Best Salesmen Characters In Movies

We're a bit biased, but we believe there's no question that Don Draper is the best salesmen of all-time on Television. Selling happiness is an art and he is one of the best. So, this led us to speculate about who are the best salesmen, con artists, sweet-talkers, swindlers, and Bullshitters in the Movies.

Below you'll find a stacked ranking of the movie characters who we believe could sell anything to anyone (even if they aren't pure sales characters). To refresh your memory, we've also included video clips when possible.

Top 25 Salesmen Movie Characters:

1. Blake Portrayed by Alec Baldwin in *Glengarry Glen Ross* For knowing his ABCs: Always Be Closing! The man doesn't even give coffee to his employees that don't close and the 3rd place prize in his contests earns you unemployment.	2. Gordon Gecko Portrayed by Michael Douglas in Wall Street He’s one of the biggest stock speculators on Wall Street and manipulates the market using inside information, combined with slick presentation skills. Gordon Gekko’s motto says it all: “Greed is Good.”
3. Ricky Roma Portrayed by Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross Pacino's character is a master salesmen. His preferred method is to establish a relationship with the prospect, gain their trust, anticipate their every objection then turns the sale into an act of sophistication and validation on the part of the purchaser.	4. Chris Varick Portrayed by Vin Diesel in Boiler Room Chris Varick tops the list with his focus on pumping and dumping stocks by selling shares of defunct companies to people who didn't want them in the first place. This sales call scene where the office watches Chris scam a doctor is much like this list: all others could watch Chris and learn a thing or two about pressure selling.
5. Frank Abagnale Jr. Portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in *Catch Me If You Can* In the movie and in real-life, the young teenager conned his way into becoming a pilot, doctor, and attorney while collecting millions of dollars from check fraud. Although he was eventually caught, he was so good at what he did that the government eventually turned to him for help catching other criminals.	6. Jonas Nightengale Portrayed by Steve Martin in Leap of Faith Some people sink low, but none sank lower than Steve Martin in Leap of Faith where he poses as a Faith Healer to con church-goers out of their money. His use of hidden mics and other technology to appear as a prophet to make profit is legendary.
7. John Beckwith & Jeremy Grey Portrayed by Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers Most others on this list con people out of their money - Owen & Vince con females out of their clothes in Wedding Crashers. These guys have got wedding party one-night stands down to an art. Watch and learn.	8. Freddy Benson & Lawrence Jamieson Portrayed by Steve Martin and Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Male gold diggers.Gotta appreciate two men who con rich women for a living. Their primary method is to create a character with a sad story and appeal to their victims emotions.
9. Jim Young Portrayed by Ben Affleck in *Boiler Room* Ben Affleck's scene in the board room is priceless. Watch him explain sales strategy, including the f-off questions and how there is not such thing as a no-sale call.	10. Bugs Bunny Portrayed by Mel Blanc in *Looney Tunes* Though mostly thought of as a TV character, Bugs has been in a few movies. Bugs, one of the few original con artists, is the only animated character to make the list.
11. Henry "Shaw" Gondroff Portrayed by Paul Newman in *The Sting* In this classic con film, Paul Newman plays a down-and-out con artist who's pretending to run a con, which is really part of another con, in order to take revenge on a previous, failed con. Get it? Got it? Good.	12. Jerry McGuire & Rod Tidwell Portrayed by Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry McGuire Jerry sells athletes and NFL player Rod "Show Me The Money" sells Jerry on how important he is. Though neither of them are very successful in the movie, their lines and sales tactics are amazing.
13. Axel Foley Portrayed by Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop Though he is technically on the right side of the law, Axel Foley could talk his way into anything using his rapid fire speaking style followed by his patented laugh.	14. Emory Leeson Portrayed by Dudley Moore in *Crazy People* In Crazy People, Emory Leeson learned that truth is gold in the advertising business. Of course, he had to be admitted to a psychiatric hopsital and take the advice of a bunch of mental patients to do so, but you can't argue with results.
15. Danny Ocean & Rusty Ryan Portrayed by George Clooney and Brad Pitt in *Ocean's Eleven* Con men Danny Ocean and Rusty Ryan pull of the biggest casino heist of all time in this comedy about crime and conning. They do so with the help of 9 other professionals, alter egos, and red herrings, but at the end of the day, it all comes down to smooth-talking.	16. Max & Page Conners Portrayed by Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt in Heartbreakers Max and Page Conners, a mother-daughter con team, live and breath by one rule: sex sells. These ladies make a living out of making men fall in love with them with seduction and lies. A little flirting never hurt anybody. Well, until now...
17. Ferris Bueller Portrayed by Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off The king of skipping school, Ferris Bueller "does whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and never gets nailed." Imagine how dangerous Bueller would be after graduating High School.	18. Jake & Elwood Blues Portrayed by John Belushi and Dan Akroyd in The Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood Blues manage to convince all the former members of the band, club owners, and the City of Chicago that they are “on a mission from God” in this classic John Landis movie.
19. Van Wilder Portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in Van Wilder The Ferris Bueller of college, Van Wilder is the most popular guy on campus (for the past 7 years). He's full of advice: "Write that down."	20. Juror #8 Portrayed by Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men Eleven of the jurors immediately vote guilty in a murder trial; only Juror No. 8 casts a not guilty vote for discussion and manages to convince the others to change their votes to not guilty.
21. Nick Marshall Portrayed by Mel Gibson in What Women Want When womanizer Nick Marshall is granted with the power to hear women's thoughts, he naturally takes advantage of the situation. He uses this talent both to sell ad campaigns and get the girl, while avoiding going completely crazy.	22. Jerry Webster Portrayed by Rock Hudson in Lover Come Back Jerry Webster is in the advertising business, he is a master of the art of gentle persuasion - plus he uses alcohol and women to ensure contracts.
23. Roy Waller Portrayed by Nicholas Cage in Matchstick Men Roy Waller is a con man working in LA who suffers from a near-crippling combination of agoraphobia, mysophobia, OCD, and a nervous tic. Despite all this, Waller manages to make a living conning unsuspecting civilians into buying overpriced water filtration systems with his charm and finesse.	24. Del Griffith Portrayed by John Candy in Trains, Planes and Automobiles No one's got selling skills like Del Griffith. One part charm, one part loveable goof, Griffith is a happy-go-lucky shower curtain ring salesman who could convince you to wear shower curtain rings in your ears as jewelry.
25. Thomas R. "Tommy" Callahan III Portrayed by Chris Farley in Tommy Boy Incompetent, immature, and dimwitted, Tommy must save his dad's company from a con man. Tommy hits the road to sell brake pads in his own Chris Farley way.	For the List of Honorable Mentions that are great but did not make the cut! Honorable Mentions

BIGCAT61	Latest page update: made by BIGCAT61 , Jul 9 2009, 4:53 PM EDT (about this update About This Update Edited by BIGCAT61 view changes - complete history)
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foundbypat

Missed one

Jul 10 2009, 7:01 PM EDT by BIGCAT61

Thread started: Jul 9 2009, 11:06 PM EDT Watch

Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor in "Thank You For Smoking"

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BIGCAT61

Best Salesmen In Movies!

Jul 9 2009, 3:11 PM EDT by BIGCAT61

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So I don't know what you think but i feel that this list is pretty comprehensive!.. if you feel that the rankings do not do justice... sound off and let's see what ranking you come up with!!

Cheers!

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