Cinema is filled with salesmen. Willy Loman was never able to hack it going door-to-door, but Don Draper definitely could, if given the opportunity. Michael Scott may be socially inept, but if you need paper, he’s your guy; and no one could dare turn down a used car from a charismatic Kurt Russell. Watching people sell stuff, remarkably, sells, which is probably why there are countless fictional stories about people—though it definitely tends to lean more heavily towards men—trying their hand at making money off other people’s need to consume. This is why Stanley Jacobs’ documentary Pitch People is such a fascinating watch. After all, who hasn’t seen a late-night commercial advertising everything from Flowbees to ShamWows where some captivating salesperson is telling you to “Call now!” or risk losing out on this incredible deal?
Initially released in 1999, Pitch People has gotten the restorative treatment so that now we can watch riveting—and it truly is riveting—footage of magnetic salespeople trying to convince crowds to buy their unique products. The film takes a look at the history of the profession—“the world’s second oldest” as they say—in an attempt at capturing the role of the pitch within society. Many of the people interviewed have made their living off convincing others to buy products they don’t actually need, and it truly is interesting to watch just how easily some of these people are able to command a crowd. The film is filled with adages about what makes a good salesperson, too. In order to sell product, you must appear “bigger than life” and understand that in the business of selling, money is the equivalent of applause. The pitch is its own kind of cinematic achievement, and if you are going to be successful, you need to treat the process like a performance.
Even though the footage in Pitch People is over 20 years old, the idea of using a person to sell a product remains entirely intact in today’s society. And while the concept of someone going door-to-door trying to get you to buy the next big thing is a little bit absurd these days, we are still being influenced to purchase by, you guessed it, influencers on social media.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are filled with individuals hawking their favorite (read: sponsored) products —anyone want to subscribe to Thrive Market or maybe get themselves a nice pair of Rothy’s?—and even though these people aren’t literally standing on our doorsteps, we are still inviting them into our living rooms while saying, “Tell me more.” But here is where Pitch People falls short. It is a documentary from another time filled with dated footage and even more dated ideologies. Watching it often feels more like a spectacle than an actual, relevant look at the profession, and the fact that this is a rerelease makes it even more disappointing that the filmmakers didn’t take the opportunity to expand on their story with information about today’s influencer-heavy culture. Because of this, the movie doesn’t feel revived or particularly poignant in any way. It just feels stuck in the past, the Willy Loman of documentaries, never fully able to reinvent itself in order to convince us that its message and its method still matter. As a record of a particular moment in time, Pitch People succeeds at capturing the culture and the consumerism of the late ‘90s and early aughts. Just don’t expect it to go any further than that.
Photo courtesy of SJPL Films
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