You Fairy: Best Performance in "Glengarry Glen Ross"

every pacino line is golden, honeyed cheese

When I saw this on release, it was probably the closest I had ever come to that point to walking out on a movie. Leads, leads, leads, leads, leads, leads, leads, leads, leads, leads--after 30 minutes, I was fixated on that one word and didn't think I could take any more. I stuck it out...I finally rewatched it a couple of years ago, and it seemed generally okay; overrated, but not the ordeal I remembered. The only performance that seemed a little affected was Pacino's, although he doesn't do too badly compared to where he went from there. Don't think I have a preference among the rest of the cast.

as much as I can't stand Ed Harris, the first thing I thought of on seeing this thread was him screaming "YOU GOT THE MEMORY OF A FUCKIN' FLY"

Baldwin all the way. Best thing he ever did by a mile (at least until 30 Rock). Brilliant cameo, and perfectly set up for him, given Mamet wrote it specially for the film.

Somebody break ya rice bowl?

I encounter gestapo tactics. I encounter gestapo tactics.

The Machine!

Yeah probably voting Lemmon when it comes down to it. Blistering performance.

Lemmon pwns

I can't stand Ed Harris

WAT?

eh I kinda hate him too. he's in a lot of garbage.

...and he's terrific in a lot of it.

True.

As noted, voted for Lemmon, but feel like Alan Arkin is not going to get enough love.

On the DVD, Arkin says he imagined his character's backstory as his being a laid-off school teacher taking the only job he could get. Made the performance more poignant for me; intentionally stilted and embarrassed.

Jack Lemmon's genius in this (though I never did like the scene at the prospect's house — a bit like showing the gore in a horror film).

But I think Pacino, histrionics and all, takes it. "Hell exists on earth? Yes — I won't live in it." *licks his lips and suppresses smile* — and the wink he gives Moss when he picks up his drinks. That whole seduction scene is chocolate.

how you aint gonna pick baldwin idk

Not disparaging Baldwin, who's brilliant, but it's blazing solo vs. sustained/nuanced performance.

That's a nice way of thinking about Arkin's character.

I said in one of the other threads that Lemmon's unbearable bag of tricks as an actor all work here; the guy's a sad sack, sentimental, whiny, and not at all tragic, and Lemmon's body language projects all this.

every pacino line is golden, honeyed cheese

― scrappy dyaoo (darraghmac), Monday, May 3, 2010 8:59 PM

"To help us, not to FUCK-US-UP" Glengarry Glen Ross poll part 2

hahaha forgot about 'if you ever spent a day in your life'.

lemmon in a slight nod over baldwin.

brilliant movie.

I said in one of the other threads that Lemmon's unbearable bag of tricks as an actor all work here; the guy's a sad sack, sentimental, whiny, and not at all tragic, and Lemmon's body language projects all this.
OTM. His mugging, etc. was enjoyable in Some Like It Hot and well used in this, but in almost everything in between it really tests the patience.

Not in The Apartment. And not in The China Syndrome. I also like him in Save the Tiger, although I can see where someone else would only see schtick there.

I learned to love scotch -- the idea of scotch -- from listening to Pryce and Pacino slurping theirs (LOUDLY, like they're drinking through a bullhorn) in that fourth-rate restaurant.

i wanna be watching this now :(

Lemmon's fine in Some Like it Hot, The Apartment, Days of Wine & Roses and a few others.

in that fourth-rate restaurant.

You mean 'the Chink's'?

OK, The Apartment I'll grant you, but he's getting a little close to the thin ice there.

Funny thing is, he's not even in Kiss Me, Stupid but his wife is, and somehow that is enough to cast some kind of Lemmon shadow so that Ray Walston ends up playing a variant of the sniveling Lemmon character.

These guys were all good, but Joe Mantegna and Robert Prosky own those parts to me from Broadway in '84.

didn't Alan Alda play The Machine a few years ago?

I'd go with Lemmon. Arkin seemed like he was on Prozac during filming.

Loved this movie, though.

Two of my 4 favorite Mamet movies aren't directed by Mamet (this one and American Buffalo).

still can't used to people thinking of him as a filmmaker ahead of a playwright

Even though his isn't the showiest performance, I do have to thank Kevin Spacey for "Go to lunch. WILL you GO to LUNCH?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3EvCIU7gb8

Just watched this. My girlfriend got sick of hearing "leads" a hundred times and went to bed. Really depressing but great performances. I couldn't stand Ed Harris' role, though.

At both ad agencies I worked at, the salesmen worshipped GGR.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

tempted by baldwin but voted lemmon. so pathetic, so needy, such a prick all at the same time.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I CLOSED that cocksucker!

you ppl who think Baldwin (a funny, one-scene gimmick) is better than Pacino watch too much TV

James Tolkan played Lingk on Broadway. Funny how I remembered that just by looking at the character name.

there's a youtube video of ricky roma's "all train compartments smell vaguely of shit" speech which cuts off most of that line ;_;

missed this poll. surely alec baldwin should have won this.

When the play premiered at the Goodman, opening night, lights came up on Joe Mantegna as Ricky Roma in the booth, and apparently he just blanked, didn't say anything for a long, long time, and finally just said "Florida." Curtain.

that's kinda great tho

Alan Arkin as George Aaronow 2
Ed Harris as Dave Moss 1

http://www.gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=388934 GIFSoup

Ha, missed this golden, honeyed thread.

In the last month I've reseen this thing twice: once on my own, the second time walking into a friend's apt and it was on. The scene that stuck with me this time: Aaranow and Roma ("You think they're insured?"). Roma babbling about what he's going to eat, Aaranow repeating the insured line, each in his own world, until Roma suddenly remembers that the least threatening guy in the office wants compassion so he gives him a little ('How. How are you.'). When Arkin says, "You mean on the board?" Pacino delivers the reply beautifully: "Yes. OK. On the board." As in, You wanna embarrass yourself? OK..

Found two interesting artifacts last night related to Glengarry.

Peter Falk (as Shelley Levene) and J.T. Walsh (as office-manager Williamson) in the 1985 national tour:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CVElKFrWoAIsWUW.jpg

And this NY Times article from '84 profiling the ensemble cast. It emphasizes how it takes an ensemble with a collective mindset to make a piece about every man for himself.

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/18/arts/the-cast-that-put-mamet-on-the-board.html?pagewanted=all

The cast came together for the first time in Chicago last Dec. 27. The men lived in the same hotel and drank at the same bar after rehearsals. With Mr. Mosher, they watched and wagered on the football playoffs. A sense of togetherness began to grow - but informally, which was important.

''When I did 'Leaf People' with Tom O'Horgan,'' said Mr. Smith, ''he made a big thing about the ensemble and doing exercises together, and then we came to Broadway and it evaporated. The thing we have here is rare. Count on your fingers how often it happens."

''If we got together and said, 'We must maintain the ensemble effort,' '' said Mr. Prosky, affecting pompous tones, ''it would fall apart. This has to happen naturally.''

Interesting in light of the current Mamet play on Broadway with Pacino, with no sense of ensemble either from the lead actor or playwright.

man, that was some cast, still remember how tight and electric the show was.

wd've loved to see Falk too

I bet that was amazing. Been thinking a lot about how Mamet really needed Gregory Mosher as his director for first productions -- Mosher did everything through The Cryptogram except Oleanna. When I read these China Doll reviews saying "So obscure" and then having read the script today, it's really no more obscure than his other plays - it just needs a director with a crystal-clear approach to staging and interpretation.

lemmon is bad in this, he mugs

arkin, i think now

I think Lemmon is pretty good for the part, since the mugging is part of his routine and also the reason he's a terrible salesman. No one buys it because he's an obvious con artist, and it's painful to watch him fail. The silky smooth spiel Pacino lays out is believably effective, talking around everything and then circling back to the goods.

I think Lemmon is pretty good for the part, since the mugging is part of his routine and also the reason he's a terrible salesman.

otm -- the Method!

Anyone get a sense that Roma guesses James Link is in the closet?

oh for sure, his tearful reaction at being lied to was more breakup than breakdown.

and Roma plays it well, not flirting per se but just being extremely seductive in his confidence and in letting him in on the secret of the amazing real estate deal.

I hate the break-in storyline so much, especially the ending. The “Wait a minute, how did YOU know I made it up?” thing was so dumb. This movie needs remade badly.

Well, it showed how awful an amateur Levine was! He could've called Williamson's bluff. "What do you mean? I didn't say anything!" It was his word against the cops, and he had an alibi.

I haven't seen this movie since the mid 90s, but wasn't the character of Gil from The Simpsons based on Lemmon here?

Yes.

I hadn't seen this movie in quite a while, but tonight I was struck by how it was ... inexplicably re-set in NYC? Like, it's a Chicago play by a Chicago guy, with a lot of Chicago stuff in it. But there are plenty of details in the movie that put it in New York. A New York Bell pay phone, a New York license plate, New York cops, etc. I know it was filmed in New York, but it basically takes place in two anonymous interior locations, and there is no direct reference to its setting in the dialogue, so ... why relocate?

I still have trouble figuring out the chronology. So Williamson doesn't go to the bank, yet he couldn't have gone anyway because he seems to leave the office after banking hours? When the bank's open and who goes and why confuses me.

Back in the day there were night deposit receptacles at urban banks for after hours deposits of cash and checks by businesses. You put the money in a zippered canvas bag the size of a woman’s purse that the bank lent to you for that purpose and dropped it in the receptacle.

that's right, thanks!

This is a fun radio recording from 1984 of Studs Turkel and Mamet reading a few scenes from Glengarry. Only time I've ever heard Mamet read his own dialogue.

holy shit.

Kieran Culkin as Ricky Roma
Bob Odenkirk as Shelly Levene
Bill Burr as Dave Moss pic.twitter.com/FdzatNk5OZ

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) August 8, 2024

https://variety.com/2024/legit/news/glengarry-glen-ross-broadway-revival-kieran-culkin-bob-odenkirk-1236100167/

omg

Jeremy Strong as John Williamson
Matthew Macfadyen as George Aaranow
Alan Ruck as James Lingk

ill fly in for this i think

Watching this makes me feel like I’m at work

Just watched it last night - the title is kind of stupid for being such a good movie. Jack lemmon is such a pitiable wretch in this I was left very sad

The title is iconic. There are forms out there with names that aren’t too dissimilar

I’m amazed that this still isn’t in the National Film Registry. James Foley’s previous film, After Dark My Sweet, is still the best Jim Thompson adaptation ever

Got tickets for a performance in May.

And funnily enough Lemmon, during shooting, was trying to not make his character seem sympathetic. You're right, Latham, in calling Shelly "pitiable" which is a different thing.

"all train compartments smell vaguely of shit"

Looks like Michael McKean is playing Aaronow in the Broadway revival

would kinda be more interested in him as Moss but I think he's pretty well-suited to Aaronow.

this bump inspired me to rewatch the movie again, which I've only seen once all the way through. kind of made me sad as I saw a local professional theater do a phenomenal version, and I loved Moss's performance (I'd only ever seen the stage version in various permutations), and now I'm realizing he basically stole it note for note from Alda's movie performance.

usually it's Lemmon's Shelley that's getting ripped off.

(had only seen the stage version at the time I saw the local production, is what I meant)

oops I mean Aaronow's performance not Moss. i always get em backwards

Bill Burr as Moss in the upcoming stage production is actually really good casting.