Salesman DVD

From the Maysles brothers (The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter (1969) Grey Gardens (1975)) comes this landmark American documentary Salesman - a fascinating non-narrated account of four Boston bible hawkers as they struggle to stay afloat in the cutthroat world of door-to-door sales. Capturing the remarkable detail of a bygone era the film documents their carefully delivered spiel to bored housewives widows immigrants and distracted blue-collar workers. The salesmen wheedle connive and cajole their way toward the Holy Grail but as the pressure of the job bears... down one of the salesmen begins to crack exposing the dark and lonely underside of the American Dream. The salesmen each nicknamed according to their different selling style follow up leads of family names from the church. Motivated by the head of the company (who argues that the more sales they generate the stronger the faith) the salesmen sell their gold-embossed expensive Bibles to low-wage families who cannot afford them applying pressure simply by pointing out that 'they come recommended by the church'. Focusing on Paul 'The Badger' Brennan traveling with his colleagues 'The Gipper' 'The Rabbit' and 'The Bull' from their home territory of wintry Boston to the sunshine of Opa-Locka district Florida together they exchange the days highs and (mostly) lows in lonely motel rooms in between calls home. In today's society saturated with reality TV and lame documentaries Salesman stands tall as one of the first non-fiction films to show the lives of ordinary people in-depth without judgement or narration. The Library of Congress honoured Salesman in 1992 as one of the 25 best American films ever made [show more]

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