'Glengarry Glen Ross'
The Ringer's Chris Ryan and Sean Fennessey have got brass balls to rewatch the 1992 American drama film adapted by David Mamet, 'Glengarry Glen Ross', starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, and Alec Baldwin.
Cast
Al Pacino as Ricky Roma
Jack Lemmon as Shelly 'The Machine' Levine
Ed Harris as Dave Moss
Alan Arkin as George Aaronow
Alec Baldwin as Blake
Kevin Spacey as John Williamson
Jonathan Pryce as James Lingk
Directed by: James Foley
Written by: David Mamet
Notes
- 30th anniversary episode. Took nearly 10 years to get the play from stage to screen.
- The Blake/ABC scene was not in the original play – Mamet wrote it specifically for the film at Pacino's request.
- James Foley on Baldwin's rehearsal: he came in with the entire scene memorized. Foley said 'Stop. Rehearsal over. See you on set.'
- Original Chicago stage cast: Joe Mantegna (Roma, won the Tony), Robert Prosky (Levine), James Tolkan (Moss), JT Walsh.
- Mamet compensated Mantegna for losing Roma by writing House of Games and Things Change for him.
- Alan Arkin was the slowest to sign on, reportedly hesitant because Aaronow is 'just getting skull-fucked for 2 hours.'
- Kevin Spacey was recruited from doing Long Day's Journey Into Night on stage with Jack Lemmon.
- Actors would spend their days off on set watching other actors work.
- Shot in August 1991, largely in Brooklyn. Poor box office; became successful through home video.
- The film's cars define the characters: Blake drives a BMW 850i, Williamson a Pontiac Bonneville, Levine a 10-year-old Oldsmobile, Roma a Buick Riviera.
- Rio Rancho (one of the properties) was basically desert when the play was written but actually became a suburb of Albuquerque – would have been a good investment.
- The cast has 29 combined Academy Award nominations, but the film itself received shockingly few Oscar nominations.
- Pacino later played Levine in a 2013 stage revival.
- The end-credits song (Al Jarreau's 'Blue Skies') is an allusion to Blue Sky Laws – anti-fraud securities regulations.
- Bill Simmons was absent ('Bronchitis Bill').
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“It's a play about salesmanship as a metaphor for the way we are all trained to interact with one another, using half-truths and deception.”
Siskel was slightly less enthusiastic, noting it was 'stagey at points,' but Ebert loved it.
- Blake's 'Always Be Closing' speech – the obvious winner.
- Chris's personal favorite: the Moss and Aaronow scenes where Moss manipulates Aaronow into being an accomplice.
- Sean's personal favorite: Roma's monologue seducing Lingk – 'Stocks, bonds, objects of art, real estate... what are they? An opportunity.'
- Also: Roma vs. Moss showdown, Levine and Williamson's final confrontation, Levine pretending to be 'D. Ray Morton.'
- The film's two-act structure (night and day) and how the second half shifts when Roma pulls up.
- The costume design – Roma in Italian suits down to Levine in shirtsleeves and suspenders.
- Ed Harris's 10-year run (1989-1999): The Abyss, State of Grace, GGR, The Firm, The Rock, Truman Show.
- Cultural recurrence: the Baldwin monologue in Barry, the SNL sketch, YouTube ubiquity.
- Being a self-identified 'David Mamet guy' – his increasingly conservative politics have made this awkward.
- Racist language and stereotypes (particularly about Indian Americans), though accurate to these characters.
- The concept of door-to-door cold calling / letting strangers into your home – this sales culture has vanished.
Alec Baldwin as Blake – the hosts say this category essentially exists because of this performance. 'The most heat-check off-the-bench, never to be seen again.' 16 minutes and then just left the arena.
- Baldwin was in line to play Roma if Pacino's schedule didn't work out.
- Joe Mantegna originated Roma on stage and won the Tony.
- Bruce Willis and Robert De Niro were mentioned as interested at various points.
Jack Lemmon – 'Don't you call me lady!' Acknowledged that overacting is 'kind of a necessity' in a Mamet film.
- Al Pacino in 1992 – wins Oscar for 'Scent of a Woman', delivers this iconic Roma performance.
- David Mamet on screen.
- Salesman on screen.
- Ed Harris as a character actor.
Sean: 'Dave Moss is right.' The system is inhumane, designed to control lower-middle-class men.
Supposed to be set in Chicago but shot in Brooklyn – 'Al Pacino is in a New York movie and Ed Harris is in a Chicago movie.'
Al Jarreau's rendition of Irving Berlin's 'Blue Skies' over the end credits – an allusion to Blue Sky Laws.
- Chris: the push-in on Alan Arkin when Moss says 'robbery.'
- Sean: the handheld camera following Levine and Williamson into the claustrophobic side room – 'the walls are closing in on Shelly.'
- Philip Baker Hall as Shelly Levine and JT Walsh as Williamson.
- Jon Bernthal as Roma.
- Sean: Death of a Salesman – Lemmon himself called Glengarry 'Death of a Fucking Salesman.'
- Chris: Boiler Room – how the lessons got reinterpreted across generations.
Jack Lemmon – both hosts agree.
- Sean: the bottle of J&B from the China Bowl.
- Chris: Roma's Clubmaster sunglasses.
'Never open your mouth until you know the shot.'
Sean: David Mamet (the writer). Chris: Al Pacino. Craig (tiebreaker): Jack Lemmon.