Glengarry Glen Ross Differences Between Play And Movie

In the article by Robert Lublin, he analyzes the film version and the play version of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. He talks firstly about how David Mamet’s “widely regarded proficiency with dialogue; an audience’s enjoyment of both play and the movie versions of Glengarry is sustained by it” (Lublin 39). He talks about how the film version even though it has similarities to the play version, the film “presents a simpler understanding of society than does the play” (Lublin 40). The film version also shows the “dichotomy between the ‘halves’ and the ‘have nots,’ the powerful and the powerless” (Lublin 40).

According to Lublin film version is very similar in language and characters, except for the newly created character Blake. Vincent Canby mentions that the decision to add the new character to the film “manipulate[s] the settings, and alters some of the lines…,” making the new character shift and alter the complex theme of the play to one that is more simplistic (Lublin 39). Lublin’s view on the character Blake is that he “provides Glengarry with a paradigm of unadulterated capitalism. He provides an ideal towards which Roma, Moss, Aaronow, and
The play has the audience visualize on their own the big difference between the characters Roma, the top lead seller, and Levene the lowest seller through the dialogue (Lublin45). Lublin goes on how the play version shows the audience the capitalism that is happening in society, and that the salesmen are blaming their lack of “closed deals” on the “seriously weaken economy,” and not on ability to sell (Lublin 47). The play version also shows that the stolen Glengarry leads “may cause the office to close” (Lublin 51). Lublin goes on to say in the article that in the play version, we tend to seem more sympathetic for some of the characters, than we would in the film version (Lublin