Review of Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) by Craig F — 11 Jun 2007

The film is totally different to Fear & Loathing. F&L is extreme and sickeningly cartoonish due to to two things - Terry Gilliam who directed (and with credits like the Monty Pythion animation and Brazil to his name what can we really expect) and the subject matter. Fear & Loathing is an extreme book, fuelled by acid and mescaline and the film reflects this. Where the Buffalo Roam is an entirley different matter - set soon after the events of Fear & Loathing we meet a Thompson ready to make a change into something bigger and more important. He is following the presidential campaign trail and, although in his own maverick style, is trying to focus and succeed in that area. Personally I think Buffalo is the superior movie - it stands up to repeat viewing wonderfully and engages the more intellectual side of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - something Fear & Loathing only vaguely touches on, indstead zoning in on the sharp edges of his personality. Murray is excellent and by all accounts far closer to the actual man in his potrayal than Depp managed - but again that is in the nature of the two films.

If you like Thompson and Bill Murray I can highly recomend this film - it is one my favorites and one I return to again and again. A totally pleasurable vewing experience that you can enloy at ease like a pint with an old and much loved friend.