Death of a Salesman (1985) 7.3
An aging traveling salesman recognizes the emptiness of his life and tries to fix it. Director:Volker Schlöndorff (as Volker Schlondorff) |
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Death of a Salesman (1985) 7.3
An aging traveling salesman recognizes the emptiness of his life and tries to fix it. Director:Volker Schlöndorff (as Volker Schlondorff) |
|
0Share... |
Complete credited cast: | |||
Dustin Hoffman | ... | ||
Kate Reid | ... | ||
John Malkovich | ... | ||
Stephen Lang | ... | ||
Charles Durning | ... |
Charley
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Louis Zorich | ... |
Ben
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David S. Chandler | ... |
Bernard
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Jon Polito | ... |
Howard
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Kathryn Rossetter | ... |
Woman from Boston
(as Kathy Rossetter)
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Tom Signorelli | ... |
Stanley
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Linda Kozlowski | ... | ||
Karen Needle | ... |
Letta
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Anne McIntosh | ... |
Jenny
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Michael Quinlan | ... |
Waiter
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Salesman Willy Loman is in a crisis. He's about to lose his job, he can't pay his bills, and his sons Biff and Happy don't respect him and can't seem to live up to their potential. He wonders what went wrong and how he can make things up to his family. Written by Eric Sorensen
This film counts as one of those that are uncomfortable, well-acted, and disturbingly real.
John Malkovich and Gary Sinise are very real, as well as Dustin Hoffman. It is an initial shock to see him as an aged man.
The cinematography is stark and unforgiving. Willy Loman has lived in ineffective and meaningless life. He will die as a salesman, bragging about sales which mean nothing, building up his sons into something they never were.
Anyone who has read or seen the play will feel the desperation of Biff, and Happy, young men who witness their father's depression, and cannot alter the outcome.
Arthur Miller has touched the reality of American life in the depression. A brilliant playwright, he addresses issue of the family, and struggling economy which today are still avoided. Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that America is a prosperous nation because the poor will never admit they are poor, and therefore the elite classes have had less social responsibility since the Napoleonic era. A brilliant insight that has been perpetuated since WWII. 9/10.