Film Review: Glengarry Glen Ross

Director: James Foley

Released in 1992 and based on the famous Pulitzer winning play by David Mamet, was jokingly named "Death of a fucking salesman" due to the profanity-laden script. The ensemble cast comes together brilliantly to portray the cut throat world of being a salesman in real estate. Al Pacino was the only cast member to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor.

The film follows the lives of four salesmen: Ricky Roma (Pacino), Shelley Levine (Jack Lemmon), Dave Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin). They regularly use dishonest tactics to make sales and push up their commission despite generally being given poor leads by office manager John Williamson (Kevin Spacey). Blake (Alec Baldwin) gives them a long speech berating them at being bad at their jobs and in life as part of a pep talk request by head office. He also informs them that only the best two sellers will be allowed to stay and the worst two will be fired.

Blake (Alec Baldwin) trying to light a fire under the salesmen

The stellar cast produces an excellent display as you would expect but the script produced by David Mamet to adapt it from the play is outstanding. The dialogue is witty, funny and yet purposeful in its direction, you feel like every sentence is meaningful to what is happening. The back and forths between characters when they insult each other is clever and believable whilst the "Coffee is for closers" speech delivered by Baldwin is top notch.

From the minimal scenes and dialogue heavy screenplay you can see how this is a film that has been adapted from a play. it would play out brilliantly on a stage. The direction is notably weak as the characters seem to operate oblivious to their surroundings and rarely interact with anything except each other. The mystery around the missing leads which the salesmen are working for is cleverly revealed and is a satisfying conclusion.

3.5/4 Sharp and slick script the key behind this intriguing film