Kind of depressing. We see traveling door-to-door salesmen trying to sell illustrated Bibles. They gets names through local Catholic churches. The Bibles are $40, around $280 in today's money. Amazing they sold any but it shows why they were okay making so few sales a day. But it sounds like some were making pretty good money.
Some were more high pressure than others. In their motel room, one mimics his mother talking about his more successful brother. None of them seemed very pleasant and they all seemed kind of pitiful.
Made by the Maysles Brothers in 1968.
The poor guys smoke cigarettes, they drive convertibles, they share motel rooms. We see in people's homes in the late '60's. One man in a wifebeater turns on the stereo. He plays a semi-classical instrumental version of the Beatles' "Yesterday" while his wife discusses terms of the sale.
They say in the commentary that Paul, the main focus of the film, died just a few years while the film was shown on TV for the first time.
On the commentary track, they talk about how people react to the cameras. Everyone seems natural. People don't seem to mind being filmed. Only one looks briefly at the camera. In one case, a woman walks in while they're filming---walks in unexpectedly and finds a camera crew in the living room and is completely at ease with it. It might because it was so alien to them. I don't know how people today would react. Having a camera pointed at you isn't much of a novelty anymore.
Filmed by two guys, two brothers. Filmed on Kodak Plus X black & white, 125 ASA in tungsten light.
Available on Filmstruck
The poor guys smoke cigarettes, they drive convertibles, they share motel rooms. We see in people's homes in the late '60's. One man in a wifebeater turns on the stereo. He plays a semi-classical instrumental version of the Beatles' "Yesterday" while his wife discusses terms of the sale.
They say in the commentary that Paul, the main focus of the film, died just a few years while the film was shown on TV for the first time.
On the commentary track, they talk about how people react to the cameras. Everyone seems natural. People don't seem to mind being filmed. Only one looks briefly at the camera. In one case, a woman walks in while they're filming---walks in unexpectedly and finds a camera crew in the living room and is completely at ease with it. It might because it was so alien to them. I don't know how people today would react. Having a camera pointed at you isn't much of a novelty anymore.
Filmed by two guys, two brothers. Filmed on Kodak Plus X black & white, 125 ASA in tungsten light.
Available on Filmstruck
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