A ground-breaking documentary when it first appeared, and made the Maysles brothers and their small crew as famous as documentarians could get in the days before VCRs and the Discovery Channel (and they'd get even more recognition for their follow-up to Salesman, Gimme Shelter).
This is an almost indescribable excursion into the daily struggles of a group of Bible salesmen, going door to door from New Jersey working class neighborhoods to Floridian trailer parks. It is "Glengarry Glen Ross" in reality, with cold-hearted threats from the guys at the top, ragged older guys complaining they've 'got the same old leads,' and younger guys hustling up the chain. The film eventually centers on an older, down and out salesman, probably the obscure prototype for Mamet's Jack Lemmon character in Glen Ross, who used to be the pacesetter, but hasn't sold anything substantial in months. The genius of this idea is that they're Bible salesmen, and we see the way they act away from the 'good Christian folks' they're trying to persuade. Filmed in handheld black and white, following the guys everywhere (dressed in their black suits and black ties they resemble the Reservoir Dogs ambling down the street with sample cases instead of guns), the film is full of chintzy sixties Americana: pink flamingos, cinderblock hotel rooms, and they all wear hats and chain smoke.
In my opinion, this is one of the ten best films made in the sixties. Not every videostore is going to have it, but it's definitely worth a few phone calls. Seek it out!
This is an almost indescribable excursion into the daily struggles of a group of Bible salesmen, going door to door from New Jersey working class neighborhoods to Floridian trailer parks. It is "Glengarry Glen Ross" in reality, with cold-hearted threats from the guys at the top, ragged older guys complaining they've 'got the same old leads,' and younger guys hustling up the chain. The film eventually centers on an older, down and out salesman, probably the obscure prototype for Mamet's Jack Lemmon character in Glen Ross, who used to be the pacesetter, but hasn't sold anything substantial in months. The genius of this idea is that they're Bible salesmen, and we see the way they act away from the 'good Christian folks' they're trying to persuade. Filmed in handheld black and white, following the guys everywhere (dressed in their black suits and black ties they resemble the Reservoir Dogs ambling down the street with sample cases instead of guns), the film is full of chintzy sixties Americana: pink flamingos, cinderblock hotel rooms, and they all wear hats and chain smoke.
In my opinion, this is one of the ten best films made in the sixties. Not every videostore is going to have it, but it's definitely worth a few phone calls. Seek it out!