Movie · 1992 · Crime, Drama, Mystery · 1h 40m · R · English
Curator score: 8.2/10 (263.3K ratings)
A story for everyone who works for a living.
Overview
Times are tough at Premiere Properties. Shelley "the machine" Levene and Dave Moss are veteran salesmen, but only Ricky Roma is on a hot streak. The new Glengarry sales leads could turn everything around, but the front office is holding them back until these "losers" prove themselves. Then someone decides to take matters into his own hands, stealing the Glengarry leads and leaving everyone wondering who did it.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.2/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.93/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 95%
Metacritic: 84
TMDB: 7.3/10
Director
James Foley
Production
Zupnik Cinema Group II, GGR, Zupnik-Curtis Enterprises
Cast
Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Jonathan Pryce, Bruce Altman, Jude Ciccolella, Paul Butler, Lori Tan Chinn, Neal Jones, Barry Rohrssen, Leigh French, George Cheung, Murphy Dunne, Dana Lee, Julie Payne, Gregory Snegoff, Skipp Lynch
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, fuboTV, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A vicious, talk-heavy pressure cooker about sales, desperation, and masculinity, powered by towering performances and Mamet’s razor-wire dialogue. It’s less a mystery than a moral autopsy, and the language is the spectacle.
Best for
Viewers who love actor-driven chamber dramas
Fans of caustic workplace stories and power games
People who enjoy fast, profane dialogue and theatrical intensity
Anyone interested in cynical 90s adult dramas
Skip if
You want a plot-heavy crime thriller with lots of action
You dislike abrasive dialogue and constant shouting
You prefer warm, likable characters or clear moral heroes
You’re not in the mood for a bleak, claustrophobic atmosphere
Overview
Glengarry Glen Ross is a brutal little masterpiece of professional panic. Set almost entirely in offices, restaurants, and sales floors, it turns a real-estate hustle into a survival contest where charm, lies, and humiliation are the only currency that matters. The movie’s tension comes less from the mystery of who stole the leads than from watching how quickly every man in the room reveals his weakness.
Worth noting
The performances are the engine. Jack Lemmon gives the film its aching desperation, Al Pacino its predatory swagger, and Alec Baldwin its unforgettable shock-and-awe opening blast. James Foley keeps the film tight and unsentimental, letting Mamet’s dialogue do the damage. It’s funny in the way a knife fight can be funny: you laugh because the cruelty is so precise.
Bottom line
What lingers is how accurately it captures the poison of sales culture, where self-worth is measured in closing rates and everyone is one bad month away from collapse. It’s an ugly film, but that ugliness is the point, and it’s staged with such confidence that it becomes exhilarating to watch.
Top Letterboxd reviews
maria (4★) · 3456 likes
al pacino shouting at kevin spacey and calling him a "stupid, fucking cunt" can be so therapeutic and uplifting sometimes
Jamie Lauren Keiles (4.5★) · 2648 likes
all female reboot set in modern day called glengarry girl boss
grace spelman (4.5★) · 2356 likes
Alec Baldwin: first prize is a cadillac eldorado
Me: 😃
Alec Baldwin: second prize is a set of steak knives
Me: 🙂
Alec Baldwin: third prize is you’re fired
Me: 😦
Timcop (4.5★) · 1482 likes
A science fiction movie about an alternate dimension where the phrase "FUCK YOU!" has replaced the word "and".
Tentin Quarantino ☭ (4★) · 1366 likes
Will you go to lunch? Go to lunch! WILL you GO to LUNCH?!
1976 · Drama · 2h 2m · R · Curator 9.3/10 (385.4K ratings)
A ferocious satire of professional desperation and institutional cruelty, with explosive dialogue and a similarly savage view of people chasing relevance.