Customer Reviews

Death of a Salesman & Private Conversations [VHS]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was glad to find this DVD just shortly after reading the play. While I enjoyed reading it very much, I found the play to be very confusing. Just from the text alone it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. Seeing the film version of this triumphant play really helped a lot. "Death of a Salesman" is a sad and tragic drama that emotionally involves you from start to finish.

Willy Loman is a tired and heart-broken salesman who no longer lives in the world of reality. Instead, he is trapped in his world of delusions. Each day that passes by seems to be worse and worse for Willy. He spends way too much of his time in the past when he needs to be focusing on the future. His wife and two sons have no idea what they should do for him as they know that he is heading towards disaster in this unforgettable drama.

Like I said, to actually see this really made me appreciate the play more than just reading it from the text. It can get confusing when you only have the words, but when you see it performed it all comes together and make sense. The acting is terrific. Dustin Hoffman really does an outstanding job of playing Willy Loman. Not only does he just "act" the part out, he "becomes" Loman. I admit that I had my doubts at first, because I didn't see him playing the part. My doubts quickly fled from my mind after the first 10 minutes or so. Everybody else is also terrific as well. (Wow, look how young John Malkovitch looks!) I think the movie does a fine job doing Arthur Miller's play justice.

The DVD is pretty neat as well. The picture quality is good, considering the fact that it is an old movie. The DVD also includes a feature length documentary behind the movie, which is really entertaining, and a still gallery. While it may seem like this DVD doesn't have a lot to offer, the documentary really makes it worth-while.

"Death of a Salesman" is a powerhouse drama that hooks you from start to finish. Reading it is one thing, but to actually see it makes it much more enjoyable. If you just read the play from the text it can be pretty confusing at points. If you're looking for a great dramatic movie with great acting and writing, then this is something you should really think about checking out.

Before I watched the film version of Arthur Miller's classic play recently, I thought I was the only person on the planet who had not read or watched a version of his work. I had a good idea of the general outline of the whole thing before I went in, of course, thanks to years of pop culture references to Willy Loman, but I just never got around to sitting down for a look. Every once in awhile, I get frazzled that I haven't seen or read things that I feel every educated person ought to experience, hence it was way past time to see this one. So many different versions of the play exist, mostly made for television adaptations, that I worried a bit about which one was the best. I finally decided to view this 1985 Dustin Hoffman version simply because it was the only one I could find. Easy, huh? Yep, it was, but the subject matter of the play, and Hoffman's soul stirring performance as Willy Loman, did not make this an easy program to watch. "Death of a Salesman" is a depressing, sad play that makes you ponder ideas we Americans take for granted. Miller's work effectively tosses a bucket of ice water over the idea that the American Dream means everyone who works hard will ultimately succeed beyond his or her wildest expectations.

Willy Loman is a salesman who cannot escape the lure of past triumphs. He continually flashes back to earlier, halcyon days when his two sons, Biff (John Malkovich) and Hap (Stephen Lang), were in the prime of their life. These were good days, days full of big paychecks, hard work, a happy family, and sons whose athletic prowess promised great things. Biff especially looked as though he would have a wonderful future. His abilities as a football star virtually insured that he would end up at a great school, with even more promises to come. But a certain horrific event concerning Willy and his life on the road destroyed forever Biff's bright future, and life took a decidedly bleak turn in the intervening years. We gradually come to learn that Willy's existence has been one big failure. His age is a factor working against him at his firm, where the son of the original owner seeks to force Loman out. Debts of all sorts begin to press down on the family. And Biff and Hap, both over the age of thirty, largely failed in life. Hap is a schemer and womanizer who moves from one small job to another. Biff doesn't work at all, and even left for points unknown for a few years before turning up on the Loman doorstep. The only loyal trooper in the bunch is Willy's weathered wife Linda (Kate Reid), a woman that never fails to praise her husband's meager accomplishments.

What happens to those of us who fail at life? You certainly won't see these poor souls on television or in the movies, two mediums that tend to emphasize the glamorous, the successful, the wealthy, and the talented. The only place you will see the teeming millions not making the cut are on shows about crime and prison. Society doesn't wish to acknowledge people who slaved away for years without making appreciable gains. Perhaps that is why "Death of a Salesman" is such a tough program to watch; we see by increments a grown man crumble away to a pitiful fate despite his best efforts to succeed. And Willy Loman's descent into despair and ruin is about as painful as you could imagine. Hoffman plays the character as a withered, blundering, bland sort of fellow prone to frenetic outbursts of disassociated ramblings, which I think works in many ways. By appearing as an anonymous looking chap you wouldn't notice if you walked by him on the street, Hoffman manages to convey the sense of the "every man" that Miller's play strove to immortalize. Loman resembles most of us because he doesn't look glamorous, doesn't look successful, doesn't look wealthy, and doesn't look talented.

I should mention two other very important aspects of this production. First, the makers of this version of "Death of a Salesman" chose to shoot the program on a half film half stage set. Rooms in the Loman household don't have roofs or walls in certain places, and the neighboring buildings are obviously one dimensional structures. I'll bet this annoyed some viewers, but not me. I took the noticeably fake set pieces as a symbol of the failures in Willy's life, and as a symbol of the charade of the American Dream. Too, "Death of a Salesman" is a play and the producers probably wanted the production to have that feel. Second, the performances here are magnificent. John Malkovich proves once again that he's a performer capable of totally immersing himself in a role. I started to worry when I saw this actor running around in a football uniform tossing a ball around since I didn't think he looked like a teenager. The later scenes where he confronts his father blew my earlier conceptions out of the water. Malkovich delivers his lines with an emotional intensity that's tough to watch.

I wasn't as impressed with "Private Conversations," a lengthy behind the scenes look at the production. This extra on the disc provides little of interest with its inclusion of assorted blooper footage, a couple of interviews, and other odds and ends. Just skip "Private Conversations" and watch "Death of a Salesman" instead. The emotional power of Miller's play is undeniable, and stands as a cautionary tale about dreams and those who fail to attain them.

Dustin Hoffman, John Malkovich shine in this now classic play. Like Nora in Ibsen's "A Doll's House," we have characters confined by prescribed fate looking to climb out into their own.

What is fate?

In this case, Willy Loman is bound by his belief that personality alone, of being liked, is enough to make it to the American Dream. Unable to reconcile that those days never existed, and that hard work involved more than a firm handshake and a smile, he becomes despondent as he thinks of the lost potential. He is reminded in flashbacks and visions of relatives and friends who have succeeded.

His two sons are also confined to Willy's delusions of grandeur. Biff, played by Malkovich, had a future as a football star, but was handicapped by his dad's inhibitions and lack of reality. When he realizes his dad is a failure without integrity, after idolizing him, he concludes he too will be a failure.

Hap, on the other hand, Bif's brother, played by Stephen Lang, is a young Willy. He thinks his dad is right, and although he lives in futile mediocrity, believes dreaming is enough.

Kate Reid plays Willy's wife, Linda. She knows Willy is a failure, but tries to exist within the lie. She never declares the truth, but instead allows Willy to dream without substance.

Willy's hopes are shown worthless when he meets up with those, like Bernard, the nerdy math geek when Bif and Hap were children, and now practicing law in front of the Supreme Court. Willy asks what the secret is. His dream is nothing but the puff of a distortion of a Horatio Alger story, but he won't accept it. Bernard's father, Willy's neighbor, offers him a job, but Willy refuses.

The conflict is about encountering reality, and who will meet the truth. Can Biff live his simple dream of working outside with his hands, but by doing so must destroy the family structure. He knows it, and so he struggles.

Willy Loman's failure is like the hope of an old spiritual show follower, looking for salvation, but not willing to commit to what gets paired with it. It is a search for meaning. Despite a pessimistic premise, there is hope resident in this amazing film.

I fully recommend "Death of a Salesman."

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

"Death of a Salesman," by Arthur Miller, is a play that examines the breakdown of the American Dream and family values through the literary lens of social realism. This particular production, produced at CBS studios in New York during the early 1980's, was considered by Miller himself to be the best interpretation of his play ever produced. Likewise, he considered Dustin Hoffmann as Willy Loman to be the best interpretation of the play's main character. It is hardly surprising. Death of a Salesman was the first play Hoffmann ever read, and it is easy to see the play's influence on every role Hoffmann has ever played. Volker Schlondorff did a fantastic job as director. His production is extremely faithful to Miller's notes, and although this production was made for television, the shift in medium loses nothing. I am using this two-tape set in my Literature class to show my freshman college students how to "get inside" a play and to realize that reading a script is not nearly as effective as seeing it acted out. This really is a magnificent production that presents the script with integrity and then gives you the chance to see the "guts" of the play.

I wish they would put this on DVD. I read other reviews saying things like Hoffman provides an "insect"-like portrayal of Willy... well, I think it's PERFECT! The chemistry between all the actors in this is incredible. I find it unfortunate that the popularity of this movie seems low, since many think Hoffman's shining moment is "Rainman" or something... though he was good in that, this is an ultimate performance. I particularly enjoy how the "live" stage feeling is used throughout the production, and you, the camera, are taken in to the Lowman homestead. I get chills EVERY time I see the climactic scene in the kitchen, and also the scene when Malkovitch grabs Hoffman's wrist & says "stop yelling at her." WOW. 5 stars for a stunning performance by all. Not a 'upper' kind of film, but certainly a deep and reflective one.

This is an emotionally-wrenching, beautifully-directed interpretation of the play many believe to be the finest ever written by an American. Unlike many theatrical adaptations, this one abounds with visual inventiveness and never feels "stage-bound." Schlondorff has found perfect visual equivalents to Miller's surreal stage directions,all while keeping this magnificent play intact, scene-for-scene, word-for-word.

And the acting! Kate Reid is simply overpowering as Linda---a role which too often is played subserviently and "mousily." This woman is a survivor, a wife who has devoted her life to her husband quite literally for better or for worse---and this story is about the "worse." Stephen Lang exudes just the right amount of amoral obliviousness as Happy. And John Malkovich, while physically wrong for Biff (especially next to the much beefier Lang), gives a performance of extraordinary anguish and intensity, making the climactic confrontation between son and father almost too painful to watch.

But...this may border on blasphemy, but for me, Dustin Hoffman proves jarringly mediocre as Willy Loman. He struts, he rants, he yells---but he is just never convincing in the part. Every time he moves, it appears "studied": he does not move like a tired old man, he moves like a vigorous young man who has learned to imitate a tired old man. His performance is filled with the kinds of little gestures and tics that Method actors learn from observation, but in this case they are never internalized, never built into a coherent performance. Indeed,this is a performance of "moments," and Hoffman is best in the quiet ones, when he is sitting out on the porch asking his wife if she remembers what things used to be like. At such times, he loses the gimmickry and becomes movingly human. But in the "big scenes," he mistakes volume for power, shrillness for emotion. With a weaker supporting cast, his limitations might not have been quite so noticable. But in the face of the extraordinary actors on view here, Hoffman all but disappears.

It is a serious problem, but Schlondorff's film largely overcomes it through visuals, montage, and the power of the rest of the cast. As it is, this film is not quite a classic, but it comes close. Very highly recommended.

I believe this movie to be a definitive version of Miller's work. The tone, mood, and imagery in this interpretation capture the essence of Willy Loman's life and death.

I cannot say enough about the acting - Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich lead the cast with performances of the absolute highest order! They deliver a poignance and a gravity unmatched in recent cinema. Their drama is enhanced by the superb supporting cast; each supporting character adds both depth and clarity to the two protagonists. The unseen sides of Willy and Biff become visable to us through their interactions with the small core cast.

I would be most interested in Arthur Miller's views on this adaptation.

John Malkovich's portrayl of Biff is among the greatest acting performances in movie history. I've always thought that the hero of this play is Biff, not Willy. This version makes Biff the hero. Biff has the strength to tell his dad that he is wrong and has been wrong and untruthful with himself his entire life. Willy hears it but refuses to believe it. Stephen Lang's performance is also outstanding, as a son that tries to make things seem not as bad as they actually are. The climax between Hoffman and Malkovich is among the best confrontations in movie history. This film, on all levels, shows the things young people see, and the things that old people forget. The Death of a Salesman teaches us to be truthful with ourselves, to not blindly accept what our fathers' expect from us, and to have the balls to admit things when they are wrong.

I am a big fan of Arthur Miller, especially "The Crucible" and "Death of a Salesman". This production of "Salesman" misses nothing in it's depiction of a confused man in the midst of suicide. Dustin Hoffman is brilliant. I loved it!!!

Dustin Hoffman is Willy Loman, the salesman who's come to the end of his rope as the illusions he's always believed in come crashing down on him. This was filmed originally for TV off the stage, with no attempt to make it into a "movie." It's a very great play, done extremely well here. I think I still might like the 1951 version with Frederic March as Loman a tad better, but Hoffman adds another feather to his cap. (Neither March nor Hoffman can top Lee J. Cobb's portrayal of Willy in the original 1949 stage version.) Kate Reid plays his harried wife Linda, John Malkovich is Biff, and Stephen Lang is Hap.

The "Private Conversations" piece, back-stage doings and interviews, is a let down after watching the movie. It completely knocks the wind out of the sails of the performance just seen.