#glengarry glen ross

[dstrangelove]

AL PACINO as Ricky Roma

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS dir James Foley, 1992

[cleopatraphouse]

You see that furry art?

That furry art cost more than your car.

[coolthingsguyslike]

[thinkatoryprocess]

Kieran Culkin is playing Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glen Ross on Broadway alongside Bob Odenkirk as Shelly Levene and honestly I don't think I can go even if I could pull off getting to New York because I might just fucking explode. Perfect casting both ways. I'm just wrecked thinking about it.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Politicians are wonderful people as long as they stay away from things they don't understand, such as working for a living.

- P.J. O’Rourke

An ode to politicians in power in Scotland, England, and France.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Glengarry Glen Ross was on my watch list but I couldn’t remember what it was about as I hit "play". While traveling for work, I found some time to sit down and watch it from my hotel room, which is ironic considering the subject matter. The way it makes you think you've got a character figured out - until you don't - takes you through so many different emotional states that it becomes unforgettable.

At a real estate company, four salesmen – Richard Roma (Al Pacino), Sheldon Levene (Jack Lemmon), George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) and Dave Moss (Ed Harris) – receive a visit from a motivational speaker from the firm. After a barrage of insults, Blake (Alec Baldwin) informs them that at the end of the week, the top seller will receive a new car, while the bottom two sellers will lose their jobs.

Before Blake comes in to give his legendary speech, you see the four salesmen run through their arsenal of tricks in unsuccessful attempts to sell the real estate they’ve been assigned. No one outside of Richard seems to have any success and all everyone does is complain to the office manager, John Williamson (Kevin Spacey). Everyone claims the leads (the names and phone numbers of potential buyers) are worthless, that their sale numbers are down because of the leads, that if they could only have access to the Glengarry Highlands development leads, they would have some great numbers to show and so on. You think to yourself “These loser con artists are constantly making excuses. What they need is to be taught a lesson.” Then, Blake comes in. You’ve probably heard some excerpts of his profanity-filled “Closers” speech but you’re not ready for just how detestable a “motivational speaker” he is. Half of the office losing their job at the end of the week? What kind of soulless corporate weasels would agree to such a thing? Now, the way you feel about Richard, Sheldon, George and Dave has shifted. They’re still losers but you feel bad for them.

That’s a drastic shift to go through within only a few minutes and it’s not the only one you’ll experience listening to the brilliant dialogue by David Mamet (who bases the screenplay off of his play by the same name). You think you’ve got a character figured out and then they’ll say or do something that will make you place them in a completely different camp. You have no idea how the film will end, who will get fired, who will keep their job, or even where the characters will be positioned on the “love ‘em or loathe them” scale by the time the credits start rolling.

When a film is based on a play, you can usually tell. The limited number of locations and characters, the heavy emphasis on dialogue, etc. give away that what you’re seeing is an adaptation of a different medium. The theater might have a lot in common with film but it differs in some important ways. In Glengarry Glen Ross, you can hardly tell because keeping the action within just a few places and focusing on what the characters are saying is the choice director James Foley would've made regardless. Other non-sales-related characters and places are alluded to but we almost never actually go there or talk to them. After Blake's speech, they don’t matter. The deadline introduced is suffocating, it’s shrinking the world around these people. We’ll get to relax after it’s all done. Seeing a world beyond the sales? That’s for closers.

Earlier this year, a motivational speaker was brought in to talk in my department at work. They talked a lot about courage, about standing up and getting things done so you would feel good about the goals you’d set for yourself personally and professionally. The reaction from my coworkers was mixed. I heard someone describe the speaker as “Someone who must've realized one day that you can make a living by regurgitating inspirational boards you see for sale in the Home Décor section”. I wonder how everyone would've felt if we instead got someone like Blake. I'm glad all I have to do is wonder. It's not just the "Closers" speech that makes Glengarry Glen Ross memorable, however. The great dialogue, excellent performances, the way it gets you to keep changing your perspective and the suffocating deadline imposed on the characters makes it a film you can't forget. (October 7, 2024)

[scenesandscreens]

Glengarry Glen Ross (1994)

Director - James Foley, Cinematography - Juan Ruiz Anchía

"I'm going to tell you something. Your life is your own. You have a contract with your wife? You have certain things you do jointly? Bond there. And there are other things, and those things are yours. And you needn't feel ashamed, you needn't feel that you're being untrue. Or that *she* would abandon you if she knew. This is *your* life."

[mitaffenartigergeschwendigkeit]

[891movies]

415 to go (two thirds of the way there!!)

Three Kings (1999, dir. David O. Russell): I appreciate that what could have been a very conventional heist film took such chances with the subject material and cinematography.

Mad Max (1979, dir. George Miller): This was a very different movie than I expected, having only seen Fury Road before, but I love that it presents such a different post-apocalypse from we're used to seeing. Society has really only started to crumble. People still go on vacations!

The Ox-Bow Incident (1943, dir. William A. Wellman): I put it on knowing nothing about it and not expecting much but oh boy, was I pleasantly surprised. This may be an all-time great western.

The Sorrow and the Pity (1969, dir. Marcel Ophüls): At a staggering 251 minutes, this was the longest entry I had left on the list. It is an incredible work of documentary filmmaking, just absolutely astounding. But am I relieved I won't have to watch another multiple hours long doc about WWII for this project? Yeah, maybe.

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992, dir. James Foley): I'm not a big fan of films that are so obviously adapted from stage plays. That said, Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino are genuinely great in this and their performances made this a much more enjoyable viewing experience than it otherwise would have been.

Pickup on South Street (1953, dir. Samuel Fuller): Could have been great. There's a lot here to love but it's dragged down by the overt misogyny and an absolute piece of shit protagonist.

Le Havre (2011, dir. Aki Kaurismäki): This film is suffused with warmth, in the cinematography but especially in the characters. I feel better about humanity and about life in general after watching this movie.

Shanghai Express (1932, dir. Josef von Sternberg): I don't know that I've ever seen a leading lady as captivating as Marlene Dietrich is in this film. I was absolutely spellbound every time she was on screen.

[mad-prophet-of-the-airwaves]

Rest in peace, Alan Arkin (1934-2023).

[alpacinocharactertournament]

AL PACINO CHARACTER TOURNAMENT ROUND ONE

richard: a sleazy salesman on his way to sell ya some real estate

dunkaccino:

[everything-written-down]

A great way to get me excited for a Mamet revival is to put Kieran Culkin in it!!!!!!

[aydascomprehendsubtext]

Glengarry Glen Ross honorable mention on movies where the loudest pop culture voices have done a property so wrong. Alec Baldwin speech is fun but it is nowhere near the most important thing about this movie. It's a movie full of scam artists failing to make money and taking it out on one another. They're deeply frantically insecure about being not rich and not a man because those are the same thing. They're cruel and manipulative and their bosses are slowly strangling them anyway. Everyone ends up worse. Man yells really good is the funniest possible takeaway from that.

[courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme]

Best Kevin Spacey movies and performances:

1. Seven - David Fincher (1995)

2. The Usual Suspects - Bryan Singer (1995)

3. American Beauty - Sam Mendes (1999)

4. L.A. Confidential - Curtis Hanson (1997)

5. Glengarry Glen Ross - James Foley (1992)

6. The Life of David Gale - Alan Parker (2003)

7. K-PAX - Iain Softley (2001)

[harrison-abbott]

During the shooting sessions, members of the cast who weren’t needed to be on set at specific times would show up anyway, to watch and learn from their colleagues’ performances.

[andybeckerman]

cats are for closers