Buffalo '66

Five years after leaving prison, Billy Brown returns home with a plan to reset his life. He enlists a young woman to pose as his girlfriend, and the two of them vow to marry as a way to reinstall himself in the world he left behind. The arrangement lands him back in his anxious parents house, where the routines of family life collide with a man who has not quite learned how to speak the language of normalcy. What begins as a dry farce slowly widens into a portrait of loneliness and stubborn hope, turning a high stakes deception into a chance for genuine connection without overplaying its hand. Small gestures and blank looks hint at something deeper beneath the surface.

Directed by Vincent Gallo from a script by Alison Bagnall Buffalo '66 arrived in 1998 as a lean indie drama. The film embraces a compact, improv friendly approach and features an unusually high profile cast for its budget, including Christina Ricci, Ben Gazzara, Anjelica Huston, and Mickey Rourke.

The film earned about 2,375,097 worldwide against a 1,500,000 budget, reflecting modest earnings for a micro budget indie. Word of mouth kept Buffalo '66 in theaters longer than its release window would suggest, making it a favorite on certain festival circuits and among critics.

Buffalo '66 has grown into a cult favorite among indie audiences thanks to its offbeat tempo and Gallo's uncompromising direction. Ricci's performance stands out and the film's dry humor helped shape a new kind of intimate romance that blends bleakness with warmth.

Critics described the movie as a sharp mix of humor and vulnerability, a look at loneliness and the stubborn hope that human connection can survive unusual schemes. The film asks how far people will bend to belong and what counts as true closeness when life feels stuck.