Product Details

• Actors: Rene Russo, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming, Irma P. Hall, Peter Elliott
• Directors: Caroline Thompson
• Writers: Caroline Thompson, Gertrude Davies Lintz, William Joyce
• Producers: Brian Henson, Elisabeth Seldes, Francis Ford Coppola, Fred Fuchs
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: January 13, 1998
• Run Time: 84 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0800188349
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #376,683 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on the life of Gertrude Lintz, a Long Island socialite who kept an amazing menagerie of animals on her estate, this very able film by Caroline Thompson (Black Beauty) concentrates on Lintz's relationship with a gorilla named Buddy, whom she raised from infancy on. The film is geared toward kids, but in the very best sense as Thompson orchestrates some very entertaining sequences without cutting corners on logic, the way most forms of children's entertainment do today. Rene Russo is very good as the eccentric woman, and Robbie Coltrane is uncharacteristically warm and fuzzy as her patient husband. Nice support work from Alan Cumming and the rest of the cast. Thompson is aiming for something akin to the live-action glory days of Disney, and she comes close to achieving it. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute, but inaccurate, July 7, 2002

By 

C.Y. "Specs" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Buddy (DVD)

This is a fine retelling of Dr. Doolitle, based on some true aspects of Gertrude Lintz's life. Buddy was best known worldwide as "Gargantua" after his sale to the Ringling Brothers circus in 1937 by Ms. Lintz. There was no nature preserve, and no putting him out to pasture. Buddy had been rescued by Ms. Lintz as a baby after he fell victim to an attack by a disgruntled sailor aboard the ship that was carrying him away from his home in the lowlands of Africa. The sailor emptied the contents of a fire extinguisher containing acid into the baby's face and left him for dead. Ms. Lintz bought the once valuable cargo from the captain at a bargain and nursed him back to health. As the movie shows, she raised Buddy along with a menagerie of other creatures as her own child. When he became unmanageable and dangerous, she contacted John Ringling North and Henry "Buddy" Ringling North with a proposition to sell Buddy. Their account of the meeting and sale is vastly different than anything shown in the happy ending of this movie. They characterize Ms. Lintz as an eccentric middle aged woman whose mansion in Brooklyn resembled the drawings of Charles Addams. They sat in her parlor sipping tea for a long time before John broached the subject of the gorilla. They were led to an area in the basement where they saw a man standing guard over a large wooden box that looked like an oversized coffin. The wood had been reinforced with steel, for very good reason. The box was held in place by sturdy wooden timbers on the top and both sides to prevent the gorilla from breaking free. When the door was opened they saw what was later billed as "The world's most terrifying living creature". The grossly disfigured face and hostile behavior meant that Buddy was no longer able to live outside a cage, among men. Both men knew they had to buy the creature and struck a deal to pay $10,000.00 for him. They later had him picked up at Ms. Lintz' home. Henry Ringling North made the suggestion to change his name, since his own nickname was "Buddy", to something more sensational. He came up with the name "Gargantua", adding the term gargantuan to the popular lexicon in the process. Read more about this exchange in the book "The Circus Kings" (out of print) by Henry Ringling North and Alden Hatch, Doubleday Press.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining family movie, October 26, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Buddy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

We all really enjoyed this movie and ended up buying it ! It is about a socialite from the twenties charmingly portrayed by Rene Russo. She raises numerous animals on her LOng Island estate and tries to tame and raise a gorrilla named Buddy. Any child interested in animals will enjoy this film, as will adults. It is set in the twenties and beautifully done , innocent family fun ! What a refreshing change !

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Mildy entertaining for animal lovers, January 23, 2005

By 

Staci L. Wilson "Author: Animal Movies Guide ... (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Buddy (DVD)

Set in the 1920s, Buddy follows the true adventures of loopy lady Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz (Rene Russo) who likes to take her menagerie of animals to the movies (and you thought the crying baby two rows back was bad). After one such outing, she has occasion to adopt a sickly baby gorilla. She names him Buddy, and takes him home to her M.D. husband (Robbie Coltrane) to see if he can cure the petite primate. Buddy is never portrayed by a real gorilla; the infant version was animatronic and the adult gorilla was a human in gorilla suit. However, there are several other real animals in the movie including dogs, cats, horses, and chimpanzees. The chimps are seen riding a pony, pouring themselves a drink, shaking hands, and even using a key to unlock a door. Based upon the memoir by Gertrude Davis Lintz.

Staci Layne Wilson