Review of Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) by Tim G — 02 Sep 2014

With Al Pacino giving another Academy Award nominated performance, Glengarry Glen Ross sounded like it would be an entertaining feature.

Glengarry Glen Ross maintains a lot of the strength that made the source material of the play terrific. Filmed and acted as if it is a stage production, Glengarry Glen Ross maintains the strength and drama of being a stage play and follows the appropriate style to do so. It has a few aspects which make it more technically valuable, but as a whole the approach that director James Foley takes to the material makes it seem largely like the play it is written as. It is filmed with simple cinematography techniques, shots which stand in one position and go on for an extensive period of time as they depict the conversations of the actors unfolding naturally as if the viewer is actually there to witness it. It gives the film a sense of realism and genuity which is where a lot of the effectiveness comes into play since there is little required aside from the acting and the natural material of the screenplay to create the drama. There are some slight moments involving a musical score, but they are not common as the drama in the film is consistently organic. Glengarry Glen Ross is strong because of its dramatic roots and due to the fact that its screenplay carries the material over easily to film thanks to the way that James Foley handles it as director. It is a prime example of a great film adaptation of a play, and it maintains a good style but never lets it get in the way of the more organically positive aspects of the material. Admittedly, Glengarry Glen Ross is not a film for everyone because it is a slow burning and simple story which is more relevant to its stage material than to being a film and so people looking for film more than simply a play could find it to be boring. There were many times that I felt this because it is difficult for me to be pleased by stage productions and I have a higher expectation for what films have to offer due to the fact that they offer increased potential and higher technical qualities, and since Glengarry Glen Ross stays so simplistic with its style I found that the affect of it was not as great as it could have been. To put it simply, Glengarry Glen Ross is a lot like a stage play filmed and put on screen as a feature film, and it maintains essentially all the aspects of a play, for better and for worse.

In terms of narrative, the other central flaw in Glengarry Glen Ross is the fact that it has so many characters. The most essential to the plot are Ricky Roma, Shelley "The Machine" Levene and John Williamson. But as their stories are being told, there are so many others who come into play yet represent nothing but subplots in the story. There are only a select handful of characters in Glengarry Glen Ross, but the material gives them all very predominant roles in the film. They are all interesting to a certain extent and are well acted figures, but their actual relevance to the story proves to be nothing more than a distraction from the major premise at heart. So Glengarry Glen Ross remains a simple and small scaled film but has a surplus of characters to focus on.

Still, Glengarry Glen Ross succeeds on the basis of the fact that its screenplay is full of well written language and complex plot dynamics, and the fact that Glengarry Glen Ross has a seriously talented cast lined up. The actors in Glengarry Glen Ross are truly its most major benefit.

Al Pacino pulls off another essential performance in Glengarry Glen Ross. The thing about him this time is that subtlety is key to his character in the way that he maintains a lot of inner wisdom which he projects without having to shout it. He delivers his lines with a lean strength which all comes from within as it is clear that his performance has a lot of depth to it. He plays games with all of the characters and interacts with the others in such a strong way which has viewers constantly intruiged as to who he is and what he is hiding. Al Pacino's supporting performance in Glengarry Glen Ross shows a lot of his understated talents and it is a role which is like none he has ever played before. Al Pacino is the screen stealer in Glengarry Glen Ross because he speaks his words in a way which makes his character so interesting and interacts with the other cast members so powerfully, including one defining scene where he comes to blows with Kevin Spacey towards the end of the film. Glengarry Glen Ross gives Al Pacino a chance to act mostly through the simple technique of his line delivery, and it is no surprise that he comes off well.

Jack Lemmon is terrific in Glengarry Glen Ross because he is such a likeable figure. He is swift in his abilities at line delivery and technique for character acting, and he defies the manipulative archetype of the salesman figure by playing one who struggles so much but remains constantly determined to succeed and having the audience believe that he is avoiding use of tricky tactics to make it happen. He uses some shady techniques, but in comparison to the many others he is in competition in, Jack Lemmon is able to maintain a naturally likable persona due to how he plays with the character. He has audiences sympathizing for him a lot of the time, even when he plays games with the audience and only tells half-truths. And in that sense, he is able to cleverly trick audiences into liking the facade he puts on and the actual person that he is playing. Jack Lemmon conveys the struggles of being in business very well and constantly delivers his lines with a want to draw the audience in, and it works because he captivates the interest of viewers and gives a performance which has a lot of steady power to it.

Kevin Spacey gives an excellent performance as well. From early on in his career from before he earned such worldwide recognition, Kevin Spacey gives a firm and cold-hearted supporting performance in Glengarry Glen Ross which further conveys the harsh reality of business. He is swift and merciless into ensuring that things move along according to his vision, and so his character development is essential to the progression of the narrative.

Alec Baldwin doesn't get as much screen time as one might hope, but during his brief appearance he makes a memorable and effective impact. Ed Harris and Alan Arkin also deliver strong supporting performances.

So although Glengarry Glen Ross is a bit too much of a play to have the impact of a film, the strength of its screenplay and efforts of its incredible cast make it a difficult feature not to admire.