Glengarry Glen Ross

Rating:
Summary: How much you make?
Review: Playwright David Mamet certainly has something to say about the art of selling with "Glengarry Glen Ross," and the overall statement isn't good. I don't have a clue as to what his background was before he struck it big in the entertainment biz, but I suspect Mamet either worked in sales himself or had a family member who went through a similar experience. How else could he capture perfectly the seedy underbelly of boiler room scam artists? Because "Glengarry Glen Ross" is first and foremost a story about real estate scam artists trying to con a buck out of the average Joe. I think many viewers forget this point. It's disheartening to see so many people take the lessons of this film and apply them to all sales jobs. For example, my father worked as a salesman for his entire career and never experienced anything remotely resembling the horrors seen in the film. On the other hand, everyone has dealt at one time or another with a salesman who just cannot accept "no" for an answer. So in some respects, "Glengarry Glen Ross" rings true even as it exaggerates for dramatic impact. Regardless, the film version of Mamet's play is a fascinating experience.

Spirits are low in a branch office of Mitch & Murray, a shady real estate concern that sells properties of dubious value to anyone with a few grand in a savings account. The office is a cauldron of seething resentments as the salesman grind away day after day to seal that elusive deal that will translate into one more day on the job. You've got Shelley "The Machine" Levene (Jack Lemmon), an old timer who once ruled the roost but has since fallen into a dry spell that leaves him wondering about his job on a minute by minute basis. Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) has superseded Shelley as the new lion, a young, spiffy, silver-tongued con artist with the ability to rack up sale after sale. Dave Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), both peripheral figures in the larger scheme of the office, have their own problems. Aaronow too has hit a dry spell, and Moss spends so much time complaining about the lousy job that he barely has time to go out and sell. Presiding over this insane asylum is office manager John Williamson (Kevin Spacey), a smarmy, by the book type despised by the others because he has never sold a darn thing in his life.

Then Blake (Alec Baldwin) struts into the branch office, and what was once a pressure cooker of a job shifts into a primal struggle for survival. Swaggering, brash, insulting Blake announces a new contest for these poor wretches. They will, announces Blake, clear out all of their old "leads" (cards filled in by potential customers and mailed to the company) before receiving a shot at the fresh, exciting Glengarry leads. The salesman who closes the most deals wins a new Cadillac. Second place is a box of steak knives. Everyone else gets a pink slip. Even worse, Blake threatens, he swears, he impugns the salesmen's manhood; he does everything he can possibly think of to motivate these guys to hit the street and sell. After all, he made nearly a million dollars closing these leads, so anyone who falls below his stellar record is dirt on his shoes. With their very jobs hanging in the balance, the office rapidly disintegrates into chaos and pure panic. Only Roma racks up a sell, to the odd James Lingk (Jonathan Pryce), but even that potentially falls apart in the end. Levene nearly has a nervous breakdown trying to save his skin, a breakdown fueled by the thought of his daughter's desperately needed operation. Some of the salesmen try to bribe Williamson into giving them the Glengarry leads; others plot to steal them out of Williamson's office. You won't figure out how this film ends in a million years.

I'm finding it difficult to write about this movie largely because the film lives and breathes through its characters. "Glengarry Glen Ross" is all about dialogue slathered with a generous helping of profanity and rage fueled rants. It's what goes on behind the dialogue that makes the movie a winner. Mamet sets up this Catch-22 situation (the salesman can't get the good leads until they sell the bad leads, but it's impossible to sell the bad leads) in order to examine the damaging aspects of the "sell, sell, sell," all or nothing mentality on the human psyche. The despair etched in the faces of these men, who will probably never find another job if they lose this one, speaks louder than the set pieces or even most of the mundane dialogue. Sure, a lot of these rants are hilarious in and of themselves, but there's a raging desperation behind them that puts a damper on the giggles. Isn't there something fundamentally wrong about a business strategy that drives men to consider stealing in order to protect not only their jobs but also their sense of self? You bet there is, and that is the point Mamet drives home in "Glengarry Glen Ross."

You get a bunch of extras on these two discs. An audio commentary, a short "Always Be Closing" documentary on selling, a tribute to Jack Lemmon, clips from "The Charlie Rose Show" and "Inside the Actor's Studio," and a bunch of other goodies should keep you watching long after the movie ends. What I discovered most from watching these extras had little to do with the movie, surprisingly, but the realization that Peter Gallagher is one of the most annoying people on the planet (watch the Lemmon tribute to see why). No review will do this monument to modern American business justice-just watch the movie and experience it for yourself.




Rating:
Summary: A fine cast & great performances, but...
Review: Rarely will you ever see such an impressive cast of a-list actors in one film. The portrayals of greedy & crooked businessmen are excellent, especially Al Pacino, but I've never heard the f-word used so much in a single movie before. I mean, these people cannot say one sentence without several 4-letter words, & after a while it gets really annoying & distracting. That is why I wouldn't give this otherwise excellent movie 5 stars. The constant (& I do mean CONSTANT) cursing makes them look like immature schoolboys rather than grown businessmen. So if you hate your job & don't mind the cussing that much then give this movie a try.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Good portrayal of a greedy business world gone mad. The characters are chilling in their greed and the selfishness.