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A
fascinating, non-narrated account of four Boston bible hawkers
as they struggle to stay afloat in the cut-throat 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...
Salesman
is
a documentary that follows a group of Bible Salesmen as they
peddle their wares across America.
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'.
At
the centre of this film is Paul 'The Badger' Brennan who is
slowly falling apart as he hits a rough patch. None of these
salesmen earn any money unless they close the sale, and Brennan
is starting to get bitter. Travelling with Brennan are his
colleagues 'The Gipper', 'The Rabbit' and 'The Bull'. Together
they exchange the day's highs and (mostly) lows in lonely
motel rooms, in between calls home.
Although
their customers are mostly middle, working-class Catholics
whom the salesmen recruit at their local church, they use
hard sell techniques to try and get money out of poor families.
They rely on plenty of trick phrases in order talk the potential
customers into believing that they need what they are peddling:
"Could you say if this would help the family? Could you see
where this would be of value in the home? A gain to you?"
They all use different techniques including talking, pushing,
cajoling, telling jokes and stories, throwing out compliments
in a bid to close the deal as quickly as possible.
The
movie was directed by the Maysles brothers, Albert and David,
and edited by Charlotte Zwerin. At times it shows us a side
of salesmen we don't really want to see, as they badger their
customers into signing up for their expensive wares. Although,
in the extras on this DVD, Albert Maysles hints that a lot
more went on when the camera was off - a side of the salesmen
that he didn't want to film. It is hinted that it was well
known that some of the salesmen would cheat on their wives
while on the road.
Personally,
I loved the fact that there is no narration - that the directors
let you make up your own mind what is going on. So many documentaries
tend to shove their philosophies down your throat. For example
Michael Moore's movies start of with a political point of
view that he then goes to great lengths to provide evidence
for. While his films are entertaining, he goes in with a point
of view he is determined to put across to his audience. With
Salesman you are not spoon fed the director's point
of view. The Maysles brothers simply follow the salesmen as
they work and this movie reflects what they see.
Seeing
Brennan slowly start to fall apart is a little disturbing.
While he stops short of losing it with his customers, you
can see that he comes close on a couple of occasions to cracking
up when he can't close the sale. He seems to hate everyone
and takes great pleasure in sneering at people.
To
be honest, with a documentary as old as this, we have no right
expecting any extras. However, Eureka Video has done this
movie proud with some pretty impressive content. Firstly there's
a beautifully produced 36-page booklet that includes extensive
production notes and a look at the equipment used to film
Salesman. On the DVD we get Albert on Salesman
(34 mins featurette. This is a new (2006) interview with Albert
Maysles); and Kennie & Albert Q&A (19 min featurette.
This is footage of a Q&A session with Albert Maysles and
Kennie Turner at a 2005 screening of the movie).
While
both of the featurettes are extremely interesting they could
have been a lot better if Mark Rance was either a competent
interviewer, or a good cameraman. He fumbles his way through
the interview and provides us with some camera work that a
three year old would be ashamed of. Albert comes across as
a very sincere and likeable man and it's easy to see why he
still remains friends with the salesmen from this film who
are still alive.
One
of the most interesting documentaries you will ever see.
Darren
Rea
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