Plot: What’s it about?
It’s very rare that you’ll ever get the caliber of actors together again to make a rather low-budget film like Glengarry Glen Ross. Made in 1992, this contained some current big stars as well as one legend in Jack Lemmon. The film was based off the popular play written by none other than David Mamet, who has penned some incredible plays and scripts in his day as well. Glengarry Glen Ross is a throwback to the early days of cinema, when you didn’t need explosions, guns or car chases to make a movie interesting and watchable. Rather, you get swept up in the dialogue (Mamet’s strength) and let the story take you for a ride. The film features Kevin Spacey in one of his early starring roles, who would have thought then that he’d go on to win two Academy Awards (so far). Even Al Pacino had not won his first Oscar when the movie was made. Alec Baldwin makes an all to brief appearance and Alan Arkin and Ed Harris round out the star-studded cast.
The plot, in all actuality, is pretty simple. The salesmen of Premiere Properties have fallen upon some bad times. The consist of four salesmen who are constantly at each others throats in order to close their sales. Land is their business and they are given leads (try and count the number of times that word is used in the movie) to try and pitch their case. However, the leads are old and the people they call aren’t interested or just like to talk to salesmen. This has taken it’s toll on them, except one – Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), who seems to be on a hot streak as of late. Roma is the top seller and is poised to win the sales contest, a brand new Cadillac. The remaining three are not so happy for their partner as they have bills to pay and seem to do more complaining than actual selling. Dave Moss (Ed Harris), George Aaronow (Alan Arkin) and Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) are the three left in the dust. Word comes from downtown, in the form of Blake (Alec Baldwin), a not so gung-ho representative of the company telling them that unless they sell, they’re all fired. This leads the trio of men to do some thinking, as the brand new "Glengarry" leads are in the office manager’s (Kevin Spacey) file cabinet, locked up. "Leads are for closers" says Blake.
The men head their separate ways and it’s George and Dave who devise a scheme to break into the office, steal the leads and them sell them to a competitor. They would then split the money and go about their daily business. This does happen, but we don’t know if it was just empty talk or if someone else in the office had the same idea…Glengarry Glen Ross looks and feels like a play; this doesn’t necessarily make it "bad". True, if you’re looking for plenty of action, you might want to look elsewhere. The dialogue is typical of Mamet’s writing and the scenes between George and Dave go lightning quick, even the cuts are fast! The plot isn’t such that you can’t figure it out, yet many of us can’t relate to the emotions that these men are going through, day in and day out. The acting is great as is the story, proving once again that it’s the story that sells as well as the actors involved. If you’ve never seen it, then by all means, check this out.
Video: How does it look?
Surprisingly, the movie is shot in a wide aspect ratio of 2.35:1 that looks very good for the most part. I say "surprisingly", because most dialogue-driven movies tend to have the 1.85:1 ratio. Still, this does open the film up to some scenes in which the two actors are conversing, it looks framed well and I can’t imagine the movie looking any other way. The movie uses a lot of different light settings, making the character’s faces seem blue in one scene (from the neon lights) and red in others. The only "natural light" appears the next day after the robbery. There is some edge enhancment that was a bit annoying, nothing that intrudes too much, but it’s there. Artisan has included a full-frame version as well, so for those of you who like the whole screen to be filled up, your wish came true.
Audio: How does it sound?
Again, I was surprised to find that a DTS and a Dolby Digital 5.1 track are included on the 2 Disc set. After all, this isn’t a movie that screams sound. Still, the background music is very robust and though there aren’t a lot of surround effects to make you jump out of your seat, the film has enough so that you don’t think you’re watching a mono track. The Dolby Digital 5.1 track is just about the same, a few moments where the speakers kick in (during the first act of the movie, there’s a thunderstorm), but in all truth, it sounds like a Dolby Surround mix. A Dolby Surround and a French Surround track are also included.
Supplements: What are the extras?
For as long as we waited for this movie to arrive on DVD, the supposed extras aren’t that cumbersome. Or maybe I still haven’t recovered from the Lord of the Rings: Extended Edition review! On the first disc we’ll find the widescreen version of the film with a commentary track by the director. This is a solo track, so it’s natural to expect that there are some gaps in it. There are. Still, he shows a great deal of respect for the source material and spends some time telling us how the play was crafted into the film. It’s a good track and if you’re a true fan of the movie, then you’ll enjoy this. Also included on the first disc is a Tribute to Jack Lemmon, who passed away a few years ago. Several people are interviewed, most notably his son and actor Peter Gallagher. They talk, shot on a total white background, about working with him and what kind of man he was. They say only positive things, however, as this was a tribute. Not that there would be many bad things to say about the man!
We then move onto the second disc. This contains the rest (and majority) of the supplements. First up is "A.B.C. (Always Be Closing) featurette that tells us of how the film is used in modern-day sales offices to train salesmen how to (and not to) sell. The interview is very well done, with interviews with a slew of salesmen, shown in anamorphic widescreen no less. Next up is the documentary "J. Roy: New and Used Furniture". This is shot by Tony Buba, who filmed J. Roy back in the 70’s. He tells his staff of how to sell, what to say, how to act, etc. An interesting documentary. We are then treated to two clips from television shows, first of "The Charlie Rose Show" broadcast on Oct. 1, 1993 in which Jack Lemmon was the guest star. They talk about the film as well as two of Lemmon’s future films (Grumpy Old Men and Short Cuts). The real treat is "Inside the Actors Studio" in which a second year actor persuades Kevin Spacey to read the "Go to Lunch" scene with him. Words can’t describe it, but the actor looks about how any of us would look in the presence of Spacey. Also, not labeled on the box, are some "Bonus" commentaries by Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Juan Anchia (Cinematographer) and Jane Musky (Production Designer). These don’t run very long, but it was a nice and unexpected treat. Some cast and crew bios are also attached as are some production notes. All in all a good disc of a great movie. No trailer though…odd.
