Fresh and Exciting

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

I found this movie to be in desperate need of narration and editing.I don't think there's a single scene that lasts more than 2 minutes, so you have a bunch of short moments all over the place - salesman in car, salesman in someone's home, salesman in meeting, etc.But there's no real narrative to the story. It's just moments, and a string of moments doesn't make a movie.The makers should have picked one man and followed him, given us some background, etc. Instead there are many faces and it's hard to remember one from the other. There is no start, middle, or end to the story - just a bunch of short scenes and then we're done. So what was the point?They should have introduced these men, told us their challenges, interviewed them and let them speak to the camera, etc. Some men were fired, we're told in passing - why? Poor sales? How about taking one guy who's on the bubble and following his story?Just boring. The "moments of desperation" are kind of meaningless because we don't know the people.I really wanted to like this movie but it's a mess.

Like the salesman in this film, this movie is also a hard sale to the normal audience. It's also hard to find. Unless you happen to catch the film on TCM or a really old library. You might not know of this movie. It's really hard film to watch, its moves really slowed and nothing about it really states out in my opinion. There is no voice over, no music cues, or no title card to tell us what is happening, just a film shot and cut on 16mm about people doing their job. It's feels like a low budget Mad Men episode with bad filming in some scenes. One of the two cameras used can be seen in shot in the film. The hand-held microphone used to record the film's sound is visible in other shots. The film also get flipped horizontally, as evidenced by the parts in the men's clothes and hairs standing in a weird direction. It's weird in a way, and shows how limited they were in filming. Cloud of smoke from the chain-smoking and whiskey drinking that becomes a measure of the characters' empty lives. The Maysles Bros. did a wonderful job with this film as it follows four salesmen (nicknamed the Badger, the Gipper, the Rabbit, and the Bull, based on their particular on-the-job attributes) from Boston to Florida as they struggle to sell lavishly illustrated Bibles to reluctant, blue-collar customers as desperate to keep their money as the salesmen are to take it. The film mostly focuses on the anguished plight of Paul "the Badger" Brennan, an aging Boston-Irish veteran of the salesman circuit, weary of his job and unable to hide his exhaustion from customers and colleagues alike. He always talk in bizarre rants full of mumbles complains. Surprising there isn't a lot of action in the film. By action, I meant, we don't see really mean, or crazy people, the salesman has to dealt with. There is little amounts of scenes with people closing doors on them. Most of the customers, are respectable, and seem normal who gives the salesman the time to pitch what they are selling before saying no. So unlike today's society, where if you walk to somebody's front door, you're more like get a slam onto your face, before you finish a sentence. Anyways, we hear about most of how the sale went in the film's many dreary motel rooms scenes rather than seeing it in person. The film makes it clear, however, that the salesman are also under enormous pressure by their boorish boss. 'The next man that gets off base with me, I"m gonna tag him out'. He is quoted to be saying to them. He's the boss that every man probably doesn't want to have. In my opinion, spreading the good word of the lord should be free and I find it funny that these salesmen is using people's beliefs to make an extra buck. Reminds me a bit of fake shepherds tempting and scamming people to buy their way into heaven. I would also like to hear more about the struggle of being away from home and family for long periods of time, but what he heard are talks about boring lingos. At less, there was a small scene in the middle where the men decide to go swimming to give us something new. Like door to door salesmen over the years, got replace by amazon and Ebay so has Cinema Verite fallen out of vogue, replaced by filmmakers telling stories rather than showing them. This movie isn't for everybody, but if you happen to find it. Give it a watch.

'Salesman" is a stark reminder of the evolution of the modern documentary. As a viewer I did not feel manipulated by the editing or the filmmaker's ego or perspective. The film is a historical recording of an occupation from a by gone era that promised all the perks of the American Dream while leaving many that chose it for their career living lives of quiet desperation, poor and void of any significant contribution to society. One of the thoughts this film left me with was how many occupations in twenty-first century America are sales dependent. Selling oneself, an idea, candidate, lifestyle, fill in the blank for an alternative to "bible." Pounding the proverbial pavement to pay the mortgage with little regard to the negative impact ones profession may have on society or nameless, faceless individuals. In today's world fortunes are made as life coaches, motivational speakers, politics, infomercials, winning American Idol, all variations of selling something to a consumer society that can ill afford the debt. "Salesman" is a timeless film and a brilliant reminder of the origins of the documentary.

Salesman (1968) *** (out of 4) Interesting documentary from Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin about the life of four door-to-door salesmen. The film shows the life on the road as these four people, working for the Mid-American Bible Company, go from one location to the next trying to sell these rather expensive Bibles to people who more often than not don't want them. SALESMAN isn't the best film that the filmmakers have ever done but it does remain an interesting look at a life that I'm sure most people would never want. Of course, the door-to-door salesman is pretty much a thing of the past but it's interesting to see how the business was working and especially one in the Bible selling. It was interesting seeing the four men going from house to house trying to sell a $50 Bible and it's clear that most people weren't interested yet some of them felt it was their duty to support the "message" of the book. I think the best parts of the film is when we see the salesmen inside houses trying to pull their certain tricks in order to get a sale. These are clearly the highlights of the film, although while watching I kept wondering why so many of these people were okay with not only a salesman coming into their home but also a film crew. I also thought the salesmen sitting around their hotel rooms talking really gave great insight into their lives. The weaker moments include the pep rallies given by some of the bigger dogs who are trying to inspire the other salesmen to do a better job.