Glengarry Glen Ross: film adaptation and analysis

Glenn

Glengarry Glen Ross

Of all the movie quotes and catchphrases bandied about at businesses across America, at water coolers, lunch tables, and in boardrooms, there are few that are more memorable, more entrenched into the cultural milieu of the business world, more incisive into the nature of salesmanship, than Blake's cold-blooded remark to the beleaguered bunch of sales agents at a small Chicago real estate firm in the film adaptation of Glengarry Glen Ross than, "Coffee's for closers - only." Aside from perhaps Gordon Gekko's "Greed is good" in the original Wall Street, "Coffee's for closers" (often the "only" is dropped from) is the quintessential aphorism of American commerce.

What does "Coffee for closers" mean (hereafter referred to as 'C4C'), and what does it represent? Well, literally it means that only those who consistently close the deal or make the sales are entitled to a cup of coffee. Shelley "The Machine" Levene is not a closer any longer. In the eyes of Blake, he's a has-been. Therefore, Blake is telling him he is not entitled to a cup of coffee.

Symbolically speaking, C4C means, in so many words, to the victors go the spoils. Those who produce in life, those who are economically viable, those who are climbing the corporate ladder, those who are scions of industry are the ones entitled to the perks in life -- the proverbial cup of Joe.

However, in another way, C4C is a transmutation of the American dream. While it's true that America is, to a large extent, a meritocracy, it's unfair to suggest that only those who meet a certain pedigree, a high standard of professional conduct, are entitled to basic goods and services. In other words, not everyone is going to be a 'closer' in life (Shelley, George), yet they shouldn't be denied essential goods and services for not living up to those high standards.

Moreover, the American dream is not something that is exclusively tied to financial success and prosperity; rather it is rooted in a hope for a better life across multiple domains, i.e. personally (spiritually, mentally, emotionally), family wise, etc. C4C emphasizes the financial imperative of the American dream while ignoring the quest one has for personal success as well as the civic virtue required to perpetuate the dream itself (without certain entitlement programs, taxation, regulation, etc. all the wealth would be concentrated at the top and the American dream would be next to impossible to achieve for the average Joe, the land of opportunity would be transformed into the land of oligarchy or hegemony).

If C4C is the guiding principle behind avaricious salesmen, then "A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing, always be closing" is their modus operandi. That is to say, the salesmen in Glengarry Glen Ross live by the cutthroat rule of C4C, that is also manifested more explicitly in the competition Blake lays out, "first prize: brand new Cadillac, second prize: a set of steak knives, third prize: you're F*cking fired," and to survive in that environment, under those stressful conditions, the must adopt a salesmen's attitude toward life, i.e. "Always Be Closing." Implicit in this acronym is the idea that one must live and breathe sales. It's a 24-hour commitment.

This A-B-C lifestyle raises many interesting questions about morality and business ethics. It's clear that Blake is an amoral (perhaps immoral) S.O.B. By the way he talks down to the sales crew. He doesn't want a "nice guy," he wants a salesman. Are the two mutually exclusive? In real life, it doesn't appear that they should be exclusive concepts. There are plenty of nice salesmen in the world, people who take their fiduciary responsibilities seriously and put their clients needs before their own sales driven agenda.

However, in Glengarry Glen Ross, it's implied that to be successful one has to be morally agnostic, greedy, and downright predatory (like Blake himself) on a 24/7 basis. And looking at this in the context of achieving the American dream, one could argue that Glengarry Glen Ross teaches the viewer that in order to be successful, in order to be prosperous, in order to earn a cup of coffee, one has to be like Blake, one has to put morality on the backburner and on has to A-B-C.