Salesman

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Salesman

G

Released Apr 17, 1969

1h 30m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

100%

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26 Reviews

89%

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1,000+ Ratings

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Joe Morgenstern

Newsweek

It is a slippery item to define and delimit. Among many other things -- fact, fiction, quasi-fact, quasi-fiction -- Salesman is a reasonably satisfying story about one of the salesmen, Paul Brennan.

Jul 6, 2022

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Peter Keough

Boston Globe

"Salesman" presents an archetype of America, epitomized by Brennan's face - shot in candid close-up, blank with desperation, wizened with sardonic glee, or twisted with terror and rage, it is as close to reality as cinema can get.

Apr 20, 2020

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Alan Scherstuhl

Village Voice

Salesman's milieu of motels and pork-pie hats may have passed, but its broader diagnosis has lost none of its truth.

Jan 24, 2018

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Jacob Brackman

Esquire Magazine

Salesman is an important kind of film experience; it is also, you've gathered by now, a profoundly depressing one.

Aug 12, 2020

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Nathanael Hood

The Retro Set

It's so detached from the outside world that it might as well be from a different planet.

Rated: 9/10

Jun 23, 2020

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Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Viewing the movie is akin to pulling back a rock and watching the wriggling of the bugs underneath.

Rated: 3.5/4

Mar 14, 2020

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dave s

Documentary filmmakers David and Albert Maysles follow four salesmen as they make their rounds in 1969's Salesman. Their product is a glossy and expensive bible and their transparent tactics involve guilt and blind faith, a seemingly perfect combination for the Catholics they prey upon. Due to the objective nature in which the Maysles present the events, the feelings generated by the film are often hard to assess. Do we feel sorry for the lonely snake-oil salesmen or do we dislike them because they prey on the weak? And how do we feel about their customers, many of whom live in abject poverty but lack the spine to say ‘no'? It's a powerful film that often uses silence to emphasize its point. The only downside is an excess of ambient noise that often drowns out the spoken word.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

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Audience Member

This was a great documentary. Very authentic and also very cringe worthy. Salespeople have always rubbed me the wrong way and I had an off putting feeling in the pit of my stomach the entire time. At the same time I felt sympathy for both the salesman just trying to put food in the table as well as the uncomfortable demeanor of each and every prospect.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

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Audience Member

The ideal partner for this fly-on-the-wall documentary would be Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross. The same desperation and exploitation of vulnerable people (customers and salesmen both), the boredom and slog of chasing impossible targets while feigning cheerfulness in shared third rate motels. Sad, bleakly funny, and a wonderful microcosmic snapshot of the emptiness of the American Dream.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

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Audience Member

Absolutely fantastic!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

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Audience Member

Deeply strange, heartbreaking, beautiful. a masterpiece of a kind.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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s r

Something I didn't know much about.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Albert Maysles

Director

David Maysles

Director

Charlotte Zwerin

Director

Jamie Baker

Self

Paul Brennan

Self

Melbourne I. Feltman

Actor

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Synopsis

This documentary from Albert and David Maysles follows the bitter rivalry of four door-to-door salesmen working for the Mid-American Bible Company: Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker and Raymond "The Bull" Martos. Times are tough for this hard-living quartet, who spend their days traveling through small-town America, trying their best to peddle gold-leaf Bibles to an apathetic crowd of lower-middle-class housewives and elderly couples.

Director: Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin
Producer: Albert Maysles, David Maysles
Distributor: Maysles Films
Production Co: Maysles Films
Rating: G
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 17, 1969, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Runtime: 1h 30m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: 35mm

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