Likability Part 2

As You Like It
Character likability part 2

The great actor Jack Lemmon said about his character in Glengarry Glen Ross that he didn't want the guy to be likable. He thought Shelley Levine "isn't a nice man" and was not someone people should feel sorry for. Lemmon went on to say that in the early reviews of the film that "Jack Lemmon makes Shelley so likable…"

It might have been an unintended side effect of Jack Lemmon himself being such a likable presence - I'm not sure. I do remember Jack Lemmon's character in "Short Cuts" being someone I couldn't stand (and that was the point of the guy I think).

Lemmon thought Levine's likability may have come from him looking like a drowned rat in so many of his scenes: he was standing out in the rain. The scene where he struggles to make a sale to an uninterested customer is so painfully awkward. The guy has a daughter in the hospital and can't make ends meet. After the end of the movie, he probably doesn't fare very well. I guess to me, the guy is so pathetic and struggling that it's hard not to feel for him. I agree with Jack Lemmon, though - Levine was not a nice guy. His nastiness when he briefly feels on top of the world was hilarious, but didn't paint a flattering picture of this person.

I was gonna talk about a couple more examples and stories of likability in fictional characters but I seem to have rambled a bit, like ol' Shelley on a sales sit! So we'll see you again next time!

-Banes

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