Glengarry Glen Ross
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin
Director: James Foley
The latest stock market catastrophe again highlighted the volatility of money. It might be the root of all evil, but everyone needs it.
Unlike, say, love though, money is rarely tackled in the movies - partly because executives don't want to depress their economy-escaping audiences and partly because, well, it's hard for an extremely liquid filmmaker to relate. Which makes it of little surprise that cinema's finest money movie is a transplant from the suffering-artist stage: David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning Glengarry Glen Ross.
On a dark, rainy night, four down-on-their-luck real estate salesmen are sitting in their depressing, decades-old office. In walks a successful executive, who announces a sales competition. First prize: a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize: a set of steak knives. Third prize: you're fired. Cue two hours of double-dealings, dishonesty and desperation, all in the name of money.
They say all you need is a great script and everything else will fall into place. But a good cast is just as essential, and the film is practically a masterclass in performance. To save space, I'll just list the all-male dramatis personae and let you decide: Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin, Jonathan Pryce and a never-better Jack Lemmon.
That leaves room to write about Mamet's script. It's the ultimate showcase of 'Mamet speak', the writer's trademark approach to subtle, street-smart conversation filled with endless double-meaning and overlapping dialogue (for other great examples, see two underrated DeNiro/Mamet gems, Ronin and Wag the Dog).