Twelve Black Code Monkeys

With an all-star “dream-team” ensemble cast, Glengarry Glen Ross is an actor’s film. They movie is all dialog, being based off of David Mammet’s Pulitzer-winning play. The film actually comes off more like a play with only a couple major locales. The dialogue, of course, is scorching, transfixing, and rich, all at the same time. The story plays off of themes of morality, honesty, masculinity, worth, and self-worth. The film makes one think, laugh, and cringe, and does it all without one car chase, explosion, or gun shot.The story covers a pathetic real estate office, Premiere Properties, which is struggling to make sales. Kevin Spacey plays the young office manager, John Williamson, who is estranged from his salesmen because he does not sell and because he is responsible for giving (or as the case may be NOT giving) the all-important leads, or contacts for the salesmen to call. These leads play a central roll in the story to the point where they become either the holy grail (when they are the premier, high-quality ones they are red and wrapped like a present) or the garbage the men are forced to shovel in a seemingly futile attempt to make a sale. A brief appearance by the headquarters’ top salesman, Blake, played by Alec Baldwin, leaves the salesmen and the viewer with an impression that lasts us the rest of the movie. He berates and belittles the men in a pissing contest that threatens their jobs if they don’t perform. A contest will determine who in the office will win a new car and who will be fired. If things were not desperate enough, this pushes the mood over the edge. Whereas the salesman have already made a bargain with the devil and sold their souls by lying to their potential customers, this new turn of events have made the men contemplate much more morally repugnant actions.

The other salesmen include Roma, played by Al Pacino, the most successful salesmen and the one who seems to have the most respect for his fellows – although one can’t fail to wonder whether this respect is due to the additional confidence of being successful rather than genuine respect. Ed Harris plays Dave Moss, a younger salesman who talks a great game but is just as lacking as the others in confidence and morals. Alan Arkin is George Aaronow, probably the epitome of low self-confidence. He blames himself for not being able to close anything, whereas the others only blame the poor leads. And finally, the central figure, and premier performance, belongs to Jack Lemmon as Shelley Levene, an old-dog salesman who’s on a “bad streak” and whose desperation is added to by a sick daughter. Because of this, we feel for him even as we despise how he tries to bilk innocent people out of their money with deception. Lemmon exquisitely portrays to us how someone in such a position could stoop to whatever level necessary, and still have us commiserate.

Artisan Home Entertainment has really put some great attention into this 2-disc special edition. For one thing, it contains both a widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic version with as well as a full-frame version. The transfer is, to my eyes, quite good, even if on a standard 27” TV monitor. Everything looks extremely sharp, with excellent black levels, and good colors. As far as audio is concerned, the movie have been remastered into Dolby Digital 5.1. It also contains an additional Dolby Surround 2.0 track and a French DD 2.0. The widescreen version also has a DTS version. As mentioned, the film is dialogue-driven, so most of this added capacity is not used for the most part. However, there is the relentless subway and rain that provide a bleak urban sound texture, and of course there is the soundtrack that provides an extra jazz-infused melancholy. English and Spanish subtitles are also included as well as English Closed Captioning.

The DVD has quite an array of bonus features, although apparently some important ones that were on the laserdisc edition are missing. First there is a commentary by James Foley, but it is not a true commentary track per se, only one that covers certain scenes that are of interest to him. They total to all of about 25 minutes, and the transition from scene to scene is somewhat sudden and the commentary not all that illuminating, more just rambling. The laserdisc contained a full-length commentary track by Foley, but perhaps Artisan could not get the rights from Pioneer or did not want to pay for it. Another “commentary track” includes Cinematographer Juan Ruiz Anchia, actors Alec Baldwin and Alan Arkin, and production designer Jane Mursky. This one is much longer than the second, but again is not the standard full-length that covers the entire movie, but rather one that jumps from scene to scene. These tracks are on Disc 2, which contains the full-frame version of the movie. Each of the commentators have something to contribute, but felt Baldwin’s and Mursky’s to be the most informative and entertaining. The other track of great interest that was on the laserdisc but missing here as well is one by Jack Lemmon, which is one of only two that he did before his death a couple of years ago. There is actually a featurette called “Magic Time: A Tribute to Jack Lemmon” which includes snippets of interviews of Lemmon’s son, Peter Gallagher, Foley, and a number of others who worked with Lemmon. They recount stories and feelings about Lemmon, but it sometimes comes off as sucking up and the harsh lighting on some of the interviewees is distracting. Another featurette, “ABC - Always Be Closing” which is a bit more interesting, as it gives interviews with real salesmen in addition to cast and crew showing how they used such information for giving an accurate picture of the profession. “J. Roy: New and Used Furniture” is an old student film documentary which depicts salesmen training for a flea market in a run-down town. It’s a somewhat depressing look at the salesman’s life. There’s also a clip from The Charlie Rose Show with Jack Lemmon talking about this movie and finally a clip from Inside the Actors Studio with Kevin Spacey. Oh yes, and there’s also the cast & crew bios and production notes.

It has taken way too long for Glengarry Glen Ross to come out on DVD and Artisan has done a pretty good job of bringing it to us. The performances are wonderful; the story is transfixing. The transfer is very nice and Artisan has provided many different viewing and listening options. As far as the bonus features are concerned, they are a mixed bag. There are quite a few, which is nice, but too many of them lack quality and seem to have been thrown in just to add to the list of supplemental features. Although some people will like all of them, I for one would rather have seen resources go to making fewer supplemental features with better quality. Despite this, I would still recommend the disc wholeheartedly.