Death of Some Salesmen story
Judd Campbell is a conniving salesman who cheats people out of their money by selling them expensive burial plots for a fake cemetery. When he ends up arriving at a wrong address, he finds new victims in the form of Ma, Pa, and Winona Brackett, a strange family of rednecks with a fortune buried in their basement. Unfortunately, the Bracketts have developed a burning hatred for salesmen after being swindled once too often, and Judd ends up getting more than what he bargains for when he tries to swindle them. Directed by: Gilbert Adler. Story by: A. L. Katz.
18 total · 2 choice · 10 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| greed for riches | choice | Judd reveled in the craft of pursuing people to part with their purses. His avarice became unmistakable in the end when he was strung along with the promise of hidden loot in the basement. |
| the desire for vengeance | choice | Pa and Ma Brackett had been hoodwinked by a salesman in the past, and now amused themselves by taking cruel and ironic revenge on any such person that has the audacity to knock on their door. |
| con artistry | major | The swindler Judd got more than he bargained for when he tried to cheat a rural couple out of their money by offering them an expensive burial plot in a fake cemetery. |
| coping with being disfigured | major | Winona was self-conscious about her grotesque physical appearance the centerpiece of which was a pronounced hunchback. |
| father and daughter | major | Pa Brackett and his hideous daughter Winona. |
| husband and wife | major | Pa and Ma Brackett were united by their shared animus toward traveling salesmen. |
| mother and daughter | major | Ma Brackett and his hideous daughter Winona. |
| serial murder | major | Pa and Ma Brackett had brutally murdered a number of traveling salesmen that had come knocking on the door of their rural home. |
| test of love | major | Ma and Pa Brackett tested Judd's self-professed love for their hideous daughter, Winona, by arranging to see whether he would kill her and escape his captivity in their home when given the chance. |
| the art of salesmanship | major | Judd reveled in the craft of pursuing people to part with their purses and maidens to part with their virtue. In the end he got a taste of his own medicine, and Pa told him "it wasn't a lie, just salesmanship!". |