Based on the brilliant, award-winning play by David Mamet, the powerhouse cast includes Al Pacino as Rick Roma, Jack Lemmon as Shelley "The Machine" Levene, Ed Harris as Dave Moss and Alan Arkin as George Aaronow. Kevin Spacey plays the cold and unblinking office manager, John Williamson, doling out the leads to the salesmen.

Alec Baldwin gives a short but powerful and biting performance as the executive motivator, Blake, sent in to announce a new incentive program that pits the agents against each other in an intense competition that ends with two of them losing their jobs at the end of the month. He mercilessly harangues the down-on-their-luck, lackluster agents by asking them "You know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes brass balls to sell real estate." He insults them further by rubbing in what third prize means - "You're fired --do I have your attention now? Hit the bricks, pal, and beat it, 'cause you are going out!"

Watching Levene, an over-the-hill washout, make a 'sit' (sales visit at a lead's home) is painful. Worried about his sick daughter and how to pay her medical bills, he scrambles to try to convert a man resisting him at every turn. Levene is so intensely upbeat and pushes so hard, you can't wait for the man to head out the door of his home to meet his wife, leaving Levene to face another rejection, just to have the heart-breaking desperation over.

Levene even stoops to trying to bribe the office manager who suddenly turns out to be quite the negotiator as he asks for and gets a guarantee of bigger cut of the closed deals from Levene.

Roma, the company hotshot, is so clever in his friendly banter and he manipulates his victims so flawlessly, it is almost an art. When his sale that makes him a shoo-in to win the top prize in the contest shows up at the real estate office to get his check back from the night before, Roma quickly gets Levene to portray an American Express vice-president who has bought many parcels from him to convince the buyer to complete the deal. They are brilliant and masterful in their deception until the office manager screws the whole thing up by telling the buyer his check has been put in the bank already.

Moss is so fed up with the lousy leads, the corporate suits, and the threat of losing his job that he tells Williamson, "I'm busting my balls to sell your dirt to deadbeats!". He and Aaronow discuss ways to rip off the coveted Glengarry leads that the manager is saving for the Closers.

When the office is burglarized and the precious leads are missing, everyone is suspect as the police interrogate them one by one and the chaos that ensues finally prompts a confession from Levene who sold the precious Glengarry leads to a competitor across the street.

These real estate agents are profane and loathsome and make 'lie, cheat and steal' part of their everyday approach to sell to their victims. They promise prizes and pretend to be selling to buyers who need first class plane reservations to fool the suckers on the phone. They constantly complain about the quality of the leads, calling them deadbeats. The sense of doom can be felt in the messy office, the downpour of rain outside the door, and the constant complaining and trying to survive in hard times.

David Mamet/s Glengarry Glen Ross: Text and Production
Glengarry Glen Ross: A Play

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