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Glengarry Glen Ross

by David Mamet

3.94 · rating details · 2,383 ratings · 105 reviews

Winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize, David Mamet's scalding comedy is about small-time, cutthroat real esate salesmen trying to grind out a living by pushing plots of land on reluctant buyers in a never-ending scramble for their fair share of the American dream.

Here is Mamet at his very best, writing with brutal power about the tough life of tough characters who...more

Paperback, 112 pages

Published January 11th 1994 by Grove/Atlantic, Inc. (first published 1982)

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Jan 03, 2012

Emily rated it

Shelves: for-college, theater, read-in-2011

The the play I've enjoyed the least from my American Theater course... Perhaps because I know almost nothing of the state-business subject and got a little lost with the leads, and sits, and contracts, and boards... Also, the characters seemed little developed to me, like robots who also have that facet: that of a salesman. I guess I'm more for family plays, such as Death of a Salesman (which combined the two aspects of public and private life perfectly well), Buried Child or Long Day's Journey ...more

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May 10, 2007

Jamie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: plays

Honestly, I thought I'd hate this play. Then I saw it with Liev Schreiber and Alan Alda and was engrossed. This is an incredibly hard play to pull off on stage (there's something about Mamet's stylized dialogue that requires truly talented actors). Probably one of the ten best productions I've ever seen. I mention the staged version because you really get a clear sense of the "feel" of this play from reading it. I can't say it's for everyone; the language is strong and it's decidedly, ...more

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Jan 03, 2012

Ben Loory rated it

this used to be one of my favorite movies; it's not anymore, but it was for a long time. now when i watch it, the movie seems (like the play) to just be kind of obvious... well, here are some shitty people, working in a shitty system, being shitty to one another, and as a result, shitty things happen. okay. get to the end and, well, there you go. BUT the dialogue of course is amazing.

strangest thing about reading it as a play is that my favorite part of the movie (the big speech by ale...more

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Jun 11, 2011

Jen Quintanilla rated it

This play was pretty funny but also kind of intense. It takes place in a chinese restaurant and a real estate agency. Basically it deals with the cutthroat nature of buisness and the dark side of competition. The agency is based on numbers and the best salesmen win prizes. Those who fail to perform lose the chance to work on the most promising deals and then have less of a chance of performing well and moving up the sales board. Its essentially a win all or nothing kind of job. The pressure and ...more

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May 05, 2011

Nickolette added it

Shelves: contemporary, plays

ROMA

You think you're queer...?
I'm going to tell you something:
we're all queer. You think that
you're a thief? So what? You get
befuddled by a middle-class
morality...? Get shut of it. Shut
it out. You cheated on your
wife...? You did it, live with it.
(pause)
You fuck little ...more

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Jul 01, 2009

Carolyn rated it

Excerpt from a reflection:

"It is very plain in reading the play that Mamet has given almost no stage direction; he limits the creation of dramatic tension to the field of dialogue, forcing the audience to take any meaning from only the words that are spoken and the messages that may or may not be hidden within them. Mamet packs a surprising amount into his dialogue, directing our listening with the emphasis he chooses to put on specific words, and directing our minds by having ea...moreExcerpt from a reflection:

"It is very plain in reading the play that Mamet has given almost no stage direction; he limits the creation of dramatic tension to the field of dialogue, forcing the audience to take any meaning from only the words that are spoken and the messages that may or may not be hidden within them. Mamet packs a surprising amount into his dialogue, directing our listening with the emphasis he chooses to put on specific words, and directing our minds by having each character be seemingly unable to complete sentences; thus it is in those silences that we are expected to find the meaning of these men’s words and lives. It becomes exceedingly clear, however, that the moment any character opens his mouth, his words have the potential to be pitching something; as the Practical Sales Maxim (with which Mamet introduces Glengarry Glen Ross) states, “Always be closing.” This has the immediate effect of raising questions of authenticity—is there any one character who we should believe, any one “reality” that exists?

One of the major themes in the play is that of manhood. It is initially invoked through the fact that the ensemble of characters itself contains no women (or queer men), and then increasingly through the dialogue. Moss says, “You don’t ax your sales force…when they build your business, then you can’t fucking turn around, enslave them, treat them like children, fuck them up the ass, leave them to fend for themselves” (36). There is a very real sense that these salesmen (excluding Williamson, who isn’t really a salesman) consider themselves men (with a capital m, if you will) because they have the ability to engage in double-talk, to close sales, to finesse or harass people into giving them exorbitant amounts of money simply by opening their mouths. They are “men” because they are steering their own lives, determining themselves, taking control in some sense of the word. Levene says of Williamson things like, “you don’t have the balls,” and “you’re a secretary,” positioning him in a non-masculine sphere, implying that he has no power because he does not have the ability to sell through talking (76, 77).
Through their knowledge of what “manhood” rests upon, the characters in Glengarry Glen Ross are able to exploit other men’s fantasies of adventure, of power, of spending money carelessly. Roma’s pitch to Lingk certainly takes this form: “I do those things which seem correct to me today…And every day I do that, when the day arrives that I need a reserve, (a) odds are that I have it, and (b) the true reserve that I have is the strength that I have of acting each day without fear” (49). When Roma must subsequently battle with Lingk’s absent wife for the sale, he is really battling for Lingk to choose manhood over emasculation.
The irony of these men’s constructions of themselves as “real men” is that they have as little control over their own lives as those they are exploiting. They essentially play a form of Russian roulette every day in the hopes that they will make enough on commission to put food on the table, and are subject to the whims of those above them. In his construction of the real estate office as a microcosm of late capitalist culture, Mamet positions these men as merely acting out the roles which they have been appointed by those who are really in control of the money: they must both act to succeed, but by succeeding, their coworkers must inevitably fail. This is not a world where everybody wins—they are actively competing with each other to virtually continue living.
So we see that it is this type of capitalist culture which encourages talking as a way to dupe, a way to continue selling so that you yourself can hope not to be sold. It is this culture where speech is the mode of action, where speech is the mode of being, the way these men are able to exist, but what they are saying is not necessarily what they are saying. In this play, Mamet seems to be making a caustic attack on both contemporary capitalist culture and the postmodern age/sensibility that it exists hand in hand with, causing humanity to engage in a meaningless flow of words, attempting to exist through them and finding measured success (evidenced by Roma’s character; he is the most adept of the characters at selling through speech and the most successful, but is almost without any morals). By limiting his play to the details of dialogue, of speech, Mamet has created the potential for a comment on the way that it has figured into capitalism’s detrimental effects on society and the people who inhabit it (as exemplified by these real estate salesmen)."(less)

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Aug 25, 2011

Jigar Brahmbhatt rated it

I always enjoy the typical Mamet-speak, be it in his films or in his plays. The sardonic, street-smart dialogues his characters speak are so effective on ears that they seem to deny the fact that a film should need a plot. The dialogues, like a structured symphony, carry the reader/viewer from one situation to another, with the plot slowly revealing itself, with the true nature of the characters coming out through their actions as they con one another, and we don't realize till the very end that...more

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Sep 13, 2010

Trisha rated it

Glengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet that has won accolades across the board, been featured in the National Theatre of London, been on Broadway, and made into a movie (starring Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey - I mean holy heavens Batman that is some serious casting).

The action takes place over two days in two settings: a Chinese restaurant and a real estate office. The characters are real estate agents from Chicago trying to sell sw...moreGlengarry Glen Ross is a play by David Mamet that has won accolades across the board, been featured in the National Theatre of London, been on Broadway, and made into a movie (starring Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey - I mean holy heavens Batman that is some serious casting).

The action takes place over two days in two settings: a Chinese restaurant and a real estate office. The characters are real estate agents from Chicago trying to sell swampland in Florida to unwilling buyers, and they will lie, cheat, bribe, and in general be insufferable to do so. Their immorality doesn't stop with schmoozing average joes; they are also ridiculous to each other and willing to do just about anything, including steal, to make a buck. In other words, they are terrible people.

I am entirely unsure how I feel about this play. I picked it up from the library on a whim. I was just walking around finding where things were (my first time in this particular library) and the title jumped out at me, being as it was familiar. I brought it home and read it during a blackout. I just love it when we lose electricity; that is some serious guilt free reading time in my opinion.

I think my main problem with the play was the language. No one finished their freaking sentences. Like ever. I can see swindly egocentric men getting a bit phrase-ish when they get excited, but trying to read a play where every single character has difficulty forming a complete thought is taxing. I wonder if the film version is better; there's no way they made the movie true to the play as far as dialogue and action. Otherwise the movie would be extremely short and dull; after all, the entire play is conversations. With that cast of actors, it shouldn't be too difficult a movie to watch.

As for what I did like about the play, first and foremost, it was interesting to watch listen to read about such horrible people. They were such over the top stereotypes of swindlers and listening to them complain and scheme was a bit entertaining. Overall, I can't give a solid recommendation. I'm glad I read it, but I definitely won't be reading it again.(less)

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Nov 25, 2008

Chad Parenteau rated it

Reread this recently. The only reason I don't give this five stars is because this is the one exception I can think of where the movie (also written by Mamet) is better than the book, though the immorality of just about everyone involved is much more stark in the original version. A must for anyone who has ever tried to sell anything, dispelling myths and revealing the truths behind the salesman mentality no one brings up: the false friendships among co-workers, the betrayals, the racism, the ...more

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Oct 20, 2011

Justin Levine rated it

Shelves: all-plays, the-rare-but-occasional-bullshit

Let me start by being perfectly clear: I'm not a fan of David Mamet. Read Oleanna: did not care for it. Read his view on actors/acting/women: completely disagree with him. But there is no denying that he is iconic in post-Cold War American Theatre. And up until now, I had not had any incentive to pick up this 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner coveted by almost every male colleague I have ever worked with in theatre. So I gave him one last shot. And this was the final nail in the Mamet coffin for me. Th...more

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Oct 04, 2011

Anita rated it

Shelves: fiction

I saw this movie a long time ago. I didn't remember the plot, just a lot of yelling. I've never seen the play.
During the first act, I wondered why I bothered reading this. There is so much grandstanding. I've always known a career in sales was never for me, and this dramatic representation only reinforced that feeling. Of course, not all sales environments have men cursing and spouting racial slurs.
It is the second act that really brings the story home. The desperation inherent in the ...more

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Jul 26, 2010

John Arfwedson rated it

Of all works, in any medium, this is the best at showing American capitalism for what it really is: Darwinian struggle as blunt-force trauma. The last man standing is The Only Worthy Man. And by the way it IS only men Mamet writes of; women are peripheral at best, if occasionally decorative. I've seen and/or read the play many times but the best version is probably the film wherein Mamet adds a scene for Alec Baldwin that deserves a Lifetime Achievement Award all by itself. In the characters pla...more

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May 18, 2008

Suzanne rated it

Shelves: play-film

This is one time the movie is as good as the play. Jack Lemmon was extraordinary.

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Mar 21, 2011

Laura rated it

Shelves: school

"What I'm saying, what is your life? (Pause.) It's looking forward or it's looking back. And that's our life. That's it. Where is the moment? (Pause.) And what is it that we're afraid of? Loss. What else? (Pause.) The bank closes. We get sick, my wife died on a plane, the stock market collapsed ... the house burnt down ... what of these happen ...? None of 'em. We worry anyway. What does this mean? I'm not secure. How can I be secure? (Pause.) Through amassing wealth beyond measure? No. And...more

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Feb 20, 2010

Robert rated it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Just got to see the outstanding Seattle Rep production of this play last night. I'd read the play many times, seen a few scenes in an old American Masters PBS documentary about Mamet from the 80's, and of course saw the film (which despite some nice acting moments does not do the play justice).

If you have only seen the film, you haven't really experienced the play at its best. The film version adds a quite funny and intense, but ultimately worthless, monologue by Alec Baldwin at the ...moreJust got to see the outstanding Seattle Rep production of this play last night. I'd read the play many times, seen a few scenes in an old American Masters PBS documentary about Mamet from the 80's, and of course saw the film (which despite some nice acting moments does not do the play justice).

If you have only seen the film, you haven't really experienced the play at its best. The film version adds a quite funny and intense, but ultimately worthless, monologue by Alec Baldwin at the beginning of the movie that telegraphs all the characters attitudes about their jobs - something that in the play you learn slowly over the course of the first act. Which makes those first act scenes in the film way less interesting.

Also the film adds two other telegraphing moments that ruin the inherenet dramatic tension of the play. The Shelly Levine character in the play has two lines in differnet moments in the play that allude to his daughter - maybe she is sick, maybe he needs the money for her - we dont know and he doesnt dwell on it (in the play). In the film, jack Lemmon who plays Shelly, is given extra scenes where he telephones home and checks on his sick family member, displaying a kind of weakness and even patheticness (in the world of these men)that Mamet doesnt let us see in the play until almost the end of the play. For the piece to work, we as an audience need to believe in Shelly Levine. We need to believe that he actually is a good salesman who still has it. The film tells us right away that this guy is a loser and the rest of the piece is dull because of it.

The other telegraphing moment of the film comes early on when Ricky Roma, played by the ever unsubtle Al Pacino, is talking to a stranger in the Chinese restaurant. In the play, we dont know who these guys are right away. Its just one guy giving his view of the world to another guy. When he, at the very end of the scene, turns out to be a real estate saleman and we realize that he has been setting this guy up for a sale the whole time, it should be just as much a surprise to the audience as to anyone else. Yet, in the film, the Pacino character, who we already know works with these other guys, allows himself to almost wink at the camera as he is "selling" this guy. He even goes over to the bar to get drinks, where his fellow sales men are sitting, and gives them a knowing look. For the audience, the whole scene loses all its dramtic tension and becomes very one note.

I know this is a book site and not a film and theater site, but the difference between the two productions I am pointing out is specifically about being able to understand and adhere (or not) to the stength of the written word of this play as is on the page.

If you live in Seattle, I would urge you to go check out the Rep production.(less)

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May 11, 2007

Tony rated it

Recommends it for: Theater Lovers

Glengarry Glen Ross is not a play for everyone. Well, if you like a bunch of desperate, pathetic, and amoral men hurling verbal abuse at one another, then this play is definitely for you. If that sort of subject matter is something you find palatable, then you might want to give it a try. To me, David Mamet is quite a mixed bag. He's a master of dialog, but I often find his subject matter off-putting. So for me, it's an interesting read from an academic perspective.

As a side note, I ...more

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Sep 19, 2011

Ben rated it

Shelves: bookmooch, plays

Definitely a play that has Stoppards typically cadence-laden and colorful language, but this one didn't really grab me. It is definitely an interesting study of the sales industry, white collar crime, and the struggle between a businessman pounding floor and his administrative overseer. Of course, all of Stoppard's plays are intelligent and well-written. This one was just a bit slow. Maybe it plays a lot better on stage (I mean, what doesn't, other than 'The Crucible'?), but as a straight-up rea...more

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Oct 10, 2009

Mark Bratkowski rated it

When I first read the play, it was very hard to understand what was happening. All I could comprehend was the gratuitous cursing and that it had something to do with real estate. After my class talked about it and I saw part of a movie version, I could better appreciate how hard it is to be a salesman. If you've ever read death of a salesman, this is a good play to compare it against. I remember re-reading it, because I think I ended up writing a paper on it.

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Apr 15, 2009

Jil rated it

Recommends it for: lovers of choppy, desperate, real dialogue

Recommended to Jil by: only like every magazine reference to Mamet ever

Shelves: play

After seeing Mamet hailed over and over again in the pages of Esquire and GQ (although now that I think about it, maybe it was merely referenced rather than hailed), this one's been on my list for a while. Plus, Alec Baldwin was in the movie - how could this NOT be good?

As my star-rating suggests, I was severely underwhelmed. While I agree that Mamet's got a knack for capturing the dialogue of desperate businessmen, the lack of plot and real SUBSTANCE here definitely got to me. Frank...more

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Jul 28, 2011

Phil rated it

Shelves: drama

I can only give this play a 4/5 because I don't think reading it is anywhere near as affective as seeing it would be. I got the movie version of the play, so I'm hoping that will be enlightening, but when it's merely words on the page I don't feel the play's power, though the words convey that it is there. I can sense the frustration, the anger, the decomposition Mamet is trying to convey, but the words have not yet made them real for me.

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May 18, 2011

Chris Giles rated it

"You stupid fucking cunt. You, Williamson...I'm talking to you, shithead....You just cost me six thousand dollars. Six thousand dollars. And one Cadillac. That's right. What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it, asshole. You fucking shit. Where did you learn your trade. You stupid fucking cunt. You idiot. Whoever told you that you could work with men?"

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May 09, 2011

Branden rated it

s'aright. plotting is somewhat remarkable, but i found the major reveal at the end sorta cheap. obviously the hype around this play is about mamet's style of dialogue more than anything, which might be a little exhausting and gassy, depending on your taste. the actual themes feel a little overdetermined and maybe a little dated? but who the fuck am i? i'm no one.

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Jul 29, 2011

J rated it

This was really difficult to read just in print with no background, though once I came to understand what was going on and the style in which it was read, I saw the genius of it. I recommend not reading this particular version of the book; try one with annotations or at least an introduction of some kind. Good companion to Death of a Salesman.

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Mar 21, 2010

Minodora Tibrea rated it

Not impressed, certainly not Mamet's best. Boring, niche-driven dialogue, never really attempts to reach for something bigger, just exploits the already accepted. If I wanted to spend an afternoon with caffeinated salesmen, I could've just time-traveled and gone to my local car dealership in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn for a cap with Joey and da boyz.

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Mar 16, 2011

Bettie rated it

Shelves: published-1982, play-dramatisation, pulitzer, spring-2011

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 06, 2010

Patricia rated it

Shelves: reading-now

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 08, 2009

Aleks rated it

Shelves: play

It was amazing when I saw it on Broadway, but reading it didn't affect me as much. I mean, obviously, a play is meant to be seen performed and not read but even so, most plays I'm not so indifferent toward when I read them. Maybe I wasn't in the mood, I don't know.

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Jan 14, 2011

Elvello Franz rated it

I obviously do not identify with this pack of miserable and dollar-hungry wolves, but it is not a problem if at the same time I´m meeting such a good dissection of their existence and the maladies of our beloved capitalism.

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Mar 12, 2011

Elizabeth rated it

Shelves: drama

Unreadable, and I mean that as a compliment. This is absolutely a playscript; it comes alive on the stage. On the page it is unreadable.

Read it *after* you see a production.

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Jul 31, 2011

David rated it

It's funny to think that as great as the speech by Alec Baldwin is in the movie, it is totally superfluous to the actual play, which doesn't even have that character in it.

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About David Mamet

David Alan Mamet is an American author, essayist, playwright, screenwriter and film director. His works are known for their clever, terse, sometimes vulgar dialogue and arcane stylized phrasing, as well as for his exploration of masculinity.

As a playwright, he received Tony nominations for Glengarry Glen Ross (1984) and Speed-the-Plow (1988). As a screenwriter, he received Oscar nomina...more

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“As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired.” — 4 people liked it

“Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only.” — 2 people liked it

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