It does an excellent job capturing the walking insincerity that is a salesman. He’s an angry, disrespectful hateful loser with no real empathy or concern. His fake patter slips and the real cockroach starts showing when he loses control. Lemmon should have won an Oscar just for this scene he captures character so well.
It's the simmering hatred between the two that - not gonna lie - makes me giggle Levine is panicking and Williamson is just torturing him - and loving it! Plus, the symbolism; Williamson shutting his every gambit down, while locking the windows, switching off the lights . . . perfect!
@@darkwater22 And thanks to you, I am a fan of the movie, it's the only reason I started a career in sales. All joking aside, I figure why be nasty, mean and obnoxious, plenty of that on here as it is.
I play these clips over and over again for probably the same reason I listen to my favorite songs repeatedly: There is such lyricism and feeling in the writing and acting.
This is what working in sales turns you into. I've worked in sales for 7 years. A salesman is very much like an addict, and I've noticed in the last 7 years that sales attracts addictive personalities. Myself included. This movie is the best depiction of sales culture that I've seen. It happens all the time that sales managers set you up to fail and then gaslight you about it. When you're in their favour life is easy and you're flying high, when you're out of their favour you're desperately trying to make the most of a futile situation like your life depends on it.
Sadly, this same sort of culture is ubiquitous in the law firm and consulting world too. When the market is up, you’re able to do good work and the firms sing your praises, but when there’s a slump they gaslight you into thinking it’s your own performance that’s causing your challenges.
Have a son in law who is top sales for years, brags constantly, yet thinks it will last forever. Bad approach. We will see when they have bad year or years. Overly confident and uner realistic for the long term. Sadly Daughter has bought into this. Time will tell.
Although his career has been up-and-down, this is one of James Foley's best works. I've seen directors given great material, an all-star cast, and something misses.
outstanding performance for sure,the movie wouldn't have been close to being as good as it was without him,although the rest of the cast was fantastic.
@@chrishansen9731 You have to keep reminding yourself that he's really no better than the rest of them,he's was number one on the board for 3 years in a row lols
This scene is the summary of the movie. Shelly with all his salesman skills tries his best to close Williamson and after all the scafuffle ends up with nothing because he is a deadbeat himself and doesn’t have the money for the transaction, just like his clients from the deadbeat leads.
One great thing about this scene is Williamson making a self-righteous speech about "doing his job" -- and then a few minutes later he's negotiating a kickback with Shelly.
@@anthonygerace8926 Never ever trust a person who tells you he is doing his job. It’s the best line to hide behind when you have an alternative motive.
I 100% agree ! jack really shone for me. It's the look In his eyes you can't help but feel for him. The way the timbre of his voice changes; sometimes he sounds sneaky, aggressive, hurt. And his desperation is so palpable you can almost taste it through the screen. And all amplified by the fact his daughter is in need of an operation. I feel like im not watching a movie with actors but like I'm a fly on a wall watching all this cutthroat sales business go down.
@@corvettesilma8069 Well said! I always assumed that his desperation, including why he robbed the office, was due to his needing money for his daughter’s operation. Lemmon killed this role.
I'd argue Oliver Stone's JFK. Gary Oldman, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, John Candy, Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Ed Asner, Vincent D'Onofrio, Donald Sutherland, and Martin Sheen. 😬
My buddy Dan makes 300k with an 8th grade education, he's gonna be a millionaire by the time he's 40. Name another line of work that even makes you 300k without a college education.
@@billyin4c514 ahhh Billy, there is karma that comes with this line of work. Life is about quality of life and gathering good karma. In your old age do you want to be haunted by guilt, or the spirits of those you have cheated? Or at peace with a smile remembring your fun, gentle, free , honest life?
I work at Savers, a donation store. I dig through trash and moldy shit people don’t want anymore. I work at a practical dump site. Some people just suck at their jobs.
@@StarWarsMoments Ravidum PAH-TELLL?!...was a deadbeat. Fwockin Shiva handed this guy a million dollars, he told him SIGN DA DEAL!....he wouldn't sign...and the God Vishnu to into the barg...FWACK YOU, JOOHN!
Agreed Williamson's seeming patient and helpful demeanor is just a facade to make Levine crawl. His real intent is manifest in his cold rejections and delighted smirk.
Na bro wanted to sell the leads but he didn’t reach his number and wouldn’t go lower…. Remember this everyone has a price if they say no that means u haven’t said the right number his number was 50 bucks a lead n he couldn’t even come up with 50 why would he take less he already agreed to do something he’s not suppose to do he set the number if jack lemmon would’ve had a 50 on him he would’ve got a lead (now would it have been a good one who knows probably not) cause as u know he already set up jack lemmon character to fail with the leads he already gave him
It's clear that the salesman all treat Williamson like dirt, so I'm sure he gets off on making them miserable. Maybe if they were nicer to him, he probably would have shown mercy.
Kevin Spacey and Jack Lemmon. Spacey met him at 13 in an acting class, received high praise from him, and took his direct advice to go to NY to study acting...
"When I'm reading material, if I'm a little bit afraid of a part and I'm willing to admit that to myself, then I'll do it, definitely." That was from an interview with Lemmon about Some Like it Hot in which he and Tony Curtis had to cross-dress.
@@bbradley92 okay... we meet this character in the midst of hiring goons to kidnap his wife. The man is weak. There are plenty of men who have father-in-laws who hate them and who are in debt.
It’s funny that John’s car doesn’t turn on in this scene. Looks like he is hurting himself (surely most of his salary is commissions also) if his crew is not closing. Every scene in this movie is a masterpiece.
Every scene is a sales pitch. Shelley cant entice Williamson into a sale here and even though Williamson's not a salesperson he perfectly sells Shelley into giving himself up at the end of the movie
The fact that Levene somehow gets blamed because an ex-wife got the deal invalidated by a judge after he closed the sale with his prospect tells you everything you need to know about just how senselessly evil and cruel this firm is. He closed the lead, he did everything on his end. He apparently still has the skill to close sales but the firm would still rather trap him in a vicious cycle of bad leads, no sales, more bad leads. It just goes to show its about something even deeper and uglier than just greed -- they'd probably make *more money* if they gave Shelley promising leads! That's even before we know Williamson is giving Shelley leads he knows to be insolvent people who can't buy anything anyway.
This is all true, but when Williamson ultimately tells Levene "I don't like you," it's not difficult to understand why. He has such a grating and abrasive manner. Once Levene thinks he finally has a "win" under his belt with the Nyborgs, he becomes extremely cocky and arrogant. Can you imagine how insufferable he must have been years earlier when he was more of a big swingin' dick at the office?
We don't know what really happened with that failed deal, we just heard Shelley's (likely exaggerated or flat-out untrue) spin on the situation. Williamson didn't counter Shelley's interpretation of events, but that could also be because Williamson's heard the excuse before, plus he was obviously more than fed up with Shelley's nonsense. Knowing how much of a screwup Shelley is, it seems very likely that he messed something up on his end that led to the deal's failure, or he and the ex-husband were knowingly trying to defraud the wife.
@@jimhirsby7154 The ending doesn't help Williamson's case. He gave Shelly the Nyborg lead that night, knowing full well that they were deadbeats that couldn't afford anything and that any check they wrote was bad, as Williamson admits Nyborgs had already done in the past when he was with Webb. What legitimate point is there in giving your salespeople "leads" that you know financially cannot be closed even if your salesperson manages to close the deal in writing. It's like @mattspychala7251 said, M&M wanted him out. He became a liability, probably because Shelly had been there long enough to know the crap they kept slinging under Rio Rancho, GlenGarry Farms, BlackCreek, Mountain View, River Glen was the same pump & dump land under different names, as well as the unethical business practices skirting consumer protection laws as Roma was doing. M&M had gotten as much out of Shelley as they wanted (he mentions he bought them cars, sent them on vacations, etc), and Shelley had a recent bad streak they could use to justify kicking him out the door while maintaining objectivity. They wanted Shelley gone before he became so desperate that he did exactly what he did, or tried to blackmail them (which he basically tried to do to Williamson), they just waited too long.
Looking at this I have a hunch that Mitch & Murray was overbudget and they had to cut back on manpower but they didn't have the guts to lay anyone off ergo they had to do that contest to keep 2 people and lay 2 people off
Airsoftcleaner A lot is unexplained. But Alex Baldwin's character does not exist in the original stage version. He was written in for the film to provide some layering for the impending firing.
Madeline Monahan I always figured Mitch and Murray had Baldwins characters go down and put the fire under their asses. This would make them do drastic and desperate things. Usually when sleazy businessmen need a way out they will do something illegal. I think thats what we saw here. From both Mitch and Murray and the Closers.
In any sales office, that's the way it's done but you really don't have to actually fire anyone. Since it's commission only, people stay on until they see no further point in it. Even if a salesperson isn't making a living, he's retained as long as he generates occasional sales. I tried that racket for a while trying to sell cut-rate health insurance [before ObamaCare] and when someone didn't show for a couple of weekly sales meetings you knew he was gone for good. Turnover was ridiculous 'cuz "the leads are weak" and the product sucked. You couldn't get anyone interested.
Poor Shelly. His liquidity is only 35$ in his pocket with his credit line and credit cards tapped out and his daughter in the hospital with Shelly squeaking every dime to her because they can’t afford private insurance. He is days away from being evicted and starving to death unless he closes one fast which he does (with the Nyborgs) but they end up being deadbeats like Shelly. Death of a salesman. So sad and depressing, it almost makes me cry each time I watch this. One of the saddest movies I have ever seen.
he doesn't even have an umbrella. And Ive done sales, you knock on the door expecting the person to know your coming but they have no idea 9 times out 10. The leads ARE weak. Send Alec Baldwin's "Blake" out there and close his mouth real quick.
@@truthlifefishing1730 Exactly. Blake-types are all over RU-vid at the moment doing "Sales Training Videos" that comprise them posing in sleeveless T Shirts and bellowing at salespeople about "Being Alpha" and spouting canned sales-patter at 100mph, then whooping like gibbons when the marks in the training repeat it. Use the same approach on an actual customer and they'd laugh in the salesperson's face and walk out... but the Sales Guru making the video will assure you it always works IF YOU DO IT RIGHT which means when it inevitably doesn't the mark blames themselves not the expensive training. Blake would cry like a baby on an actual sit.
@@finncullen It's a numbers game, do the pitch the same way to 50 people in the course of a day you should expect to see a sale or two. I've done D2D sales and I know how it works. There is nothing illustrious about it. Just beating the pavement to get enough no's until you land on a yes.
Jack Lemmon is definitely in the Top 10 of all time best actors. Severely underrated. This is a perfect example, and he was delivering this quality since the 50 s.
I've always liked Jack Lemmon (how could I not? He was Ensign Pulver in "Mr Roberts"), but, as an actor, I think he was very underrated. He was absolutely fantastic in this movie. You could just smell the desperation.
It’s leaps and bounds beyond anything I’ve seen attempted on the stage. I know it’s mostly because this was my first exposure but Jack’s reading of the lines seems to be perfection
Death of a Saleman on line one. Nothing, not even this cinematic masterpiece hits home like the greatest play ever by an American playwright. GGGR poached out near shamelessly the crux of the Arthur Miller masterpiece...only to the field of real estate sales. Both are awesome.
acedrummond Of course Williamson was enjoying it. He had no intention of giving Shelly anything. He was stringing him along. As he said at the and if the movie, he doesn’t like Shelly
@betatalk357 I've seen GGGR ten times if I have seen it once and never thought of that. Good catch. Although busted doors and locks might have given them away.
I used to do commission only work for years before I developed a conscience and I can attest that this kind of desperation was something you could see every day. The sad thing is that these were people who could do the job, if you were total shit you wouldn't last the week. But these souls once WERE good, but for whatever reason; burned out, family problems, mental problems, drug or drink problems, they just didn't have that spark or the sharpness to be able to do what once came so easily. When you're good, really good, sales isn't even a job anymore: I speak to people on the phone and get paid for it; that's not work. But when you lose that it is the most hopeless, soul destroying and spirit crushing existence imaginable: the threat of unemployment always above your head, derision and indifference from your colleagues. Most people I observed in Jack Lennon's position were not able to get hack above water again. The road he's on is almost always one way...
@@lankylankster7148 Yep. We used to say you're only as good as your last pay check. But of course if you've are a good earner we could excuse a bad week or too; maybe even a bad month. Apart from the money good performance got you the respect of your coworkers, an guaranteed promotion if you were the top performer when a vacancy became available, a closer seat to the management when we all went out for daily after work drinks and a longer grace period before you were sacked. I have to stress when you are good it is not work, I think Roma represents that very well in this scene; he's at the bar, getting a buzz on, chatting with a random stranger. Who could call that work? As I worked in telesales you may have to call 100 numbers until you found a Lingk; but boy when you did you could get your claws in, and build him up to a point where he would think that he was doing you a favour buying a houseful of new windows, doors, a new porch, fascias & guttering.
Can you imagine what a pain in the ass it was to memorize all these lines? I memorized a couple of long monologues and just one took me almost 2 weeks. These guys had pages and pages, yikes!
Lemmon and the rest were paid over a million bucks each. For that kind of dough, some studying of the script would be expected. Ordinary people work harder for a helluva lot less.
Given the way Shelly talks to the man when he doesn’t need something- can you blame him? Shelly is a weak willed cockroach without empathy or morals who makes his living conning people who work for a living. Why would anyone who *actually knows the guy* like him?
Machine would have sacrificed his own mother for these leads. Incredibly high-stakes choices by an absolute master of the craft. Hats off to the great Jack Lemmon.
What?!! You put a Marlon 'Idiot board' Brando pathetic performance anywhere near the utter brilliance of Jack Lemmon?!!!!! What drugs are you on as they're clearly well strong.
It's already dark. Suppose Shelly gets two premium leads what is he going to do? Show up at someone's house at 9pm to sell them land? Some things don't make sense in this film.
I think the weather and the time of day were crucial to create the mood for the story, and so they had to go out like that, maybe they just couldn't get around it.
What kind of company tries so hard to NOT succeed with their salesmen? I’ve been in sales for many years and the sales force is Llife blood of the company.
I get the desperation of a man struggling to make a living. The fear of loss, Of not being able to pay his bills. I'd hate to be a salesperson. Great Acting from Jack Lemmon.
6:45 I like how, after all his whining and begging, Lemmon gets a sliver of hope when he says, "I'll bring it in the office the morning, I'll be comin' in with the sales!" Spacey says, "Nope." And then Lemmon goes right back to being sad and desperate. That's amazing acting.
One of the subtle things I didn't really pay attention to the first time, was the fact that he's having a really difficult time starting his car. Williamson isn't exactly making it either.
Spacey's contempt is ironic (and shows his talent), considering, at this point in his life, he idolized Lemmon. In fact, he credits Lemmon for going to bat for Spacey to win him this role.
