# In Glengarry Glen Ross, what exactly are the salesmen selling? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2012, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998 "2012-03-07T01:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/41 "2012-03-07T18:39:56Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Roma’s client, James Lingk, is a timid, henpecked middle aged guy who’s never done anything he really wanted to do in his life. Ricky Roma didn’t sell him land AS land- he sold him land as a symbol of Lingk’s manhood. Somehow, Roma made Lingk think that buying land was an adventurous break form his boring life. IIRC, it’s also supposed to be that Roma gets an “in-the-closet” vibe from the guy and casually tailors his pitch accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/42 "2012-03-07T21:07:04Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I can go out there tonight with the materials you’ve got and make myself $15,000. Tonight! In two hours! Can YOU? You’re such a hero, you’re so rich, how come you’re coming down here wasting your time with such a bunch of bums? ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/43 "2012-03-07T21:10:41Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > IIRC, it’s also supposed to be that Roma gets an “in-the-closet” vibe from the guy and casually tailors his pitch accordingly. Meanwhile, Baldwin is giving his aggressively homophobic “pep talk”: "It takes _brass balls_ to sell real estate! Are you _man enough_ to take their money? Fail and you’ll be sitting in a bar somewhere going [swish voice] ‘Oh yeah, I used to be a salesman . . . It’s a tough racket!’ " ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/44 "2012-03-07T21:13:33Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Would anyone care to speculate as to what made the “premium leads”–the Glengarry leads–so special? A good lead is one that can be converted to the biggest sale with the least amount of effort, i.e., potential buyers who _have_ the money, are _eager_ to buy, can be _convinced_ to buy, _aren’t jaded_ by other salesmen and/or offers, and _don’t take a long time_ to decide. Much like the grass on the other side of the fence, it’s always the other person’s leads that look best. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/45 "2012-03-07T21:22:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Much like the grass on the other side of the fence, it’s always the other person’s leads that look best. “See, now take Jerry Graff. He buys a list of nurses. See now, that’s thinkin’!” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/46 "2012-03-07T21:28:14Z")
I avoided this movie as I feared I’d end up in a boiler room selling crap from antique leads. Since then I’ve been there, done that, got fired for not closing, and drank my way into a hospital where I saw that the manufacturer of the product I was trying to sell had also sold it to McDonald’s to be given away in Happy Meals. I’m tempted to email my old boss and laugh at him while Ronald McDonald eats his lunch, drinks his milkshake, and any other “fuck you” cliche. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/47 "2012-03-07T21:47:06Z")
I saw this movie, but I can only remember the scene with Alec Baldwin in it. I believe that if I had to be a salesman for a living, I would end up starving. I worked as a telemarketer for about a whole month. I got fired for taking “no thank you” for an answer. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/48 "2012-03-07T21:55:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Roma’s client, James Lingk, is a timid, henpecked middle aged guy who’s never done anything he really wanted to do in his life. Well, he _almost_ killed James Bond, but he kept fucking it up! ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/49 "2012-03-07T22:08:17Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I think the DVD commentary says it’s worthless swamp land in Florida without infrastructure, prettied-up with a grand sounding name (“Glengarry Heights” for example) and sold as “the investment opportunity of a lifetime”. What’s funny is that I own a home that used to be, essentially, swamp land. When I was a kid growing up about 15 miles away, there was almost nothing here, just a horse track down the way a bit. The area where my home sits was all cypress swamp, with maybe the occasional ranch in between. Allegedly the Steinbrenners bought up and then developed the land and now it’s one of the highest per capita ZIP codes in our area. FWIW, I find cypress swamps to be extremely beautiful, although that’s not why we live there. There are still little pockets of swampland in the area and we have egrets, ibises, woodland storks, herons, osprey, hawks, eagles, otters, turtles and alligators as neighbors. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/50 "2012-03-07T22:49:48Z")
Somebody should do an edit with some home footage and GGGR footage of ALec Baldwin berating a bunch of girl scouts to sell girl scout cookies. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/51 "2012-03-07T23:22:44Z")
[Always Be Cobbling](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6v7JEuC2iU&feature=related) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/52 "2012-03-08T00:11:32Z")
I entered a drawing for a ‘Free Trip to Disney World’ at a bar I used to play trivia at each week; I assumed it was legit since sometimes bars readlly do have promotions with nice prizes (especially when they can get a good prize free or cheap). The next day I got a call: “You entered a contest for a trip to Disneyworld, well… pack your bags!” and it was immediately obvious it wasn’t legit but a timeshare thing. I hung up with a polite ‘not interested’. I never entered another “contest” there but I got calls from that info for weeks. (This was before the ‘do not call’ registry.) I assumed that’s what the cheap leads that Shelley complains about are- just random names and numbers and addresses. The expensive ones were the more pre-screened- people who have money and an interest in investments. I keep going to back to just how freaking amazing Jack Lemmon was in this movie. One scene that was so _Death of a Salesman_ poignant was when he’s visiting the husband of a woman who had sent away for info. Every word and gesture he makes during that scene is brilliant and lets you know this entire character: enthusiastic, overeager, desperate, overfriendly, done this a million times before, end of his rope, self loathing, really was great once, etc.- just one of the most brilliant “defining a character with dialogue that has little or nothing to do with what’s going on inside him” scenes of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/53 "2012-03-08T00:41:05Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > There are still little pockets of swampland in the area and we have egrets, ibises, woodland storks, herons, osprey, hawks, eagles, otters, turtles and alligators as neighbors. I’m jealous. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/54 "2012-03-08T00:47:12Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > [Always > Be > Cobbling](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6v7JEuC2iU&feature=related) Glengarry Glen Ross is my favorite movie ever. Or, at least top 3 with Kill Bill and Jesus Christ Superstar. That scene isn’t my favorite scene, but I do love it. I love every scene in that movie. But, I’m posting to thank you. Because that is my FAVORITE SNL skit ever. And I haven’t thought of it in ages. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/55 "2012-03-08T03:15:36Z")
[Always Be Cancer Researching](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqZaLCB9KtI) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/56 "2012-03-08T03:55:13Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I keep going to back to just how freaking amazing Jack Lemmon was in this movie. One scene that was so _Death of a Salesman_ poignant was when he’s visiting the husband of a woman who had sent away for info. Every word and gesture he makes during that scene is brilliant and lets you know this entire character: enthusiastic, overeager, desperate, overfriendly, done this a million times before, end of his rope, self loathing, really was great once, etc.- just one of the most brilliant “defining a character with dialogue that has little or nothing to do with what’s going on inside him” scenes of all time. I was never a Jack Lemmon fan, but I agree with every word here. But… what makes the performance even more brilliiant is the way Shelley Levene changes when he THINKS he’s made a big sale to the Nyborgs. He’s been such a pitiable sad sack up to then- but when he thinks he’s made a sale, he becomes confident, then arrogant, and becomes condescending and insulting to office manager John Williamson. Just when we feel sorry for Shelley, he shows us a glimpse of what a prick he must have been when he was “The Machine,” and we start to understand just why John Williamson loathed him and had been jerking him around with such lousy leads. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/57 "2012-03-08T04:34:40Z")
[QUOTE=astorian] Just when we feel sorry for Shelley, he shows us a glimpse of what a prick he must have been when he was “The Machine,” and we start to understand just why John Williamson loathed him and had been jerking him around with such lousy leads. [/QUOTE] Hmm- I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to rewatch from that vantage. Roma had some “Hoo-wah” moments to be sure, but the scene in the bar with Lingk had some vintage Pacino subtlety. Today he increasingly plays Al Pacino: Superstar. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/58 "2012-03-08T12:23:48Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hmm- I hadn’t thought of that. I’ll have to rewatch from that vantage. > > Roma had some “Hoo-wah” moments to be sure, but the scene in the bar with Lingk had some vintage Pacino subtlety. Today he increasingly plays Al Pacino: Superstar. Well, it’s almost funny how David Mamet manipulates us into feeling sorry for Shelley and rooting for him to make a sale… even though we KNOW that, for Shelley to succeed, some nice person has to get fleeced! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/59 "2012-03-08T14:36:16Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Roma had some “Hoo-wah” moments to be sure, but the scene in the bar with Lingk had some vintage Pacino subtlety. Today he increasingly plays Al Pacino: Superstar. To me, the interesting part is that he was up for the Oscar that year for both his performance in Glengarry and the one in Scent Of A Woman; he failed with the former and won for the latter, after doing likewise at the Golden Globes, and presumably feels he learned a valuable lesson… ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998/60 "2012-03-08T15:11:03Z")
My roomate was a commissioned salesman for multiple appliance companies. He told me that the “Always Be Closing” scene is pretty much verbatim what he’s gone through several times. Also, I’m a county planner in one of the places that contains so many of those crappy Florida swampland lots. Back when the housing boom was going full blast, I dealt with so many people who had bought a lot that was in the middle of a wetland and the roads only exist on paper. They had the right to build a house on the lot, but they’d have to build a road, put in a well and septic field, get permits from the Dept of Environmental Protection and South Florida Water Management District (because they’re impacting wetlands), actually bring fill dirt onto the property to get it above water level (and do the same for the road) and do so much other stuff just to get the lot ready to build on. So yeah, they can buy a lot and build a house on it, but it’s several times more cost and effort than they realized and at the end of the day, they end up living in a swamp. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-glengarry-glen-ross-what-exactly-are-the-salesmen-selling/614998.md?page=4)