20140315: Drama Review--Glengarry, Glen Ross

Glengarry, Glen Ross

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 1992, rated R, 100 minutes, drama.
2. IMDB: 7.9/10.0 from 59,517 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 12.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 94% on the meter; 89% liked it from 38,372 audience ratings.
4. I watched this film on Amazon Prime.
5. Directed by: James Foley.  Written by: David Mamet.
6. Starring: Jack Lemmon as Shelley Levene, Ed Harris as Dave Moss, Kevin Spacey as John Williamson, Al Pacino as Ricky Roma, Alan Arkin as George Aaronow, Alec Baldwin as Blake, Jonathan Pryce as James Lingk, Bruce Altman as Larry Spannel, Jude Ciccolella as the Detective.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Shelley, Dave, Ricky, and George are real estate salesmen who are under the gun to sell more real estate.  They work at Consolidated Real Estate in Arizona.  Their line manager is John; those above John brought in Blake to put a fire under these four.  So the re-working of their work life consists of a contest.  In two weeks, whoever comes in first in sales get a Cadillac.  Who comes in second gets a set of steak knives.  The other two get fired.


2. The common complaint is the availability of leads; that is, connections to a likely real estate sales that is worth a lot of money.  With Consolidated Real Estate, they get leads that are dubious and re-worked.  Shelley appeals directly to John for the premium leads, the 'Glengarry' leads.  He tries to construct a kickback scheme with John to get the Glengarry leads.


3. Dave and George do a lot of complaining, then consider robbing the office to get the Glengarry leads directly, then sell then to a competitor.  Ricky schmoozes James at length, and closes a deal.


4. The robbery does occur, and there is a great deal of consternation at the office.  The Detective is doing interviews.  Contracts and some of the leads have been stolen.  Ricky's deal with James got registered with the company and the bank, or at least that's what John tells Ricky.  Shelley comes in a little late and is so happy to have sold 8 units in a development.  Dave blows up and leaves after his interview with the Detective.  George gets interviewed next.  Ricky and Shelley swap war stories.


5. James tries to get out of his deal with Ricky.  Ricky and Shelley try to fast talk him out of this.  Ricky manages some quality talking time while the Detective interviews Shelley.  John manages to torpedo the deal.  Ricky is not happy with John.  Nobody does anything but abuse John.


6. Will the thief be discovered?  Will any of these four salesmen get their act together again?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Excellent acting illuminates this great story about the real estate business.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.  Nicely shot.


2. Sound: 10/10 Well-miked actors; no problems understanding the dialog with the sound at a reasonable volume.  Music is not a factor here, and the dialog is everything.


3. Acting: 10/10 Great performances: Ed Harris, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin.  The fine story is made better by the excellent acting.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Mamet's story is riveting with these actors executing brilliantly.