Salesman
Oct 09 - Oct 15, 2009
(Albert and David Maysles, USA, 1969, 35mm, 90 min)
Sponsored by The Hideout
A staple of cinema vérité, Salesman is an unflinching look into the world of door-to-door Bible sales. Four salesmen bombard poor Catholic families with ruthless sales tactics in order to sell excessively ornate Bibles. The lack of intrusive commentary by the Maysles brothers along with their discreet camerawork enables the human motives and desperation of the salesmen to shine through, making for an affecting documentary about an unsettling subject.
“It's such a fine, pure picture of a small section of American life that I can't imagine its ever seeming irrelevant, either as a social document or as one of the best examples of what's called cinema vérité or direct cinema.” —Vincent Canby, New York Magazine
Watch the trailer:
