Description:
Joaquin Phoenix (SIGNS, GLADIATOR) leads an all-star cast in a wickedly funny comedy that entertains in the edgy tradition of PULP FICTION. A U.S. soldier with nothing to fight but boredom as the Cold War winds down, Ray Elwood (Phoenix) enjoys the rush of trading anything he can get his hands on in West Germany's booming black market ... while his inept commander (Ed Harris, THE HOURS) is none the wiser. Everything is perfect ... until he starts dating the new sergeant's daughter (Anna Paquin, X-MEN 1 & 2). But before he can pull off one last big score, Elwood's escalating personal war with Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn, TRAINI
Joaquin Phoenix (SIGNS, GLADIATOR) leads an all-star cast in a wickedly funny comedy that entertains in the edgy tradition of PULP FICTION. A U.S. soldier with nothing to fight but boredom as the Cold War winds down, Ray Elwood (Phoenix) enjoys the rush of trading anything he can get his hands on in West Germany's booming black market ... while his inept commander (Ed Harris, THE HOURS) is none the wiser. Everything is perfect ... until he starts dating the new sergeant's daughter (Anna Paquin, X-MEN 1 & 2). But before he can pull off one last big score, Elwood's escalating personal war with Sergeant Lee (Scott Glenn, TRAINING DAY) will send him deeper into a deadly mess ... that may not have a way out!
Inviting casual comparison to Catch-22 and M*A*S*H, Buffalo Soldiers is an Army-base comedy about soldiers "with nothing to kill except time." It's 1989: The Berlin Wall is falling, completing the cold war's thaw, and Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix)--a clerk with the 317th Supply Battalion, stationed in West Germany--combats boredom with a variety of black-market schemes, from cooking heroin for the base's corrupt MPs to dealing stolen arms to the highest bidder, in addition to having a shallow affair with the two-timing wife (Elizabeth McGovern) of his outgoing commander (Ed Harris). Elwood's new CO (Scott Glenn) clamps down on his illegal activities while protecting his daughter (Anna Paquin) from Elwood's advances. Fine casting and positive buzz couldn't prevent this movie's ironic fate: Acquired by Miramax one day before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Buffalo Soldiers--based on the celebrated novel by Robert O'Connor--was shelved for nearly two years, by which time this dark and defiantly amusing exercise in political incorrectness had been overshadowed by world events. --Jeff Shannon
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Manufacturer: Miramax Films
Release date: 13 January 2004
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0786936233469 UPC: 786936233469
Tags: Drama (1), Comedy (1), 2001 (1), Crime (1), War (1), Dark Comedy (1), Black Comedy (1), Army (1), Soldier (1), Scam (1), Phenomena (1)
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