The only one of his I can think offhand with a gender-balanced cast is Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and even that's very much the guys' play.

I have an unhealthy affection for Mamet's Heist, the Gene Hackman caper movie. The dialogue is very snappy and stagey and it just appeals to me, in spite of how oddly all the people behave in the movie. I think the terrific supporting actors like Delroy Lindo and Ricky Jay really hook me too.

Mamet not so much with the writing, respecting or being interested in women.

In which case, I'm just as happy to have no female characters than lame or evil ones.

Nurse Betty is Neil Labute (ptooi!), not Mamet. It has its fans. I am not among them.

(I think the reason why Mamet's lack of interest in women doesn't offend me is that, unlike LaBute, he doesn't pretend fo be a feminist. He's a guy who writes about GUYS, period.)

I think he's a great writer--I'm just sorry my gender doesn't seem to interest him at all.

How about Nurse Betty? That's got a female protagonist, but I've not seen it. I remember it got pretty good reviews?

That's not Mamet, but Neil LaBute. I'm not sure he (LaBute) actually did the screenplay to that one though.

I love the Rebecca Pidgeon (sp?) character in STATE AND MAIN, but I would have loved anyone who replied to a question about having kids with "I never much saw the point of them." From a grade school teacher, no less.

For palate-cleansing Val Kilmerosity, I recommend Thunderheart.

Oh yes. Plus, Graham Greene, yum. That was a damn hot duo, there. Um.

Val is also hit or miss with me, but I love him so very much when he hits: Top Secret, Tombstone, Real Genius.

Yupyupyup.

Dudes, Willow.

For sheer fun and physicality, that would be a yeppers.

Also, is it me, or are there not very many female protagonists in Mamet works, and for "not very many" read none?

The Lindsay Crouse character in House of Games rocked, although she's not particularly likable. I like the Catherine Winslow character from The Winslow Boy very well, but of course, she's not a Mamet creation. Plus, I kept thinking how much more I'd have liked the character if she were played by someone like Cate Blanchett instead of Rebecca Pidgeon.

Neil Labute (ptooi!)

Sing it, sister.

And I have a warm love for Thunderheart.

Years after I first bought it, a Native American friend vehemently stated that the incidents depicted were not 'based on' real events...they were real events. Gave the film a whole new depth for me.

Didn't Mamet write The Untouchables? I think that that film proves that Kevin Costner can't play intensity without making me laugh at the attempt.