Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

Glengarry Glen Ross: Directed by James Foley. With Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin. An examination of the machinations behind the scenes at a real estate office.

“I love movies like this. Theatre-styled motion pictures driven by dialog versus action. Get a few guys together in a room, watch them talk — I have a soft spot for this stuff. I have ever since I can remember. Some of my favorite films are character-driven ones: u0026quot;The Hustler,u0026quot; u0026quot;The Big Kahuna,u0026quot; u0026quot;Midnight Run,u0026quot; u0026quot;Planes, Trains u0026amp; Automobiles.u0026quot; At first glance this list seems skeptical — but basically all these films follow the same central theme: clever dialog, character interaction and evolution, and depth.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Glengarry Glen Rossu0026quot; is one of the best of the genre. Scripted by David Mamet, the dialog never hits and weak patches — it is realistic, extremely fun to listen to, and the actors all deliver flawless performances.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAl Pacino finally finds the perfect role to let himself vent (as he started to do in u0026quot;Scent of a Womanu0026quot; the same year, and won an Oscar for — he deserved it more for this). Pacino has some great one-liners and quips, but he never seems too broad to find believable.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJack Lemmon is similarly impressive, in what he called one of his favorite films of his entire career. Lemmon abandoned his comedic roots for this drama and it paid off — heu0026#39;s not only an excellent funnyman, but a great actor.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKevin Spacey, Ed Harris, and Alec Baldwin fill out the rest of the cast and all do very well; especially Baldwin in a brief cameo. Iu0026#39;ve never had much consideration for Baldwin as an actor, but his five minutesu0026#39; worth of screen time here reminded me that when heu0026#39;s good, he really IS good! Overall u0026quot;Glengarry Glen Rossu0026quot; is not only one of my favorite films of the genre but also a solid movie by any means. If you arenu0026#39;t bored by movies in which people talk instead of running around defusing bombs, youu0026#39;ll probably really get a kick out of this.”