Glengarry Glen Ross

About to go on a kick of David Mamet films. To start things off, Glengarry Glen Ross.

First things first, it's a terrible title - to me anyways. I always heard of this movie and though it was the name of the title character or something - I also thought this was essentially a gangster story based on the poster and the actors involved (I mean, Pacino, Arkin, Baldwin...). Couldn't be farther from that. 

The movie (er, stage play) centers around a small real estate company that has come under tough times. The heads of the parent company send in Alec Baldwin's character to announce (motivate) to the four salesmen that come the end of the week the two top salesmen will win some prizes while the bottom two get canned. After that, the story is set in motion with these four guys scrambling around to make their sales and keep their jobs in what looks to be a hopeless market. All the while, their manager (played by Kevin Spacey) has a stack of reliable leads (likely candidates that these guys could actually make a sale with) and has them under lock and key within his office. With the pressure to make sales, keep their jobs, and knowing the answers to all their problems are stowed away in their boss' office, you watch these salesmen plot and plan a way to stay on top in this dog-eats-dog world.

I think at quote from Wikipedia sums up the tone and plot of movie very nicely calling it, Death of a Fucking Salesman. What stands out the most of Mamet's writing is his dialogue - or, more obviously, his massive use of profanity. I fucking love it. In all seriousness, the character development is great and their conversations with one another are up there with something Tarantino would write - if we use him as standard for great dialogue writers even if Mamet made his presence known long before Tarantino. 

The movie does feel slow from time to time, but it's been adapted from Mamet's stage play. For that reason, you don't see the characters jumping around from location to location. Things are fairly isolated. The story is pretty much contained to two locations: the real estate office and a Chinese restaurant across the street. Director James Foley adds some energy to his camera work. There's a lot of panning, smash cuts, extreme close-ups. It all helps what would otherwise be a stifled presentation feel more alive. The soundtrack is also this sad, dissonant saxophone, bluesy sound. The film opens and closes to that music as a subway rolls by. Once again, it gives me the immediate impression that I'm watching some film noir detective story. Not a film about four salesman scared about losing their jobs. 

To tie things back into the start of my post, I'll explain the title. Glengarry Glen Ross stands for the two real estate properties these salesmen are trying to push. It's not even that clear from the story or dialogue to have the audience make this connection. It's just that the names pass over you without a second's notice. But, I'm nitpicking here. It's a great story; incredible performances from a star-studded cast in this film adaptation; and it deserved all the awards and praise it's won over the years. Check it out if you're ever curious.