GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS INC.

By Fabio and Laura Cannizzaro 

Adaptation:

For the purpose of this class project we decided to do a more contemporary movie adaption of David Mamet's play “Glengarry Glen Ross”.

The play is about a group of real estate salesmen who are desperately trying to make a living in a world where only success matters and failure is unacceptable. In our version Levene and the others are not real estate salesmen but rather insurance salesmen. To stick with the original title, the movie is titled “Glengarry Glen Ross Inc.” (“Glengarry Glen Ross AG” for the German version). In this case Glengarry Glen Ross Inc. is the name of the insurance company that the salesmen are working for. Another name that we would change is Shelly Levene. In our version he is called Leo (Leonhardt) Levene.

The expanded screenplay for our movie adaption features a scene with Mitch and Murray. The key element in this scene is the fact that you never fully see either of the two. The scene takes place in the downtown office which is located on the top floor of a skyscraper. The entire northern front of the office is made of glass through which you have a view over the entire city. On the inside the office is lavishly furnished. In front of the windows there is a marble desk, on the opposite wall a huge plasma screen is set up, the remaining walls are lined with shelves holding several trophies and awards. Those range from sales competitions to product tests.

The scene opens with Mitch standing in front of the windows with his arms crossed behind his back, wearing an expensive suit.

Mitch: “Have you seen the last quarter earnings yet?”
Murray: “Fuck last quarter! The Williamson department is dragging us down again. Those idiots couldn't even sell an insurance if their lives depended on it.”
Mitch: “Maybe not their lives but how 'bout their jobs? For next sales competition, let's fire the fucking losers.”

Transition to Murray sitting at the desk. His arms are propped on the desk and his chin is resting on his hands. The shot only shows him up to the chin. On his left arm an expensive Rolex watch can be seen.

Murray (laughs): “Good idea man. Let's have them go on each others throats by giving the winner a little something...like...”
Mitch: “Like a Mercedes.”
Murray: “You're a fucking genius Mitch. Cheap enough for us but for those assholes it'll be like winning the lottery.”

Our version features a different ending. It starts when Williamson comes out of the side office after telling the detective that Levene was the one who stole the leads. Outside a storm is raging. The Mercedes is displayed in the first floor entrance hall of the office. The office where the scene takes place is on the second floor.

Williamson comes out of the side office and is now facing Levene.

Williamson: “ It's funny, you've given me all this shit ... constantly told me how I'm not cut out for this job. Now look at you, you fucking asshole. You're out of your job now. You're going to jail. You will never get back to the top again. (Gets out the Mercedes keys and shows them to Levene.) You will never ever be Leo “the Machine” Levene, just like you will never get this car!”

The following is in slow-motion: The Detective comes out of the side office, calling for Levene. Levene looks at him, then at Williamson and then at the car keys. Meanwhile Levene's thoughts can be heard:

Levene: “ No ... no ... I can still turn this around ... I am Leo “the Machine” Levene!”

Levene grabs the keys and runs down the stairs. Williamson is too shocked to react. Levene gets into the car, starts the engine, floors the gas pedal and breaks through the glass doors. He is driving through the storm to get as far away as possible. Suddenly an electric pylon collapses onto his car, killing Levene.

Analysis:

In his play “Glengarry Glen Ross” David Mamet wanted to show the harsh reality of capitalism. It expresses how the salesmen are under a lot of pressure due to the competitive, economical system and how it drives them into despair. To appeal to a broader contemporary audience we decided to make a movie adaption. This will also help to draw younger peoples attention to that issue since they tend to go to the movies more often than to the theater.

As seen in the play Roma and Levene would do anything to get the customer to sign. In real-estate today and especially in Germany, business is not so harsh anymore because land is nowhere near as abundant as it used to be. Therefore we changed the company to an insurance agency since the business practices displayed in the play are still common within that field. An insurance agent will also be much more familiar to a contemporary German than a real-estate salesman. Changing the product they are selling from real-estate to insurances does not change the play's overall message.

We did not want to drift too far from original title so we simply called the insurance company “Glengarry Glen Ross Inc.”. To make it more understandable for a German audience, the German title will be “Glengarry Glen Ross AG” as “AG” is the German equivalent of the American “Inc.”. Moreover we changed Levene's name from Shelly to Leo since in Germany Shelly is associated with a female name. Due to his role as a main character we thought it would be good if he had a memorable name and that is why we changed it to Leo Levene also similar to Richard Roma.

Throughout the play it is hinted that Mitch and Murray are the ones pulling the strings and manipulating the salesmen from above much like the salesmen manipulate their customers. To put more emphasis on this aspect we added a scene where Mitch and Murray appear. Though keeping the mystery of the “big shots” from the original play alive, their faces are never show. The things that are shown represent their status such as expensive suits and watches. In that regard their office is similar. Being on the top floor of a skyscraper represents their high position in the company and the city view symbolizes the control they have over the salesmen. The expensive furniture highlights the focus on material values and their identification through material. The awards for product tests and sales competitions underline that Mitch and Murray as the higher-ups cover themselves with the company's glory. The conversation shows that Mitch and Murray only exploit the salesmen and do not care for them and their lives. Furthermore they make fun of the salesmen and think they are inferior people which is shown through their remarks on the Mercedes, the price of the competition. In addition we changed the price from a Cadillac to a Mercedes since it is a very high-end German car.

We changed the final scene because we felt for a movie version the original ending is not exciting enough. Therefore we made it a little more dramatic. First of we included the storm since it accentuates the tension in the scene between Levene and Williamson. In addition the storm symbolizes the world of competition which the salesmen live in. To further increase the tension we included the slow-motion scene. Moreover it emphasizes Levene's desperate situation and his struggle to break free. The way he looks from the detective to Williamson and then to the keys visualizes his thoughts. His escape escalates since it creates a huge tension and the viewers get thrilled.

In the original play Mamet creates a bubble where no reference to the outside world is made and the salesmen are unable to escape from their own world. In a similar yet exaggerated way Levene fails to escape from this harsh system of competition in our adaption. His doom ultimately is the system he lives in which in our adaption is symbolized by the storm that kills him.