Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) is one of the classics that many movie lovers will be happy to recommend. It is about what happens in a shadowy realtor’s office in New York for four hardcore salesmen who will go to any length to close a sale. Adopted from a 1984 Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by the original author David Mamet, the film is known for its intensity and profanity in dialogues.
The film features a marquee cast like no other, including Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey, each of them playing their roles like a well-recursed orchestra. What I found remarkable is that the 100 minutes running film happens almost entirely indoors, in just two rooms, one being a Chinese restaurant and the second being a small office, yet the screenplay keeps you gripping throughout.
Blake, the character by Alec Baldwin is sent to a small realtor’s office to motivate their salesperson, instead, he verbally abuses them and scares them to death – his sales lessons of ABC (Always Be Closing) and AIDA (Attention, Interest, Decision & Action) have become legendary that they may have been included in many Business School curriculum. His other comment “Coffee is for closers” has become so famous, that a variation of it appeared 25 years later in The Boss Baby (2017) as “Cookies are for closers“.
Salespersons around the planet will attest to how stressful and senseless sales targets can be, for everyone else watching this film will give a glimpse of that scary life.
ABC, Always Be Closing – Sales lessons by Blake (Alec Baldwin)
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