Had Caswell simply put more trust in Shaw, he would have voted "Yes," in the first round, and the matter would have been closed, with a decidedly different outcome. He obviously overplayed his hand. Funny how things work out, right?
share[deleted]
But Shaw also overplayed his hand. Remember how, after his meeting with Caswell in his office, Shaw was giving directions to his secretary and, seeing Caswell's shadow in the outer doorway, beckoned her in and began loudly telling her to bring him Caswell's personal file, including the SEC report on the Luckheim case (obviously some other fishy deal Caswell had been involved in)? Caswell had good reason to suspect Shaw's intentions, and later realized in the preliminary vote that he did indeed control Shaw's fate. It was just neat that he out-smarted himself -- but then, throughout this movie, people are constantly misreading and mishandling events, all up until the fortuitous outcome.
Now here's a question...what did the new president, Don Walling, do -- if anything -- about Caswell, his stock manipulations, and his continued membership on the Tredway board in light of his machinations? They obviously had to get rid of him from the board -- but they also needed to contain any scandal that might affect the new leadership or undermine the company's stock price. So what might Walling and the others have done? Help him break even, or at least contain his losses, in exchange for his resignation and forfeiture of any outstanding Tredway stock or other interest he might have held?
Shaw was a relatively scrupulous man? Let's see...he basically blackmails the Sales VP by letting him know he knows about the affair with the secretary, he's willing to make a shady stock deal to gain another vote, and whatever deal he made with Ms Tredway was never really stated but it was implied that he had promised her something. Shaw is the one truly unscrupulous man in the film.
shareI agree with you (and disagree with the poster who wrote it) that Shaw was not "basically scrupulous." That said, he certainly was not "the one truly unscrupulous man in the film." Caswell was thoroughly unscrupulous, as his numerous machinations (in the succession crisis and in other doings hinted at in the film) attest. Shaw was overly ambitious and this led him into certain kinds of unscrupulous behavior, but he was not dishonest in the monetary sense, as was Caswell. Remember that, in referring to his desire for the presidency, he told Caswell, "For years I've wanted it, and now I'm going to get it -- but not by larceny." Shaw did have some ethical (and legal) boundaries he wouldn't cross, unlike Caswell. This is why, in the book, Walling names Shaw as his executive vice president -- something he surely would not have done had Shaw been truly unscrupulous, in the sense of being completely unethical and dishonest.
shareI think that Mr. Caswell would have been politely advised to take "early retirement". They would also have a thorough audit done, and a complete investigation of Mr. Caswell's doings from the first day of his employment.
JS
Yes, he clearly would have been forced out, one way or another. Shaw could also have been compromised by the letter transferring those 3700 shares from Julia Tredway to Caswell. One way or another, Caswell was heading for bankruptcy at least, and perhaps a criminal trial. But all this assumes a Board basically as honest as this one was. In real life, I suspect they would have contrived a golden parachute of some kind for Caswell -- gotten him out of the company, probably, but making sure he landed on his feet, and at the same time done something to extricate him from his stock problem, not so much for his own sake as to preserve the reputation of the company.
shareI figured Caswell was ruined, by he way he exited hastily from the board room. In fact (OK, tongue-in-cheek) I looked in vain for his tiny figure to be seen leaping off the top of the skyscraper in the last image, as the final bell-tolls and "THE END" title played.
shareThat would have been a great shot!
shareHaven't gotten back to this thread in a long time, but yes I agree that Caswell certainly had no scruples. But his lack of scruples does not bother me as much as Shaw's lack of them. (After all Caswell is just another greedy a-hole). But Shaw does seem like he is not just in it for greed, seems like he might be a decent guy in other circumstances, and does make a certain valid point about financial acumen being an important part of a CEOs toolkit. Never the less Shaw behaves abominably. Like I said, as a beancounter myself I understand where Shaw is coming from but I cannot abide his methods. From an idealistic standpoint I wanted Walling (Holden) to win and I want to believe that the Wallings of the world can win. ie Ethical behavior matters...at least I hope it does (he said naively).
shareI don't really disagree with you, Homeric (and it's been over five years!), but still, Shaw isn't as, shall we say, prone to illegality (or at least to skirting it) in his momentary lack of scruples as is the preternaturally unscrupulous Caswell. Caswell is just greedy for money and is perpetually a user. Shaw wants position but resorts to desperate if inexcusable tactics only when his chance suddenly arises. When it evaporates, he reverts to being dislikable, perhaps, but not a bad or crooked man.
I think the film makes clear that Shaw allows his relentless ambition to get the better of him and use almost any means possible to get the top job, including not only unscrupulous but mean-spirited methods. Yet he's clearly a man of talent who honestly believes he's doing what's best for the company. Caswell is more of a routine opportunist, an amoral wheeler-dealer interested only in profit; he seems to have no productive talents, only a talent for the fast buck, and may not be very good at that.
Put it this way: Shaw does behave abominably, but his behavior is temporary, born of his chance to seize the presidency. (Another example of this bad behavior is his attempt to rush the election before everyone has shown up, in order to insure his victory.) Once beaten he seems to go back to being a decent guy with a desire to make the company succeed (even if his views are wrong-headed). Caswell, on the other hand, is just innately a liar, a manipulator and a louse.
Anyway, we all wanted Walling to win because of our idealistic view that the best man should win. He stood for the best in his company and the people he's responsible for. And, of course, he won.