American Buffalo – Review

American Buffalo

with Dennis Franz, Dustin Hoffman, Sean Nelson
Directed by Michael Corrente
Written by David Mamet
 (Goldwyn)
by Mark Phinney

While it is true that pressure lays heavily on performance in any play or film, the pressure is upped to the tenth power when you enter David Mamet’s arena. In Mamet features, we realize that even in the smallest of worlds, the bigger picture is always present. Take Glengarry Glen Ross: Five men in one office, all slobbering after the same piece of meat to the exclusion of everything else while honor, crime, fear, and guilt loom overhead. Pretty heavy for one room.

Ethics, honor, responsibility, and hunger. These are the elements that float American Buffalo, one of Mamet’s more popular productions, staged with Al Pacino and filmed with Dustin Hoffman (who are perhaps the same man) and NYPD Blue‘s Dennis Franz, who was born to be a member of the Mamet boy’s club. Deep in the trashy fringes of Pawtucket is Donnie’s Pawnshop, a musky, dusty and bleak setting. What Michael Corrente does best here is capture the lonely desolation of the store, where nobody comes in or out, as if the only ones in this world are Donnie (Franz) and Teach (Hoffman). Teach is the quintessential Mamet character – shady, fast-talking, thinking on his feet, and making all the wrong decisions. Teach lives for what is going on behind his back and what he can get his hands into, and this time, it’s through his poker pal (and, of course, they are the only pals they have) Donnie.

The coin, the American Buffalo of the title, accidentally sold to a collector who seems to know more about its worth than Don does. Enter Bobby, played by Sean Nelson, who’s rising through indie ranks fast after his mint-condition turn in Fresh. Donnie trusts the kid, and therefore wants to cut him in on recovering the rare coin, window-style. Then along comes Teach, who wants to cut the kid out and himself in. What ensues is a vicious circle of wandering eyes, egos, and paranoia, all staying true to the rapid-fire gutter-babble Mamet format. Corrente was a prime choice for shooting American Buffalo: He proved himself a worthy chronicler of the mean Rhode Island streets with the moody, excellent Federal Hill, but this time, as stressed before, the real mastery here is in the acting, the dialogue, and the desire within these characters to be ready to kill each other at a moment’s notice.