American Buffalo

Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz feast on the delicious buffet of words served up by David Mamet's adaptation of his own stage play, in which a pair of fast-talking small-timers scheme to pull off a tasty robbery.  The target:  a rare buffalo-head nickel.  Small potatoes in an Ocean's Eleven world, sure, but a heist is a heist-and the dueling philosophies of the perpetrators make for fascinating conversation no matter how big the score.  Add to the equation a young protégé who's still got a chance to make something of himself, and you've got yourself an essay on the human condition disguised as a talky crime caper... minus the actual caper.