Titans: The Rise of Wall Street

I seldom stop watching a documentary because I always learn something, but this one was the great exception. Cardboard acting, stilted, awkward dialogue and the amount (can't believe I'm saying this) of SMOKING-cigars, cigarettes-to indicate men in power doing important things, or pondering important things, verged on fetishism. "Oral fixation" doesn't begin to cover it. JP Morgan in front of a congressional committee pulling on a big fat stogie (has his own ash tray) and blowing out a cloud, while the room waits in anticipation. BEYOND distracting, laughable in a sad way, and-I am sure-inaccurate. Also has anyone seen JP Morgan? The nose is the thing. (Think Carl Malden.) Not even close. Finally, the theme music, poorly conceived hip hop urban interpretation of what ? "Every dollar gotta D"? This could have been a really interesting documentary, but production elements were so ill conceived it became unwatchable.

The majority of this series takes place in the late 19th and early 20th century. It focuses on Wall Street magnates like JP Morgan and his son Jack Morgan, Lehman, Merrill, Lynch, Goldman, Sachs, Kennedy and the formation of Wall Street.

It delves into the 'Wild West' of its formation before government regulation and how the bankers themselves took on the responsibility of propping markets in rocky periods, much as the Federal Reserve does today. It pushes through both crashes in 1917(?) and 1929 and the ushering in of the SEC.

Then for some reason the last two episodes jump into the 1980s to focus on 2 people, who though they may be well known by many, I myself had never heard of them: Ivan Boesky and Mike Milken.

I just felt there are several other well known Wall Street Titans that have legacy and familiarity who could have fit earlier in the 20th century to finish the series. What about Warren Buffet? Charles Schwab? Peter Lynch?

I suppose they wanted names that would allow them to tell multiple coordinating storylines between them, but honestly they should just have ended it at 6 episodes or delved into more depth with the current storylines to fill the extra 2 episodes. There is enough fascination with those Wall Street Titans that it could have easily been accomplished.

Jumping from 1940 to 1980 to focus on a couple of mundane characters that certainly don't fill the same strength of name as those in the first 6 episodes was just a bad choice and totally changes the atmosphere.

Also, whose idea was it to put a rap song as the intro to each episode? Totally out of place.

As JSG25 said, this series is biased. It shows all the bad qualities of each man not the good ones. It portrays everyone as devious bankers, who will do anything for money. I'm not saying that the SEC and the government are bad and useless, but they definitely aren't the best choice, and definitely not what you would expect from watching this. Like JSG25 said, Roosevelt is pictured as a white knight, and I don't agree with that. In one of the episodes, a lot of bankers make many bad decisions, and the show says that "the government must come in." but in reality, the bankers should have owned up to their faulty investments, and so they wouldn't do it again (just ten years later). I'm sorry for such a bad outline.

This series is fairly accurate in its portrayal of Wall Street history. However, there is a clear bias in the narrative crafted; Wall Street and banks are evil and the federal government is the good savior. They rightfully highlight unethical business practices by bankers but fail to show any of the corruption of the political elite who were just the other side of the power-struggle coin. The series promotes the Roosevelt/SEC as the white knights who save the day, yet ignore the decisions by both that prolonged the Great Depression by seizing control and retarding markets.

There is then a convenient time-jump that ignores decades of political ineptitude (40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s) in an attempt to jump straight to Ronald Reagan's presidential term, and then vaguely allude that Regan was responsible for some relatively unknown criminal Wall Street players in the 80s. This series starts off really well, before delving into tired apocryphal narratives.

To be clear, there is no direct fabrication in the series. What they show is factual. There is just a very clear bend in the story-telling that feeds a popular post-modern theme.

Even if you are not person who cares much about Wall Street, this has amazing way of story telling. My kids enjoyed it thoroughly as well.

My first review on imdb.