Buffalo \u201966 <\/em>followed in 1998, premiering three days apart at the Sundance Film Festival, whose attendees must have experienced a touch of bowling fever alongside the usual Sundance Flu.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTrue to Portnoy\u2019s lyrics, all three films present bowling alleys as refuges for misfits \u2014 the rare places where society\u2019s outcasts are viewed as celebrities. That sense of stardom is exaggerated to comical ends in Kingpin<\/em> when Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson), fresh off winning the 1979 Iowa state amateur bowling title, returns to his hometown alley and is given a hero\u2019s welcome. As Roy struts to a lane to the tune of The Trammps\u2019 \u201cDisco Inferno\u201d and flamboyantly tosses a ceremonial strike, it\u2019s clear he\u2019s the kind of guy men want to be and women want to be with.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut it\u2019s a tragically short-lived feeling. After a tragic incident robs him of his ability to bowl and sends him into a 17-year, alcohol-induced spiral, Roy sees a chance to return to the spotlight, managing talented Amish amateur bowler Ishmael Boorg (a wonderfully goofy Randy Quaid). Yet as the two road trip to a million-dollar, winner-take-all tournament in Reno with beautiful hustler Claudia (Vanessa Angel), Roy gets to experience the joys of his heyday in unexpected ways, and the reunion with his community changes his life for the better in textbook sappy\/immature Farrelly style.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat sense of belonging is especially important to Buffalo \u201966 <\/em>protagonist Billy Brown (Gallo). Released from prison after a five-year stint for a crime he didn\u2019t commit, he kidnaps tap-dance student Layla (a mesmerizing Christina Ricci) and somehow convinces her to pretend to be his wife when they visit his parents, Jan (Angelica Huston) and Jimmy (Ben Gazzara who, coincidentally enough, is also in Lebowski<\/em>). It\u2019s a messed up situation, and the more that Gallo reveals about Billy\u2019s traumatic past \u2014 via fascinating overlay flashbacks and his folks\u2019 modern-day resentment of his very existence \u2014 the clearer it becomes just how awful things are and have been for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHowever, all the pain and sadness disappears when Billy goes bowling. Though he\u2019s been away for a long time, alley employee Sonny (Jan-Michael Vincent) has paid the fees for his locker, inside which awaits Billy\u2019s ball along with his other prized possessions, including a framed newspaper clipping of an article celebrating his youth bowling championship and multiple trophies. Juxtaposing how miserable life is at the Brown house with the joy that Billy experiences seeing his bowling gear, reuniting with Sonny, and getting to roll on his favorite lane, Gallo poignantly suggests that the alley has been Billy\u2019s happy place for a long time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Only a small percentage of Buffalo \u201966 <\/em>takes place at the bowling alley, but Gallo saturates these minutes with the sports eccentricities (including player superstitions). Due to the all-too-relatable malfunctioning ball return system messing up his rhythm, Billy sees his hot streak come to an abrupt end, but not before Gallo celebrates the game\u2019s rituals of Billy putting on his shoes and wrist support, polishing ball in a see-saw towel, and testing out the holes in the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Big Lebowski<\/em> also excels at capturing the sport\u2019s core elements, and after the film\u2019s fairly comprehensive opening title sequence, it’s a wonder bowling didn’t surpass baseball as the national pastime. The Coens employ a wealth of extreme close-ups on score cards, balls, pins, beer, cigarettes, ashtrays, and \u2014 most importantly \u2014 people throwing strikes and celebrating. Cued to Bob Dylan\u2019s insanely catchy \u201cThe Man in Me,\u201d the montage makes everything look extra cool while thoroughly building this world. It\u2019s a place where characters and viewers alike want to be, and it\u2019s a treat to return to it throughout the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis opening additionally establishes bowling as a game for everyone. Similar to the diversity that the Kingpin<\/em> crew encounters on the road, a range of sexes, ages, and ethnicities are represented here, but even more pronounced is the collection of wacky personalities that are drawn to the lanes. <\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s borderline miraculous that the seemingly incompatible The Dude (Jeff Bridges), Walter (John Goodman), and Donny (Steve Buscemi) not only function as a bowling team but, despite plenty of animosity, have a genuine friendship. As with Billy, Roy, and Ishmael, the alley is their sanctuary and a builder of community where chosen families are constructed in the absence of loving given ones. When life outside the lanes turns sour or there\u2019s some unexpected free time, Walter is quick say, \u201cFuck it. Let’s go bowling,\u201d and nearly without fail, things indeed improve within its walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this place, even a registered sex offender like Jesus (a scene-stealing John Turturro) can be a big shot, respected by our core trio for his skills while his (bowling) ball-licking and general freaky ways keep friendship at a distance. The Coens play up Jesus\u2019s borderline inappropriateness throughout Turturro\u2019s handful of onscreen minutes, most memorably in a hilarious cutaway to Jesus and his teammate Liam (James Hoosier) aggressively waxing their balls at crotch-level see-saws. And the filmmakers double down on the phallic nature of the sport\u2019s equipment via a dream sequence where The Dude imagines himself in an adult film called Gutterballs<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWith three excellent and distinct bowling movies released in this two year period, why did the trend suddenly end? Kingpin<\/em>, The Big Lebowski<\/em>, and Buffalo \u201966 <\/em>captured the sport\u2019s culture so well and told such engaging stories that perhaps other filmmakers were intimidated to tackle the subject and face inevitable comparisons to one or more of these gems. But a shift in social behavior also may have made subsequent efforts in this niche sub-genre seem less marketable for studios. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThough bowling alleys have endured, the films\u2019 releases coincided with the gradual ubiquity of the internet and the rise in video game systems, both of which encouraged entertainment seekers to stay home. In turn, these three movies arguably captured bowling culture at its peak and\/or last gasp, and in the years that followed, the sport seems even more quaint and nostalgic than it did in the late \u201990s. When it does appear in movies, it\u2019s usually as a status symbol (e.g. Daniel Plainview\u2019s in-house alley in There Will Be Blood<\/em>) or to superficially highlight a character\u2019s trait (Lars and the Real Girl<\/em>) \u2014 not to engage with the culture on a deeper level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cFuck it,\u201d Walter might say. \u201cLet’s go watch a great bowling movie.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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