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Salesman

Salesman

1969
Documentary
1h 31m
Four relentless door-to-door salesmen deal with constant rejection, homesickness and inevitable burnout as they go across the country selling very expensive bibles to low-income Catholic families. (imdb)
Your probable score
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Salesman

1969
Documentary
1h 31m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 64.74% from 378 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(378)
Compact view
Compact view
Rated 16 Mar 2015
80
86th
A superb fly on the wall-style documentary about very interesting people.
Rated 21 Oct 2007
90
95th
The more I see it, the better it gets. I used to think there really wasn't much point to it at all; now it just seems like a little novel up there on screen. And I love that guy playing Beatles muzak at the end into the Florida night--eerie weird effect.
Rated 14 Mar 2008
75
36th
I wanted to like this so much more than I actually did. It was a can't miss premise for me, but I found myself not caring about these people, or feeling much of anything actually, through most of it. There IS one great scene though, as the one salesman tries the hard sell on a Floridian couple as Beetles muzak drones away in the background. You really feel for the guy. It was the only scene that I had an emotional response to.
Rated 16 May 2008
83
72nd
A very interesting look at a group of bible salesmen. They're incredibly frustrating to watch at times as they annoy and pester their way to a sale, but they also have their share of failure and the film does it's best to humanize them to some degree. It's hard for me to get over my utter disgust at them on so many levels, but that doesn't make the film any less intriguing.
Rated 11 Nov 2010
80
69th
This is a difficult movie to score. On one hand, it captures the career of traveling salesman and the 1960s era very well. On the other, most featured personalities do not stand out and there is a lot of down time. That said, a growing sense of desperation as well as philosophical questions re: right and wrong that the viewer must ponder both make Salesman worthwhile, if dull, viewing for those uninterested in its obvious historic value.
Rated 29 Jun 2013
85
87th
What you would assume to be a straight forward documentary is actually a fascinating and memorable (and often depressing) look at a time and profession now largely forgotten. The frustrations, moral ambiguity and futility of it all are, however, just as relevant today.
Rated 14 Aug 2007
78
61st
An interesting insight into the \"bible business\", of suburban homes of the late sixties, and of burnout in a job that is only for those with the thickest skin (and one could say, the thinnest of moral fibre?). Well worth a look.
Rated 25 Feb 2008
82
73rd
Very compelling doc about four door-to-door Bible salesmen. I have to wonder if this was an inspiration for David Mamet while writing Glengarry Glen Ross, the similarities (especially in the lingo) are hard to ignore. What's most remarkable is how invisible the Maysles are, one never feels that the camera is influencing the action (although I'm sure it did, at least a little bit).
Rated 01 Mar 2008
76
61st
# 471
Rated 07 Mar 2008
40
23rd
Usually I like documentaries, but this is quite dull
Rated 14 Mar 2008
66
49th
Interesting, but I had high hopes for this one and it didn't quite meet my expectations. I think it scratched the surface where it could have dug a little deeper, but it was still worth seeing.
Rated 19 Dec 2008
71
42nd
579
Rated 10 Apr 2009
50
67th
Fascinating cinema-verite documentary, especially in the contrast between the sales convention, with its sanctimonious hyperbole, and the actual experiences on the road.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
70
40th
595
Rated 29 Mar 2010
85
0th
one of the Maysles bros' best films. The 'bull' seems to be collected and cool, while the 'rabbit' seems to be crawling out of his skin.
Rated 03 Oct 2010
91
89th
It looks like a Cassavetes movie sometimes.
Rated 30 Nov 2011
71
42nd
#578
Rated 16 Feb 2012
70
75th
The film's weakness is that the people on screen, especially the salesmen, have very boring personalities (they vary somewhat between the four of them, but they're all stale in the same ways). Sometimes, it seems to drone as a result. But when I could stay focused, taking all the different anthropological revelations this has about sales, religion and Middle American society, I did find it a worthwhile and fairly fascinating documentary.
Rated 10 Aug 2012
80
37th
Took me two days to watch, which is rare. The first day I struggled with it, the second day I loved it. There are some really great scenes in this movie, the sales are fascinatingly awkward and intense like the great scene with the Polish lady. I also loved the scene with the Beatles muzak.
Rated 06 Mar 2015
85
92nd
William Greaves'in hayata veda ettiği haberini almadan birkaç saat evvel "Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One"ı ikinci kez izliyordum. Bugün de Albert Maysles'in ölüm haberini görmeden önce Salesman...
Rated 26 Jul 2015
61
31st
'Salesman' offers insight into the real world horrors of selling directly to consumers. Suddenly married to whatever product they pin a career to, these guys are fast talkers, arm wrestling $1 a month on 40 month plans out of Catholic's wallets. The fact that a bible is the product of choice adds to the salesman's verbal arsenal & lets us watch the Catholic machine rattle through its targeted parishioners, who are happy to open the door for this cause & are left re-budgeting for groceries.
Rated 10 Apr 2017
80
85th
In Salesman the Maysles Brothers initially follow around four door-to-door bible salesmen but the focus of this documentary quickly settles upon Paul "The Badger" Brennan and his efforts to keep up with his colleagues. Salesman has clearly influenced Glengarry Glen Ross, with Jack Lemmon's character Shelley Levene bearing a striking resemblance to "The Badger". Well worth watching for documentary film fans or fans of Glengarry Glen Ross.
Rated 12 Nov 2017
50
25th
I thought it might be quite interesting, but I didn't like it much. I found it alternately boring and mildly infuriating. It just made me dislike salesmen and religious people even more. It had a weird kind of poetry to it, and I imagine it was quite extraordinary when it came out, but I didn't really respond to it.
Rated 10 Dec 2018
6
40th
Bible business? My lord what is wrong with you people? However interesting, 90 minutes is too much of it.
Rated 13 Apr 2020
58
11th
It has some memorable scenes and insights, but due to the fly-on-the-wall filmmaking style and the unfamiliar setting it's hard to feel engaged by it from a modern point of view.
Rated 22 Sep 2020
85
81st
Hilarious and excruciating in about equal measure. Casablanca! Humphrey Bogie!
Rated 25 Oct 2020
86
91st
Classic documentary about traveling bible salesmen, and an engrossing look at a particular little corner of a vanished way of life, compelling by its very mundane quality. It seems the profession of traveling salesman is every bit as depressing as I had always feared.
Rated 25 Dec 2020
75
84th
Christ and capitalism. American style. A place where nothing escapes/resists commodification and where the 'gift' itself undergoes a complete transformation, becoming a symbol of salvation bereft of meaningful significance. This is the broader context of Salesman, inextricably linked to the development of consumerist society, but it's fascinating to watch the tricks and strategies these men employ on their 'marks', and it's quite an effective portrayal of their hollow world.
Rated 17 Mar 2021
60
62nd
Hell.
Rated 21 Jul 2021
75
59th
Feels like a happier Titicut Follies from a visual standpoint, which isn't saying much because this is still depressing
Rated 24 Dec 2022
70
74th
I really like these guys - Badger, Rabbit, Gipper, Bull - despite (and certainly not because of) their manipulation of the congregation to purchase Catholic commodities. So, I could say that I like them for who they are and not what they do (in a professional capacity). Paul Brennan as a 'real life' version of Willy Loman ought to be evident to anyone watching the film, but for me he is also a 1960s version of Conan O'Brien but trapped in the role of a Bible salesman.
Rated 29 Dec 2022
75
56th
There is a scene in Glengarry Glen Ross that has always stuck with me. Jack Lemmon's character is trying to make a sale on the phone. You can tell he clearly knows he's not going to sell it, but he goes through the motions anyway. It's a profound scene. This is that scene in documentary form. It's a wonder that they sell as many as they do, though, considering they're selling $50 Bibles (in the 1960s!)
Rated 17 Mar 2023
80
78th
I'm somewhat anti-consumerist, so just the thought of having salesmen in my house for 90 minutes was chilling. Sales hasn't really improved in the last seventy years: it's still more important for the salesperson to make a sale than to provide something the customer needs. It's sad, though, to see one losing the faith (as it were), and you're probably not going to do your job well if you treat your customers with partially hidden disdain. A fascinating watch, if a little slow.

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