Glengarry Glen Ross

[Tom Benton]

I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out. Pacino looked like
a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" in that decent people are trapped
in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.


_____________________________________
Procrastinate now! Do not put it off!

Ellen DeGeneres

[calvin]

On May 23, 8:05 pm, Tom Benton <tben...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out.  Pacino looked like
> a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
> characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
> of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"  in that decent people are trapped
> in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
> matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
> maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.

One of the most re-watchable movies of all. The only part that is
often a chore to see again, and I sometimes skip over it, is the
sequence in the bar where Pacino is conning Jonathan Pryce.
Everything else is exceptionallly fine entertainment again and
again.

[The Loan Arranger]

"Tom Benton" wrote in message
news:hcuqr7tg2n9oc441h...@4ax.com...

I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out. Pacino looked like
a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" in that decent people are trapped
in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.

========================================================
If you can't enjoy a movie without swilling scotch, I'd say you have a serious
drinking problem.
Have you tried A.A.?

[really real]

On 5/23/2012 5:05 PM, Tom Benton wrote:
> I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out. Pacino looked like
> a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
> characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
> of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" in that decent people are trapped
> in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
> matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
> maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.
>

A very good movie, but the play was better. I think Mamet's ability to
write straight for the screen had him making movies that were much
better than this one.

[Tom Benton]

On Wed, 23 May 2012 20:36:16 -0700, really real <reall...@shaw.ca>
wrote:

Really? Any recommendations.

[Tom Benton]

On Wed, 23 May 2012 22:57:27 -0400, "The Loan Arranger" <x...@xxx.xxx>
wrote:

I was joking...apparently poorly.

[trotsky]

There is no such thing.

[moviePig]

I'll say. It's sacrilege to joke about scotch...

--

- - - - - - - -
YOUR taste at work...
http://www.moviepig.com

[Wull]

"trotsky" <gms...@email.com> wrote in message
news:I6adnaHinvdmryPS...@mchsi.com...

This is one movie that I did not like at all. I remember very little about
it except that it was full of screaming, yelling and cursing.

I doubt very much that such an office would be accepted by most businesses.
A bunch of good actors playing the idioticroles that they were hired to do
is not my idea of entertainment.

I did see an old movie that was very good the first time I saw it and even
better when watched as an old person. It was Night of the Iguana.

Everyone in the cast was above average as it seemed to be in older movies..
It was a movie that had to be watched without catching a breath or something
would be missed. AG was still a beauty at an older age. Ms Grayson and Ms
Lyon were extremely good in their roles. Richard Burton gave another one of
his unrecognized performances. Can anyone give a good reason as to why he
never won an oscar?, unless I have forgotten one.

And lastly DKerr had her usual superior performance to list with her other
great roles, my absolute favorite being The Chalk Garden.

If anyone in this group has not seen the movie, you have really missed a
treat.

Wull

[moviePig]

On May 24, 6:41 am, Tom Benton <tben...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 23 May 2012 20:36:16 -0700, really real <reallyr...@shaw.ca>

> wrote:
>
> >On 5/23/2012 5:05 PM, Tom Benton wrote:
> >> I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out.  Pacino looked like
> >> a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
> >> characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
> >> of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"  in that decent people are trapped
> >> in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
> >> matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
> >> maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.
>
> >A very good movie, but the play was better. I think Mamet's ability to
> >write straight for the screen had him making movies that were much
> >better than this one.
>
> Really? Any recommendations.

Although he's done nothing since becoming a born-again Conservative, I
don't recall any Mamet not worth watching... (including THE WINSLOW
BOY, where he directs a Terence Rattigan play...)

[really real]

>>
>>> A very good movie, but the play was better. I think Mamet's ability to
>>> write straight for the screen had him making movies that were much
>>> better than this one.
>>
>> Really? Any recommendations.

His first two, House of Games and Things Change are very good. Then came
Homicide, which was quite great indeed.

Oleanna and the Spanish Prisoner are interesting, and I did like The
Winslow Boy, but State and Main was perhaps his biggest and best of all.

Heist and Sparton are also good.

Face it, I like all of them

[Halmyre]

Why, do they supply a better brand of whisky?

--
Halmyre

[calvin]

Are you quibbling about me using the actors' names instead
of the characters' names, or do you have some other point?

[Tom Benton]

LOL!

[trotsky]

Pacino's Ricky Roma is the consummate salesman, at no point was he
"conning" Jonathan Pryce's character. At one point he did lie to him
about where his sales order was, which Kevin Spacey's character ruined
for him; but at no time was this portrayed as a "con", he was merely
trying to save the deal that Pryce's wife was trying to ruin for him,
and at not time do you have enough information to say the sale wasn't in
Pryce's best interest.

[calvin]

I was referring only to the bar scene as being boring on second
and later viewings, not the other scenes involving Pacino and Pryce.
As for the word, 'conning', that's my opinion of what all of the
salesmen
were doing. They were in a sleazy profession. Use whatever word
you like for what they were doing, but I'm sticking with 'conning'.

[Tom Benton]

As I understand it, a "con" game (as in "confidence") involves getting
the mark to trust the one making the pitch. That seems to be pretty
much what they were doing. I saw nothing that would indicate that the
salesmen really thought the property was worth much. They were trying
get the marks to trust them so the marks would believe the property
was worth the investment, though. Sounds like a con game to me.

BTW, I don't necessarily think that real estate is necessarily a con
game, but these guys seemed to be into that mode whether by nature or
necessity. They were pawns but whether they deserved what they were
subjected to is up to the viewer to decide.

[Rockinghorse Winner]

* It may have been the liquor talking, but

I found the film maudlin to the point that it bordered on fable
rather than fiction. Very well acted, smart script and great direction, but
the characters are monsters.

Terry
--
"For I would ride with you upon the wind, |/
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide, |/ Gentoo Linux
And dance upon the mountains like a flame." |/
-Yeats |/

[calvin]

On May 24, 7:46 pm, denni...@dennism3.invalid (Dennis M) wrote:
> trotsky <gmsi...@email.com> wrote:

> > calvin wrote:
> >> One of the most re-watchable movies of all.  The only part that is
> >> often a chore to see again, and I sometimes skip over it, is the
> >> sequence in the bar where Pacino is conning Jonathan Pryce.
>

> >Pacino's Ricky Roma is the consummate salesman, at no point was he
> >"conning" Jonathan Pryce's character.  At one point he did lie to him
> >about where his sales order was, which Kevin Spacey's character ruined
> >for him; but at no time was this portrayed as a "con", he was merely
> >trying to save the deal that Pryce's wife was trying to ruin for him,
> >and at not time do you have enough information to say the sale wasn't in
> >Pryce's best interest.
>

> I love that scene, I don't know why anyone who enjoyed the movie in general
> would have a particular problem with it.

Not I. It was the *bar* scene between Pacino and Pryce that I said
was
boring to watch after the first viewing. I made it a point to say
that the
rest of the movie is great for repeated viewings.

[trotsky]

Thanks, the country bumpkin point of view is always appreciated.

[trotsky]

I suggest you see Mamet's "House of Games" and get back to us.

[Michael OConnor]

> Pacino's Ricky Roma is the consummate salesman, at no point was he
> "conning" Jonathan Pryce's character.  At one point he did lie to him
> about where his sales order was, which Kevin Spacey's character ruined
> for him; but at no time was this portrayed as a "con", he was merely
> trying to save the deal that Pryce's wife was trying to ruin for him,
> and at not time do you have enough information to say the sale wasn't in
> Pryce's best interest.

The scene when Pacino went off on Kevin Spacey after Spacey blew his
deal was perhaps the best verbal putdown of a subordinate going off on
his boss that I have ever seen on film.

[Michael OConnor]

The Alec Baldwin scene was quite possibly the best acting performance
he ever gave, he was only in the movie for about ten minutes but stole
the movie IMO. It was one of the best extended cameos in film
history, right up there with Donald Sutherland in JFK, Ned Beatty in
Network and Wilfred Brimley in Absence of Malice.

[bermuda999]

And it wasn't even in the play.

[tomcervo]

Is it now?
Mamet doesn't hesitate to re-edit plays he directs, like "The Voysey
Inheritance", and most people who know "Glengarry" now know it from
the movie.
"Cat On A Hot Tin Roof" notoriously has two third acts. The second was
the re-written version that brought back Big Daddy, after Ives' big
hit on the road before Broadway, but the original seems to me to play
better.

[RichA]

On May 23, 8:05 pm, Tom Benton <tben...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
> I didn't realize how long ago this movie came out.  Pacino looked like
> a kid to me. But from the beginning, I was totally taken in with the
> characters and the pressures they were under. In a way, it reminded me
> of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"  in that decent people are trapped
> in a game in which they have no control over the rules. To make
> matters worse, the game is rigged. Great movie, with a great cast, but
> maybe one that works best sharing it with Johnnie Walker.
>

> _____________________________________
> Procrastinate now! Do not put it off!
>
> Ellen DeGeneres

A demoralizing movie showing people in a job that is out of their
intellectual depth. The main point is that in order to "sell" you
have to be a manipulative and unfeeling monster which is an excuse for
being too stupid to do the job, as with any other.

[trotsky]

Wrong on all counts.

[really real]

>>
>> Face it, I like all of them
>

> How about American Buffalo? If you like it you must think he can do no
> wrong, lol.


I forgot about that one