Anyone Know What Mamet Said? (Spoilers)

Williamson hands out the same deadbeat leads.

Most people argue that this is because they want to weed out the sales staff. They know the leads are weak so they are purposely passing these leads to salesmen that they feel are poor...a lot of the time just outdated in their sales technique and stuck in the "old-school" method of sales and unable to keep up with the times.

I saw some saying SHELLY was set up for the fall with Nyborg

Essentially, he was. He, and Moss, and Aaranow as well were being given weak leads.

but George shows his cards to Roma, who says they're losers. Roma screams at Williamson how is he supposed to close Patel, another deadbeat. In other words, Mitch and Murray had crappy, old leads they all kept giving out and told to close, so to me, it wasn't just Shelley that got the crappy leads. They are all familiar with these same crappy names that none of them could close so Nyborg was just one of those.

Roma was given poor leads because at that point, the "good" leads had been stolen and there were no good leads to give. If there were still "good" leads there, then Roma would have been given them.

The question of course arises as to whether any of these leads are in fact "good."

And for that question, you need to have an idea of where these types of leads come from. A couple of times it is mentioned to a potential buyer that they've "won a prize" or are "eligible for a prize." Have you ever gone into a place and seen a drop box where you fill out a form and are eligible to win some kind of prize, like a truck, or a boat. I've often seen these things at Chinese carryout places. You fill out the form with name, address, phone, etc., and they even ask for income. Among other similar rackets, that's the type of places these leads are coming from (if you read the fine print on the forms, you'd see all the things you're agreeing to).

Essentially in this case, I see "good" as really meaning "new." If they are better in quality, it probably just because they have higher income (remember, these entry blanks I referred to above ask for income information) and therefore more disposable cash with which they can buy the worthless property these individuals they are selling.

Williamson makes comments about it would be a miracle if Nyborg goes through. Then as we know, at the end, Williamson says 4 months prior they called the bank and they were crazy and sound like legally incompetent. So why would he even still act like Nyborg was a possible sale because when Shelley asks to be put on the board, he says let's wait for Mitch and Murray to get here.

This again circles back to the point that the management is trying to weed out staff. To get good leads, they are required to close. Since these older salesmen can't close the crappy leads they are given, they can't work their way up to a point of getting the "good" leads.

It's the working world equivalent of trying to swim and gasp for air while someone holds your head underwater. They're fighting a losing battle because their management wants them to lose.

So then how has Roma managed to work his way up? There's probably an element of luck involved in having sold some of these crappier leads and made some money...at least enough to be eligible to receive some of the good leads. Roma is also a younger salesman than Levene and Moss, and has probably had an easier time adapting to the changing ways of sales.

Also, some have said they think Roma knew about Nyborg and knew it was a bounced check during that whole thing at the end. As midnite black as this film is, I believe Roma likes Shelly and is deferential to him.

I could buy into that interpretation. The film certainly lends itself to that and nothing presented contradicts it. Though, perhaps near the end, Aaronow asks "Did they find the guy who broke in?" Roma responds "No. I don't know." He may have an inkling at this point that, the way Levene was called in, Levene may have been responsible, but he's clearly not sure.

As for whether he likes Levene or not? Again, nothing in the film contradicts the view your presented. However, it's worth also looking at some additional material present in the play which was not put into the film:

The following is taken from the original play:



ROMA
Williamson: listen to me: when the
leads come in...listen to me: when
the leads come in I want my top two
off the list. For me. My usual
two. Anything you give Levene...

WILLIAMSON
...I wouldn't worry about it.

ROMA
Well I'm going to worry about it,
and so are you, so shut up and
listen.
(pause)
I GET HIS ACTION. My stuff is
mine, whatever he gets for himself,
I'm talking half. You put me in
with him.

Aaronow enters.

AARONOW
Did they...?

ROMA
You understand?

AARONOW
Did they catch...?

ROMA
Do you understand? My stuff is
mine, his stuff is ours. I'm
taking half of his commissions--
now, you work it out.

WILLIAMSON
Mmm.



Roma clearly has an intent to take advantage of Levene, here.

I think he wanted to make Shelly feel good and let him brag. I just don't think Roma, as slithery as he is, really would do that.

He probably did want to make him feel good. Even if you go with your interpretation that he did want to work with Levene, and in fact liked him (ignoring the additional material from the play), there was a certain amount of buttering up to convince Levene they should work together.
Consider the cutthroat environment of this office: even if taken completely at face value and Roma liked Levene, and wanted to work with him, and would split things equally with him, one would probably argue that Roma would see it as a plus to have an ally. Two people working together would be better than being at each others' throats if they could systematically work together to edge the other competition out.

Does anyone know what Mamet may have said about his intent on this?

I do not know what Mamet has said on it. Everything I've said here is my own interpretation after many viewings of the film and several readings of the play.

I hope I've cleared some of it up for you!


_____
"Sometimes we all wanna be someone that we're not like Billy down in Soddy Daisy."

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