoll and recruits him as well as Sgt. Saad to help cook the heroin. In order to have time to pick up the weapons from the missile base, Elwood sells out Colonel Berman on an army exercise against another regiment ultimately leading to the colonel's dismissal from the Army. Berman reflects on this turn of events with Elwood unaware that he betrayed him.
While the opium is being cooked, Elwood sneaks to the base swimming pool to meet Robyn. Knoll then appears with Sgt Lee. It is then revealed he is a 2nd Lieutenant from the Inspector General's Office. Knoll has been investigating Elwood. Knoll puts Robyn in a car while Lee beats up Elwood. However, Robyn tells Knoll that her dad is going to kill Elwood. Meanwhile commandos reporting to Knoll attempt to arrest Elwood's partners, but Saad, intoxicated by the opium fumes, provokes a gunfight. Lee attempts to kill Elwood by throwing him out of a window but Knoll holds him at gunpoint. The building explodes because of a gas explosion in the basement caused by burning morphine. Elwood wraps his handcuffs around Lee's neck and draws him out the window as Knoll is engulfed in flames. Elwood survives by landing on Lee.
The film then concludes with heavy irony. The US Army decorates Elwood with medals (Lee receives a posthumous Silver Star). Elwood is transferred to Hawaii and his new CO is portrayed as naive like Col. Berman. Elwood states that Robyn remains his sweetheart and that she will be visiting soon. The film ends with Elwood requesting excessive supplies, implying that he plans to sell them on the black market again.
The movie fared well amongst critics, and currently holds a 72% 'fresh' rating at Rotten Tomatoes.[3]
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