October 29th, 2009 / 12:24 pm
Random

“Let’s talk about something important”

My first year at Bennington, the first thing we did at orientation in a dark room full of the whole student body and faculty was watch the Alec Baldwin monologue from Glengarry Glen Ross. We watched it with little to no introduction from the then head of the program, Liam Rector, who has since taken his own life. Liam played the clip at least every other semester for the new students, sometimes mentioning that it was the only thing they needed to get out of the program, and sometimes just sitting down and grinning wildly at the screen. A lot of people didn’t seem to understand what Liam wanted us to watch this scene for. A lot of them just shrugged it off and kept asking when the panels on publishing would be. You may or may not have seen this bit before, but thinking of it in context of the opening to an MFA program to me seems pretty right on both as in the mind of business and of art, if “mean” in a totally constructive and let’s-save-you-and-me-some-time kind of way. So, for Liam…

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37 Comments

  1. Ken Baumann

      Wow. Liam is, IS, good.

  2. Ken Baumann

      Wow. Liam is, IS, good.

  3. Shya

      “Coffee’s for closers.” This is one of the most quotable scripts, ever.

  4. Shya

      “Coffee’s for closers.” This is one of the most quotable scripts, ever.

  5. Michelle Panik

      Are those steak knives the literary equivalent of a nice, respectable, non-paying publication?

  6. Michelle Panik

      Are those steak knives the literary equivalent of a nice, respectable, non-paying publication?

  7. Gene Morgan

      I went home to play with my kids.

  8. Gene Morgan

      I went home to play with my kids.

  9. mike young

      mamet ftw

  10. mike young

      mamet ftw

  11. Joseph Young

      seems like if you were on a team this would be old hat. i mean, i never was but if i stand around watchng lacrosse practice at hopkins this is the service coach gives to the kids. great performance though, yeah.

  12. Ken Baumann

      lol

  13. Joseph Young

      seems like if you were on a team this would be old hat. i mean, i never was but if i stand around watchng lacrosse practice at hopkins this is the service coach gives to the kids. great performance though, yeah.

  14. Ken Baumann

      lol

  15. Matthew Simmons
  16. Matthew Simmons
  17. Michael Schaub

      Ha ha ha ha awesome.

  18. Michael Schaub

      Ha ha ha ha awesome.

  19. bl pawelek

      best sales movie ever

  20. bl pawelek

      best sales movie ever

  21. davidpeak

      i am partial to salesman

  22. davidpeak

      i am partial to salesman

  23. damon

      damn, chuck biscuits died.

  24. damon

      damn, chuck biscuits died.

  25. Matthew Simmons

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-adBsifNLQ

  26. Matthew Simmons

      httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-adBsifNLQ

  27. Jonny Ross

      mamet

  28. Jonny Ross

      mamet

  29. matthewsavoca

      i went with gene to his house, we had a nice time

  30. matthewsavoca

      i went with gene to his house, we had a nice time

  31. matthewsavoca

      ABC AIDA… it needs an Y for Yourself, no one else matters
      if you write a story and close yourself, you’ll get me too… actually, that’s the only way you’ll get me

      it’s like how in the bible it says to take the plank out of your own eye before you look at the speck in your brother’s

  32. matthewsavoca

      ABC AIDA… it needs an Y for Yourself, no one else matters
      if you write a story and close yourself, you’ll get me too… actually, that’s the only way you’ll get me

      it’s like how in the bible it says to take the plank out of your own eye before you look at the speck in your brother’s

  33. david e

      Cause only one thing counts in this world: get them to sign on the line which is dotted.

      You hear me you fuckin’ faggots?

  34. david e

      Cause only one thing counts in this world: get them to sign on the line which is dotted.

      You hear me you fuckin’ faggots?

  35. david e

      You make a close, this whole place stinks with your farts for a week

      My wife quotes that line when I get a story accepted into a ‘well-trafficked” online journal

  36. david e

      You make a close, this whole place stinks with your farts for a week

      My wife quotes that line when I get a story accepted into a ‘well-trafficked” online journal

  37. HTMLGIANT / Glengarry Revisited

      […] week or two ago I posted about Liam Rector’s use of the Alec Baldwin speech from Glengarry Glen Ross. Here is a later scene in the same movie, a […]