Documentary Movie Reviews
(For optimum viewing, adjust the zoom level of your browser to 125%.)
Salesman (1969)
Rate:
2
Viewed:
9/24
9/24:
I'm starting to hate the Maysles brothers' documentary films, having undergone the awfulness of
Grey Gardens.
This time, it's Salesman which feels like an Errol Morris picture: stupid, pointless, repetitive, structureless,
and vacuous. A bunch of door-to-door bible salesmen talk all day without making an iota of sense and think they're funny
when in fact aren't.
They are, in fact, con men selling a bullshit book for $49.95 which translates to $429.14 today. No wonder why most
potential low-income customers were very hesitant about the deal in spite of their dim-wittedness. Even they can get it
for free in hotel rooms. Given how much the salesmen smoke while being interviewed, I'm surprised to discover many of them
went on to live a long life.
All in all, Salesman is boring nonsense although it has a "Death of a Salesman meets
Glengarry Glen Ross" slant.