American Buffalo is a three-man play by David Mamet, adapted into a 1996 film starring Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Franz, and Sean Nelson. The story follows Don, Teach, and Bobby, a trio of ne'er-do-wells who are plotting to steal another man's rare coin collection. As the time of the heist approaches, tensions rise, and the would-be robbers start to mistrust and turn on each other.
This work provides examples of:
- Addled Addict: Bobby is often played as this; this was mostly removed from the film adaptation given Sean Nelson's age, but Teach still throws out a line implying Bobby is more or less a Functional Addict.
- Arc Words: Business.
- Butt-Monkey: Bobby, who never gets his change to succeed in business and ends the play getting a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Teach.
- Central Theme: The relationship between friendship and business.
- Foreshadowing: The characters debate about whether it's going to rain later (it does).
- The Ghost: Fletcher, Ruthie, and Grace are often discussed, but never appear. Neither does the guy with the coin collection.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Al Pacino originated the role of Teach on Broadway, which should tell you something about the character.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Teach has some major woman issues. He's also the only character in the play to use words like bitch, dyke, and cunt.
- Hypocritical Humor: After trashing Don's shop in a rage, Teach advises Don to clean up the place.
- I Just Want to Be Loved: Bobby is driven by a constant need for Donny's approval.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Teach is constantly patronising both Bobby and Don with advice on business and acts with a bravado that suggests he believes he is a Consummate Professional career criminal, when it is clear through most of the play that he in fact has no clue what he's doing.
- Naïve Newcomer: Bobby, who is new to the resale shop and wants to do whatever he can to impress Bobby.
- Parental Substitute: Donny serves as a surrogate father to Bobby.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: They never end up robbing the guy.
- Team Mom: Don spends a lot of time encouraging the others to eat more healthily and take naps.
- Villain Protagonist: All three main characters are low-lifes trying to hustle their way into the American Dream.
- Villains Out Shopping: The whole play is three low-lifes eating, discussing random minutiae, and talking about committing a crime.
- Wham Line: "Donny, I missed him!" Bobby made up the story about the customer with the suitcase to prevent Donny from being disappointed in him for failing to keep tabs on him.
