Special Coverage 2008 Fall Movie PreviewThe Must List2008 Fall TV PreviewSound Bites

Jack Lemmon copped an Oscar upstaging Henry Fonda in 1955's Mister Roberts and has been strutting his rubbery, jittery stuff to great acclaim ever since. But his dead-ended salesman in Glengarry Glen Ross, Shelley ''the Machine'' Levene, is a capstone role — a universe of humiliation packed into a cheap, shrunken suit, a rattling Gatling gun for David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning sleazebag dialogue. ''The er's, ah's, um's — every single one is written, and by God, there's a reason,'' Lemmon says. His hopeless profile lit blue against a red wall is an American icon tougher and truer than any Arthur Miller ever made. Attention must be paid to this man! Or at least a career-crowning Oscar.


Posted Dec 25, 1992 | Published in issue #150-151 Dec 25, 1992 | Order Article Reprints
 

Add Your Comments

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject or we might delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, e-mail us. You must have javascript enabled to submit a comment.
--
Change/Edit your grade
characters remaining