Wall Street

I totally adoire this movie, fabulous gritty no holds barred performance from the brilliant Mr Douglas, proving that sex is by no means the overwhelming theme of his movies as some seem to imagine.

I love the anxious, terrifyingly rapid advance given to the young Bud Fox from a chance comment in Gekkos daunting office, the instant changes of mood by Micheal swinging from interviewing to lambasting an industry peer on the phone and back to interviewing without a flicker.

Inspirational in the 'no fear' modus operandi of Gordon and then Bud, almost 'you can do anything if you dare' which has always given me a lift when I watch it.

Lush settings, and marvellous counterpointing performance of Terence Stamp, illustrating the 'Gekko' figure scenario in turn to Gordon nas Gordon had to Bud...

Await all Michaels movies with bated breath...Falling down....wonderful...but thats another story

Epochal film from the 80's, which has almost unbelievably, in today's post Merrill Lynch / Northern Rock (depending on which side of the pond you're on) banking debacles become topical again, so much so that a same director / same star follow-up is reportedly in the making.

It will have to go some though to beat the shock and awe value of its prototype, with Douglas' larger than life personification of corporate greed, Gordon Gekko, dominating proceedings. Charlie Sheen is the young trader on the make, aiming to aspire, or so he thinks, to Gekko's status and success, trying so hard to please his idol that he not only ends up aping his appearance (slicked back hair, big suspender braces) but even betraying his idealistic union-man father by relaying insider knowledge on the latter's ailing airline employer to Gekko who then moves in to welsh on his workforce-friendly words to asset strip the company for massive personal gain. Sheen's Bud Fox character eventually has an epiphany, augured by the coincidence of real-life and cinema dad Martin copping a heart attack and turns on and indeed turns in his guru to the authorities to bring ultimate closure to the piece.

The film has its faults; I didn't quite buy into Douglas surrogate-father figure appeal to Sheen Jr., the coincidental heart attack of Sheen/Fox Sr is a bit too pat and some of the supporting characters come on like mere ciphers, including Terence Stamp as the UK magnate-cum-nemesis of Gekko and Daryl Hannah as a Gekko cast-off girlfriend/groupie who becomes young Sheen's trophy girl-friend. This leads to a larger criticism on the paucity of female characters in the film at all, but if you can accept that this is a man's man's man's world, to paraphrase James Brown, then this morality tale of its time still packs a punch, especially with the collapse of Communism and the surrender of the likes of Russia, China et. al to the addictive drug of big-bucks capitalism.

Stone's camera is constantly on the move, capturing the frenetic-ism of dealers on the trading floor as market frenzy takes hold, with the dialogue razor-sharp throughout, so many of the phrases of course having become clichés for that era, almost entering common parlance the language, such as greed is good, lunch is for wimps and more.

In the end, young Sheen would have done well to be careful what he wished for, but if he's the Little Red Riding Hood to Douglas' Big Bad Wolf, this particular out-sized fairy tale reaches its conclusion fittingly and satisfyingly, opening up a seamy, selfish world that you know is out there still, now more than ever.

Wall Street" is a movie that seems to spark much debate. Basically, it is the working out of a moral struggle within young Wall Street trader Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) between the values with which he was raised of hard work and success through actual creation, versus those of his mentor Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) who succeeds through corporate raiding and "creative destruction". From Bud's viewpoint his dad's (Martin Sheen's) road map for success and happiness seems old-fashioned to the point of being prehistoric compared to Gekko's, until Gekko sets his sights and his wrecking ball on his father's company, and Bud is forced to choose.

Many people associate this film with a liberal versus conservative viewpoint on business, a wild-west economy versus a planned economy and relegate this film to 1980's era nostalgia, like the now humorously giant cell phone Gekko is talking on as he walks along the beach. It is said that neither extreme works and that we've gradually settled towards something in the middle. However, the Gekkos of this world are smarter than that, and over the past 20 plus years they have set up an economic system that serves them well. What we now have is a situation where the haves and have-mores have a planned - almost Soviet - system in which the rules stratify them at the top. I cite the changes in bankruptcy law as exhibit A. The members of the labor force that serve them, however, are in the wild-west economy that was once advocated for everyone. Some will rise to the stratified top in this situation, but the vast majority will remain at the bottom shooting it out with each other - for scarce good jobs, good health care, education, etc. Thus, to me, Wall Street is just an opening chapter in the saga of how economic forces and attitudes toward them have changed, not the portrait of a 25 year-old fad that has come and gone.

Deceptively deep and complex picture from co-writer/director Oliver Stone paints a vivid portrait of 1980s over-excesses as the age of "Me, Me, Me" (otherwise known as the 1980s) is explored through the eyes of a young, eager and impatient stockbroker (Charlie Sheen) who moonlights as a liaison to a heartless, ruthless and crazily greedy mega-millionaire (Michael Douglas in a smashing Oscar-winning turn) who seemingly has his hands on most every aspect of big business. Naturally dilemmas occur in every direction for Sheen as the lifestyle he wants comes at a very heavy price (both literally and figuratively). A strained relationship with his father (real-life dad Martin Sheen) and a whirlwind fling with the superficial Daryl Hannah just leads to more and more cinematic fireworks. "Wall Street" is really the only film I can think of to deal seriously with its subject matter. Everyone of the age remembers the yuppie phase this nation had in the mid-1980s. Young urban professionals did their best to make as much as they could as fast as possible (sometimes through crooked and illegal means). The idea of retiring at 40 seemed like a good notion, but those same people with those thoughts are still working today (they never made their millions or they made their money and ended up going into a lifetime of debt because they spent their earnings quicker than they could make it). Ultimately the 1980s was good while it lasted, but good like that never lasts forever and that becomes painfully clear as Sheen's character becomes a warning to all those who think they can out-think and manipulate a strained economic system. Douglas is a complete revelation. I mean there is no doubt that he is an excellent performer, but his portrayal of a money- and power-mad player in New York is truly one of those instances of classic career work being achieved. Super-slick, wickedly intelligent and definitely a thinking person's movie, "Wall Street" continues to strike a chord when looking back at a very unique time of American economic history. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Michael Douglas deservedly won an Oscar for his portrayal of the ruthless, chain-smoking capitalist guru, Gordon Gekko, who leads Charlie Sheen's Bud Fox down the garden path to Wall Street's hidden abyss. Good supporting cast includes Sean Young, James Spader, reliable Hal Holbrook, and the wonderful Sylvia Miles. Tight direction, perceptive script with realistic techno-lingo, fabulous production design, dazzling cinematography of the Manhattan skyline, and hip 80's music rev up the technical quality of this Oliver Stone "message" film. If only the message had been more reassuring.

Gekko is a villain and an outlaw, but mostly he comes across to viewers as a worldly tough guy, a charming bully with a glamorous lifestyle. We see his high-class mega-office, his plush home and chic wife, his expensive paintings, his rapid-fire commands to his robotic lieutenants, his snazzy clothes and "in vogue" friends. Here and there we see his frustrations, but that only accentuates his toughness. We do not see him suffer, nor do we see the consequences of his selfish, Machiavellian behavior.

As a result, to viewers, especially to those youthful, bright, materialistic Americans with a smug, "can do" attitude, and disdain for ethics, Gekko is, unfortunately, someone to admire, a Wall Street role model.