Glengarry Glen Ross is a movie about four real estate agents who sell unappealing land to people who don’t really want it. One of the agents is a good salesman. The other three are not. Early in the movie, Blake, a very successful person from an unnamed place, arrives at the office. He’s been sent by the owners of the real estate company to help motivate the salesmen. Over just about seven minutes, he delivers a pristinely venomous monologue, one that has, over the past near two and a half decades, aged into lore. It is, in no uncertain terms, a gorgeous scene. It’s monumental. It’s unforgettable. But is it … true?
Let’s fact-check it.
These are the names of the people and places and things in the scene:
Blake (Alec Baldwin): He gives the monologue. This is the only scene that he appears in.
John Williamson (Kevin Spacey): The office manager. He sits one tier above the real estate agents in the company’s power pyramid.
Dave Moss (Ed Harris): One of four real estate agents working under Williamson. He doesn’t appear to be any good at it.
George Aaronow (Alan Arkin): Also one of the four real estate agents. Also does not appear to be any good at it.
Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon): Also one of the four real estate agents. He used to be good at it, but is no longer good at it.
Richard Roma (Al Pacino): Also one of the four real estate agents. He’s good at it, but he’s not in the scene. He is mentioned only when the office manager asks where he is.
“Leads”: A term used to refer to the names of people who have, at one point or another, expressed interest in purchasing the kind of real estate that the agents are selling.
“Glengarry Leads”: A term used to refer to the new, most substantive, most lucrative leads.
“Mitch and Murray”: The owners of Premier Properties, which is where the real estate agents work.
“A sit”: A sales session.
The Monologue
WILLIAMSON: It is 7:30.
Fact check: Correct. It is 7:30.
AARONOW (to Levene, about Blake): So who is that?
LEVENE: [Shrugs his shoulders to indicate he does not know.]
Fact check: Accurate. Levene does not know who Blake is. Blake has not introduced himself yet.
WILLIAMSON (to Moss, who has just walked in): And where is Mr. Roma?
MOSS: Well, I’m not a leash, so I don’t know, do I?
Fact check: Accurate on both parts. Moss is not a leash, and Moss does not know where Roma is. (Roma is in a bar attempting to close a sale.)
BLAKE (loudly, to everyone): Let me have your attention for a moment. So you’re talking about what? You’re talking about [he puts out his cigarette] bitching about that sale you shot, some son of a bitch that doesn’t want to buy, somebody that doesn’t want what you’re selling, some broad you’re trying to screw, and so forth.
Fact check: Inaccurate. They were not talking about any of those things. (Aaronow had been complaining about a sale gone bad moments before, but that was before Blake walked into the room from an adjoining office.)
BLAKE (to Williamson): Let’s talk about something important. Are they all here?
WILLIAMSON: All but one.
Fact check: Accurate. Levene is in attendance. Aaronow is in attendance. Moss is in attendance. Roma is still not in attendance. He will not arrive at all during the scene.
BLAKE: Well, I’m going anyway.
Fact check: Accurate. He is going anyway.
BLAKE (to everyone): Let’s talk about something important!
Fact check: Accurate. He intends to talk to the three men about their job performance, and how at least one of them is going to be fired at the end of the month, which is important.
BLAKE (to Levene, who is attempting to pour himself a cup of coffee): Put. That coffee. Down! Coffee’s for closers only.
Fact check: Inaccurate. Coffee is for everyone. It can be purchased at many places, and is often offered for free in offices, hotel lobbies, gas stations after local sports teams win games, teacher lounges in schools, and other locations.
BLAKE (to Levene): Do you think I’m fucking with you?
Fact check: Accurate. Levene does think that Blake is fucking with him.
BLAKE (to Levene): I am not fucking with you. I’m here from downtown. I’m here from Mitch and Murray.
Fact check: Accurate on all counts. He is not fucking with Levene. He is from downtown. And he is from Mitch and Murray.
BLAKE (to the entire office): And I’m here on a mission of mercy!
Fact check: Inaccurate. He is there to berate the salesmen and to threaten their jobs in hopes that it will make more them effective.
BLAKE (to Levene): Your name’s Levene?
Levene: Yeah.
Fact check: Accurate. His name is Levene.
Blake: You call yourself a salesman, you son of a bitch?
Fact check: Accurate on Levene calling himself a salesman. Possibly Inaccurate on Levene being the son of a bitch, given I am taken to assume Blake is using the term “bitch” as a way to describe Levene’s mother as a “difficult or unpleasant” woman and not “a female dog, wolf, fox, or otter,” in which case it is Inaccurate.
MOSS: I don’t gotta listen to this shit.
BLAKE: You certainly don’t, pal.
Fact check: Accurate. Moss does not to have listen to this shit. Though if he were to leave the room, it would likely result in his losing his job. Realizing this, Moss sits.
BLAKE (still to Moss): ’Cause the good news is — you’re fired.
Fact check: Inaccurate. Moss is not yet fired.
BLAKE (to Moss, then to everyone): The bad news is you’ve got — all you got — just one week to regain your jobs, starting tonight. Starting with tonight’s sit.
Fact check: Accurate. At the end of the month (which is a week away), the scores of all the sales the salesmen make will be tallied. Whoever finishes in last place will be fired.
BLAKE (to everyone): Oh, have I got your attention now?
Fact check: Accurate. He has each man’s attention.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Good. ’Cause we’re adding a little something to this month’s sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado.
Fact check: Accurate on both parts. The company is adding a little something to that month’s sales contest, and also the first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Anyone want to see second prize? Second prize’s a set of steak knives.
Fact check: Accurate. The second prize is a set of steak knives. Also: This is a wildly steep drop-off in level of quality between prizes. The Cadillac Eldorado’s base price in 1984, which is when the play that the movie is based on was written, was $19,334. That’s a value today of $44,780. Conversely, you can purchase the high-quality six-piece Wusthof Classic Steak Knife Set with Walnut Case from cutleryandmore.com for just $299.95.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Third prize is you’re fired.
Fact check: Accurate. Also: This is possibly a worse fall-off from the second-place prize to the third-place prize than it was from the first-place prize to the second-place prize. Real estate agencies are very bad at prize-level pacing.
BLAKE (still to everyone): You get the picture? Are you laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money. Get their names to sell them!
Fact check: There are several things to fact-check here. Accurate: They get the picture. Inaccurate: They are not laughing now (nor were they laughing earlier). Accurate: They have leads. Accurate: Mitch and Murray paid money for the leads. Accurate: The salesmen are supposed to take the leads and translate them into sales.
BLAKE (still to everyone): You can’t close the leads you’re given, you can’t close shit, you ARE shit. Hit the bricks, pal, and beat it, ’cause you are going out!
Fact check: Generally Accurate, in that the salesmen have not been able to close the leads that they’ve been given. Inaccurate, in that a salesman not being able to close a sale doesn’t make him shit. It just makes him a bad salesman.
LEVENE (to Blake): The leads are weak.
Fact check: Possibly Accurate.
BLAKE (to Levene): “The leads are weak.” Fucking leads are weak? You’re weak.
Fact check: Inaccurate that Levene is weak. Despite the circumstances (his job is suddenly in peril, and his daughter is about to die, which we have not yet learned), he seems generally strong and also very determined.
BLAKE (still to Levene): I’ve been in this business 15 years.
Fact check: Accurate.
MOSS (to Blake): What’s your name?
Blake: FUCK YOU, that’s my name!
Fact check: Inaccurate. His name is not FUCK YOU. His name is Blake. (No last name is given, so I suppose there’s at least a tiny chance that his last name is Fuck You, though it seems very unlikely that that’s the case.)
BLAKE (still to Moss): You know why, Mister? ’Cause you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight; I drove an $80,000 BMW.
Fact check: Likely Accurate that Moss drove a Hyundai to work. (Blake seems intelligent and observant, so it’s possible that he figured out that Moss drives a Hyundai.) Likely Accurate that Blake drove an $80,000 BMW.
BLAKE (still to Moss): That’s my name!
Fact check: Inaccurate. His name is still Blake.
BLAKE (to Levene): And your name is “you’re wanting.”
Fact check: Inaccurate. His name is Shelley Levene.
BLAKE (still to Levene): And you can’t play in a man’s game. You can’t close them. And you go home and tell your wife your troubles.
Fact check: Mostly Accurate regarding Levene’s ability to close sales. Levene, we’re told later, has been in a horrible sales slump.
BLAKE (to everyone): Because only one thing counts in this life! Get them to sign on the line which is dotted! You hear me, you fucking faggots?
Fact check: Inaccurate. That is not the only thing that counts in this life. Unless Blake is referring to a salesman’s professional life, in which case then it is very accurate.
BLAKE (to everyone, after spinning over a blackboard that has two sets of letters on it, “ABC” and “AIDA”): A-B-C. A, always; B, be; C, closing. Always be closing! Always be closing!
Fact check: Accurate. This seems a good motto for salesmen to follow, and for any professional person to follow.
BLAKE (still at the blackboard, and still to everyone): A-I-D-A. Attention, interest, decision, action. Attention. Do I have your attention?
Fact check: Accurate. He does have their attention.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Interest. Are you interested? I know you are because it’s fuck or walk. You close or you hit the bricks!
Fact check: Accurate. They are interested, and, in at least a metaphorical sense, the circumstances can accurately be described as having to “fuck or walk,” given that “fuck” here means to “make sales” and not “to fornicate.”
BLAKE (still to everyone): Decision. Have you made your decision for Christ?! And action. A-I-D-A. Get out there!
Fact check: Impossible to say regarding the decisions any of the agents have made or not made for Christ or against Christ.
BLAKE (still to everyone): You got the prospects comin’ in. You think they came in to get out of the rain?
Fact check: Inaccurate. No prospects have walked into the scene prior to that moment, nor do they during that moment, nor do they after that moment.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Guy doesn’t walk on the lot unless he wants to buy. Sitting out there waiting to give you their money! Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it?
Fact check: Generally Accurate.
BLAKE (to Moss, who is eyeballing him): What’s the problem, pal? You. Moss.
MOSS: You’re such a hero, you’re so rich. Why you coming down here and waste your time on a bunch of bums?
BLAKE (removing his watch): You see this watch? You see this watch?
MOSS: Yeah.
Fact check: Accurate. Moss does see the watch.
BLAKE (still to Moss, as he sets the watch down on Moss’s desk): That watch cost more than your car. I made $970,000 last year. How much you make? You see, pal, that’s who I am.
Fact check: Symbolically Accurate. Blake is defined by his money.
BLAKE (still to Moss): And you’re nothing. Nice guy? I don’t give a shit. Good father? Fuck you. Go home and play with your kids!
Fact check: Inaccurate. Also very rude.
BLAKE (to everyone): You wanna work here? Close!
Fact check: Half Accurate on the agents wanting to work there. (They seem to care about having a job, but are not necessarily concerned with where it is, which we learn when Moss successfully recruits Levene into his plot to steal the new leads and sell them to a competing real estate agency for $5,000 and positions at the new agency.) Extremely Accurate that their continued employment depends on their ability to close sales.
BLAKE (to Aaronow): You think this is abuse?
Fact check: Probably Accurate. Aaronow looks like he thinks that Blake’s harshness is too grating.
BLAKE (still to Aaronow): You think this is abuse, you cocksucker?
Fact check: There is no evidence for or against Aaronow having performed fellatio on anyone, recently or otherwise.
BLAKE (still to Aaronow): You can’t take this? How can you take the abuse you get on a sit?!
Fact check: Inaccurate in equating the verbal abuse that Blake is doling out with what would happen during a sit, as it seems very unlikely that a person interested or uninterested in purchasing real estate would have reason to refer to Aaronow as a “cocksucker” during a sales pitch.
BLAKE (still to everyone): You don’t like it? Leave.
Fact check: Accurate.
BLAKE (still to everyone): I can go out there tonight with the materials you got, make myself $15,000! Tonight! In two hours!
Fact check: Inaccurate. Earlier, Blake said he made $970,000 the year prior. Here, Blake asserts that he makes $7,500 an hour. That equals out to over $15 million a year. Even if we scale this back and give Blake credit for making one sale a day to earn a commission of $15,000 a day, that still equals up to nearly $4 million a year.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Can you? Can you? Go and do likewise! A-I-D-A! Get mad, you sons of bitches! Get mad! You know what it takes to sell real estate? [Blake removes something from a briefcase.] It takes brass balls to sell real estate. [He turns around and is holding a pair of brass balls in front of his testicles.]
Fact check: Inaccurate. Regular testicles seem more than fine when selling real estate, as do no testicles at all. Barbara from Shark Tank has made millions of dollars selling real estate, for example.
BLAKE (to everyone): Go and do likewise, gents. The money’s out there. You pick it up, it’s yours.
Fact check: Accurate on both parts.
BLAKE (still to everyone): You don’t — I have no sympathy for you. You wanna go out on those sits tonight and close? Close, it’s yours. If not, you’re going to be shining my shoes.
Fact check: Inaccurate. It seems unlikely that the job stop after failing as a real estate agent is shoe shiner.
BLAKE (still to everyone): And you know what you’ll be saying? Bunch of losers sitting around in a bar. “Oh yeah, I used to be a salesman. It’s a tough racket.”
Fact check: Accurate. This seems a far more likely response than Moss or Aaronow or Levene pivoting their lives to the shoe shining industry.
BLAKE (to everyone, after taking out large stack of red index cards tied together with string from his briefcase): These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads.
Fact check: Accurate.
BLAKE (still to everyone): And to you, they’re gold.
Fact check: Metaphorically Accurate. Literally Inaccurate.
BLAKE (still to everyone): And you don’t get them.
Fact check: Accurate. He hands them to Williamson.
BLAKE (still to everyone): Why? Because to give them to you is just throwing them away.
Fact check: Metaphorically Accurate, though also a very mean thing to say.
BLAKE (still to everyone): They’re for closers.
Fact check: Accurate. They are intended for the best salesmen.
BLAKE (still to everyone): I’d wish you good luck but you wouldn’t know what to do with it if you got it.
Fact check: Likely accurate. The group seems like an especially downtrodden and defeated group.
BLAKE (to Moss, as he retrieves the watch he took off earlier): And to answer your question, pal: Why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to. They asked me for a favor. I said, the real favor, follow my advice and fire your fucking ass because a loser is a loser.
Fact check: Accurate.
In sum, Blake’s monologue is: Fairly Accurate.
