Salesman

Salesman follows four door-to-door Bible salesmen: Paul Brennan, Charles McDevitt, James Baker, and Raymond Martos. The film focuses most strongly on Paul Brennan, nicknamed The Badger, as his sales confidence breaks down.

Salesman is a landmark of American direct cinema, made by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin. It avoids narration and staged interviews, instead observing real sales calls in places such as New England and Florida.

Salesman was theatrically released in 1969, with its first New York screening at the 68th Street Playhouse. The footage was shot earlier, during the late 1960s, when the Maysles team followed the salesmen on the road.

Religion is part of the surface because the men are selling expensive Catholic Bibles. The deeper subject is American sales culture, pressure, embarrassment, and the loneliness of commission work in the 1960s.