This movie is accurate and I was working shore patrol during the filming. One scene was done in the bar called the Blue Lagoon or Dolphin. Bob Gideon was in a couple of scenes in the original if he was not cut out at a later date. Many of the situations depicted were worse. The fights between the sailors were often bad but not as bad as the duty. They blew off steam and I sent them home in a cab before the police took them in. Duty on Holy Loch was not easy. At one point a local had taken a radio from one of the shore patrol and heckled the sailors standing that duty for a couple of months. Always a great place with tensions between the locals the unwanted Brits and the jolly Scots who wanted neither the Navy or the business that they brought.
6 Reviews
I was stationed in Holy Loch too
traxine201011 October 2008
I was stationed in Holy Loch on the USS Hunley in 1982 and can confirm there was a detachment of Marines on the ship to guard the nukes. I haven't seen the movie but I really would like to. Even more I should go back there to visit. It was relentlessly cold and drizzly and all my things molded while I lived there. There was rarely central heating in the dwellings, and I had a tiny coal fireplace and a pile of coal behind my "flat". They wanted the Americans gone but many of us have a better understanding of Scottish life and culture for having been stationed there. My question now is, how can I get my hands on a copy of this movie?
Coup for Scottish television
dmcslack21 October 2001
Keitel is a great actor, but between Wise Guys and Reservoir Dogs, most of his movies didnt really hit the bigtime. This terrific drama combined his special talents with a gritty British production set in Scotland. Down Where the Buffalo Go is worth the watching.
Unrealistic and just plain awful film
A_Slacker27 December 2010
"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.
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.
I Remember the Strange Circumstances In Which I Saw This
Theo Robertson15 November 2004
From 1987-88 I used to attend the James Watt College in Greenock . I got there by by traveling on a ferry from Rothesay to Wemyss Bay and then catching a bus from Wemyss bay to Greenock . Unfortunately one day I returned from Greenock to Wemyss Bay there was a gusty wind which meant the ferry to Rothesay was cancelled and I had no money for a hotel . Fortunately myself and several other hapless travellers were allowed to stay in the Cal Mac ( the Ferry operators ) office for the night , there were cups , a kettle , T-bags and a television so we , the captive audience , sat back to watch DOWN WHERE THE BUFFALO ROAM
Since the drama was mostly set in Greenock ship yards I recognised the locations at once . Strange as it may seem I had no idea who the lead actor was . I'd never seen MEAN STREETS or TAXI DRIVER at this point in my life while RESERVIOR DOGS , PULP FICTION and THE PIANO were still to be made so the name Harvey Keitel meant nothing to me . My comrades for the night laughed out loud but I wasn't too impressed , it's a very low concept drama featuring Keitel's tough shore patrol policeman married to a Scottish girl with lots of domestic angst . Nothing much happens though I do congratulate Peter Mcdougall for pointing out that Americans stationed at The Holy Loch military base weren't very popular with the locals . It was very , very common for serious fights to break out between Scots and Americans at weekends
Oh and I think Dinky Donk is having a laugh
Since the drama was mostly set in Greenock ship yards I recognised the locations at once . Strange as it may seem I had no idea who the lead actor was . I'd never seen MEAN STREETS or TAXI DRIVER at this point in my life while RESERVIOR DOGS , PULP FICTION and THE PIANO were still to be made so the name Harvey Keitel meant nothing to me . My comrades for the night laughed out loud but I wasn't too impressed , it's a very low concept drama featuring Keitel's tough shore patrol policeman married to a Scottish girl with lots of domestic angst . Nothing much happens though I do congratulate Peter Mcdougall for pointing out that Americans stationed at The Holy Loch military base weren't very popular with the locals . It was very , very common for serious fights to break out between Scots and Americans at weekends
Oh and I think Dinky Donk is having a laugh
I was such a US sailor
BForeman28 April 2008
I was a submariner stationed in Holy Loch one summer - the last summer, of 1991 - aboard the USS Ulysses S. Grant. I returned once, in the winter of 1999. I have not seen this movie, but will as soon as I can now that I know about the subject matter.
Dunoon is something of an exception to the rule on Scottish hospitality. Many Dunoon Scots did not like Americans, it's true. Maybe it had something to do with the low-browed, hard-drinking and pugnacious attitude of many of the working class Americans who join the Navy. Then again, low-browed, hard-drinking, pugnacious and working class describes many Scots from Dunoon. It might have also had to do with some latent racism towards African-American sailors, or with the fact that many US sailors competed with Scots for the affections of the local women - as I understand this movie depicts. However, I think it had mostly to do with the left leaning politics of the area and an underlying inferiority complex. Dunoon Scots, to the extent they did, disliked Americans for the same reason Frenchmen do. Oh the irony that they so lamented the US Navy's departure in 1992. They seem to like Americans even less now, as I discovered when I tried to find a room last minute in 1999. The Scots in nearby Oban and Inveraray, however, seem to hold no such prejudices.
I must say that there were also those in Dunoon who were very hospitable, and I never had trouble finding a good place to have a friendly pint of Tennent's Lager or McEwan's Ale, or a bite of fish 'n' chips after the pubs closed, before I stumbled back in the dark past St. Cuthbert's Kirk on the long walk to the ferry in Sandbank.
In any case, I loved Dunoon and the surrounding Cowal, Argyll & Bute. The land is fairytale magical in the summer, like something out of the Lord of the Rings movies. In winter it is magical as well, but in a less than fairytale way.
Reading the synopsis, I would point out a fundamental flaw in the movie. Unless I missed something, there was no shore patrol in Dunoon, and I don't remember ever seeing a US Marine.
Dunoon is something of an exception to the rule on Scottish hospitality. Many Dunoon Scots did not like Americans, it's true. Maybe it had something to do with the low-browed, hard-drinking and pugnacious attitude of many of the working class Americans who join the Navy. Then again, low-browed, hard-drinking, pugnacious and working class describes many Scots from Dunoon. It might have also had to do with some latent racism towards African-American sailors, or with the fact that many US sailors competed with Scots for the affections of the local women - as I understand this movie depicts. However, I think it had mostly to do with the left leaning politics of the area and an underlying inferiority complex. Dunoon Scots, to the extent they did, disliked Americans for the same reason Frenchmen do. Oh the irony that they so lamented the US Navy's departure in 1992. They seem to like Americans even less now, as I discovered when I tried to find a room last minute in 1999. The Scots in nearby Oban and Inveraray, however, seem to hold no such prejudices.
I must say that there were also those in Dunoon who were very hospitable, and I never had trouble finding a good place to have a friendly pint of Tennent's Lager or McEwan's Ale, or a bite of fish 'n' chips after the pubs closed, before I stumbled back in the dark past St. Cuthbert's Kirk on the long walk to the ferry in Sandbank.
In any case, I loved Dunoon and the surrounding Cowal, Argyll & Bute. The land is fairytale magical in the summer, like something out of the Lord of the Rings movies. In winter it is magical as well, but in a less than fairytale way.
Reading the synopsis, I would point out a fundamental flaw in the movie. Unless I missed something, there was no shore patrol in Dunoon, and I don't remember ever seeing a US Marine.
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