This is a made for TV version of Arthur Miller's famous play. It shows the salesman, Willie Loman, in his later years. While he'd been a braggart with delusions of greatness, here the man is facing rock bottom. Can he face it with dignity or will be give in to dispair? And, what about the impact on his family?
Back when "Death of a Salesman" debuted as a play, Lee J. Cobb played the lead, WIllie Loman. And, when the play went to Broadway, Cobb once again played the lead. So, when they decided to do a televised version of the play, having Cobb return was a major boon. It also didn't hurt that the play featured a lot of exceptional supporting actors...such as George Segal, James Farentino, Gene Wilder, Edward Andrews and ALbert Dekker. However, despite all these pluses, the film has one problem that keep it from being great...it's an abridged version of the play. It runs 100 minutes. To put it into perspective, a made for TV version from the 1980s starring Dustin Hoffman ran 136 minutes...so obviously this 1966 version leaves quite a bit out of the story. For this reason alone, I can't score this one higher than 8.
Back when "Death of a Salesman" debuted as a play, Lee J. Cobb played the lead, WIllie Loman. And, when the play went to Broadway, Cobb once again played the lead. So, when they decided to do a televised version of the play, having Cobb return was a major boon. It also didn't hurt that the play featured a lot of exceptional supporting actors...such as George Segal, James Farentino, Gene Wilder, Edward Andrews and ALbert Dekker. However, despite all these pluses, the film has one problem that keep it from being great...it's an abridged version of the play. It runs 100 minutes. To put it into perspective, a made for TV version from the 1980s starring Dustin Hoffman ran 136 minutes...so obviously this 1966 version leaves quite a bit out of the story. For this reason alone, I can't score this one higher than 8.