Flick of The Day: Glengarry Glen Ross

David Mamet was one of the great voices in American theatre in the late 70's and early 80's. As a playwright, he was a founding member of the legendary Atlantic Theatre Company, winning acclaim for his 1984 play Glengarry Glen Ross, which he adapted for the screen in this 1992 drama which is today's flick of the day. Mamet's writing is heavy in dialogue which is itself fast paced and peppered with scatological language, and it reeks of the stage. However it is the kind of rich language that draws the best out of actors. Apart from his theatrical work, he has a rich body of film work with particular highlights being his Oscar winning script for The Verdict and The Untouchables.

Glengarry Glen Ross

A simple tale of the goings on behind the scenes at a real estate office in Chicago, this film has an ensemble cast of some of the best acting talent in recent memory. Al Pacino is cocky top salesman Ricky Roma, Jack Lemmon is the ageing salesman living on past glories, Alan Arkin and Ed Harris are disgruntled and desperate while Kevin Spacey is the much put upon office manager. In a role created for the film, Alec Baldwin steals the film as a hard nosed motivational speaker. Times are hard at Premiere Properties with the pressure on the salesmen to deliver land sales in a downturn. They bitch and moan about the leads they are given and generally fail to sell apart from the big swinging dick Ricky Roma. The plot centres around a theft at the office but ultimately this is a character study of men under pressure, with a tense atmosphere reminiscent of something like 12 Angry Men.

Perhaps the strength of James Foley's direction is to keep the camera moving around the theatre like sets, to make this feel less like a play. It is not fully successful however as you can't really escape the origins of the tale. Mamet's dialogue is his greatest strength but it often feel over the top and almost unrealistic here. That said, it is terribly enjoyable to see greats like Pacino and Lemmon and Spacey chew through the scenery in capital lettered verbiage. 

Blake: You got leads. Mitch & Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them. You can't close the leads you're given, you can't close shit, *you are* shit, hit the bricks pal, and beat it, 'cause you are going *out*. 

Shelley Levene: The leads are weak. 

Blake: "The leads are weak." The fucking leads are weak? You're weak. I've been in this business fifteen years... 

Dave Moss: What's your name? 

Blake: Fuck you. That's my name. 

[Moss laughs] 

Blake: You know why, mister? 'Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an eighty thousand dollar BMW. *That's* my name.

A tour de force then, but also a dark look at the harsh realities of the working world and the lengths people will go to, to survive. Lemmon's salesman is a loser but at heart a good family man while Pacino's Roma is a slimy charlatan yet one is a failure and the other prospers. There is a morality tale in there somewhere. 

Very much a character study, this is worth seeing if only for Mamet's dialogue and the excellent performances from the ensemble cast. It couldn't be called a compelling drama for very little happens but for sharp dialogue and tense well acted scenes, this is hard to beat. 

Flick of The Day: The Verdict

The American director Sidney Lumet passed away earlier this month at age 86. This master of cinema left behind a body of work that would be the envy of any director. Spanning the ages, from the classic and oft imitated 12 Angry Men to 70's new Hollywood fare like Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon and ground breaking work like media satire Network. Today's flick of the day is another of his finest films, The Verdict.

The Verdict (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Paul Newman, is Frank Galvin, an ageing alcoholic attorney with a broken marriage in his past and a baggage filled career. He spends his days drowning Bushmills in his local bar while playing pinball, and trying to pick up clients at funerals, preying on the grief of others. He is in a bad way, and in one last attempt to help him, an old friend and mentor Mickey played by Jack Warden throws him a medical malpractice case to get him back on track. Warden is superb throughout, acting as the rock that supports Frank. The case in question appears like an easy pay day. A young woman goes into the hospital to have her third child, and is given the wrong anaesthetic leading to her slipping into a coma after severe brain damage. The hospital is owned by the local archdiocese who are keen to cover up the mistake. They offer to settle but against his clients wishes Frank goes to court. It is as much about his own redemption as getting justice for his client who has been grievously wronged. On the opposing side, is a conniving Judge, played by the great Milo O'Shea who doesn't want the case in his court and a defence lawyer who is without scruples, in an Oscar nominated performance from James Mason. Against all the odds, Frank tries the case and as the obstacles mount up, gives his all in the search for justice, including sacrificing his relationship with Charlotte Rampling who has more to her then meets the eye.

The actors are aided in their performances by a great script from David Mamet, whose fine work we have reviewed before. The dialogue gets to the heart of the matter and offers some great interplay between the characters, particularly in the court room scenes. The shocking testimony of the admitting nurse is a highlight when James Mason breaks the cardinal rule of cross examination, asking a question you don't know the answer to. You will almost feel the urge to cheer to finally see the good out.

Judge Hoyle: It seems to me, a fellow's trying to come back, he'd take the settlement, get a record for himself. I, myself. would take it and run like a thief. 

Frank Galvin: I'm sure you would.

This is after all the classic tale of David Vs Goliath. Paul Newman excels in the role of Frank Galvin, another in the long line of great performances earning him his fifth of eight Oscar nominations. Lumet shoots the film with a lot of wide angles, we are viewing this as outsiders. It is almost a documentary feel, an indictment of the American justice system and how hard it is to obtain justice.

The film isn't showy, Boston is a dark cold city, permanently bathed in snow. All of the interiors seem weathered and have seen better days, much like Paul Newman's Frank. There is very little music, indeed very little noise of any kind, focusing the viewer's attention on Newman's performance, which as I've said is superb.

Frank Galvin: You know, so much of the time we're just lost. We say, "Please, God, tell us what is right; tell us what is true." And there is no justice: the rich win, the poor are powerless. We become tired of hearing people lie. And after a time, we become dead... a little dead. We think of ourselves as victims... and we become victims. We become... we become weak. We doubt ourselves, we doubt our beliefs. We doubt our institutions. And we doubt the law. But today you are the law. You ARE the law. Not some book... not the lawyers... not the, a marble statue... or the trappings of the court. See those are just symbols of our desire to be just. They are... they are, in fact, a prayer: a fervent and a frightened prayer. In my religion, they say, "Act as if ye had faith... and faith will be given to you." IF... if we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And ACT with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts

All in all, a great film, not Lumet's best but its definitely up there. A host of great actors, Newman, Mason and Warden make the best of a great Mamet script. What else can I say?

Flick of The Day: The Untouchables

The rise and fall of Al Capone and the man who took him down, Elliott Ness, is a classic American tale. Its been told many times, both on screen and in television, but perhaps it has never been told as well and with such panache as this 1987 effort from Brian De Palma. Today's film is The Untouchables.

The Untouchables (Special Collector's Edition)

It is amazing how often great things come together almost by accident. A script developed by the famed Chicago playwright David Mamet that is unusually efficient in its use of dialogue, became attached to Brian De Palma, in need of a hit having not directed a successful film since 1983's Scarface. Robert De Niro took on the role of Al Capone only after Bob Hoskins had dropped out at the last minute. Add this to the talents of Sean Connery in a career best performance and Kevin Costner with a score by the legendary Ennio Morricone and the rest is history.

Set during the time of Prohibition, the film opens with the arrival or Elliott Ness, played with schoolboy charm and naivety by Kevin Costner, in Chicago at the behest of the Dept of Treasury to bring an end to the illegal liquor business and the violence that sustains it. He soon finds that everything flows through Alfonse Capone, a menacing performance from De Niro and that with corruption rife he has no hope of achieving his goal alone. A chance encounter with an ageing beat cop, Jim Malone, leads to the formation of a new unit, an incorruptible group with the sole goal of sending Capone to jail. Connery was justly lauded for his performance as Malone, winning Best Supporting Actor in that year's Oscars. His character is the emotional centre of the film and he acts as mentor to the initially naive Elliott Ness, guiding him through the often brutal encounters with the gangs that control the liquor market. As almost everyone now knows, Capone was finally taken down by a failure to pay his income tax. 

The actors are aided in their endeavours by a fine script from Mamet, containing some great lines of back and forth dialogue and a number of tour de force set-piece scenes for which the film is still fondly remembered today. The dialogue is typically Mamet.

Malone: Why do you want to be a police officer? 

Williamson: To protect the... people and the... p... 

Malone: I'm not looking for the textbook answer. Why do you want to join the force. 

Williamson: The force? 

Malone: Yeah, why do you want to join the force. 

Williamson: Because... I... 

Malone: Yeah? 

Williamson: ...think I could help. 

Malone: You think you could help. 

Williamson: ...with the force. 

Malone: Thank you very much, you've been most helpful. 

[Williamson leaves] 

Malone: [to Ness] There goes the next chief of police

Perhaps the most famous scene is the shoot-out on the steps of Union Station. In a tribute to Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin in which a baby in a crib fall's down the Odessa Steps during a massacre, as Ness is on the lookout for Capone's bookkeeper who is due to depart on the last train of the day. Of course the bookkeeper and his protectors arrive just as Ness is helping a woman lift her carriage up the steps. An elegantly filmed shoot-out ensues which is both balletic and bloody.

In summary, this is a true classic with a great cast, an excellent script and a great score from Morricone. Ultimately, it's just a great yarn that holds your attention from beginning to end. It is interesting that this film really was a career high for so many of those involved. De Palma hasn't made a great film since, with a number of turkey's along the way (Mission to Mars??). De Niro's career has trailed off as he increasingly takes on roles surely only for their financial reward, while both Sean Connery and Kevin Costner have had their ups and downs in the intervening years.