The play has a cast of three amateur criminals, losers really. Bumblers. Donny, Teach and Bobby. Donny owns what is basically a junk store. Teach and Bobby are his friends. Teach and Donny trade places in the hierarchy throughout the script; Bobby sits at the bottom. They’re planning to steal back a buffalo nickel that Donny feels he sold low to a local man.

The unseen cast, only mentioned, are a few other neighborhood losers. One of them, named Fletcher, is supposed to help get the coin that night, against Teach’s wishes. Tension, already running high, boils over when Bobby brings news that Fletcher has been mugged and has a broken jaw.

First staged in 1975, American Buffalo is timely now in its portrayal of the decline of economic security and opportunity for a large number of Americans. Teach: “I go out there. I’m out there every day. (Pause) There is nothing out there.” Despite their incompetent criminality, the three care for each other. They may clash verbally and even physically, but they care.

The play is currently being staged on Broadway with an outstanding cast of Sam Rockwell as Teach, Laurence Fishburne as Donny, and Darren Criss as Bobby. ( )

I really did not care for this particular play. The characters did not resonate with me and the plot-line was generally uninteresting. For this reason, the entire thing fell flat and it was a chore and somewhat of a bother to get through. I do not recommend it.

1 star. ( )

I believe I liked this more than the Mrs. We saw an amateur production in Ohio the next day. ( )

Don't read it unless you see the Dustin Hoffman / Dennis Franz movie first. On the page, it's nothing much; on screen, it's terrific. I saw it on Broadway with William H. Macy as Teach, but the film is better. ( )

"American Buffalo" definitivamente não é uma peça para qualquer espectador, é o que se chama, em inglês, um 'downer' - um brochante. Ela retrata três patéticas personagens marginais. Toda a ação ocorre num lugar só, uma loja suburbana de bugigangas, de onde Donnie e Teach conseguem roubar uma valiosa coleção de moedas, entre elas um ¨búfalo americano¨. A idéia central é deixar claro que, na América do Norte, os interesses dos negócios das pessoas, muitas vezes, jogam uns contra outros e, às vezes, tornam-nos violentos. Uau... Peças de Mamet são geralmente mais interessantes do que esta. Oleanna, p.ex. Aqui temos dois caras e um menino negro, óbvios perdedores sociais, que planejam valer-se de uma moeda supostamente valiosa, vendida a eles por um preço muito baixo. Mas tudo o que fazem é conversar. Qual o propósito de Mamet em tudo isso? É a idéia dele de um "filme noir"? Esses caras são certamente perdedores, mas a peça é absolutamente sacal. E em tempo: o único níquel existente com búfalo que valeria alguma coisa é uma cunhagem de 1918, com o algarismo 8 carimbados no lugar de um 7. Na década de 1960, a moeda estava listada como valendo US$ 160 em boa condição. Digamos, hoje, uns $500.