Glengarry Glen Ross (film)
| Glengarry Glen Ross | |
|---|---|
 theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | James Foley |
| Written by | David Mamet |
| Produced by | Jerry Tokofsky Stanley R. Zupnik |
| Starring | Jack Lemmon Al Pacino Ed Harris Alan Arkin Kevin Spacey Alec Baldwin |
| Cinematography | Juan Ruiz Anchía |
| Edited by | Howard E. Smith |
| Music by | James Newton Howard |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
Release date | September 30 1992 |
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $12,500,000 |
| Box office | $10,725,228 (USA) |
Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 movie, based on the 1984 Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning play of the same name by David Mamet, who adapted it into a screenplay for the film. The title refers to Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms, two properties mentioned in the movie.
The film, like the play, is notorious for its use of profanity. The word "fuck" is used in the script a total of 138 times during the 100 minute long movie and the word "shit" is used 50 times, leading the cast to jokingly refer to the film as "Death of a Fucking Salesman." [citation needed]
Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film.
Synopsis
The film shows parts of two days in the lives of four desperate real estate agents (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris and Alan Arkin) who are prepared to engage in any number of unethical and/or illegal acts (from lies and flattery to bribery, threats and intimidation to burglary) in order to sell undesirable real estate to unwilling prospective buyers ("leads"). The put-upon office manager (Kevin Spacey) waits for them to make their sale after the hardnosed corporate boss (Alec Baldwin) gives marching orders to do their jobs.
Cast and characters
- Al Pacino as Ricky Roma
- Jack Lemmon as Shelley Levene
- Alec Baldwin as Blake
- Alan Arkin as George Aaronow
- Ed Harris as Dave Moss
- Kevin Spacey as John Williamson
- Jonathan Pryce as James Lingk
- Bruce Altman as Larry Spannel
Differences between the film and the play
Template:Spoiler The most important way in which the film differs from the play is the addition of a famous scene known as Coffee's for closers written by Mamet involving a character named Blake, written specifically for Alec Baldwin. Blake gives the main characters a more immediate motivation for selling real estate — namely that their jobs are on the line.
The scenes that show Shelley going to visit an uninterested potential client were added for the film. Some of his phone conversations are added as well. The additions add an even deeper sense of sad desperation for Lemmon's character than appeared in the original play.
The film also differs in geographic location. While the play's original references to the Chicago area remain intact throughout, the film credits list it as having been filmed "on location" in New York City. As such, there are some scenes which do refer to New York, such as the opening scene, in which the pay phone Shelley Levene (Lemmon) uses clearly reads "New York." Also, George Aaronow (Arkin) comments to Shelley, "I had a woman in White Plains on the hook ...," an obvious reference to White Plains, New York. The final scene also features a subway car with "Sheepshead Bay" (as in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn) as the destination. The scene in which Pacino's character arrives at the office clearly shows an NYPD squad car. However, when Shelley engages in conversation in one scene he twice says "Kenilworth" — an affluent Chicago suburb on the north shore of Lake Michigan.
David Mamet also altered the original ending of the movie. In the play, Roma flatters Shelley and suggests that the two work together. Then, when Shelley leaves the room, Roma turns on Shelley and reveals that his flattery was only a con to get a share of Shelley's sales. In the movie, this last-second turn is omitted, and Roma's flattery is assumed to be sincere. Template:Endspoiler
Production
David Mamet's play was first performed in 1983 at the National Theater of London and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. That same year, the play made its U.S. debut in Chicago before moving to Broadway. Producer Jerry Tokofsky read David Mamet’s play on a trip to New York City in 1985 at the suggestion of director Irvin Kershner who wanted to make it into a movie.[1] Tokofsky saw the play on Broadway and contacted Mamet. Stanley R. Zupnik was a Washington D.C.-based producer of B-movies looking for A-title material. Tokofsky had co-produced two previous Zupnik films. In 1986, he told Zupnik about Mamet’s play and he saw it on Broadway but found the plot confusing. Mamet wanted $500,000 for the movie rights and another $500,000 to write the screenplay. Zupnik agreed to pay Mamet’s $1 million asking price, figuring that they could cut a deal with a cable company to bankroll the movie. Because of the uncompromising subject matter and abrasive language, no major studio wanted to finance it, even with movie stars attached. Financing came from cable and video companies, a German television station, an Australian movie theater chain, several banks, and New Line Cinema over the course of four years.[1]
Al Pacino originally wanted to do the play on Broadway but was doing another Mamet production, American Buffalo, in London at the time. He expressed interest in appearing in the film adaptation. In 1989, Tokofsky asked Jack Lemmon to act in the movie.[2] During this time, Kershner dropped out to make another movie as did Pacino. Alec Baldwin, who also attached, left the project over a contract disagreement. James Foley’s agent sent the film director Mamet’s screenplay in early 1991 but he was hesitant to direct because “I wanted great actors, people with movie charisma, to give it watchability, especially since the locations were so restricted.”[3] Foley took the screenplay to Pacino with whom he had been trying to work with on a film for years.[4] Foley was hired to direct only to leave the production as well. By March 1991, Tokofsky contacted Baldwin and begged him to reconsider doing the film. The producer remembers, “Alec said: ‘I’ve read 25 scripts and nothing is as good as this. O.K. If you make it, I’ll do it.”[1] The two men arranged an informal reading with Lemmon in Los Angeles. Subsequently, the three men organized readings with several other actors as Lemmon remembers, "Some of the best damn actors you're ever going to see came in and read and I'm talking about names."[4] Tokofsky’s lawyer, Jake Bloom, called a meeting at the Creative Artists Agency who represented many of the actors involved and asked for their help. CAA showed little interest, but two of their clients – Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey – soon joined the cast.
Because of the film’s modest budget, many of the actors took significant pay cuts. For example, Pacino cut his per-movie price from $6 million to $1.5 million, Lemmon was paid $1 million, Baldwin received $250,000, and so on.[1] This didn’t stop other actors, like Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis,[1] Joe Mantegna and Richard Gere[2] from expressing interest in the film.
Once the cast was assembled, they spent three weeks in rehearsals. With a budget set at $12.5 million, filming began in August 1991 at the Kaufman Astoria Soundstage in Queens, New York and on location in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn over 39 days. Harris remembers, "There were five and six-page scenes we would shoot all at once. It was more like doing a play at times [when] you'd get the continuity going."[4] Alan Arkin said of the script, "What made it [challenging] was the language and the rhythms, which are enormously difficult to absorb."[4]
The film's director of photography, Juan Ruiz Anchía relied on low lighting and shadows with a blues, greens and reds color scheme for the first part of the film. For the second half, he adhered to a monochromatic blue-grey color scheme.
During the production, Tokofsky and Zupnik had a falling out over money and credit for the film. Tokofsky sued to strip Zupnik of his producer’s credit and share of the producer’s fee.[5] Zupnik claimed that he personally put up $2 million of the film’s budget and countersued, claiming that Tokofsky was fired for embezzlement.[5]
Soundtrack
| Untitled | |
|---|---|
Track listing
- Wayne Shorter - "Main Title" 4:59
- Wayne Shorter - "You Met My Wife" 2:09
- Wayne Shorter - "Plot" 2:55
- Little Jimmy Scott - "Street of Dreams" 3:33
- Shirley Horn - "You'd Better Go Now" 4:08
- Take 6 - "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows" 2:40
- Bill Holman Big Band - "Prelude to a Kiss" 4:21
- Georgie Fame - "Easy Street" 3:18
- David Sanborn - "Day Dream" 4:22
- Joe Roccisano Orchestra - "Tear Filled Skies" 5:11
- Al Jarreau - "Blue Skies" 2:51
- Joe Roccisano Orchestra - "Blue Lou" 7:00
- Wayne Shorter - "In the Car" 2:21
- Wayne Shorter - "Don't Sell to Doctors" 2:23
- Dr. John - "Blue Skies" 4:01
- Wayne Shorter - "Nyborgs" 1:00
Reception
Template:Infobox movie certificates Opening in 416 theaters, the film grossed $2,104,402 in its opening weekend. As of April 17, 2007, it has grossed $10,725,228 in North America.[6] Reviews were highly positive. As of April 17, 2007, it was given a rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.8 rating at the Internet Movie Database.
The film is often lauded for its stellar ensemble cast, with Jack Lemmon describing it as the best cast of which he had ever been a part.[citation needed] During filming, members of the cast who were not required to be on the set certain days would show up anyway to watch the other actors' performances.[citation needed]
Owen Gleiberman gave the film an A rating in his review for Entertainment Weekly magazine, praising Lemmon's performance as "a revelation" and describing his character as "the weaselly soul of Glengarry Glen Ross-Willy Loman turned into a one-liner."[7] Peter Travers gave the film his highest rating in Rolling Stone magazine and wrote, "The pleasure of this unique film comes in watching superb actors dine on Mamet's pungent language like the feast it is."[8] Roger Ebert's review in the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Mamet's dialogue has a kind of logic, a cadence, that allows people to arrive in triumph at the ends of sentences we could not possibly have imagined. There is great energy in it. You can see the joy with which these actors get their teeth into these great lines, after living through movies in which flat dialogue serves only to advance the story."[9] Vincent Canby praised "the utterly demonic skill with which these foulmouthed characters carve one another up in futile attempts to stave off disaster. It's also because of the breathtaking wizardry with which Mr. Mamet and Mr. Foley have made a vivid, living film that preserves the claustrophobic nature of the original stage work," in his review for the New York Times.[10]
In his review for Variety magazine, Todd McCarthy praised Mamet's writing and the performances of the cast but felt that while "Juan-Ruiz Anchia's lighting is enormously inventive and colorful, there are a few too many camera moves, unnecessarily elaborate setups and attention-getting cutting tricks."[11] Desson Howe's review in the Washington Post criticized Foley's direction, writing that it "doesn't add much more than the street between. If his intention is to create a sense of claustrophobia, he also creates the (presumably) unwanted effect of a soundstage. There is no evidence of life outside the immediate world of the movie."[12]
Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his portrayal of salesman Ricky Roma. This was the same year (1992) in which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his portrayal of Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman.
References
- ^ a b c d e Weinraub, Bernard (October 12, 1992). "The Glengarry Math: Add Money and Stars, then Subtract Ego". New York Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Blanchard, Jayne M (September 27, 1992). "Glengarry Hits the Screen with the Joys of Male Angst". Washington Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Hartl, John (September 28, 1992). "Director is Happy to put Big Stars in Film Version of Mamet Play". Seattle Times.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b c d "Glengarry Glen Ross Production Notes". New Line Cinema Press Kit. 1992.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ a b Powers, William F (October 4, 1992). "Pacino, Mamet and...Zupnik; Who? The Local Real Estate Mogul Behind Glengarry". Washington Post.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Glengarry Glen Ross". Box Office Mojo. April 17, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Gleiberman, Owen (October 9, 1992). "Pros and Cons". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Travers, Peter (December 8, 2000). "Glengarry Glen Ross". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Ebert, Roger (October 2, 1992). "Glengarry Glen Ross". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Canby, Vincent (September 30, 1992). "Mamet's Real Estate Sharks and Their Prey". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ McCarthy, Todd (August 31, 1992). "Glengarry Glen Ross". Variety. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Howe, Desson (October 2, 1992). "Glengarry Glen Ross". Washington Post. Retrieved 2007-04-17.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help)
External links
