Year – 1992
Glengarry Glenn Ross is set in the high-pressure world of real estate sales. Sounds enthralling, don’t it? Well in the hands of David Mamet, one of America’s greatest playwrights, it is. Mamet is known for dark humor, darker drama and populating his world with fast-talking, foulmouthed tough guys. But still…a real estate office? Really? Yeah, really. You need look no further than the cast to know you you’re in great hands – Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris and Kevin Spacey. (And speaking of “workplace settings”, think of how much fun that set’s break-room must have been.)
Mamet is known for his witty, profound and profane dialog (often times it’s all three of those things at once). And his scripts are notoriously difficult for actors to wrap their mouths around. Every “um”, “ah” and stammer is meticulously crafted. So it takes actors of this caliber to truly to make the screenplay shine. And shine it does.
The movie is probably best known for Baldwin’s legendary scene (Seen Above) in which he explains to the group just exactly how the sales game operates. It inspired this SNL sketch. The film also inspired a Simpson’s character. It’s not a workplace I’d care to share but it’s fascinating to watch. – TOK
Year – 1989
An offbeat Brit-com starring Richard E. Grant and Rachel Ward, this film took the world advertising to task with the story of Denis Dimbleby Bagley (Grant), an ad man who has a nervous breakdown and subsequent manic episode. Eventually, a boil on Bagley’s shoulder begins to take on a life of its own, living up to the play on words in the film’s title. – DG
Year – 1980
Nine to Five is a classic revenge fantasy only the filmmakers added a unique (and timely) twist – it was set in the workplace and the revenge seekers were the put-upon female staffers (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton) of a “sexist egotistical lying hypocritical bigot” (Dabney Coleman).
It was the film debut of Dolly Parton, who was added to the cast because Fonda (a producer) thought she would “bring them the West”. By which she probably meant “South” because, you know, California is “West” and they like movies and stuff. But as we all know, sometimes Jane Fonda and can’t keep “North” and “South” straight. – TOK
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