Coffee's For Closers

''Glengarry Glen Ross'' is a 1992 American dark comedy-drama film directed by James Foley and written by David Mamet, based on his 1984 Pulitzer Prize–winning play of the same name. The film depicts two days in the lives of four real-estate salesmen and their increasing desperation when the corporate office sends a motivational trainer with the threat that all but the top two salesmen will be fired within one week.

Like the play, the film is notorious for its use of profanity, leading the cast to refer to the film jokingly as " Death of a Fuckin' Salesman". The title of the film is derived from the names of two of the real-estate developments being peddled by the salesmen: Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms.

The film was critically acclaimed. The world premiere was held at the 49th Venice Film Festival, where Jack Lemmon was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. However, the film was a box-office failure for grossing $10.7 million in North America against a $12.5 million budget. It has since become a cult classic.

Plot

The real-estate salesmen Richard Roma, George Aaronow, Shelley "The Machine" Levene, and Dave Moss are supplied with leads – the names and phone numbers of prospective investors – and use deceitful and dubious sales tactics. Many of the leads rationed by office manager John Williamson lack either the money or the desire to actually invest in land. The firm sends Blake, one of its top salesmen, to motivate the team. In a torrent of verbal abuse, he gives them notice of termination and tells them that only the top two deal-closers of the month, with one week to go, will keep their jobs and gain access to promising leads for the new and lucrative Glengarry Highlands development.

Levene is a once-successful salesman in a long-running slump and with a daughter in the hospital. Desperate to keep his job, Levene tries to persuade Williamson to give him some of the Glengarry leads. Williamson is willing to sell some of the prime leads, but demands cash in advance, which Levene does not have.

Moss and Aaronow complain about the firm's management, and Moss proposes that they steal the Glengarry leads and sell them to a competing agency. Aaronow wants no part of the plan, but Moss tries to coerce him, saying that Aaronow is already an accessory before the fact because he knows about the proposed burglary.

Roma, the office's top closer, manipulates a meek, middle-aged man named James Lingk into buying a property. Framing the deal as an opportunity rather than a purchase, Roma plays on Lingk's feelings of insecurity.

The next day, when the salesmen arrive at the office, they learn that there has been a burglary and that the Glengarry leads have been stolen. Williamson assures Roma that his contract with Lingk was not stolen, and he and the police question each of the salesmen in private. After his interrogation, an infuriated Moss has a shouting match with Roma and leaves. Lingk arrives to demand the return of his down payment under the three-day cooling-off period because his wife objects to the deal. Roma tries to stall and confuse Lingk but is interrupted by the police detective, who wants to question him. He lies to Lingk, telling him that the check has not yet been cashed and that there is time to cancel the payment when he returns from a trip on Monday. Williamson, who is unaware of the tactic, contradicts him, causing Lingk to rush out of the office upset. Roma berates Williamson for ruining his sale, unaware that Williamson also lied to him and the check was not cashed.

Levene, proud of a big sale that he made that morning, also berates Williamson for "making something up" without knowing the situation. Williamson realizes that Levene could only have known he lied about the check being cashed if he broke into the office and saw the check on his desk, and threatens to inform the police if he does not return the leads. Cornered, Levene admits that he sold the leads to a competitor and split the money with Moss. Levene attempts to bribe Williamson with a share of his sales to keep quiet, but Williamson scoffs that Levene has no sales. His latest buyers are a delusional couple who have no money. Levene pleads for his ill daughter, but Williamson rebuffs him and leaves to inform the detective.

Roma emerges from questioning. Unaware of the exchange, he compliments Levene on his sale and suggests that they form their own partnership. As Levene gets up to meet with the detective, he looks back wistfully at Roma, who has returned to his sales work.

Cast

* Al Pacino as Richard Roma, the office’s top closer
* Jack Lemmon as Shelley "The Machine" Levene
* Alec Baldwin as Blake, a top salesman, sent to motivate the room
* Alan Arkin as George Aaronow, office salesman
* Ed Harris as Dave Moss, office salesman
* Kevin Spacey as John Williamson, the office manager
* Jonathan Pryce as James Lingk, Roma’s customer
* Bruce Altman as Larry Spannel, a prospective customer of Shelley
* Jude Ciccolella as Detective Baylen
* Lori Tan Chinn as Coat Check Girl

Production

David Mamet's play was first performed in 1983 at the National Theatre in London. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 1984. That year, the play made its American debut in Chicago before moving to Broadway. Producer Jerry Tokofsky read the play on a trip to New York City in 1985 at the suggestion of director Irvin Kershner, who wanted to make it into a film. Tokofsky saw the play on Broadway and contacted Mamet. Stanley R. Zupnik was a Washington, D.C.–based producer of B movies who was looking for a more profitable project. Tokofsky had co-produced two previous Zupnik films. In 1986, Tokofsky told Zupnik about Mamet's play, and Zupnik saw it on Broadway but found the plot confusing.

Mamet wanted $500,000 for the film rights and another $500,000 to write the screenplay. Zupnik agreed to pay Mamet's $1 million asking price, figuring that they could make a deal with a cable company to bankroll the production. Because of the uncompromising subject matter and abrasive language, no major studio wanted to finance it, even with film stars attached. Financing came from cable and video companies, a German television station, an Australian cinema chain, several banks, and New Line Cinema across four years.

Al Pacino originally wanted to do the play on Broadway, but at the time, he was doing another Mamet production, '' American Buffalo'', in London. He expressed interest in appearing in the film adaptation. In 1989, Tokofsky proposed a role to Jack Lemmon. During this time, Kershner dropped out to make another film, '' RoboCop 2'', as did Pacino with '' Sea of Love''. Alec Baldwin, also attached, was earmarked to play the Roma role vacated by Pacino. He reportedly left the project over a contract disagreement, the real reason being that Pacino was still being considered for Roma and would be cast over Baldwin if he elected to accept the role.

James Foley's agent sent Mamet's screenplay to Foley in early 1991, but Foley was hesitant to direct because he "wanted great actors, people with movie charisma, to give it watchability, especially since the locations were so restricted". Foley took the screenplay to Pacino, with whom he had been trying to work on a film for years. Foley was hired to direct, but would leave the production as well.

By March 1991, Tokofsky contacted Baldwin and begged him to reconsider doing the film. Baldwin's character was specifically written for the actor and the film, and is not in the play. Tokofsky remembers, "Alec said, 'I've read 25 scripts and nothing is as good as this. OK. If you make it, I'll do it.'" The two arranged for an informal reading with Lemmon in Los Angeles. Subsequently, the three organized readings with several other actors. Lemmon remembered, "Some of the best damn actors you're ever going to see came in and read and I'm talking about ''names''." 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, and Baldwin received $250,000. Other actors, like Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Richard Gere and Joe Mantegna, expressed interest in the film. Mantegna had been in the original Broadway cast and won a Tony Award in 1985 for his portrayal of Roma.

When the cast was assembled, they spent three weeks in rehearsals. With a budget of $12.5 million, filming began in August 1991 at the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, and on location in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, over 39 days. Harris remembered, "There were five and six-page scenes we would shoot all at once. It was more like doing a play at times henyou'd get the continuity going." Alan Arkin said of the script, "What made it hallengingwas the language and the rhythms, which are enormously difficult to absorb." During filming, cast members would arrive outside of their required days, just to watch the other actors' performances.

The director of photography, Juan Ruiz Anchía, relied on low lighting and shadows. A color scheme of blues, greens and reds was used for the first part of the film, and the second half has a monochromatic blue-grey color scheme.

During 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. Zupnik claimed that he personally invested $2 million of the film's budget and countersued, claiming that Tokofsky was fired for embezzlement.

The setting is never explicitly stated. The play is set in Mamet’s hometown of Chicago, Illinois. The film includes numerous references to New York City, including an establishing shot of a New York City Subway platform, followed by a close-up of a New York Telephone-branded payphone, NYPD police cars and insignia, and New York license plates. The George Aaronow character mentions almost making a sale in White Plains. A reflection in the subway windows at the film's end clearly shows the name Sheepshead Bay. Some film critics and journalists, however, have placed the setting in Chicago because of the many verbal references, including the Como Inn and Peterson and Western Avenues. Several Chicago suburbs are mentioned, including Morton Grove, Batavia and Kenilworth, and towards the end of the film the Dave Moss character states that he’s “going to Wisconsin”, as in the play. Exterior shots were filmed on location in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

Reception

Box office

''Glengarry Glen Ross'' had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, where Jack Lemmon won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. In addition, it was originally slated to be shown at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film opened in wide release on October 2, 1992, in 416 theaters, grossing $2.1 million in its opening weekend. It made $10.7 million in North America, below its $12.5 million budget.

Critical response

The film has a rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The consensus reads, "This adaptation of David Mamet's play is every bit as compelling and witty as its source material, thanks in large part to a clever script and a bevy of powerhouse actors." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 82 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".

Owen Gleiberman, in his review for ''Entertainment Weekly'', gave the film an "A" rating, 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".

In his review for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'', Roger Ebert 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."

In the ''Chicago Reader'', Jonathan Rosenbaum lauded Foley for his "excellent feeling for the driven and haunted jive rhythms of David Mamet, macho invective and all" and called the film "a superb 1992 delivery of amet'stour de force theater piece".

''The Chicago Tribune''s Dave Kehr hedged his praise, writing that the film was "a well written, well staged and well acted piece, though there is something musty in its aesthetic - that of the huge, bellowing method performance, plastered over a flimsy, one-set world".

''Newsweek''s Jack Kroll observed, "Baldwin is sleekly sinister in the role of Blake, a troubleshooter called in to shake up the salesmen. He shakes them up, all right, but this character (not in the original play) also shakes up the movie's toned balance with his sheer noise and scatological fury".

In his review for ''The New York Times'', Vincent Canby praised the portrayal of "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 ''Time'', Richard Corliss wrote, "A peerless ensemble of actors fills ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' with audible glares and shudders. The play was zippy black comedy about predators in twilight; the film is a photo-essay, shot in morgue closeup, about the difficulty most people have convincing themselves that what they do matters."

However, 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."

Legacy

The film has had an enduring legacy for its memorable dialogue and performances, particularly the "Always Be Closing" speech by Alec Baldwin, whose character was created for the film adaptation to make the pressures of sales work more explicit. In 2012, on the 20th anniversary of its release, David Wagner of ''The Atlantic'' dubbed it a cult classic, and Tim Grierson of '' Deadspin'' cited it as one of the "quintessential modern movies about masculinity". In 2014, English critic Philip French described the ensemble of Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and Alec Baldwin as "one of the best American casts ever assembled".

In 2005, Baldwin performed in a ''Saturday Night Live'' Christmas parody of the "Coffee is for closers" scene, portraying Winter's Breath, a head elf sent by Santa to motivate elves making toys for Christmas.

Awards and nominations

* ''Empire'' magazine voted it the 470th greatest film in its "500 Greatest Movies of All Time" list.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Glengarry Glen Ross (Film)
1992 films
1992 drama films
1992 independent films
1990s American films
1990s business films
1990s English-language films
American business films
American drama films
American films based on plays
American independent films
English-language drama films
Films about salespeople
Films based on works by David Mamet
Films directed by James Foley
Films scored by James Newton Howard
Films set in offices
Films shot in New York City
Films with screenplays by David Mamet
New Line Cinema films
English-language independent films