Special Series: Month of Maysles
In honor of recently passed cinema giant and documentary pioneer Albert Maysles, FilmScene proudly presents "Month of Maysles," a month-long Maysles series on the big screen.
The four selected films comprise a snapshot of a remarkable career: his direct cinema landmark, SALESMAN; the incredible portrait of a moment, GIMME SHELTER; the master portrait of GREY GARDENS; and Maysles' most recent film, IRIS.
This is a filmmaker you must know if you don't and who commands greater appreciation from all who do. Buy a SERIES PASS and get intimate with a legend of cinema!
SALESMAN
"I was spellbound. I've seen SALESMAN three times and each time I've been more impressed. Fascinating, very funny,
unforgettable. It's such a fine, pure picture...that I can't imagine its ever seeming irrelevant, either as a social document or as one of the best examples of what's called cinema vérité or direct cinema." -Vincent Camby, The New York Times, April 18, 1969
"One of the greatest documentaries ever made, and an intimate portrait of the reality behind a thousand blue collar dramas." -Film4
"Funny, touching, compassionate, an extraordinary portrait of a human being." -Wall Street Journal
SALESMAN follows four door-to-door Bible salesmen as they walk the line between hype and despair. Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker, and Raymond "The Bull" Martos, are so nicknamed for their particular selling styles -- on their rounds. First making calls in and around Boston, where the company is based, then in Chicago at a sales conference, and finally in the promising new "territory" of Miami and vicinity. Their mission is simple: to convince people to buy what one of them calls "still the best seller in the world."
But although their customers are mostly middle, working- class Catholics recommended by the local church, the Bible is a hard sell. In action, the salesmen rely on trusty catch phrases: "Could you say if this would help the family? Could you see where this would be of value in the home? A gain to you?" Talking, pushing, cajoling, telling jokes and stories, throwing out compliments, the salesmen make their "pitches" to a wide range of customers -- lonely widows, married couples, Cuban immigrants, bored housewives -- from those who clearly cannot afford the $50 book to those who, in the end, are convinced by the salesman's somewhat too-cheerful patter.
From Webster, Massachusetts to Opa-Locka, Florida, the operating costs of the American Dream. Today SALESMAN is considered 'the direct cinema classic.'