Introduction: Being a Man

Abstract

Two men sit at their desks in an office that was burgled the previous night; their future as salesmen rests in the hands of the policeman in the adjacent room. ‘I swear it’s not a world of men’, Ricky Roma (Al Pacino) states matter-of-factly, ‘It’s a world of clock watchers, bureaucrats, office holders.… We’re the members of a dying breed. That’s why we gotta stick together.’ Shelley ‘The Machine’ Levene (Jack Lemmon) nods but is less confident than his colleague. Praising him on his performance that day, Roma continues: ‘I thought: “The Machine, there’s a man I would work with”.… That stuff you pulled.… That was admirable. It was the old stuff… The things I could learn from you.’ A nervous half-hearted smile crosses Levene’s face: he cannot contain his pride at being complimented by the best salesman in the office but, at the same time, he knows he does not deserve such an honour for he is the man who has stolen the Glengarry leads. As Roma makes a sales call, the camera stays on Levene. The actor takes his clasped hands to his face, presses his index fingers to the bridge of his nose and slowly draws his fingers down, outlining his nose until they rest against his lips (see Figure 1.1). He chokes slightly. With a resigned laugh and sad smile, he sighs and drops his still-clasped hands to his lap.