Despite being character-driven, dialogue-heavy and very stagy, this movie adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize winning play is immensely powerful, hard-hitting and intense. The stakes are high right from the start as a group of salesmen have to struggle against impossible odds (and each other) just to stay in their jobs. The ways in which the different characters respond to the pressure they're under provides a fascinating insight into human behaviour and their anger, frustration and resentment about the way they're being treated, triggers a whole series of highly-charged confrontations that generate a great deal of the energy that makes this remarkable drama so compelling.
When a group of real estate salesmen working for a small company begin to under-perform, an executive called Blake (Alec Baldwin) is brought in to give a motivational speech. His technique involves launching into a furious rant during which he insults, patronises and humiliates the three men present and announces that a sales contest is to be held. The prize for the winner will be a Cadillac, the salesman who comes second will be rewarded with a set of steak knives and everyone else in the team will be fired. The men's common complaint about the useless leads they're being given by the company is discredited by Blake who constantly boasts about his own wealth and says that salesmen should "always be closing". Furthermore, he adds that he's brought with him a bundle of new leads which will only be given to the men who are able to close sales using the existing leads.
The bad leads that the men have been working with, are people who they know either don't want to or can't afford to buy the properties they're selling plus a few time-wasters who just like talking to salesmen, but have no intention of buying.
Typically, the three men respond in different ways to Blake's tirade. George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) who'd already become disillusioned by his inability to close any sales is totally crushed. The more hot-headed Dave Moss (Ed Harris) is fired-up to retaliate against the company with the same level of aggression and disrespect that Blake had delivered to him and so tries to involve Aaronow in a plan to steal the new leads and sell them on to a rival firm. By contrast, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) who's the company's most experienced salesman is prepared to do absolutely anything, however, disreputable, just to survive. The office manager John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) enforces Blake's instructions by keeping the new leads under lock and key but when the office is burgled and the leads are taken, Williamson calls in the police and everyone in the team, including top-performing salesman Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), who was absent from Blake's meeting, find themselves under suspicion.
The most striking feature of this movie is its sizzling dialogue which is sharp, well-written and rapidly-delivered. It reflects perfectly the desperation and aggression of its characters who are mostly fast-talking individuals with an extensive vocabulary of profanities which they use frequently and forcefully during their numerous outbursts. All the characters are well-defined and come over as extremely authentic, not least, because they're all very recognisable types.
With its all-star cast of top-class acting talent, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is full of powerful performances. Alec Baldwin makes a huge impression in his cameo role as Blake and Al Pacino is terrific as the company's current most successful salesman. He oozes charm, is thoroughly amoral and excels in his scenes with one of his clients (played by Jonathan Pryce) and his old mentor Shelley Levene.
Levene, as played by Jack Lemmon, attempts to bribe Williamson in a variety of different ways to get his hands on the good leads and uses some elaborate deceptions in his dealings with his potential clients. In an outstanding performance, Lemmon actually makes this unpleasant man sympathetic, partly because of a distressing problem that he has in his personal life and also because of the constant optimism he displays, even though he knows that he's over-the-hill and his most successful years are behind him.
"Glengarry Glen Ross" is unquestionably an extraordinary movie and in many ways, one of a kind.
When a group of real estate salesmen working for a small company begin to under-perform, an executive called Blake (Alec Baldwin) is brought in to give a motivational speech. His technique involves launching into a furious rant during which he insults, patronises and humiliates the three men present and announces that a sales contest is to be held. The prize for the winner will be a Cadillac, the salesman who comes second will be rewarded with a set of steak knives and everyone else in the team will be fired. The men's common complaint about the useless leads they're being given by the company is discredited by Blake who constantly boasts about his own wealth and says that salesmen should "always be closing". Furthermore, he adds that he's brought with him a bundle of new leads which will only be given to the men who are able to close sales using the existing leads.
The bad leads that the men have been working with, are people who they know either don't want to or can't afford to buy the properties they're selling plus a few time-wasters who just like talking to salesmen, but have no intention of buying.
Typically, the three men respond in different ways to Blake's tirade. George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) who'd already become disillusioned by his inability to close any sales is totally crushed. The more hot-headed Dave Moss (Ed Harris) is fired-up to retaliate against the company with the same level of aggression and disrespect that Blake had delivered to him and so tries to involve Aaronow in a plan to steal the new leads and sell them on to a rival firm. By contrast, Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) who's the company's most experienced salesman is prepared to do absolutely anything, however, disreputable, just to survive. The office manager John Williamson (Kevin Spacey) enforces Blake's instructions by keeping the new leads under lock and key but when the office is burgled and the leads are taken, Williamson calls in the police and everyone in the team, including top-performing salesman Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), who was absent from Blake's meeting, find themselves under suspicion.
The most striking feature of this movie is its sizzling dialogue which is sharp, well-written and rapidly-delivered. It reflects perfectly the desperation and aggression of its characters who are mostly fast-talking individuals with an extensive vocabulary of profanities which they use frequently and forcefully during their numerous outbursts. All the characters are well-defined and come over as extremely authentic, not least, because they're all very recognisable types.
With its all-star cast of top-class acting talent, "Glengarry Glen Ross" is full of powerful performances. Alec Baldwin makes a huge impression in his cameo role as Blake and Al Pacino is terrific as the company's current most successful salesman. He oozes charm, is thoroughly amoral and excels in his scenes with one of his clients (played by Jonathan Pryce) and his old mentor Shelley Levene.
Levene, as played by Jack Lemmon, attempts to bribe Williamson in a variety of different ways to get his hands on the good leads and uses some elaborate deceptions in his dealings with his potential clients. In an outstanding performance, Lemmon actually makes this unpleasant man sympathetic, partly because of a distressing problem that he has in his personal life and also because of the constant optimism he displays, even though he knows that he's over-the-hill and his most successful years are behind him.
"Glengarry Glen Ross" is unquestionably an extraordinary movie and in many ways, one of a kind.