Slasher

Michael Bennett, the titular character in John Landis' documentary, is a free-lance car salesman who travels the country helping car dealerships boost their sales on particular weekends by, you guessed it, slashing prices.

Apparently Bennett's very good at this and he puts on a carnival barker-like show that is in turns funny, hectic, tiring and obnoxious. Watching Bennett do his shtick exhausts the viewer because this chap runs like a fast-paced motor without an off-switch.

The problem is Landis films just one weekend in Bennett's life - when the "Slasher" travels to a dealership in Memphis, Tenn., "the bankruptcy capital of the world." In an interview on IFC, Landis said he initially planned to make a documentary about the effects of President Bush's economic policies, but wound up going in a different direction when he met Bennett.

Landis lets us peek at some of the inner workings of Bennett and his two friends - a DJ and a "mercenary" salesman. We get to see them work the crowd, as well as hear their asides when interviewing young women for the weekend gig (some of their comments are a bit cruel) and reacting to customers' comments (we see how they manipulate customers).

But as engaging as Bennett is - a wound-up beer-guzzling machine who also is a loving husband and father - a little bit of him goes a long way, a very long way. If Landis wanted to capture one weekend in Bennett's life, a documentary short would have sufficed.

For a feature, we need to see more, not more of the same thing, which is what we get here. Landis should have spent more time with Bennett's wife, who sees her husband two days a week. We see only a few snippets of Bennett with his family and it would have made for great cinema. Also, seeing whether Bennett changed from city to city, whether his routine varied depending on the economic and geographic conditions of the area, would have made for a better story.

And two crucial questions Landis does not even raise, much less answer, are how did Bennett get into this business and why does he do it? Yes, the money's great, but is there something else that draws Bennett to do this, to be away from his family for five days per week, especially when he says he'd like to be home with them? We never find out what attracts Bennett to this job.

Although it runs under 90 minutes, "Slasher" seems like it's about 30 minutes too long. Many scenes seem redundant and at the end of the film we don't know much more about Bennett than we did in the first few minutes. It's still worth a look, though.

How this guy got a documentary team to follow him around I'll have no idea. This character was one of the hardest to watch that I've across in a long time. Alcoholics are depressing to watch, hyperactive people are just frustrating. But a hyperactive alcoholic? C'mon... the guy was hanging off the back of the driver's seat right from the beginning, and was obviously on more than just the beers he had for breakfast. Throughout the entire film Michael Bennett looked like a crystal meth addict who had gone without his fix for far too long.

For me, this was a very depressing show to watch. It basically documented the down-and-out ripping off the have-nots. It was sad to watch he had a family and a wife. People like this, in neighborhoods like this, behaving this way, and the intelligence levels of basically everyone on camera from beginning to end (except his poor family), give a glimpse of the possible tragic future awaiting America.

This is a documentary of an American city falling apart at the seams.

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.

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.

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.