Volker Schlöndorff of Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman", starring Dustin Hoffman as Willy Loman and John Malkovich as Biff. Both actors won Emmys for their performances and Schlöndorff was nominated for an Emmy for his direction. The film premiered on television in 1985 and was released theatrically throughout Europe over the following years. Schlöndorff followed this with another TV movie in the US, "A Gathering of Old Men", based on the novel of the same name by Ernest J. Gaines. The film stars Richard Widmark, Holly Hunter and Lou Gossett Jr. and concerns racial discrimination in 1970s Louisiana. Schlöndorff returned to
Death of a Salesman (1951 film) was a more typical American salesman, and was an attempt to defuse possible accusations that "Death of a Salesman" was an anti-American film. Eventually, Columbia agreed to remove the 10-minute short from the film's theatrical run. Miller saw "Career of a Salesman" as an attack upon his work, proclaiming "Why the hell did you make the picture if you're so ashamed of it? Why should anybody not get up and walk out of the theatre if "Death of a Salesman" is so outmoded and pointless?" He argued against the portrayal of the salesman profession as "a wonderful profession, that people