Is he the one decent man in the office, or is he just as crooked as the rest of them simply by virtue of the fact that he's working for the same completely crooked, morally bankrupt outfit?
He comes off as a somewhat reasonable, meek, mild-mannered, overworked stiff stuck in a bad situation, but he swindles people out of their money just like the rest of them. Simply put: he's just not nearly as good at swindling as Moss or Roma. Perhaps if he had better sales numbers, he'd be just as insufferable as the others.
I've always related to Aaronow the most out of all the characters in the film, but after thinking about it, it occurred to me that he's really no better than the rest of them if he makes his living using the same sleazy sales tactics to sell the same worthless swampland.
And we can infer that he HAS been successful in the past. He and Moss reminisced about selling Glen Ross Farms back in the '80s...if Aaronow hadn't been, at the very least, a decent salesman at one point in his career, he'd have been canned.
So knowing that, how many people might he have financially ruined throughout the course of his career, inadvertently or not?
The fact that he swindles people out of money just like Moss, Roma and Levine(and, ultimately, Williamson and his superiors) makes him crooked. However, as the OP said, he seems like he doesn't want to be a salesman and would rather be in some other line of work but for whatever reason has no other options, job-wise. He's just not as crooked as the others. There are degrees of everything in life.
And we can infer that he HAS been successful in the past. He and Moss reminisced about selling Glen Ross Farms back in the '80s...if Aaronow hadn't been, at the very least, a decent salesman at one point in his career, he'd have been canned.
There's no reference to Glen Ross Farms having been in the '80's. Levine is the one who references the '80's, and it's not in reference to Glen Ross Farms.
The dialog between Aaronow and Moss:
Moss:Remember when we were working Glen Ross Farms?
Aaronow:They came in....
Moss:They killed the golden goose.
Aaronow:goose...yes.
There's no timeframe given as to when this occurred. The brief dialog implies that Glen Ross Farms was a rare property, that perhaps was actually worth something, and customers for the property were easy to find and close. So that even Aaronow had no problem making sales. Moss implies that the firm sold too many parcels, in too short of a time, and didn't follow up with similar properties and leads. It was a brief period when all the salesmen had success with little effort.
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Very true, but I inferred that whatever golden era they were talking about with Glen Ross Farm occurred in the '80s because, with the film coming out in '92, odds are they experienced higher sales volumes during the '80s boom.
I'm aware that the play itself was written in 1984, but I'm referring strictly to the year that the film came out. Having said that, I might be way off.
Apparently there was a backstory written for Alan Arkin to use in his interpretation of George: he was a former schoolteacher.
THATS interesting! Where did you learn that?
It certainly makes sense. Basically I, like some of the previous posters, always felt that Aaranow's heart wasn't in his job, unlike the other three guys. As for my argument that he was crooked but just not as crooked as the others, he may even have felt bad about being a swindler and would rather be in some other profession. Levine, Roma and Moss on the other hand enjoy being salesmen so they view their customers as means to ends rather than human beings.
Perhaps the most revealing thing that backs this up is the fact that, unlike the other three, Aaranow(at least to me) doesn't actually seem to care about winning the sales contest. It's almost as if he's subconsciously hoping he might get fired, as though being unemployed is better than being a corrupt real estate agent. But he's so spineless and weak-willed--kind of like James Lingk--that he doesn't even have the guts to do what probably most of us think we would do in a similar predicament and that is to quit.
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That bit is in the IMDB trivia. And, upon rereading it I misspoke - it wasn't written for him - Arkin conceived of the backstory on his own.
And I think we are underestimating George here...there may be a lot more to him than meets the eye. After all, he gets the set of steak knives at the end of the day. Notice the film's final scene - the quick zoom on George as he seizes the window of opportunity left open to him. And one wonders how the transition from George to Shelley took place when it came to the robbery - when we left off with Dave and George, Dave was essentially blackmailing George because he "listened" to the robbery plot. So at some point George either a) called Dave's bluff on the blackmail *beep* and told him to stick it, or b) got Shelley involved without Dave's knowledge. We can only assume what happened in between hours where Dave had George in a corner and it being Shelley who was weak-willed enough to go through with the robbery. "B" doesn't really hold up, I don't think, due to the fact that Shelley was so scared *beep* by Williamson at the end he blabbed it was Moss who was in on it. Shelley would have no reason to protect George, because he likely had no knowledge of Moss's initial recruitment of George.
Notice how scared of George Dave is at the end of the movie. And vice versa. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's been a while wince I've seen the movie, but do Shelley and George share even one bit of dialogue in the entire movie?
Please nest your IMDB page, and respond to the correct person -
Just before Blake's tirade, George complained about having a lady in White Plains on the hook before telling him she had to speak with her lawyer first.
Shelley asked him incredulously, "You let her speak with her lawyer??" to which George responds, "What could I do?", and Shelley resignedly replies, "I dunno."
That exchange may actually be the only one between the two in the film.
I took it as a given that George wouldn't agree to the scheme. He stood up to Moss and wouldn't let Moss back him into anything. So Moss preyed on Shelly next. Shelly was desperate enough to do it. There's a scene with him on the phone right before it cuts to Aaronow and Moss talking. Shelly is distressed in the phone call and tells whoever he's talking to he'll "have the money by tomorrow." I guess that maybe gives George one degree more of integrity than the others, which isn't saying much. They are all pretty much scuzz at the bottom of the barrel.
Perhaps the most revealing thing that backs this up is the fact that, unlike the other three, Aaranow(at least to me) doesn't actually seem to care about winning the sales contest. It's almost as if he's subconsciously hoping he might get fired, as though being unemployed is better than being a corrupt real estate agent. But he's so spineless and weak-willed--kind of like James Lingk--that he doesn't even have the guts to do what probably most of us think we would do in a similar predicament and that is to quit.
I've always seen Aaronow as a survivalist. He wants a steady job with enough money to eat and pay his bills. This has been obtainable in the past with a sale here and there. But now the last man on the board at the end of the month is going to be fired, and there's one week left until the end of the month. Survival for Aaronow has taken on a new level of urgency.
In Aaronow's case, I don't think quitting is a viable option. Hanging on and hoping for a sale by the end of the month, is the lesser of two evils. If he doesn't make it he'll need a new job anyway.
As far as what most of us would do, I think that depends on our individual skillsets and the job market that exist at the time. These salesmen are not educated or trained men, that are in demand in the workplace. Roma's the only one that could walk out and get another job.
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Also keep in mind that this film came out in '92 and there was a recession going on, so that probably made people watching the film at the time sympathize with desperate people hanging on to whatever job they had.
There are a lot of boiler room sales positions like this available
None of the salesmen are certified or licensed to sell,they just have the gift of gab, a sincere act, whatever it takes to sell, and they can be successful, sort of.
Real estate and stocks are the biggest ones.
Usually only the owners and the office managers are licensed or certified.
The salesman makes the sale, gets the signature on the line that is dotted, but doesn't sign himself, he takes the paperwork back in and the office manager takes it from there.
He gets his commision and moves on
You don't have to stand tall, but you do have to stand up!