Slasher

Excellent documentary dealing with a almost likable used car pitchman, his sidekick Mud, a glum disk jockey, and a host of car salesmen. I refuse to buy a car from a lot just because of the phony "smiling faces" which were represented here in abundance. These salesmen all were adept at saying one thing while plotting how to run a game on the buyer. A game in which the dice were loaded heavily in favor of the dealership, of course. The Slasher claimed he never lies to a buyer, yet in reality the entire shell game he is running is based on a layer cake of sweet sounding half truths, deceptive number crunching, and a sham facade of glib friendliness hiding a hideous mask of evil greed. It was sad to see easily swayed folks wanting to believe they were getting a good car for $88, but what may have been even more grievous was the toll on the Slasher himself; not to mention his cronies. One simply cannot build a fruitful life leading into a pleasant future while deceiving not only his customers but himself with shady business practices. I feel that goes doubly for the "dollar is God" money men who hired this hyperactive, miserably unhappy 'whore' to do the dirty work they were unable to do themselves.

This is an unpleasant film to watch. It is about a "Slasher", a guy who goes in and stages huge sales at used car lots where they clear out all their backed-up inventory at slightly lower prices. The slasher brings in a DJ and his own sales force and the lot is extravagantly decorated with balloons and streamers and beautiful girls are hired to act as models for the weekend. It's kind of like a party.

In this case, director John Landis and his documentary crew follow Southern California Slasher Michael Bennett (and his crew) to a used car lot in Memphis, TN where they ready the lot for the sale and get pumped up to try and sell at least 50 cars so they can win their bonus. In between, they spend a lot of time drinking beer, smoking, hanging out at strip clubs and looking generally unhappy.

It's sad and gut-wrenching. You can't help but feel for Michael Bennett. You certainly feel how much he cares for his family but it's also clear what a skin-scraping profession he is locked into. You also feel the horrible tension between him and his DJ, especially in an argument they have at the end (about the best way to get to the airport!!) that nearly erupts into a fist fight. Bennett drinks almost constantly and you can see the wear and tear on him.

What's doubly horrific is watching the Slasher rip off honest people who have come in to try and buy a car and then are bullied into a buying a total lemon. You come away feeling awful for everyone in the entire movie. Also, the pacing (lots of jump cuts and lively Memphis soul) doesn't really reflect the gravitas and misery that's captured on the screen. I think it was assembled in kind of a slap-dash fashion. Maybe the director thought he was filming something more fun than he actually was.

The one oasis of sanity in the whole affair turns out to be "Mud", Slasher's mercenary closer. A towering, militaristic figure, Mud at first comes off as unsympathetic but is ultimately revealed to be a shrewd thinker and devoted family man. He also gives the film its one true moment of levity as he describes (with great humor) how it was only after his wife "kicked his ass" did he realize she was the one he was going to marry.

I just saw this on the Independent Film Channel, and I really liked it in the same way that I enjoyed Glengarry Glenross, although GGGR was much better. Once you got past the main character's obvious superficial charisma (not always appealing charisma, btw) the film made clear the sad, thankless life a salesman leads, and that this guy was their "leader", a highly paid sales consultant, is astonishing. The movie was depressing and highly instructive, and very entertaining. Anyone who likes films with interesting characters, or anyone who has ever been in sales at any level, or even anyone who is in the market for a used car should enjoy this film.

Slasher won't be the first or last examination of the desperation, mood swings, and practical sexual comparisons (how's the performance going one might wonder, keep in mind they're all male sellers after all) in the world of salesmen. The Maysles brothers first took it on back in the 60s, and while John Landis may not ever reach the heights of being an exceptional documentary filmmaker, he has a lot more fun than the Maysles ever would, specially with a topic like this. The world of used car salesmen is sleazy and based on sensationalism and tricks as opposed to being straightforward, so Landis tries to take that same approach with his style, as he uses the city of Memphis almost as another character, if only in subtext, in this special part of the car salesman's year. Michael Bennet is the principle figure here, as the 'slasher', who flies in to Memphis (whether it's every year or not I can't say, though he appears to trump his track record whenever he can) and sells cars at low-low prices. Which means, considering there's no warranty and the many potential problems with the used cars, you get not necessarily what you pay for but the ideal of what the seller gets you to pay for, if that makes sense.

As mentioned, there's some flashy editing here, with images flying by at times to great R&B songs- strongly in the vein of the Blues Brothers mold- and we get a sense soon enough of what the slasher and his cohorts have to deal with: Memphis is a city mostly bankrupt, with the exception of the mega-industry of Fed-Ex, and even when the slasher goes to lengths to take off thousands of dollars it's not enough for certain people. It's here that Landis, with his great amount of access, digs into the particulars of the used-car scheme. The gimmick for the slasher, which is meant to drag in as many as possible Memorial Day weekend, is that cars are as LOW as $88. Which means most of them, of course, are not that much (there's a running gag involving the first $88 car, with a bag of bad fish lying in the back of the car). But even amid the pandemonium that Bennet tries to conjure with his microphone and the music blaring in the background, some people just don't get convinced. It's here that one sees firsthand what BS is all about in the simple act of having to sell something, like when a customer won't settle for the price due to a father-in-law, and in elapsed time of over two hours it becomes a see-saw of half-truths and misnomers. It's never boring, at the least, even when one feels the salesmen sink to new lows.

But Landis's chief subject, Bennet, is a very good subject for Slasher because of how he's not totally an un-human business drone who sells crap to people completely. Well, a lot of time he does, to be sure, hence the cheap tuxedo he wears every day as he strains his voice. Yet it's strange that Landis should make the visual comparison at the start of the film, showing presidents of the past in blatant lies, because even through all of the slasher's go-for-broke tactics of getting people to get cars there is a sense that he's not being dishonest entirely with himself to his public audience. And at least Bennet is candid enough, unlike a politician, to let the viewer into his big follies and flaws: he boozes like a bum and smokes whenever he can, brings some vulgar speech in his rants in his hotel room and in a interesting scene a garage lot, and will have a good time at a strip club. And throughout his wheeling and dealing, one sees him start to break down over the course of three days, and even in his blatant lying seems down to earth in a strange way, like when he makes his last confession-type talk to the camera in the car. Meanwhile, Landis, like Bennet, tries to make this into as much of a showman's game as it is a job, and never keeps things still for too long, while still getting at the human elements on all sides be they the gruffish, lively buyers of the cars (all relatively low-income families) or just the workers at the dealership who just get bags popcorn to eat for lunch.

In the end, Landis doesn't paint a definitive picture of what the life of a used car salesman is, as he's attempting to get a significant piece of what it's like for a salesman on the hottest weekend of the year, nor is he getting a complete portrait of Memphis (though he tries, including Elvis bits scattered around). But it's a lot of fun, and enlightening in some spots, and it marks as a minor return to form for Landis, albeit in documentary form.

Good movie, is it worth the price to buy it? No, but it is worth it to watch it. It shows the car biz as it really is, the last of the horse traders." The Slasher" himself is one of the most intense persons that you will ever see on a screen and by the end if you do not feel somewhat sorry for him you must have lost your soul somewhere. The rest of the cast of this Docurama is interchangeable with any car lot in the USA.Production values were good, great use of jump cuts but not up to what I expected from the director of the blues brothers though.. Would love to see a John Landis comedy movie made on this subject. This is the way it is for car salesman everyday, they want to make money and you want to pay cost. I hope it never ends.