Remembering The Maysles: November marks the centenary of Albert Maysles, who along with his brother David Maysles are two of the most celebrated American documentarians, vanguards in the late 50s and 70s direct cinema movement, which prized observational cinema, capturing life as it unfolded before their camera.
“Forget Glengarry Glen Ross. The real Willy Loman can be seen in Albert and David Maysles' 1968 masterpiece of unselfconsciousness” – The Guardian
Salesman follows four door-to-door Bible salesmen as they walk the line between hype and despair. Paul "The Badger" Brennan, Charles "The Gipper" McDevitt, James "The Rabbit" Baker, and Raymond "The Bull" Martos, are so nicknamed for their particular selling styles. First making calls in and around Boston, where the company is based, then in Chicago at a sales conference, and finally in the promising new "territory" of Miami and vicinity. Their mission is simple: to convince people to buy what one of them calls "still the best seller in the world."
But although their customers are mostly middle, working-class Catholics recommended by the local church, the Bible is a hard sell. In action, the salesmen rely on trusty catchphrases: "Could you say if this would help the family? Could you see where this would be of value in the home? A gain to you?" Talking, pushing, cajoling, telling jokes and stories, throwing out compliments, the salesmen make their "pitches" to a wide range of customers—lonely widows, married couples, Cuban immigrants, bored housewives—from those who clearly cannot afford the $50 book to those who, in the end, are convinced by the salesman's somewhat too-cheerful patter.
From Webster, Massachusetts to Opa-Locka, Florida, the operating costs of the American Dream. Today Salesman is considered 'the direct cinema classic'.
Featuring an introduction from filmmaker Brett Story.
Brett Story is an award-winning filmmaker and writer whose work pushes the formal boundaries of political cinema. Her feature documentaries include The Prison in Twelve Landscapes (2016), The Hottest August (2019), and Union (2024), which was shortlisted for an Academy Award. She lives and works in Toronto.
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