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GLENGARRY GLENROSS
This movie gives a whole new meaning to the term “blue” with regards to language. It’s great. If you want to see Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, and Jack Fucking Lemmon cursing their brains out, you won’t be disappointed.
Released in 1992 and based on a Pulitzer Prize winning play by David Mamet, it’s amazing that this film has faded into obscurity as much as it has (although it still retains a certain cult appeal – ala the infamous “ABC” mantra cited in Boiler Room), especially given the cast. Perhaps it’s simply too stark and raw for today’s jazzed up, special effects laden blockbuster genre. There’s no fiery explosions, no dazzling fight scenes, no car chases, not even a steamy love scene. What there’s plenty of, however, is action on a much more personal level, intense, heated dialogue, a lot of smooth talking, a gripping story with real characters, and, of course, a lot of fucking cursing.
Set in the shady world of residential real estate scams, this film tells the story of a few brokers working to make some real cash off the hopeless dreams of hapless citizens by offering them a piece of land which promises to be worth millions in a few years. With a second floor office in Sheepshead Bay (that’s Brooklyn for all you non New Yorkers), they attempt to pedal beautiful plots set in exotic locations around the country.
Al Pacino plays Ricky Roma, a real smooth talking motherfucker who’s on a hot streak. Watching him go to work on a fellow in the local pub is riveting. (On a side note, many of the clips used in the Al Pacino prank calls are taken from this movie) Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, and Alan Arkin are his fellow brokers, but they’re in a rut, largely due to the poor quality of the leads provided by their office. It brings a real chill watching Lemmon, who plays Shelley “The Machine” Levine, work his rap smoothly but to no avail. As The Machine, Lemmon is one hell of a character though. Try not to cheer for him, even though you know he’s trying to hustle some regular couple out of their hard earned savings. Harris and Arkin are also great in their roles; the dialogue between them will leave your head spinning. Kevin Spacey gives a good performance as an office manager who’s too soft to be a real broker, but is given the keys to the kingdom so to speak when Alec Baldwin (playing a senior broker brought in to scare the shit out of everyone) gives him the new and promising Glengarry leads.
In the end, this film will leave you empty, but strangely fulfilled. It will sieze you from the onset, and grip you until the end. There may not be a happy ending, so to say, but there are some truly happy moments. It will drain you to watch the events start to spiral downward toward their inevitable conclusion, and fascinate you the whole way down.
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