Traveling Man (1989)

A poignant comedy about a middle-aged salesman trying to get his life and career back on track while being pushed and antagonized by an aggressive rookie he has been teamed up with.

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writer:

David Taylor

Stars:

John Lithgow, Jonathan Silverman, Margaret Colin

2 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
John Lithgow	...	Ben Cluett
Jonathan Silverman	...	Billy Fox
Margaret Colin	...	Joanna Reath
John Glover	...	Chick Beeler
John M. Jackson	...	Joe Blagdon
Chynna Phillips	...	Mona Voight
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Paul Armbruster	...	LeBeau
Dawn Arnemann	...	Cora
Suzi Bass	...	Cafe Waitress
Jerry Campbell	...	Lydell
Marc Clement	...	Harry Palatka
Diane Craig
Saundra Dunson-Franks	...	Molly (as Saundra Franks)
David Dwyer	...	Hunt
Christopher Ekholm	...	Bellboy

Storyline

A poignant comedy about a middle-aged salesman trying to get his life and career back on track while being pushed and antagonized by an aggressive rookie he has been teamed up with.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Margaret Colin's character is seen reading John Irving's novel The World According to Garp. She mistakenly refers to the character played by John Lithgow in the film version by the wrong name and his salesman character in this film corrects her.

User Reviews

HAS NOT A GRAM OF REALITY

A worthy assemblage is gathered for this film produced for cable television, with some first-rate players and excellent technicians aboard under the guidance of a capable director, yet this work lacks those attributes necessary for artistic success. A primary cause for this failure, as is so often the case, is a tritely created script that apparently causes director Irvin Kershner to lose heart in the proceedings, as the action and dialogue are so consistently fanciful and undeveloped that there is little justification for his attending to details or trying to establish a point of view among the discontinuity from within the foolish scenario. As the eponymous lead is John Lithgow as Ben Clewett, a salesman of industrial foam who has lost some of his edge, resulting in his being paired by his district manager (John Glover) with a neophyte drummer, Billy Fox (Jonathan Silverman), but their initial road trip becomes complicated when it is apparent that Billy is trying to garner Ben's position as his firm's premier huckster. While the duo is in a New Orleans gyrating with its Mardi Gras, Ben meets a young woman, Joanna (Margaret Colin) and they unexpectedly fall in love as depicted in a series of unconvincing scenes, whereafter the veteran road hawker must decide if he should continue to pursue a vocation that continues to ebb, or run off with his new love to her home city (Seattle) to begin anew. Lithgow is pleasing to watch, and he tries to overcome his banal lines, but Silverman's capricious accent serves but to accentuate his miscasting as a man from the Deep South, while Glover is interesting as ever to observe, but should have been toned down as his lack of range in this role becomes wearing. Filming takes place in an Atlanta and a New Orleans that even the most privileged of tourists rarely experience, but happily effects of haphazard direction and uneven editing are salved to an extent by the score of Miles Goodman, whose idiomatic Dixie based jazz rhythms help to bring about faith in the genuineness of motivation within the tired storyline that simply is not there.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 June 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Agente sì... ma di commercio!

Filming Locations:

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

HBO Pictures, Home Box Office (HBO)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1