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Salesman opening

No audio commentary available.
from Salesman (1968)
Created by Maysles Brothers
Distributed by Maysles Films/Criterion
Posted byCritical Commons Manager

The introductory sequence to the Maysles brothers' documentary Salesman

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Opening sequence of Salesman

by Critical Commons Manager

The opening sequence of Salesman deploys tropes of film noir in its title design

The opening sequence of the Maysles Brothers' classic observational documentary Salesman makes no attempt at concealing the presence of the filmmakers and the constructedness of the documentary. The opening sequence in fact introduces each "character" in the film (Bible salesmen) and identify each of them with a nickname "The Rabbit," "The Badger," etc. The film title itself also make a dramatic appearance, emerging from a nighttime road scene along with the headlights of an oncoming car. It would have been impossible in 1968 not to associate the night-for-night aesthetics of this opening sequence with film noir, even though this highly constructed genre of Hollywood feature films would seem to be the antithesis of a documentary that otherwise aims to present a detached and more or less objective portrait of its subjects.

Copyright 2010, by the Contributing Authors. Cite/attribute Resource. ccManager. (2010, January 07). Opening sequence of Salesman. Retrieved July 31, 2010, from Critical Commons Web site: http://criticalcommons.org/Members/ccManager/commentaries/opening-sequence-of-salesman. This work is licensed under a No Copyright; No Rights Reserved.