1. Glengarry Glenn Ross
With perhaps the most jaw-dropping, ball-bustingly epic motivational monologue from Alec Baldwin within the first fifteen minutes, Glengarry Glenn Ross sets the tempo fast and follows through expertly to produce a masterpiece in modern cinema. The story follows a group of down-on-their-luck real estate agents, grappling desperately with rival firms and even those they call colleagues, to close leads and bring home the most sales in the month. Boasting a tremendous cast, including; Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon and Alan Arkin, the script - adapted by David Mamet from a play by David Mamet - sparkles with child-like cheek and audacity. It reflects in the characters too. Harris' immature, overly aggressive, wannabe Alpha Male is a notable standout performance. The way in which his shouts, still demonstrate a flawless acting ability is a skill that the likes of Sly Stallone could never quite achieve. He acts as the foil to Jack Lemmon's more passive, ageing estate agent who's financial situation leaves him dependent on each phone call to provide the next meal. Al Pacino's smooth talking salesman and Alan Arkin's out of his depth' innocent make up the remaining members of the sorry quartet. Many critics say that the film's script surpasses its staged counterpart, due to the re-working made by Mamet himself. Take for example, the inclusion of Baldwin's bolshy, "fancy-car-driving-my-watch-is-more-expensive-than-your-car" character, Blake - unique to the film and arguably the first thing people think of when you say 'Glengarry Glenn Ross' (I urge you once you've finished reading this article to go straight to YouTube and watch his cameo appearance in this film!). Filmed on a relatively low budget (the single biggest cost coming from the rain effects in the first half of the film), Glengarry Glenn Ross captures the intricacies and the politics of everyday life. In my opinion, the beauty of the film is that the same characters could have the same fears and aspirations, the same social interaction and the same confrontation in any setting. It's relate-able, but in a darkly comic, subtle and utterly brilliant way. Hands down, one of my top 10 films of the nineties.
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