Buffalo '66 (1998)

Comedy, Crime, Drama

Director: Vincent Gallo
Writers: Vincent Gallo, Alison Bagnall
Starring: Vincent Gallo, Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Mickey Rourke

"Billy Brown just got out of jail. Now he's going to serve some real time. He's going home."

The directorial feature debut of actor Vincent Gallo, which also marks his chef d'œuvre, is a dark and underrated little timeless indie about a brooding college town loser.

Fresh out of prison and with nowhere to go, Billy Brown, played by writer-director Gallo, kidnaps a young tap dancer named Layla (Christina Ricci, as you most likely won't forget) and forces her to play his wife when he returns to his home town of Buffalo to visit his parents. Layla almost instantly falls in love with her captor, we meet his extremely dysfunctional parents and we learn of his Billy's absurd revenge plan on the man he holds responsible for his imprisonment.

The movie has an eclectic ensemble cast - Mickey Rourke, Rosanna Arquette, Kevin Corrigan, Ben Gazzara and Anjelica Huston - who all give impressive performances playing a very unforgettable set of characters, and a Christina Ricci that is plainly irresistible.

Plot summary from IMDb: Billy is released after five years in prison. In the next moment, he kidnaps teenage student Layla and visits his parents with her, pretending she is his girlfriend and they will soon marry (and forcing her to say the same).

Awards: 7 wins & 10 nominations.
Runtime: 110 min
R