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CUTTING TO THE BONE: GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, HUSBANDS AND WIVES

© Sean Gallagher

One of the reasons comedy is so hard is the sense of humor is an elusive thing. That is, there is no one type of humor that satisfies everybody. Some people get their laughs from slapstick. Others will prefer verbal humor. Some people like humor that's adventurous, others a safer approach. Some like light comedies, others prefer when they get dark or black. James Foley's GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS and Woody Allen's HUSBANDS AND WIVES are examples of movies that want to make you laugh, but want to cause you discomfort while doing so. This isn't necessarily due to subject matter (though Allen's is divorce) as so much to the characters they show us. What makes both movies great is they manage to make us laugh and be uncomfortable at the same time.

Foley's movie is based on David Mamet's Pulizter Prize winning play, which he adapted himself for the screen. Back when the play came out in the 80's, some saw it as a way of showing the underbelly of what the Reagan presidency insisted was a time of prosperity. In recession-fueled 1992, it looks even more powerful.

As with the play, the movie focuses on real estate salesmen. Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) is the old-timer who's getting past his prime. He hasn't had a good sale in a long time, his daughter's in the hospital, and he doesn't have much left in his banking account. On the other end is Ricky Roma (Al Pacino), who's doing well enough that he can skip a company meeting to try and sell property to new client James Lingk (Jonathan Pryce). In between are Dave Moss (Ed Harris) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin), who aren't in as desperate straits as Shelley is, but are still struggling. At the company meeting everyone but Ricky attends, Blake (Alec Baldwin), an emissary from the bosses (Mitch & Murray, who are never seen), drops a bombshell on the others; the sales contest they're having is also a war of attrition on the salesmen - 1st prize is a Cadillac, 2nd prize is a set of steak knives, 3rd prize is a pink slip.

Each of them react in their own way. Shelley tries to buy the good leads (likely prospects) from Williamson (Kevin Spacey), the manager, but Williamson is unmoved. Dave and George bitch about not having access to the good leads (known as Glengarry leads), reminisce about the days when they had good leads like Glen Ross leads to sell, and Moss floats the idea of robbing the office of the good leads. The next day, everyone comes to work to find the office has been robbed of the good leads. Ricky, in the meantime, finds out the next day that his sure thing sale (which he knows will get him the Cadillac) may not be a sure thing after all.