Salesman

With this film, without doubt their most-discussed project, the Maysles brothers (along with Charlotte Zwerin) broke new ground. For the first time, they focussed on ordinary people and dared to make a full-length film about them. The story follows four door-to-door Bible salesmen over a period of six weeks, first in Boston and later on a sales trip in Miami. We follow their manly attempts to sell their goods to reluctant housewives and weary husbands. In the process, they use a whole repertoire of flattery and witticism. Not all four of them are equally successful, so the film not only shows the amusing but also the dramatic sides of a world that is mainly aimed at success and profits.