1980 Film Classic: Where The Buffalo Roam

Before we had the film version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas starring Johnny Depp, we had Where the Buffalo Roam, starring Bill Murray as the esteemed Mr. Thompson and Peter Boyle as the infamous Dr. Gonzo. It chronicles Thompson’s rise to fame during the 1970’s and his friendship with a real life Chicano activist and defense attorney, Oscar Zeta Acosta, who in the film is called Carl Lazlo Esq, aka, Dr. Gonzo. The film itself is based on an obituary that Thompson wrote about Acosto titled, The Banshee Screams for Buffalo Meat, for an issue of Rolling Stone magazine that came out in October of 1977.

The first scene establishes Hunter S. Thompson scrambling to meet a deadline for a story about his friend, Lazlo and then the rest of the movie takes the viewer through a series of flashbacks of escapades with Carl Lazlo, Esq. (The film is pulled together by voice over narration, which was added in near the end of production because of a concern with a lack of continuity.) One of the escapades does indeed include some material from the Fear and Loathing saga, but it is not the focus of this particular film.

Rumor has it that Bill Murray had immersed himself so deeply in the role of Hunter S. Thompson that when he arrived to start the season of Saturday Night Live after the shooting of Where the Buffalo Roam, he was still acting like Thompson, from mannerisms of speech to the long cigarette filter.

The performance shows Murray’s dedication. Peter Boyle manages to be both hilarious and frightening at the same time, like that guy from high school everyone loved even though you all knew in the back of your mind that somehow, he was crazy. Though the 1980 film Where the Buffalo Roam lacks the crazy, drug trip special effects that Fear and Loathing was enhanced with, the movie does not lack for the unique weirdness of any Thompson flavored entertainment, and nor does it lose any of its entertainment value. There is something sad and thoughtful about the film, in spite of the zany antics and humor. The humor itself is both smart and bawdy at times, and without any manipulative tricks of the camera, the movie still manages to give you a feeling as if you’ve been watching everything happen at a slight tilt, like all things that are almost inexplicably weird, the movie lingers after one viewing and you find yourself wanting more. Even better, it makes you want to read more Hunter S. Thompson.