Salesman

Who sells the most Bibles? A masterful close-up of the USA at the end of the 1960s.

The Bible is the world's bestseller, we’re told right at the beginning of ›Salesman‹, thus making one thing immediately clear: this is not about religion, but about business. In this key work of direct cinema, Albert and David Maysles (together with editor Charlotte Zwerin) follow four salesmen as they travel from New England to Florida. Along the way, they watch the men try to win over skeptical housewives while staying in cheap motels. ›Salesman‹ is not only an often delightfully absurd portrait of the four travelers and their work, but also a piece of American gloom far from the metropolises, whose mood is reminiscent of Robert Frank's photographs in "The Americans". In 1969, the film was awarded a Filmdukat.

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