While Mamet's current reputation as an important American playwright is established and secure, American Buffalo was the first of his plays to receive intense critical attention. The play premiered on Broadway in February of 1977 (following its successful 1975 debut in Chicago) to reviews ranging as wide as the characters' emotional highs and lows in the play itself. Clive Barnes, writing for the New York Times, stated that although this play marked Mamet's first trip to Broadway, "It will hardly be his last," for "This man can write " Like Barnes, other admirers of the play called attention to Mamet's ability to recreate the rhythms of everyday speech heard in the conversations of his lowbrow characters. Likening the play to a "jam session for jazz musicians," Women's Wear Daily's Howard Kissel wrote that the "fascination" of the play lies in "noting how the same banal language takes on different...