Examiner Essentials: # 12 Glengarry Glen Ross

A-B-C! Always Be Closing!

The Examiner Essentials are the movies everyone should watch, know and love. And if you watch and know but don't love, it's okay because you will still be an improved person for taking part in your own betterment. But the chances are, you'll love these movies. A list of all the Essentials can be found here.

Title: Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Director: James Foley (At Close Range, The Chamber, Fear)

Starring: Al Pacino (Heat), Ed Harris (Creepshow, Appaloosa), Alan Arkin (The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!), Jack Lemmon (Grumpy Old Men), Kevin Spacey (Moon), Jonathan Pryce (G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra)

ex-Factor: David Mamet. Chicago-born playwriter turned filmmaker, Mr. Mamet has gained a very large and loyal following based on the strength of his writing. He is probably best known for his dialog, which is usually very sing-songy and profanity-laden. Mamet not only constructs tight dialog, but also writes each line in certain meters, and for him the exact delivery of the line if as important as the words themselves. Glengarry Glen Ross is a great example of the power of Mamet’s words, as the same subject matter and characters could have been rendered completely bland and banal by an number of writers/directors.

The Story: In the tradition of Arthur Miller, Glengarry Glen Ross is about hardworking salesmen and the tough road they find themselves on. Specifically, we are with a small office of real estate salesmen on a rainy night, and between struggling to make sales they have to have a meeting in which the new rules of the road are laid out. This is much to the chagrin of the salesmen, which consists of Shelley The Machine Levene (Lemmon), George Aaronow (Arkin) and Dave Moss (Harris). Ricky Roma (Pacino) doesn’t have to hear the riot act because he could sell sand to the Iraqis. The others are struggling, however, and although the office manager Williamson (Spacey) has a stack of new, fresh sales leads, he’ll only give them to closers. This causes all sorts of office tension, as Levene is afraid to lose his job that he was once so good at and Moss tries to convince Aaronow to break into the office after it closes to steal the leads. Meanwhile, Roma tries to work around the presky problem known as buyer’s remorse, and Williamson tries to gain the respect of his employees, which turns out to be extremely difficult for him.Why It’s Essential: Mamet wrote the original Glengarry stage play, and adapted his own work for the silver screen (good thinking). As a result, the original is represented in the final product brilliantly. It also helps to have a cast of this caliber (although Mamet’s work can still bring out great performances from the likes of people such as Kristen Bell and Tim Allen). 95% of this movie is nothing but great actors squaring off with each other, like the one-sided relationship between Harris and Arkin, or the butting heads between Spacey and whoever he pisses off. And Jack Lemmon delivers a particularly great performance as his character seems to struggle the most with getting back that old magic, and also seems to have the most on the line. He is a professional on the downslope of his career, and despite his past success, finds himself in a “what have you done for me lately” culture. To make everything worse, his daughter is sick and they depend big time on what Shelley can bring home. And when that source of relief is threatened, he finds himself desperate and ready to do anything to make everything better. So with pitch-perfect writing and extremely talented actors, how can you go wrong with this movie?Memorable Scene: One scene was added, not existing in any shape in the original play, and this has to be the best scene in the movie. The night time riot act meeting is about to start and the “pep talk” is delivered by one of the higher ups, visiting the office as a personal favor to Mitch and Murray (the top dogs in this particular sales gig). This higher up is played by the amazing Alec Baldwin, and the credits list his name as Blake, but when Harris asks for this guy’s name, he gets a rather rude answer that I am sure he has trouble believing (really, you know anyone out there named “F*ck You?”). And his “pep talk” is mostly him insulting the salesmen and telling them to hit the bricks if they can’t take the abuse. Harris imagines himself to be a tough guy and tries to stand up to Mr. You, but quickly feels belittled and humiliated as Mr. You points out the value of his wristwatch in comparison to the value of Harris’ car. This scene is essential in setting up the ridiculously high level of stress that these guys are under, especially when Mr. You goes through the three prizes for the top sellers in the office (“As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired”). Actually, in terms of quotable dialogue, this scene is an embarrassment of riches, and Baldwin is pitch perfect for every second he’s on screen.Fun Fact: The f-bomb is dropped 138 times throughout the movie, while sh*t is uttered roughly 50 times. Not bad.