Disc Details
Special Features:	Widescreen anamorphic format Full Screen format Chapter selection New Audio Commentary by Director James Foley Documentary : "A.B.C.(Always Be Closing)" "Magic Time" A Tribute to Jack Lemmon Short film: "J. Roy: New and Used Furniture" Clip Archive: "The Charlie Rose Show" Clip Archive: Inside the Actor's Studio" Cast and crew biographies and selected filmographies Production notes
Video Format:	Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) Full Frame (1.33:1 Pan and Scan) [SS-DL]
Languages:	English (Dolby Digital 5.1) English (Dolby Digital 2.0) English (DTS) French (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles:	English, Spanish.
Captions:	Yes
Casing:	2-Disc Keep Case

Mamet adapted his Pultizer Prize winning play for the screen. He inserted a new scene at the beginning, which Alec Baldwin brings to life with brutal fury. Baldwin plays Blake, a company motivator. He harangues the sales force of Premiere Properties like a marine drill sergeant. Think "Full Metal Jacket." This DVD is worth the price for Baldwin's short scene alone! Blake sets the premise. He insults and berates each of the salesmen. Dave Moss (Ed Harris) is a veteran salesman on a losing streak. At least he has youth on his side. Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon) and George Aaronow (Alan Arkin)aren't so fortunate. They are nearing retirement age. Levene has the added burden of a seriously ill daughter. Only Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) is absent from the motivation speech. Ricky Roma is on a hot streak. He has been spared Blake’s tirade. He can smell Cadillac. After Blake leaves, the salesmen beg John Williamson (Kevin Spacey), the office manager for the good leads, the Glengarry leads. Leads are the names and addresses of people who send in magazine or newspaper insert cards requesting information about a product. John tells the salesmen that the good leads are for ‘closers.’ If the crew can't sell products with the old leads, the company isn't going to waste the good stuff on them.

Director James Foley does an admirable job capturing the magic of Mamet's play. He would have had to try hard to screw things up with this cast! There isn't a bad performance in the film. Al Pacino picked up a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination as Ricky Roma. Jack Lemmon won the National Board of Review's Best Actor award as Shelley Levene.

Picture Quality: 10/10
Artisan remastered the picture for this special release. Great delineation of colors. This is an accomplishment as most of the film takes place at night in the rain. The scenes inside the Chinese restaurant/bar have rich, garish colors that really set the seedy tone for what these dishonest salesmen do. Al Pacino almost looks like a vampire as he reels in the sucker played by Jonathan Pryce. There are five sound tracks on the disk. Sometimes having so many tracks will affect the picture quality. No so, here. No pixilation or artifacts noticed during the review. I am a fan of "widescreen" format, so the review refers to that version. I admit I didn't watch the full screen format.

Sound Quality: 10/10
My sound system was acting up, so I didn't get to sample the DTS track. The 5.1 track is outstanding. The cool jazz score James Newton Howard sets just the right tone. The rainy sound effects are great. They don't drown out the dialogue, but rather add to the atmosphere of doom.

Menu: 10/10
Simple but effective design. Great use of music and animated scenes from the film. Easy to navigate.

Extra Features: 7/10
The extras are hit or miss. If you really give a damn about the lives of real salesmen, then you might enjoy the documentary "A.B.C. (Always Be Closing)" and the short film "J. Roy: New and Used Furniture." "A.B.C." real salesmen as well as filmmakers. It examines the sales techniques shown in the film and the psychology behind selling. I sold encyclopedias after high school. I hated it. Didn't have the temperament for the job. I really didn't care for either of these extras.

The audio commentary track is great. Director Foley shares some great stories about the making of the film. Lots of interesting insights for fans of these actors.

The tribute to Jack Lemmon is very nice. Numerous family members and filmmakers share stories about Mr. Lemmon's career and personal impact on their lives. Likewise, the clip from the Charlie Rose show is a treat for fans of Mr. Lemmon. The 10-minute segment is a one-on-one between Mr. Lemmon and Mr. Rose as they discuss this film.

The "Actor's Studio" clip is another great extra. Kevin Spacey speaks to a group of acting students. One student gets Mr. Spacey to act out a scene with him. The student does everything he can to steal the scene. Mr. Spacey seems to be enjoying the moment. I'd love to see more of this tape.

There are extensive cast and crew bios. Artisan adds a nice touch by including extensive bios for the behind the camera folks. The production notes are as extensive as anything I've seen outside an "Anchor Bay" DVD. More than 15 screens of text about the history of the play and film.

The Final Word:
"Glengarry Glen Ross" seems to affect people in just two ways. Love it or hate it. Everyone I've talked to about this DVD has either said "When an I get it!" or "So what!" I love the DVD. Love the movie. As far as I'm concerned it belongs in everyone's DVD library. If you're not sure, or haven't seen it before, rent it first. A must have.

Rusty White