Buffalo Soldiers **** (2001, Joaquin Phoenix, Ed Harris, Scott Glenn, Liv Tyler) – Classic Movie Review 1073

Director Gregor Jordan’s 2001 movie, based on the book by Robert O’Connor, is his biggest success so far.

Joaquin Phoenix stars as a soldier who wheels and deals on the black market at a 1989 Berlin US army base, tricking their dim commander (Ed Harris), until a vicious sergeant (Scott Glenn) wages war on him after he takes up with his daughter (Liv Tyler).

Phoenix rises again in a startling, brilliant black comedy in the anti-establishment Catch-22 vein. Co-writer-director Jordan manages some astonishing sequences and brings it all together in a coherent, satisfying and enjoyable whole.

Anna Paquin, Elizabeth McGovern, Michael Pena, Leon, Gabriel Mann and Dean Stockwell round out the very fine cast.

Buffalo Soldiers was made in 2001 but released in 2003, a delay due to the demise of Film Four, whose unreleased films were bought up by Pathé.

Gregor Jordan’s known for Two Hands (1999), Ned Kelly (2003), both with Heath Ledger, and Unthinkable (2010).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1073

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