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Glengarry Glen Ross poster

Glengarry Glen Ross

year 1992decade 90sdirector James Foley

100 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Al Pacino Ricky Roma
Jack Lemmon Shelley Levene
Alec Baldwin Blake
Ed Harris Dave Moss
Alan Arkin George Aaronow
Kevin Spacey John Williamson
Jonathan Pryce James Lingk
Bruce Altman Mr. Larry Spannel
Jude Ciccolella Detective
Paul Butler Policeman
Lori Tan Chinn Coat check girl
Neal Jones Man in donut shop
Barry Rossen Assistant detective
Leigh French Additional voice
George Cheung Additional voice
Murphy Dunne Additional voice
Dana Lee Additional voice
Julie Payne Additional voice
Gregory Snegoff Additional voice

Glengarry Glen Ross | The Rewatchables

host Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennesseyproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Periodic Netflix remakes; live television charity event; additional scenes; The Wire cast

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:14:47Read transcript
  • A crypto-world reset is joked about as a potential 10-episode Netflix series.
  • A Netflix version every five years is proposed after seeing David Harbour play Williamson opposite Pacino’s stage Levene.
  • Live televised classic plays with major casts could become annual events or charity fundraisers, following Playhouse 90, Clooney’s Fail Safe and live sitcom recreations.
  • A longer version is difficult to imagine given the compressed writing, but ten additional deleted scenes would be eagerly welcomed.
  • An all-Black cast could reuse The Wire’s actors, specifically Wood Harris and Idris, whose coded dialogue and burdened masculinity already resemble Mamet.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Blake’s sales speech

In the discussion (22)
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:48Read transcript
  • Roma across the table from the Jonathan Pryce character and the Roma–Moss confrontation are preferred on later viewings.
  • The Baldwin speech remains an all-time favorite but is so familiar that it can feel skippable; Moss and Levene grow more meaningful with age.
  • Blake’s speech is an obvious scene choice, with tiny familiar moments such as deciding to start without Roma still producing chills.
  • The played Blake speech includes the coffee-for-closers rebuke and the threat of firing.
  • The played sales-contest prizes descend from a Cadillac Eldorado to steak knives to dismissal.
  • The played speech rejects weak-leads excuses and insults the salesmen through a Hyundai–BMW wealth comparison.
  • The played speech delivers Always Be Closing and AIDA, demanding action from the salesmen.
  • Moss and Aaronow’s car and restaurant conversations are a fresh-viewing favorite, moving from a failed sales call and doughnuts to the proposed robbery.
  • Moss’s shifting robbery proposal exposes his larger secret payout and pressures Aaronow by invoking accomplices.
  • Moss traps Aaronow by declaring that listening already makes him an accessory; the combined conversations are called miraculous.
  • Harris’s performance depends on Arkin’s befuddled one-word replies, revealing two different forms of failure through cadence rather than speeches.
  • Roma’s train-compartment monologue and seduction of Lingk stand out on rewatch, mixing the self-deluding con artist with Pacino’s controlled and explosive modes.
  • Roma’s tender, self-effacing conversation is manipulative from the moment he identifies Lingk as a mark; the apparent sincerity serves the sale.
  • Pacino’s precise syllables and apparently spontaneous thought make Mamet’s language feel native to Roma; the speech resembles a precursor to The Devil’s Advocate.
  • The long office sequence offers many memorable interactions: Roma’s entrance, the stolen phones, Williamson confrontation, Levene’s celebration, Moss’s exit and Lingk’s return.
  • Levene’s failed sit with the Bruce Altman character is singled out as heartbreaking, showing a customer who actively hates the encounter.
  • The Roma–Moss showdown with Levene refereeing is a favorite office sequence, showcasing both actors at their strongest in furious verbal combat.
  • Williamson identifying Levene as the thief culminates in the crushing “because I don’t like you,” with Lemmon’s eyes conveying devastation.
  • Levene improvising D. Ray Morton’s American Express executive identity is delightful, including his inability to finish the job title and Roma’s subsequent praise.
  • Roma’s attempt to re-close Lingk leads to his blistering attack on Williamson for spoiling the deal.
  • Levene’s “you are a shithead” illustrates Lemmon’s false bravado against Pacino’s genuine bravado.
  • Both settle on Blake’s speech as the most-rewatchable choice after entertaining more unusual favorites.

What’s Aged the Best?

Structure; costumes; ensemble casting; Ed Harris’s run; speech parodies; restaurant office; dialogue; atmosphere

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:17:59Read transcript
  • Adding the Baldwin scene gives the first act a return to the office, establishes place and power, and makes the adaptation more cinematic.
  • Mamet’s conversational power shifts are especially effective around Moss: a careless phrase reverses who attacks and who defends, and merely listening becomes alleged complicity.
  • Spacey’s restrained, obstructive Williamson energy is perfectly matched to the role, especially the repeated instruction to go to lunch.
  • Foley’s smoky noir atmosphere, rain, train noise and carefully arranged moving camera make the confined material cinematic.
  • Mamet strips away explanatory backstory about the daughter, Moss’s anger or Roma’s marriage and concentrates on each character’s objective.
  • The Baldwin monologue’s afterlife includes a gentle Bill Hader version in Barry and continued use in auditions, despite requiring unusual authority to deliver.
  • The speech’s writing and performance helped sustain the film’s cultural life, with “always be closing” used far beyond sales.
  • The night-and-day structure and jazz transition into the office give the movie a distinctive cinematic rhythm.
  • Costumes chart status from Roma’s stylish Italian suits down to Levene’s hunched shirt-sleeve misery.
  • Harris’s 1989–1999 run is celebrated through The Abyss, State of Grace, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Firm, The Rock and The Truman Show, with some duds acknowledged.
  • Casting six leading actors of their generations is praised, with a joking “great job, Bonnie” counterpart to Great Shot Gordo.
  • Baldwin’s Santa-workshop Saturday Night Live parody and Hader’s sweet Barry version keep the speech funny in new forms.
  • Working out of a restaurant is an appealing remnant of the film’s world.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Door-to-door selling; donut-and-cigarette dinner; Mamet’s politics; racism; Hyundai insult

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:58Read transcript
  • Inviting an unknown salesperson into the home feels culturally dated, though phishing and targeted sales emails pursue the same vulnerable human impulse by new means.
  • A dinner of doughnuts, coffee, cigarettes and liquor is criticized as unhealthy, then nostalgically defended as a once-possible lifestyle.
  • Identifying as a Mamet fan has become difficult amid his increasingly conservative public politics and diminished cultural position.
  • The racist language and stereotypes are troubling but defended as accurate to these characters; later stage productions reportedly removed some anti-Indian language.
  • Blake’s Hyundai insult conflicts with Moss actually driving a Buick.

The Great Shot Gordo Award for Most Cinematic Shot

Aaronow robbery push-in; handheld Levene–Williamson confrontation

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:11Read transcript
  • The push-in on Aaronow when Moss says robbery is a favorite shot.
  • Following Levene and Williamson into the side room shifts to claustrophobic handheld camerawork as Levene’s options close off.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Dave Moss was right; brass balls gag is excessive

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:52Read transcript
  • Moss is right to resist an inhumane system controlling lower-middle-class men, even though he is a bad person; the analogy shifts from Peterson to a wheel-breaking Khaleesi analogy.
  • The brass-balls gag is too broad and awkward for a character otherwise equipped with a sharp verbal response to everything.

Apex Mountain

David Mamet on screen; real estate sales on screen

In the discussion (7)
Approx. transcript time · 01:46:54Read transcript
  • Pacino’s 1992 Oscar and enduring Roma performance make a peak case, but the Godfather–Serpico–Dog Day Afternoon run supports multiple possible peaks rather than a settled choice.
  • Mamet on screen receives an affirmative choice.
  • Mamet’s own directing peak is separately located around The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main and Heist, with Spartan viewed as a troubling turn; Foley is considered the better visual match here.
  • Real-estate sales on screen receives an affirmative choice.
  • The broader salesman question raises Mad Men but distinguishes advertising from real estate.
  • Tommy Boy is another salesman contender, with its business corrected from sporting goods to brake pads.
  • Moneyball is another sales-film comparison because unhappy men sell the idea of advanced analytics; no all-sales winner is settled.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

BMW 850i; J&B bottle; brass balls; Clubmaster sunglasses

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 02:00:38Read transcript
  • Blake’s 850 i is desired; an initial doubt about seeing it is corrected by recalling the white car and its alarm in the rain.
  • A bottle of J&B from China Bowl is another memorabilia choice.
  • The brass balls are suggested, prompting disagreement about whether the prop works comedically.
  • Roma’s Clubmaster sunglasses are another choice, fondly remembered from their early 1990s popularity.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Never open your mouth until you know the shot

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 02:01:28Read transcript
  • “Never open your mouth until you know the shot” is the life lesson, despite conflicting with the podcaster’s habit of speaking freely.

Who Won the Movie?

David Mamet; Al Pacino; Jack Lemmon

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 02:02:02Read transcript
  • Mamet receives one final winner choice; Pacino receives a separate choice with acceptance of the Mamet argument.
  • The explicitly invited producer chooses Lemmon, creating a three-way split.
Podcast choices
Speaker not identified
David Mamet
Speaker not identified
Al Pacino
Speaker not identified
Jack Lemmon