1992 drama, dir. James Foley, Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon;
ImdB /
allmovie." The people are
insane. They just like talking to salesmen."
I hated this film. I hated everybody in it. Just one of them has
enough self-awareness to realise that he is a hateful human being who
has wasted his life selling garbage to people who don't want it, and
hasn't even profited thereby; and even he doesn't have the guts to
kill himself.
When the cast saw Mamet's script, they promptly christened the film
"Death of a fuckin' salesman". Gosh wow, people swear a lot and talk
in a jerky repetitive style that may be realistic but isn't much fun
to hear. There's a reason scripted dialogue sounds like that. This is
what Tarantino is copying, but Tarantino at least puts in the pop
culture references. This is the dialogue of someone who thinks
anything he writes will be endlessly fascinating.
(This was of course written well before Mamet went all pro gun pro
Trump election denier pro anything done by Israel and anyone who
disagrees is just being antisemitic, but I don't imagine anyone who'd
seen the film was at all surprised.)
James Foley, directing, was mostly known for music videos, but
everyone wanted to sign on for a Mamet script, and the actors took pay
cuts to work on it. I hope they enjoyed it, because I didn't.
In the play, Alec Baldwin's guy from head office isn't there. They
don't even have that excuse. This is all just business as usual. But
none of these people has any interior life; any ability they had to
think beyond selling the next plot of garbage to the next sucker has
long since burned out.
The play "explores themes of capitalism, morality, and masculinity",
but it does so only by presenting one version of each. There are no
contrasts, there is nobody who is in any way better than anyone else;
they will all screw each other for a deal. It's a world full of Carter
Burke clones.
Levene's daughter in hospital is, we are told, meant to be pathetic
and humanising, but honestly this could just be his flimflam to gain
sympathy and you wouldn't need to change a line.
I find that things described as "uniquely male", as many fans of the
play and film describe them, tend to be self-destructive nonsense the
moment one steps outside the walled garden of other people who need to
perform these rites. And so I note that there is exactly. one female
cast member. She has one line, and doesn't get a name (just "coat
check girl") or actually appear on screen. So let's hear it for Lori
Tan Chinn.
I talk about this film further on
Ribbon of Memes.