Buffalo Soldiers
Short description
Set in West Germany in 1989, shortly before the Berlin Wall falls, Buffalo Soldiers follows Ray Elwood, a U.S. Army clerk stationed near Stuttgart. Elwood is a charming schemer who has turned his posting into a profitable black market, selling off military property and running quiet deals while serving as clerk to a well-meaning but ineffective colonel. His operation grows more ambitious when he and his fellow soldiers come across a stockpile of missiles and warheads. At the same time, a new sergeant major arrives on base with no patience for the soldiers' rackets, and Elwood becomes involved with the sergeant's daughter, setting the two men on a collision course.
The film is a comedy-drama with crime and thriller elements, directed by Gregor Jordan, who also wrote the screenplay with Eric Weiss and Nora Maccoby. It was Jordan's second feature, arriving after Two Hands and before Ned Kelly. Joaquin Phoenix leads the cast as Elwood, alongside Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Anna Paquin, Elizabeth McGovern and Michael Peña.
Buffalo Soldiers was released in 2002 and runs 98 minutes. It was produced on a budget of about 15 million dollars and returned roughly 2 million dollars worldwide, a weak result. Its ratings sit in the middle range and are consistent across sources: 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb from around 26,000 votes, 6.3 out of 10 on TMDB from 359 votes, and a critics' rating of 6.7 out of 10 from 115 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- When Ed Harris received the script, it was intended that he would play the role of Sergeant Lee. After reviewing the script, the actor realized that the role of Colonel Berman suited him better. That is the role he eventually got, while Scott Glenn played the sergeant.
- The forest through which the tanks drive was planted right before filming in an open field located in front of an actual forest. The filmmakers were not permitted to drive the tanks through the existing forest.
- Work on the film was completed in early 2001, but it was not released in theaters until 2003 due to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. When it was decided to release the film in the US during the second quarter of 2003, director and screenwriter Greg Jordan requested another postponement—this time to July 2003—because the Iraq War began in March 2003.
- The explosion of the filling station was filmed as if the action were taking place in a forest. In reality, there was no forest there; the filmmakers simply shot the scene from behind the treetops.
- During the filming of the scene where a tank drives through a German town, a female stuntwoman was asked to step aside. For some reason, she didn't, and she had to be literally pulled from under the tracks at the very last second. Director and screenwriter Greg Jordan later recounted that his heart sank—he was certain the woman had died.
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
