Buffalo '66 · reception & legacy

1998 · Vincent Gallo

How Buffalo '66 has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A Sundance-buzz indie debut that critics mostly embraced in 1998 (with a loud minority finding Gallo insufferable), it has since been fully canonised by the internet generation — its Tumblr-to-Letterboxd afterlife is arguably bigger than its theatrical life ever was.

What's debated

The eternal Buffalo '66 debate is whether you can adore the film while disowning Vincent Gallo — it's a textbook problematic-fave, with fans forever relitigating how much of the on-screen self-loathing is confession versus vanity.

Its footprint

The photo booth strip — 'we're a couple that spans time' — is endlessly recreated by couples online, and Christina Ricci's slow tap dance in the bowling alley to King Crimson's 'Moonchild' is one of the most gif'd, referenced scenes in all of 90s indie cinema.

Where it stands

A cornerstone cult object of the Letterboxd era — the 90s indie that film kids treat as a rite of passage, its aesthetic quoted far beyond the circle who've actually sat through it.

★ Did you know? Gallo and cinematographer Lance Acord shot the film on 35mm reversal stock — a format rarely used for features since the 1960s — which is what gives it that washed-out, faded-snapshot look; Gallo also wrote, directed, starred, and composed music for the film himself.