Death of a Salesman is a 1985 American made-for-television film adaptation of the 1949 play of the same name by Arthur Miller, directed by Volker Schlöndorff, and starring Dustin Hoffman, Kate Reid, John Malkovich, Stephen Lang and Charles Durning.

Worried over Willy's state of mind and recent car crash, his wife Linda suggests that he asks his boss Howard Wagner to allow him to work in his home city so he will not have to travel anymore.

Unable to distinguish between his memories and present-day reality, he speaks to the people in his flashbacks as if they were real, startling those around him.

The next day, Willy goes to ask Howard for a job in town, and Biff goes to make a business proposition, but neither are successful.

Willy gets angry, and ends up getting fired when Howard tells him that he needs a rest and can no longer represent the company.

The discussion quickly escalates into another argument, at which point Biff forcefully tries to convey to his father that he is not meant for anything great; that he is simply ordinary, insisting they both are.

Willy — with encouragement from Ben, with whom he interacts in one of his flashbacks — kills himself by intentionally crashing his car so that Biff can use the life insurance money to start his business.