Should you watch Salesman?
Who it’s good for, who it isn’t, and what’s in it. No ratings, no scores.
Salesman
Documentary · 1969
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.
The sides of Salesman
- Four Bible salesmen on the road
- Sales pitches in working-class living rooms
- Motel rooms between visits
Salesman is good for you if…
- you like watching real door-to-door salesmen at work in 1960s America.
- you like following Paul Brennan as his pitch stops working.
- you enjoy black and white documentaries from the sixties.
Salesman is bad for you if…
- you need more happening than sales pitches in living rooms.
- you need music to carry a film. There's no score and no narrator, just the salesmen talking.
About: work · failure · the American dream
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