Glengarry Glen Ross

1992 Drama

David Mamet's award-winning play about a group of desperate real estate agents comes to the big screen from director James Foley. In a role created specifically for the movie, Alec Baldwin appears as a sales motivator, informing the group of hard-luck salesmen that they must compete in a sales contest where the losers will be fired. The agents work their same tired leads, until one hatches a scheme to burglarize the office, steal the leads, and sell them to a rival. Featuring a cast that includes Al Pacino as the office's sales leader, Jack Lemmon as an elderly loser, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris as frustrated salesmen, Kevin Spacey as the harassed office manager, and Jonathan Pryce as a client, Glengarry Glen Ross is, at its core, a character study about a group of men whose time has passed.

Director: James Foley

Starring: Al Pacino,Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin,Ed Harris,Alan Arkin

Reviews

  • The reason the film prompts laughter, and finally elation, is not because it's jolly or has any feel-good words to live by. It's because of the utterly demonic skill with which these foulmouthed characters carve one another up in futile attempts to stave off disaster.

    Vincent Canby - The New York Times

    26 April 2013

  • The movie version, directed with unobtrusive precision by James Foley, stays amazingly true to the play's feisty spirit.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    26 April 2013

  • The pleasure of this unique film comes in watching superb actors dine on Mamet's pungent language like the feast it is.

    Peter Travers - Rolling Stone

    26 April 2013

  • All-expert cast.

    Jonathan Rosenbaum - Chicago Reader

    26 April 2013

  • Gets most of its legs from the acting and the dialogue, which has such a rhythmic grace that scenes from the movie can be played and replayed with no loss of thump.

    Noel Murray - The A.V. Club

    26 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Actor in a Supporting Role

    Academy Awards (1993)

     
  • Best Supporting Actor

    Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (1993)

     
  • James Foley

    Deauville Film Festival (1992)

     
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

    Golden Globes (1993)

     
  • Best Actor

    National Board of Review (1992)