David Mamet's short play Speed-the-Plow (1988) is a satirical dissection of the American movie business, a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films Wag the Dog (1997) and State and Main (2000).

Hollywood producers Bobby Gould and Charlie Fox engage in a verbal boxing match trying to find a resolution to the eternal debate of Art versus Money. Should they go for another bad action blockbuster? Or should they put themselves on the line for a film adaptation of a spiritual, apocalyptic novel? Gould's secretary Karen acts as inspirator (she brought the novel to Gould's attention) and catalyst in the debate, only to be ditched just as easily in the play's cynical finale.

The play's text contains a long motto by William Makepeace Thackeray, from his novel Pendennis , which puts the theme in larger context. It starts: "Which is the most reasonable, and does his duty best: he who stands aloof from the struggle of life, calmly contemplating it, or he who descends to the ground, and takes his part in the contest?"

Stylistically, Speed-the-Plow is Mamet at his best: the dialogue brims with wit and energy, while the rhythm is simply mesmerizing. Jack Kroll of Newsweek described it as "another tone poem by our nation's foremost master of the language of moral epilepsy."

Speed-the-Plow was first performed in the Lincoln Center Theater at the Royale Theater, Broadway, New York, in 1988, with a cast of Joe Mantegna (Gould), Ron Silver (Fox) and Madonna (Karen). The play was nominated for a Tony Award for 'Play of the Year'. Ron Silver won a Tony Award for 'Best Actor (Play)'.

David Rabe 's play and subsequent film adaptation Hurlyburly could be considered a companion piece to Speed-the-Plow, centering on the empty lives of a group of Hollywood executives áfter the debate was won by Money.

A Defining Quote

GOULD: Rich, are you kidding me? We're going to have to hire someone just to figure out the things we want to buy.