Customer Reviews

Glengarry Glen Ross

5 star:		(145)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

This movie has been brought to my attention several days ago and thought I give it a "look-see" At first, it's confusing for some minutes until you figure out the real estate lingo, but once you get past the ordinary phrases used by the businessmen, you love it. Basically the movie takes place in a real estate company on its last leg. During the night, someone breaks into the building to steal the Glengarry Leads. The good leads.

This movie kept my attention greatly and Lemmon as Shelly gives an emotional and stirring performance. His facial expressions and his movements add to the whole effect of his character and it showed he could still act in major motion pictures. Arkin as George may have the hardest character to play as he plays a shaky and often on-his-toes salesmen, a good performance. Harris as Moss gets to do most of the screaming in the movie and that's always easy for Harris, he always does a good job. Baldwin as Blake has a short scene but makes an impact and it lasts. You just listen and stay attentive when Baldwin is speaking. It's that good. Spacey as Williamson has to play an embarrassed and often ridiculed office manager but Spacey's performances are always electric.

Finally, the Oscar nominated performance of Al Pacino as Ricky Roma is quite possibly my favorite movie character ever. Pacino's usual swagger is there but this time it's there with an attitude. His screen impact is matched by no one in this movie and you'll love this character. With the exception of possibly Serpico, this is Pacino's best performance of his career and should've won the Oscar and probably would've if he didn't win for Best Actor that year.

If you don't mind strong language and you love pure acting and dialogue and possibly the greatest cast ever assembled, you'll love this movie. I give my recommendation to anyone who likes Lemmon, Pacino or just fantastic acting in general. This movie should be considered one of the greatest ever but it always gets passed up. Watch it and you'll see why you.

If you're looking for car crashes, gun fights and naked people you won't find them here. But if great dialogue and raw emotion hold your interest, it doesn't get any better than this. Every one of these guys should have won an award for their roles in this movie. Not sure if this particular DVD contains the interview with Jack Lemmon that was included after one of the cable TV broadcasts of the film. If not, it should!

Most people think of explosions, car chases and action/adventure films as guy movies. Well, maybe, but those are for boys. There's no car chase in this movie, no deaths and no guns. But it manages to hold your attention while telling its story of real estate salesmen. This is the quintessential guy movie. This screen adaptation of David Mamet's Pulitzer-winning play is incredibly stagebound, which was a stroke of genius: thus, the fast-paced dialogue and the desperate, macho facades of the characters become, and stay, the focus. This allows the amazing talents of the cast to flourish. Pacino and Lemmon are untouchable. Ed Harris is outstanding. Having just the four main characters makes the whole thing seem oddly forced at times. Baldwin's slick delivery of his ball-busting speech to the three underachieving salesmen, is a scene to remember. Highly recommended.

Six desperate men, one week to keep their jobs by closing more leads for Premier Properties. The new and lucrative Glengarry leads are only available to closers. But all six guys need their jobs. So who robbed the Glengarry leads?

That's the plot. Those that think it sounds dissapointing haven't seen the film yet, and those that think it sounds intruiging don't know how right they are! This is a great film; It has to be - it is from David Mamet's pullitzer prize winning play.

Basically the film takes place over a two day period - the office is robbed halfway through and all we, the viewers, know is that there were several guys who would have done it. But who? While the film was a play first, there are a whole lot of monologues and dialogues and that is how the action takes place. And you've not lived untill you've seen dialogue between Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino!

The only warning I can give is that those who don't like David Mamet (and it seems you either love him or hate him) will not like this film, though it is more accessible, say, then Oleanna. Those who get bored watching plays because of all talk and no 'real' action probably won't like this film either.

Those who remain intrigued by how 6 characters in a film can create so much tension, drama, and fulness, get this film. You will not regret it one bit.

After hearing rave reviews of this movie for the last couple of years, I finally rented it. After nearly two hours of absolutely nothing, other than a good line or two from Al Pacino, it was over. I honestly wondered if I fell asleep and missed something. What a disappointment.
This film starts very strong with a great five minute performance from Alec Baldwin. He makes you believe you have just sat down to witness true perfection. He reminds the salesmen to "Always Be Closing" (ABC). He then tells them of a competition. The top sales person gets a car, second place gets a set of steak knives and the third gets fired. There is no room for losers in this dramatically masculine world; only "closers" will get the good sales leads. There is a lot of pressure to succeed, so a robbery is committed which has unforseen consequences for all the characters. Jack Lemmon and Al Pacino in particular are incredible, they play off each other so well. This movie is not far from reality. Many salespeople (myself included) who work in the "boiler room" often end up burnt out, divorced, and wasted.

This is an insightful movie into what motivates in a sales environment. Baldwin coming in with a sales contest after Jack Lemmon was such a successful sales employee for so many years. It developed the 'what have you done for me lately' syndrome in business.

What you wonder is there any opportunity for someone who has been a successful sales person in his or her career and who has brought in business and more than paid for him/herself, then, because of short term thinking, loses his job.

Lemmon suddenly becomes a washout, you feel the desparation of him and the bad feelings of his associates as his career implodes.

Akin to the reengineering of American business and the increase in production required in the postal system, you feel the effect on all involved. Baldwin is akin to the college educated drivers who push postal service employees to do more and more in a mundane environment. A bit surreal, the movie shows the heartlessness of business. It is just that, business, no feeling, no heart.

The movie reminds me of survivor, where only one person leaves the office. Yet, what happens each month thereafter? You are left wondering what happens next.

You wonder, what things should be done in a sales environment such as this for the employees to achieve success. This movie is pre-internet, so things are slightly different today.

One thing about this movie, it is relevant in todays economic climate. Do people matter when it comes to business? Eventually the law of diminishing returns will come to haunt us as a people as we continue to export jobs for the sake of business. Eventually, you would think, who will be there to buy what is made overseas? Of course, India, China and Russia, where the jobs are going. Let's have a sales contest.

The DVD version of this film is superb. David Mamet, one of the few terrific playwrights we have now makes it all come true.

This is one of Baldwin's best performances( he is on screen just enough) Jack Lemmon leads a stellar cast along with Ed Harris, Alan Arkin and a very greasy Al Pacino.

THe extra features on this DVD are basically tributes to a film great Jack Lemmon. Not only was he in the elite as an actor he was a true gent himself. I recall reading the life story about Dimitri Tiomkin and one of his first film scores( composition)
Max Steiner was conducting and Tiomkin was taken aback a bit by what he saw. He saw Steiner, working very hard trying to get the most out of Tiomkins score.

It was then Tiomkin knew that the greats had little ego and the only thing that mattered was the finished product. Well for Mr. Lemmon that is WHAT MATTERED. ..and that is the resonance of a true artist. Lemmon's Shelly Levine is on target and Lemmon fights to minimize any pathos around him in this sales den of evil. A unique film experience !!

CP

Frankly if the cast of this film aren't enough to make you want to watch it, and almost to a man they give the performances of their lives, then nothing I write or think is going to make too much of a difference to you. I have worked in sales all of my life and all that I can say is that I know these characters, David Mamet is considered by some to be America's finest contemporary playwright of his generation and he won the Pullitzer prize for this. Need I continue?
Jack Lemon gives what I would say is his finest performance, and all Simpson's fans will readily recognize his performance from the many episodes parodying salesman. Al Pacino rarely gives a bad performance but rarely gives a better one, and Alec Baldwin who often seems to play the same character brings believability to the character that could convince you that the role was written for him.
Frankly the dialogue, acting and cinematography are as good as they could be and if that isn't enough for you and you're disappointed that the effects are crap (the movie does have the feel of a play brought to film) then go buy Pearl Harbour or Jurrasic park!

An excellently acted film with a great script. Each actor rubs on you the wrong way, which just draws you in more to see it unfold. Kevin Spacey and Jack Lemmon are rarely better than this. No bells and whistles, just a remarkable ensemble playing out a terrifically written piece.

If there was ever a film that deserved an Academy Award for best ensemble cast then this is it. Glengarry GlenRoss features a dream cast of thespian heavyweights: Lemmon, Pacino, Spacey, Harris, and Arkin. Alec Baldwin delivers an absolutely blistering performance as Blake. His character was not in the original stage play, Mamet wrote him specifically for the movie. Baldwin delivers a devastating monologue with ferocious intensity. Baldwin makes the most of his limited screen time as he dominates this scene with an astonishing performance. It is, hands down, one of the best monologues ever put on film. His performance is so good that the rest of movie is almost anti-climatic in comparison.

Director James Foley successfully transfers Mamet's play to the big screen by creating atmospheric visuals. There is a somber mood that permeates almost every scene. The movie takes place mostly at night during an oppressive rainstorm. Juan Ruiz Anchia's rich, textured cinematography is the key ingredient in giving Mamet's play a cinematic look. All the locations are given their own distinctive colour scheme, in particular, the hellish red/navy blue of the Chinese restaurant that the salesmen frequent. The overall atmosphere is dark, like a film noir.

Disc One features a 30-minute featurette entitled, "Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon." It is a touching tribute to the great thespian from the likes of actor Peter Gallagher, director James Foley and his son, Chris.

Director James Foley provides an entertaining and engaging audio commentary. The folks at Artisan have wisely edited out all of the stretches of silence and only show the portions of the film that Foley actually talks over.

Disc Two contains the bulk of the supplemental material. "ABC 'Always Be Closing'" is a 30-minute featurette on the real world of sales. The first half examines the various techniques that salespeople employ while the second half focuses on Glengarry GlenRoss.

"J. Roy: New and Used Furniture," is a ten-minute featurette on a salesman named J. Roy and adds further insight into the world of salespeople but nothing to the movie itself.

The highlight of this disc are the audio commentaries by cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia, actors Alec Baldwin and Alan Arkin and production designer Jane Musky. Baldwin's commentary is the most interesting. He talks about how he got involved with Glengarry GlenRoss and how the actors did not like him because they had already bonded by the time he joined production. The most fascinating part of his audio track is when he talks at length and quite knowledgeably about the craft of acting. After hearing this commentary it is a shame that Baldwin does not do more of these-he is a natural.

Also included is a ten-minute segment from The Charlie Rose Show that features Jack Lemmon talking about working on Glengarry GlenRoss and what attracted him to Mamet's work.

On the lighter side, there is a funny clip from Inside the Actors Studio featuring Kevin Spacey and a student re-enacting the "Will You Go to Lunch?" scene from the movie.

The folks at Artisan have assembled an impressive two-DVD set that is an excellent tribute to Mamet's signature masterpiece.