A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

THAT'S MY NAME: The AV Club's Scott Tobias inducts Glengarry Glen Ross into The New Cult Canon:

The genius of Mamet’s play is that it’s about honor without honor. It follows beleaguered salesmen who by trade have to manipulate people and lie to them in order to get through the day. And it’s a credit to Mamet that they have our sympathy from the start, so much so that we’re rooting for them to pull one over on their innocent clients just to get their names on the sales board. In fact, I’m guessing it may not be until the play or movie is over that viewers become conscious of how much time their heroes spend lying in the name of business. That’s because we know the rules of capitalism, too: Get them to sign on the line which is dotted. Whatever small measure of honor can be extracted from this life—and the men in Glengarry Glen Ross do have codes, and are essentially decent, thieves though they may be—is precious but transcendent, because it’s all that separates them from the executive despots and their sadistic sales contests.

Favorite line/scene/aspect other than the Baldwin speech? I'll always remember this film fondly for being the first to make me aware of Kevin Spacey, being so impressed by how he held his own against some pretty titanic actors.

That only Pacino was even nominated for an Oscar (Supporting) can be attributed to how tough a year it was in the categories -- Hackman (Unforgiven), Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game) and Nicholson (A Few Good Men) in supporting along with, um, David Paymer (Mr. Saturday Night); with Pacino himself winning for lead (Scent of a Woman, sigh) over Denzel Washington (Malcolm X), Steven Rea (The Crying Game), Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven) and Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin).