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It may be longtime local lore, but I hadn't either seen the movie or looked into the story until recently.
Our cover story this week is about Rio Rancho.
I remember when I moved to Albuquerque and heard stories in the newsroom about the foundation of Albuquerque's neighbor city.
Large swaths of land were purchased by the AMREP Corporation and its subsidiaries shortly after the New York company was founded in the 1960s.
Rio Rancho was parceled out in half-acre lots and sold, in part, with unscrupulous sales tactics to thousands of people back on the East Coast, who thought they were buying either a dream home or making a short-term investment that was sure to be a lock.
Business and government leaders said that 50 years later, those transactions still have an effect on economic development in Rio Rancho and Sandoval County.
The county occasionally gets approached by people who have inherited undeveloped land and want to give it away. A developer tracks down relatives of landowners and tries to assemble the land into larger developments, including neighborhood and businesses.
The Pulitzer-prize winning play and movie "Glengarry Glen Ross" are loosely based on the salesman who peddled Rio Rancho Estates.
I read the play in high school and was familiar with the movie and its "always be selling" catch phrase. But I hadn't seen it before. I watched it last week to come up with the lead for the centerpiece story.
I would recommend you read the story in Outlook and watch the movie. Whatever order you prefer.
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The movie is a sharp critique on American business. I'm going to recommend that the Journal's business desk staff all watch it, too.
It's also a stellar movie, with another New Mexico connection.
Though he's only in the movie for a few minutes at the beginning, Alec Baldwin steals the show.
He delivers a profanity-laced monologue that is not for the faint of heart. The movie came out in 1992, and some of the slurs he throws around will make every modern audience member cringe.
Baldwin would have never imagined that 30 years after his performance as an villainous salesman who wanted to motivate salesmen to hawk Rio Rancho Estates, he'd be standing trial in New Mexico for accidently shooting a woman on a movie set outside of Santa Fe. A judge tossed out the charges against him earlier this year.
Overall, it's an A-rated movie with a sign that says "Rio Rancho Estates" hanging above the sales floor.
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We had some other significant business stories last week that were in the paper and not Outlook.
•Our world-famous balloon fiesta is changing its name to the ExxonMobil Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. The largest energy company in the U.S. is the first title sponsor in 20 years.
• Local government and business leaders announced plans to create a Tax Increment Financing district in Downtown Albuquerque. The TIF will allow the city to reinvest a portion of property tax growth in the back into the district. That could encourage more economic activity in the heart of Albuquerque.
