User reviews

Buffalo rider tells the story of Jake Jones, a man who asks a question that most of us have probably already asked ourselves; what would happen if I attempted to ride a buffalo? The answer is, "It would make an incredibly terrible movie". Buffalo Rider appears to be made from two separate film crews who did not communicate with each other and then threw together all of their footage at the last minute and tried to form a movie out of it. It's part Western, part nature documentary, but ALL bad.

There is no doubt in my mind that most of the plot was constructed after filming took place. The reason why people ride horses instead of buffalo is because buffalo do whatever the hell they want; there are plenty of scenes where the narrator says something like, "Well, Jake wanted to (insert thing or place Jake wanted to do or go), but Samson (the buffalo), decided that he wanted to (insert place or direction Samson was currently going)." Samson the buffalo just does whatever he wants; walking back and forth and going up and down hills with no direction or consistency to the movie's "plot". In once scene the narrator literally says, "Samson decided to try to scrape Jake off his back", to try to explain why the star of the movie just got slammed into a fir tree.

Here's an interesting thought; at one point in time, either the writer of the directer of this film said, "I don't care how or why, but I want us to put a raccoon in the middle of a frozen river and then break open a dam upstream so we can watch the raccoon get swept away in the ensuing flood." You think I'm joking? What if I told you that this movie features not one, but THREE different raccoons struggling to not drown in three different scenes? There is SO much wrong with this movie. At one point it actually pulls a Beerfest, where a character in the film is killed (thus giving our "hero" motivation for revenge), and is replaced by the same actor playing a different character. Oh, and there is blatant animal abuse everywhere. You think an animal-struggling-to-survive-a-flood scene would be hard to watch? Well then get ready for the "Animal A Attempting to Drown Animal B by Holding Animal B's Head Underwater" scene! It's fun for the whole family! ESPECIALLY if the whole family loves watching buffalo being shot dead, because this movie has PLENTY of that! If you want to watch this movie, watch the Rifftrax version (google it), as that is the only version worth watching.

I was standing on a ledge about to jump to my death, when I saw this movie... It not only saved my life, but I went on to become a rich western writer. The film is an epic tale of a man and his mount. The world would have been a much darker place without this masterful piece of cinema. In my hometown we now have a mandatory once a week viewing of this film were everyone gathers around so we can revisit the trials and tribulations that Buffalo Jones endures. We are doing our best to get the Raccoon inducted into the acting hall of fame, maybe even get its little paw prints on the Walk of Fame in L.A. Thank you Buffalo Rider! You saved my life, that's what you did. <3 <3 <3

I can't believe that no one has ever commented on this truly awful movie. perhaps no one except me and my cousin Ron saw this movie, which we did on a cold snowy evening in Bowling Green Kentucky in '78. I was only 12 years old and yet even at that age I knew I had witnessed one of the worst movies of all time. the scene I remember most was when our hero, the buffalo rider, parks his buffalo at the local bar and goes inside to warm up and enjoy an adult beverage. One of the local tough guys walks up to our hero and asks, "hey, is that your buffalo outside?" sort of the modern day equivalent of "hey, is that your Harley outside?" if you ever get a chance to watch this snoozer, enjoy it for the laughs and bad acting which are plentiful.

Consider yourself warned as this movie definitely cannot post that 'no animals were hurt during the making of this film'. I honestly think a lot of the actors and the one baby in this film were also probably hurt during the making of this film. This film is quite rough, suffice to say as it is almost a cross between a nature documentary and a movie. A movie that lectures us on how the buffalo were hunted to near extinction, but literally looks like the people in the film are gunning live buffalo down!

The story, what story? Literally, we get a narrator talking about buffalo and hunters for a while and then Buffalo Jones is introduced and he is apparently the Buffalo Rider of the title, but he is never referred to this in the film, but rather as Buffalo Jones, whose main skills seems impaired judgement as he has a horse, but wants to ride a buffalo, who sees these men and can tell they are dangerous, but lets himself get shot anyway. Then we witness a raccoon in a frolicking adventure battling a cougar which tries to drown the raccoon who then gets swept up in a huge flood and then a babies parents are killed and old Buffalo Jones is going to rescue said child right after he punches a cougar in the face!

The film is just crazy. The lead guy looks like a cross from a dude in a rock band and Donald Sutherland and the bad guys just stop in here and there to make it seem like the film is just not an animal nature documentary gone awry. If it were a nature doc, the animals fighting each other would be just nature's way, but in this film, we have bears fighting and you know the makers got them to fight, you have buffalo trampling wolves and several other instances of animal cruelty going on.

So, the film is rough if you cannot stand the sight of animals in pain. I can watch it, knowing that the animals would be long dead even if they were not subjected to this, but some of the scenes definitely made me wince; especially that bear fight. Just not sure why a film like this was made as it is about a man that loves animals, but then the animals that were used were definitely mistreated.

I enjoyed this movie, considering what it apparently was ("hey, let's make a movie with Rick and some animals!"). It certainly wasn't top-notch, but it stayed fairly engaging throughout. I found the storytelling and most of the scenes to be great fodder for kids, but there's enough violence in it that I think it might be too much for younger ones. Middle-schoolers and up will be fine.

If there had been a little less violence I think it would be great for younger kids; older ones might not connect well with it these days, unless they're interested in "the olden days" or man/nature-type fare. So it seems to me that its target audience is rather limited at this point. Still, if you happen to be in the mood to see a guy riding a buffalo, here's your movie!

Never before in the history of cinematography has there ever been so many shots of people's back on camera. Nor has there ever been so many shots of actors walking away from the camera, of course with their backs turns towards the camera.

Part way through the narrative, the film changes its focus on to wild life such as raccoons and fighting bears. Then some how, the footage transitions back towards the target narrative mostly through inexplicable means.

The film cannot decide if it wants to be nature documentary or an action film. Speaking of narrators, for unknown reasons, there are in fact more than one narrators working on the film. Thanks to the guys at Rifftrax for bringing that to my attention. The film seems like an hour and a half long nature short rather than an adventure themed cinematic film.

For the curious viewer, no. This film does not in fact have much buffalo riding. At least for the expectation of a film with name Buffalo Rider.

Should you watch this film? That's up to you, though I do highly recommend the Rifftrax version.

I saw the inspiring youtube short "Guy on a Buffalo" and without a doubt this is the greatest single piece of cinema ever created. Everyone's life is richer for it having been made. I cannot wait for the inevitable sequel, and pray that it doesn't involve too much CG. The morality of Buffalo Rider is sure to be lost should the effects be updated in the fashion of the Star Wars movies. I only pray that someone somewhere has suitable trivia to eventually provide for this masterpiece of American cinema. Where did the cougar come from? What did the wolf have to do with anything? What was the nature of the relationship between Buffalo and man. Was it ahead of it's time? I daresay any man who says otherwise should be buffaloed. As they say, Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.

Buffalo Jones (1844–1919)was a real person who worked to preserve the American bison and may be the inspiration for this fictional film. He was the first Game Warden of Yellowstone Park and one of the Founders of Garden City, Kansas home of Buffalo Jones Elementary School whose goal is "To create a community of competent bilingual, bi-literate, and culturally sensitive learners."

chiefmusician87 asked if it is possible to still see this movie; it is in the Public Domain and available on Youtube.

The epic saloon shoot-out is not to be missed and can be viewed by googling "Guy On A Buffalo - Episode 4: Finale Part 2", adapted with new narration and music by the bluegrass band, The Possum Posse.

It was a cinematic masterpiece of epic buffalo proportions and the best film I have ever seen with a man riding on a buffalo. Although long, drawn out, poorly acted, with poor cinematography, poor sound quality, and a wandering nearly nonsensical plot, the buffalo and his rider will steal your heart. Many animals probably died in the making of this film, but it was filmed in 1977 and released in 1978 when people clearly didn't care about that. If a man riding on a buffalo doesn't spark your interest, maybe a man punching a cougar will. Rick Guinn (the guy on the buffalo) delights as actor, animal handler, and stunt man. Samson (the buffalo) entertains with his swift kicks and trampling abilities. Folks, this movie is not to be missed by anyone who loves a buffalo and a guy riding one.

When I was 6 years old my grandfather took me to see this movie. The only scene I remember is a fight scene in a bar where the buffalo came in and kicked a bunch of people around. I assume that it probably stunk since I have never heard of it since, but it still holds a couple of good memories for me. The next year my grandfather died. This is a morbid comment huh? Does anyone know if it is possible to still see this move? I wouldn't think so, but who knows. Thanks for reading. I had read somewhere that this movie was based on a true story. I really can't imagine a real guy riding a buffalo around, but it was in Oregon so I quess they had "tree huggers" all the way back in the 1800's.

Best wild frontier movie ever! Ignore the naysayers and negative reviews! This movie is kind of like Jeremiah Johnson, Grizzly Adams, and Marty Stauffer's Wild America except there's a guy on a buffalo. Why would you ride a buffalo? Why not?! Riding a buffalo is pure American awesomeness. Why would you not ride a buffalo?

If you like stuff like Jeremiah Johnson and the like, anything having to do with pioneers in the old west and such you will love this movie. And not only that but the freaking guy does some amazing stunts. Second, the guy that said it was awful is a complete moron, the scene he describes about parking his buffalo and some kind of old joke being made, NEVER EVEN HAPPENED. It was a good movie, about a real man who lived and was a conservationist, with some pretty cool scenes and neat pioneer type western stuff happening. So I have to have 10 lines of text and it won't let me submit, so the movie was really cool and he rides a buffalo and fights bears and cougars and does manly man stuff that manly men do.

One day the guy on the buffalo was cruising around through the plain seen a Bear And he thought to himself "Oh men I got to get away from the bear Hope he don't chase Oh no - he's gonna chase me Oh no I better just turn And chase him back!

Cause guess what?

I'm on a buffalo-oo"

Guy on a buffalo-oo Hey bear! Bet you didn't know you's chasing a guy on a buffalo Look out - just watch him go Guy on a buffalo Oh no - It's a guy on a buffalo A guy on a buffalo

One day day the guy on a buffalo was riding around through the forest He didn't see that Indian guy crouching down and he pop off a shot 'bam'

Fell off the buffalo Buffalo took off running while the Indian was still reloading The guy on the Buffalo snuck up behind him with a pistol And he was like "hey" "You better watch what you doing!" Bam!

Guy on a Buffalo-oo

Break up a gun on a stump On a Buffalo-oo Guy will step on your foot ouch!

Don't wake up!

Oh you don't mess with the guy

that he is riding on a Buffalo

Hey Indians from now on Don't shoot the guy on a Buffalo...

There is a maximum of1000 words that I can use to describe this film. However 100000000000 words could never do this beautiful piece of classic American cinematography justice. It literally saved my life and restored my faith in humanity. While viewing this masterfully crafted piece of storytelling brilliance, I was in constant awe of the film's life-breathing symbolism, which can only be likened to the passion of romance engulfed in a sea of melancholy emotions. The subtle, yet deep, complexity of this work leads one to ponder, and to reevaluate what it is to subsist in this idealistic bureaucracy we call life. Surely the life, and the legend of the man, nay the spirit embodied by Buffalo Jones can be considered the greatest picture portrayed on the tapestry of the camera lens, sculpted by the dreams of true visionaries. A conceptual medium of storytelling that will forever be noted as a realization of relative truths out of this faction of subjective reality we so arrogantly deem time.

I found this to be a good film, not the best, but not bad by a long shot. For all the people complaining about supposed animal cruelty, in a film set in the 1800s with buffalo in the title what exactly did you expect? and guess what animals do bad things to other animals. Heres a newsflash to people, America did decimate the buffalo population and you need to face up to that fact and stop ignoring it. anyway about the film, its not a bad film, takes a while to get going but its OK. if you want to learn something in the style of a western this is the film for you. this film is hard to find in shops but if you look online you will find a way to watch it, and i would recommend doing so. hope this helped

I've seem a lot of Avantgarde experimental films in my life but this would have to be at the top of that list. A true masterpiece of art, because that's what this is, art, not film. The animal attacks seem very real, the result of a person trying to ride a buffalo as a horse are exactly what you'd expect. Both humans and animals were harmed in the making of this art, it shifts from documentary to narrative and back again. Does this review confuse you and seem all over the place? Good, then I'm hopefully giving you and idea of what it was like to experience it.