The fast-talking machismo of Glengarry Glen Ross earned David Mamet international acclaim and a 1984 Pulitzer Prize, but by then he'd long been mining the dark vein of American desperation. American Buffalo, for example, is the tale of three small-time criminals who plot to steal a valuable coin collection. As in Glengarry and Speed-the-Plow, its plot is sublimated in the dialogue: characters scheme and vie for control, power dynamics shift, and the big prize hangs in the balance. The battle profanely rages, at once telling a story and depicting a small, specific world with its own moral code and colorful argot.