Written in the mid-70s, David Mamet`s play, American Buffalo is regarded by many as important a theatrical work as other trail blazing dramas like Death Of A Salesman and A Streetcar Named Desire. Mamet`s own adaptation of his material sticks closely to the text: no attempt has been made to open things out as, for example, James Foley did with Mamet`s Glengarry Glen Ross.
Most of the film unfolds in the junk shop owned by Donny, Dennis Franz, who discovers he`s unwittingly sold a vintage coin, with a buffalo head on it, to a collector. He wants it back. Maybe his surrogate son, Sean Nelson, will get it for him - or maybe the wily, sinister Teach, played by Dustin Hoffman. This corrosive critique of capitalism inhabits a world in which, as one character explains, friendship is of secondary importance to business. Mamet`s drama is provocative, but this film, despite a trio of sensational performances, makes very heavy weather of it all. It`s unfortunate that several characters spoken of in the play, including a couple of women, are never seen - but this would have meant a complete reworking of the material, something Mamet obviously wasn`t prepared to do. Director Michael Corrente does little more than guide the actors through the wall-to-wall dialogue. You have to give Hoffman credit for his production company taking on such rarefied material, in the process giving him such a choice role to play.
