Why did Shelley confess?
He's old school and quick on his feet. All Williamson had was a hunch.
Why confess?
Let him rat him out to the cops on "he said I came up with Lingk's contract being filed !"
That proves nothing.
The cop was rubbish.
Williamson is a piece of shit and on the hunt. There would be no way out after confessing.
What was Shelley thinking???
Probably panicked in the moment. He was under a TONNE of stress during the previous 24 hours (or longer). He was also a great huckster, but I doubt he did anything so blatantly illegal or criminal. Like a lot of "first-timers", maybe he just choked?
shareI think he believed Williamson, who said something like "tell me what happened to the leads or I tell the cop". But he went to the cop anyway.
But Shelley should have known better, like "since I sold the leads, I'd better shut up" or "this worm is gonna talk no matter what I say now, better come up with a fake alibi".
Anyway I find it a weak end to the whole revenge heist plot, to have a solid BS artist like him slip this way.
Weak? You're weak! :-)
But seriously, it wasn't a weak bit since Williamson could just give the cop his insight and have them grill the thus known culprit Levine until he cracked.
Yeah, Williamson clearly said he would let him go if he told him what he did with the leads.
That's why Shelley just says "I sold them". He was expecting to work something out with Williamson.
Even though Williamson only had a hunch, it was a strong hunch and for the panic reaction that Shelley had, he could totally make it work.
Seriously, these guys live on 2 skills:
1 reading people
2 bullshitting
Shelley should have seen Williamson determination and disrespect from a mile away, and thus used his bs to explain that he did not do it.
The story spends 2 hours to establish these characters and in the last 10 minutes it drops them almost tired of them.
And it lets the weaker one win over the more experienced one over a minor slip that proved nothing and an empty promise of not going to the cop. At least I wish Williamson got some solid proof maybe out of luck, not just a hunch.
Just because they use those two skills for a living doesn't make them superheroes of deduction.
As we actually saw, Shelley was having a hard time closing anything, so his skills weren't even that sharp to begin with.
Williamson was in a position of power, and Shelley was in panic because he did something out of despair. Not much more to be said.
Actually, they have been depicted as superheroes of deduction up to that point. All except for Williamson. And Shelley was in a bad patch, bud has lived off his work for many years.
Having established this, the movie should have given a better reason for him to confess, making him really trapped or maybe fooled by Williamson using bs like Shelly showed him 5 minutes before with Roma.
The thing is, we never see what all happens when Levene talks with the cop in Williamson's office. Williamson has no proof. Yes, Levene most likely was finished when it came to working for Mitch and Murray, but it is totally logical to assume that he dodged getting charged with any crime due to Williamson simply pointing a finger a Levene.
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Sorry I disagree with most everyone on this thread.
It's all a matter of opinion, of course, but it "felt" perfectly legitimate to me.
Levene was at the end of his rope, just as he said in a rare bit of honesty. When Williamson caught him, he stumbled and he knew it. Lemmon played that moment perfectly. To paraphrase:
"It was like he wilted all at once. No gesture, nothing. He, I swear to god, kind of imperceptibly slumped."
He tried to bluff, reflexively, but knew he was caught.
Now, I've spent a lifetime reviewing police interrogations, so I have to confess it was all very familiar to me. Cops are trained to be both "good cop" and "bad cop," and to get aggressive when they think they've got the guy dead to rights. It's all part of the Reid Interrogation technique, which is so effective that it often gets confessions from innocent people.
Here's what REALLY fascinates me about this scene: at the time, Spacey and Lemmon were in exactly the opposite relationship. Spacey was a young, ambitious actor who constantly pestered Lemmon for advice. Lemmon jokingly mocked Spacey privately and publicly, but in reality was always generous with advice and assistance. It was Lemmon, of all people, who pushed hard to get Spacey into "Glengarry."
Hopefully, Lemmon never learned about Spacey's off-screen misbehavior.
Hadn't watched this since It first came out til last night. Remember liking it ok. I forgot the main parts of the movie and plot. The whole stealing the leads idea was so idiotic. Like anyone other than these sleazy salesmen would break into that shit hole of an office to steal leads and phones (they had to have a professional come into plug the phones back into the jack..lol)
Totally forgot about that whole plot point...and didn't see Shelly stealing them coming. That was jumping the shark. Not only a half-baked idea, but now 3 out of 5 suspects are now in on the crime. They'd have been better off selling cars for a living.
I agree. His confession was stupid too. Al Pacino was about the only likeable character who seemed like he knew the art of being subtle, listening and at least pretending to be a friend. Entertaining film though. It was over and I thought, wow that was quick. I like to over-think movies and this one isn't too deep.
BTW OP, good job with putting the spoiler in the title.
Your mind is going, Dave. Stick to Michael Bay movies.
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