‘Pitch People’ Review – In Our Business, Mad Men Use Magic Knives

William Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts.”

So what are pitchmen? Are they conmen or theater actors? Do they work purely on stage or are they puppeteers controlling their public personas with hidden threads? Stanley Jacobs’ Pitch People lets us in on a fascinating world of mystery, stage magic tricks, and intense ability to read people. Jacobs interviews pitchmen and they boast about their successes and the heydays of their jobs like retired movie stars. He creates a parallel universe to Matthew Weiner’s Mad Men that oozes with energy and movement. I wondered; what if someone decides to turn the kitchen where the pitch business is created into serialized television?

The documentary is visually breathtaking, relying on edits of various items pitched and sold by these professionals. It elevates food and products like professional commercial videography. It creates a sensationalist escapist world where food and other consumer products become the feast for the senses, heightening the lust for these products and their sellers.

A film about the rapid-fire process of the sell has to be fast-paced and well-shot even if it contains a myriad of interviews. That’s what Jacobs perfectly succeeds in capturing. Not a moment is wasted or stretched for longer than it should. The documentary takes viewers on this journey behind the scenes of how a whole profession thrived on the shoulders of those who held it close; the pitchmen.

Each pitchman has a unique story to tell, they generously share their expertise and craft, giving an added meaning to what a pitch business is made of. The documentary is also revelatory on the mindset of consumers. How people develop an added interest or a need in something they have never been interested in. An insight into the human psyche that doesn’t feel like another psychoanalysis session or a redundant masterclass, but one of those carnival attractions, where stop-motion creatures come to life. The director beautifully frames hands and showcases them as if they have a life separate from their owners. Hands actively put the products on display, which brings to mind artistic images of painters falling in love with their subjects. 

Jacobs’ research has paid off with a ton of footage, clips, interviews, and archival material. In that process, he has made objects and items advertised as protagonists in the documentary along with their sellers. Inanimate objects become alive and their names stick to the memory. Advertised products bring along with them nostalgia for simpler times when late-night television ads used to be the sole source of entertainment but also the driving power of sales and advertising before the age of influencer marketing where the sell is all about the fame of the person advertising a product, not the product itself.

Pitch People is a love letter to a time gone and forgotten. TVs had power and people have all been manipulated through one, direct source, rather than an overflow of information and providers, with opposing opinions standing on both ends of the spectrum. 

Pitch People will be available on digital platforms such as iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and Google Play on May 17, 2024, courtesy of SJPL Films. The never-before-seen film has been restored in 4K for its 25th anniversary.