GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS

US, 1992, 100 minutes, Colour.
Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Jonathan Pryce.
Directed by James Foley.

Four real estate salesmen, Shelley (Jack Lemmon), Dave (Ed Harris), Ricky (Al Pacino), and George (Alan Arkin), are in a restaurant in a New York suburb. They are whining about the evening strategy meeting that they are supposed to attend at the offices of Premiere Properties across the street. Except for Ricky, they all go. Ricky stays to close a deal with a man he met at the bar, James (Jonathan Pryce). Ricky manages to get a check and a signed contract from him.

Blake (Alec Baldwin), the representative from the main office, delivers a brutal, humiliating, dehumanizing speech to the men and tells them that they must always be closing a deal or that they are worth nothing. He proposes a contest: the first prize is a Cadillac, the second prize is a set of steak knives, and the third prize is to be fired. Blake holds out a batch of cards with new leads about a development project on them, but he will only give them to “closers.” He outlines the sales protocol: attention, interest, decision, action! So the men are left with old leads, that is, forms people filled out months before to ask for information about the real estate development project.

Shelley makes a deal with the office manager, John (Kevin Spacey), to share profits on any closings he makes. Shelley leaves to follow up old leads and is unsuccessful. His daughter is in the hospital, and he needs to find money to continue to pay for her treatment. George and Dave devise a scheme to rob the office that very night, take the batch of new leads, and sell them to a colleague who is now in business for himself.

There is a robbery that night. Yesterday’s contracts, the batch of new leads, and the phones have all been taken. The police interrogate the four salesmen. James comes in to get his check back because his wife doesn’t want to go through with the purchase of property. Shelley confesses that he robbed the office. They are all verbally abusive to one another and blame each other. But they press on, always salesmen.

Playwright and screenwriter David Mamet won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1984 for his play, Glengary Glen Ross. It was made into a film in 1992. The dialogue in Mamet’s films is measured and deliberate, and none more so than Glengary Glen Ross. The film does not mask the fact that it is a filmed play, much like The Big Kahuna or On Golden Pond. The film still delivers blistering insights into the cut-throat world of corporate business and the consequences for salesmen who are not always “closing” a deal.

The mostly male cast is superb, made up of many Academy Award winning or nominated actors including the venom spewing hatchet man sent from downtown played by Alec Baldwin, the conman you hope you’ll never meet played by Al Pacino, the bitter Ed Harris, and the despair-ridden, sad figure of masculine failure played by Jack Lemmon.

Direction is by James Foley, who also directed The Chamber (1996) and co-directed Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection, which includes, among others, the music video, Papa Don’t Preach (1990).

1. A tough piece of Americana? Systems? Capitalism? Consequences?

2. The work of David Mamet, theatre, adaptation of his play? The office, restaurant, streets, rain, homes? Staged scenes? The tradition of Arthur Miller and death of a salesman?

3. Action overnight, the night to morning, the morning? The dark and the rain, neon reflections? The sun and the normal day?

4. The strong cast, acting skills, holding audience attention, dialogues and monologues? Older men? The incessant coarse language?

5. The title, real estate, sales and sales men, the need for leads, the consequences? The values of the men, the lack of values?

6. The audience response to the men, to the situations, to their family background? A microcosm of desperate men?

7. The office, John as the manager, younger than the others, appointed by the bosses? The bosses never seen? The influence? The being downtown? John’s abilities and flaws? His holding the leads, distributing them, making judgments, not personal, on the level of skill and achievement, his being an apprentice to Shelly, dealing with the others?

8. The contrast with the atmosphere in the restaurant, talk, drinks, confiding, complaining? Ricky and his meeting with Jim, staying and talking, his philosophical reflections, being persuasive,
plausible, Jim and his listening, attention, gullible?

9. The presence of Blake, Alec Baldwin and his 10 minutes of presence and talk? Tough, the way he treated the men, Shelley and his making coffee, Dave and his laughing, George and his anxiety? His leads about work, leads, closing? The pressure from the bosses? His achievement, watch, car? Dave and his taunting? Blake and his responses? His rationale for being salesman? Sell, close - or be fired?

10. Jack Lemmon as Shelley? Age, experience, love of the game, John and the need for the leads, his daughter’s illness and expenses, desperate, growing sense of failure, his phone calls to clients, his criticizing John, his anger, his reaction to Blake, his pleading, the deal with John, the percentage, the $50.00, going to the car, John’s refusal, then consent? The next morning? The success of the deal, the cheque? Discussions with Ricky, Ricky complimenting him? The police, the interrogations? Jim’s arrival, Ricky and his predicament, his playing the game, the pretence? His lament about the old days? Reality, the discussion with John, John and knowing the truth and when to use it, Shelley’s mistake, his confessing, going into the police?

11. Dave, Ed harris’ performance, his talk, drinks, driving with George, his own demands about stealing the leads, the robbery, trapping George, whether George consented or not? The next morning, his reaction to the police, his angry outbursts, his leaving?

12. George, Alan Arkin, age, experience, nerves, failures, remembering the past, the leads, common sense? Listening to Dave, being trapped, the morning and his fear, the police, his being insulted, forced to go to lunch? His future?

13. Ricky, Al Pacino? In the office, at the restaurant, with Jim, his long talk, sharing the drinks, going to his home, the wife and her cooking, clinching the deal, the next morning, Ricky and his success, winning the car, the chart? Jim’s arrival, wanting the money back, the information about time limits, notifying the Dead, his wife’s pressure?

14. Jim’s character, his worry, coming to the office, the discussions with Ricky, his complete faith in Ricky? His fear of his wife? His bewilderment and leaving?

15. The glimpse of the clients, Shelley and his visit to the house, the husband, trying to be polite, getting rid of Shelley? The elderly clients, the liking to talk to salesmen, no money?

16. The police, their investigations, the treatment of the salesman?

17. Insight into human nature? Into the world of sales? Honesty and dishonesty? Integrity?