"Down where the Buffalo Go" is one of the worst films I ever seen. I watched this film when it was originally broadcast and remember how horrible and unrealistic it was. Other than the scenery, there is nothing to commend in this film.
I am uniquely qualified to comment on the realism in the film because: 1. I was a US sailor stationed on the USS Holland and USS Hunley and lived in the Dunoon area for 15 years; 2. I was assigned to the USN shore patrol for 6 months; 3. I was married to a Scottish woman; 4. One of my kids was born in Dunoon hospital; 5. My Scottish wife wanted to return to the US and I wanted to stay in Scotland.
The character played by Keitel was a US Navy shore patrolman, not a marine as the summary states. There were Marines aboard the tender (repair ship or depot ship in RN parlance), but these marines were there solely for the protection of the weapons that may or may not have been onboard. There were two types of shore patrol: permanent and duty night only. The permanent really were not permanent, but detailed from the tender for 6 months at a time.
There was remarkably little fighting between the US serviceman and the locals. Almost all of the fighting I encountered as a shore patrolman (SP) was between US servicemen and almost all of this fighting was on or near the pier back where the small boat transported the sailors back to the ship. Moreover, almost without exception this fighting took place just after the enlisted men's club closed. My experience on SP duty was before the Brits liberalized the drinking laws, so to have a drink after 10 pm, one had to go to the e-club. Once the Brits liberalized the drinking times, these fights were significantly reduced as all the drunks did not congregate nor leave at the same time.
A significant percentage of US sailors did marry local girls. Not all that remarkable when one considers that a large percentage of the sailors were 19-25 year old and single. Plop that many young single guys in Pascagoula, Mississippi and there is a good chance that the same thing would happen. Most of us Yanks that did marry local women were quite painlessly taken in as part of our wives' families.
I really don;t know how to describe the plot line other than it sucked. What was so obvious was the script writer has never been in the military.
Ironically, if this film were available in a format usable to this Yank, I would purchase the film, if only to see the scenery.