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Summary: American theater at its greatest ...
Review: ... the closest you'll get to the original cast of arguably the greatest American play of all time. Stunning.
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Summary: Authentic, disturbing
Review: Acting like they don't do anymore forcefully and beautifully delivers Arthur Miller's story of a failed salesman and his thoroughly dysfunctional family. The message of the original play, definitely opposing certain traditional American values, was too threatening for some business executives and flag-wavers of the time to accept, and the issues are just as valid today. Yet the play is in no way preachy nor overtly political. Instead, it's highly personal and devestatingly effective. This version is somewhat reduced from the original Broadway hit but is not perceptibly damaged by the cuts. Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, of the original stage cast, are excellent again--in fact, Cobb's performance is possibly the best acting I've ever seen in any medium. You'll recognize Gene Wilder playing Bernard, but he lacks expressiveness in the role. The bright colors are a little too cheerful for the material. Otherwise, the film is just about perfect. Good citizens should see it to understand more fully the effects--good and bad--of our competetive culture.
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Summary: A Masterful Work and Presentation by Cobb
Review: An insightful play about the realities of life. Cobb gives a standup performance in this classic play equal to none. Actors of his caliber are few and far between. Simply the best performance of this play to date. Lee becomes Willy in a somewhat scary portrayal. It is hard to tell the difference between Lee and Willy. Highly Recommend this version to serious theatre affcianados.
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Summary: Invaluable for Cobb and Dunnock
Review: As a great admirer of Arthur Miller's work, I have always wished I could have seen the original 1949 production of his masterpiece, DEATH OF A SALESMAN. This video of a 1966 television production, featuring the original Willy and Linda, Lee J. Cobb and Mildred Dunnock, is the next best thing -- especially as it was taped "live" and is more like a stage production than like a movie. As wonderful as Dustin Hoffman's portrayal is in the superb 1985 movie version of SALESMAN, Lee J. Cobb simply IS Willy Loman; he conveys the sadness and insecurity that lurk beneath Willy's outward bravado. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Act II scene with Bernard, when he offers Willy a cigarette from his expensive silver case. Cobb takes the case, holds it, looks at it, then slowly hands it back to Bernard. This one moment is so telling: Willy, who never achieved success, either for himself or for his sons, is envious of Bernard's success (and Bernard was never even "well-liked), symbolized by the silver cigarette case. Mildred Dunnock is likewise ideal as Linda: fragile, but hard as steel when defending Willy to her two resentful sons, Biff and Happy (George Segal and James Farentino). Segal is especially fine in the hotel-room scene and at the end when, in the middle of a heated argument with his father, he suddenly grabs him and hugs him, weeping. This gesture tells us that Biff is furious with Willy, not because he hates him, but because he loves him. Of the supporting actors, Edward Andrews stands out as Charley, Willy's prosperous but "laid-back" neighbor -- the antithesis of Willy himself. Only the actor who plays Howard, Willy's boss, seems miscast: he looks more like a college student than like the head of a company. (Perhaps the director, Alex Segal, was just trying to emphasize Willy's age and his failure to "keep up with the times.") But this is the only weakness in a marvelous production that is essential viewing, if only for the classic portrayals of Cobb and Dunnock.
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Summary: Defines Definitive
Review: If you want to see a production of one of American Theater's most important playwright's most important works, then look no further. Though there have been several noteworthy productions over the years, this Broadway Theater Archive treat showcases the "perfect" Salesman cast, in a treatment that is essentially a reblocking of the famed Elia Kazan Broadway premiere of the play. Willie Loman's originator, Lee J Cobb, reprises his role, along with Mildred Dunnock. Though Geroge C. Scott and Dustin Hoffman received critical acclaim for their interpretations of Willie Loman, neither holds a candle to Cobb. He simply "is" Willie. George Segal and John Malcovich weigh in about evenly in the "best Biff" category, but the nod goes to Segal, because of the great ensemble cast he was lucky enough to play off of. Yet another winner in a BTA series that chronicles American Theater in its greatest era (60's and 70s). Just a note to bear in mind that these plays are film versions of the plays exactly as they were staged on Broadway at the time, so don't look for cinematic production values. Sometimes the camera work is not ideal, but that doesn't get in the way of the consistently powerful performances, and that's what great theater is all about, anyway. I'm just grateful that most of the series is available and hope that the unavailable titles are just being restored and will be rereleased soon. BEK
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Summary: VINTAGE THEATRE TELEVISION
Review: Startling and ambitious vintage network TV production from 1966 is a heart-breaking and unrelentlessly tragic drama with Lee J. Cobb in such a supoerb performance, you want to reach out and console the troubled sympathetic character. So downbeat as to be almost dismal, the play succeeds in it's grip on the realities of grief and doom and the undying hope of a better tomorrow. The rest of the cast is equally superb and I loved the fake realism of the CBS cameras taping a obviously theatrical set.
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Summary: powerful theatre
Review: This tape is a must-see because of the performance of Lee J. Cobb. A powerful piece of work, much better than the version featuring Dustin Hoffman. Good as he is, Hoffman just isn't in the same class as Cobb when it comes to this role.
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