MovieChat Forums > Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Discussion > Why was Pacino surprised when......

Why was Pacino surprised when......

posted 9 years ago by zakariyyya
31 replies | jump to latest

Start with the scene where Lennon comes to the office bragging about how he made "a remarkable good sale"

Spacey: I'll tell them about your sale when they come in the office. You closed the deal you made a good sale.
Lennon: Oh Oh Oh, better than a good sale.
Spacey: Listen, I've got a lot of things on my mind, they're coming in, they're very upset.
Lennon: All you can tell them is that it was a remarkable good sale.
Spacey: Yeah, the only remarkable thing about it was you made it to. If the sale sticks it'll be a miracle.
Lennon: Why wouldn't the sale stick? Oh... *beep* you.
You do not know your job, a man is his job, you are *beep* at yours, you hear what i am saying to you. End of the month, F*king boar. You do not know how to run this office, you haven't got the sense, you haven't got the balls. Has this c*ck*sucker ever been on a sit? Did you ever sit....
Spacey: If I were you I would calm down...
Lennon: Oh, are you going to fire me....
Spacey: Its not impossible.
Lennon: ... on what? On an 80 thousand dollar a day and what... its not even noon yet....

Al Pacno: You closed him today?
Lennon: Oh I got up early this morning, I tracked him down and I closed him.......

The very moment he says he closed him today, you see a surprised look on Al Pacino's face....

Can some one please explain what it was...? and why??? Or may be it's nothing,,, But I just felt there was something to it which I didn't quite get, will appreciate your replies.

Also, these were the lines on top of my head and I didn't copy them or anything, just ignore if there are any mistakes there. Thanks :)

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] kurt7825 9 years ago

i wish i knew to

[–] dward212 9 years ago

I've wondered about that scene too. I assume that it's because typically they would line up their work during the day and go on sits in the evening. It would be somewhat unusual to have have a sit in the morning.

[–] zakariyyya 9 years ago

Hmmm, not sure how the sit ins do work.But apparently that look on Pacino's face was more than just a surprise of closing d deal first thing in the morning.....

Hope I could understand what that was about....

[–] ific90 9 years ago

I think Pacino was worried Lemmon would overtake him on the board and get a cadillac

[–] 9 years ago

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[–] MdmBadenov 8 years ago

Quote:
I believe Roma was surprised that Shelley had made a sale so quickly in the time between leaving the office, and arriving back to it the next day. Especially a sale of that caliber, to such potential "clients." Roma may have assumed that when Shelley said he made the sale, he had reached a deal the previous evening.

Reply:
Good point! And what makes so significant is the sales are usually done in the evening (when people are home from work), but Shelly couldn't close the Nyborg deal the previous evening because he was busy with the other job...the burglary.

[–] bijinius 9 years ago

Yeah, I'm not sure "surprised" is the word I'd use. more like "Unbelieving" ... Check out the look on Roma's face while Lavine is saying to Williamson "What I'm saying to you is that things change..." - pure calculation; he does not look in the least bit happy for his "buddy" Lavine any more. You can almost hear him thinking to himself "Do I have a problem here? is my top spot... my Cadillac safe?" It's a testament to Pacino in his prime that so much information can be gleaned from a four second shot of his silent face.

[–] thee_spectre 9 years ago

^ I agree with this. And regarding Pacino's acting skills, you're right as well - he can say more with one look on his face that most actors can do with 10 pages of dialogue. What a great actor.

[–] eelb 9 years ago

I've always had troubled interpreting Roma's reaction at that point, too.

Best I can come up with is that Roma knows he and the other two salesmen have alibis for last night, and if Levene closed this morning, it leaves a gap of where Levene was last night when the robbery occurred.

[–] risc_taker 9 years ago

I've had trouble with t hat scene too.

But I KNOW what it meant/means.

See Pacino response, his eyes. HE knew that Shelly robbed.
The response of the rest of the film is him "listening" to the criminal.

You're always going to have within our government, those that are ABOVE THE LAW.

[–] au561 9 years ago

When Levine first tells the tale of the sale he says that it occurred "last night." Then he slips up and says that he got up early and tracked them down and closed it. Roma notices the slip and reacts.

[–] zakariyyya 9 years ago

Hmmmm, now that you have mentioned it, it does make sense....
And that is the only reason fits to Al Pacino's reaction.
Thank you for clarifying it mate.

[–] kameeleoned_out 8 years ago

No, he doesn't. He says he made the deal 'just this morning' from the start, even to Moss. The deal itself isn't in question, the deal was real, it was just an empty promise (buyers had cheated the firm before).

Here's my take:
When Roma enters the building he walks in a winner because he had closed the deal the night before, and he was certain he was getting the Cadillac. He said the new money 'puts him over the top,' so I believe that the contest was considered over (he even tore down the sign with the contest. Meaning that the scores were fixed the way they were posted on the board (plus Roma's late night deal).

When he realizes Levene's deal was done that morning, Roma figured out that the timing made Levene's new numbers useless, because the contest was already closed at the time he made the deal. Levene was already fired, having brought in $0 that month. So Roma had a reaction of sadness, because deep down he truly idolized The Machine for who he had been (and even hinted at going into business together in the end, when he said 'I wanted to talk to you for a long time, actually. I said, The Machine, there's a man I would work with.').

So that's my take.

-
I want you to meet a real mensch, Chuck Schwartz.

[–] Silent_Bob01 8 years ago

I don't think Roma idolized Levene. He had no respect for anyone or anything...he was just humoring Levene during that entire scene.

Roma comes off as the typical corporate psychopath: all superficial charm but completely incapable of real emotional attachment or empathy.

[–] JackieTreeehorn 8 years ago

I've seen this movie a dozen times and I always thought Roma's reaction was because he was skeptical of the sale. Most of the sales seem to be conducted at night when people are home from work, to make a sale in the morning implies that the Nyborgs don't work and therefore to sell them for 80k seems unlikely. But I never noticed that he tells Roma he made the sale the night before and then slips and says he made it in the morning so I agree that Roma caught it and realized Shelly robbed the office.

Another reaction that I can't figure out is Williamson's when Roma says he's going to re-close his smaller deals. Williamson abruptly tells him not to go back and sort of scrambles coming up with an excuse, something like Murray will go out and close those deals. I always felt there was something sketchy about his reaction.

[–] crooky-3 8 years ago

Another reaction that I can't figure out is Williamson's when Roma says he's going to re-close his smaller deals. Williamson abruptly tells him not to go back and sort of scrambles coming up with an excuse, something like Murray will go out and close those deals. I always felt there was something sketchy about his reaction.

That one's pretty easy - he had lied about contracts going out the night before as we found out later. He was very sketchy about saying what contracts got stolen when talking to Roma earlier. He could well have been lying during that part and Roma dealing with reclosing the old leads could have meant jeopardizing sales that actually did go through or something. So he lies again and says Murray will deal with reclosing them.

That's what I find interesting about this movie - everyone's full of *beep* just about the whole way through, more or less because they have to be as salesmen to close these leads, but it's obvious it extends beyond their conversations with their leads, because they're basically acting as salesmen on each other - like Moss trying to convince someone to go along with his scheme and do the dirty work.

[–] PseudoFilmCritic 8 years ago

I think Roma's skepticism is the key. Aside from Williamson, other salesmen for the office must have been aware that it could be nothing more than a delusional sales. Remember Moss even said, "You closed that?"

Jerry at the Movies
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwNroTj2Yc4Hu70VjlEMEkw

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] richardgc007 8 years ago

My theory: Roma knew the burglary was an inside job and probably suspected Shelley first (declining sales, money problems with his daughter's hospitalization). When Shelley comes in and starts talking about his big sale, Roma changes his mind. Why bother getting in trouble with a burglary if you just made a big sale? Now when Shelley says that he closed the deal that morning, Roma realizes that at the time of the break-in (during the night) Shelley was still desperate for money and goes back to being Roma's number one suspect.