Wall Street

I mainly purchased the DVD, because of two reasons: Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. I'm quite an admirer of both actors. I have virtually no knowledge about the stock market, or about stocks themselves. Those who are in the market or have vast knowledge about stocks will probably enjoy the film much more. However, I still enjoyed the film. When a movie's really good, it doesn't matter whether or not the audience member is interested in the topic. Besides, the film boils down to basic universal themes, like selling your soul to the devil and money being the root of all evil.

The characters are interesting and richly developed, with the exception of Darryl Hannah's underwritten character. I can see why she didn't like playing that role. Douglas is always a joy to watch, and makes a suave yet slimy villain. I wouldn't necessarily say he deserved an Oscar, but he did a fine job nonetheless. So did Charlie Sheen, who is actually the star of the film despite the fact that most people remember "Wall Street" for Douglas as Gordon Gecko. Sheen gives a fine multi-dimensional performance. I love the scenes between him and his father Martin Sheen, who plays his father in the film. Oliver Stone made a great choice casting the father-and-son team, since the tension in their scenes feels very authentic.

There are some predictable plot turns and character arcs, but altogether Stone keeps the excitement going. I like how the climactic scene between Douglas and Sheen is shot without cuts, with the camera moving from person to person, keeping the tension going. If I knew at least an inkling about the stock market, I wouldn't be completely lost during certain scenes, but what can you do? I still think it's a fine film with solid performances.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

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.

Wall Street (1987) is one of the films that defines the 80's American Lifestyle. A dog eat dog society fueled by greed, materialistic possessions, excess and drugs. People preying on others, a world of unscrupulous inside trading and the rise of yuppies. Oliver Stone is one of those film makers who knew the 80's inside out. People say John Hughes defined the 80's but Mr. Stone showed it's true side and it was ugly.

The film follows a low level day trader (Charlie Sheen) who strives to become a very powerful figure on Wall Street like his idol Gordon Geckko (Michael Douglas). To justify his rise to power, he uses his father (Martin Sheen) knowledge of the flight industry for his own personnel gains. He wants to get his foot into the door of the oily Geckko. Will he sell his soul for a quick buck? How far and fast will this rising star soar? To find these answers check out Wall Street.

This film was made immediately after Platoon. Stone made it clear that he wasn't going to let an Oscar winning malaise effect him. He explores the two fathers theme that he used in Platton and once again makes it work. A highly underrated film that has sadly been neglected by the mainstream audience. What makes it even sadder is the fact that it still applies today.

Highly recommended.

First of all, it's amazing now to see how young, baby-faced and gauche Charlie Sheen looks from this distance in time, particularly when he's trying to hit on Daryl Hannah.

In today's dumbed down movie world, Gordon Gekko could have been scripted and played exactly the same except for one thing: you'd never see the scene when he suddenly stops to admire the ocean at dawn. Fortunately Michael Douglas clearly added his own dimensions to the character whom, if left to Stone, would have been a cardboard money-grabber. As far as Stone is concerned Gekko wants money for its own sake, but Michael Douglas manages to evince a man who revels in the power and influence that money gets him. Stone's dialogue actually undercuts this perception on occasion, as when Bud Fox yells at Gekko, "How many yachts can you sail!?", and when Gekko, enticing Fox by outlining how rich he could be, says, "Rich enough to have your own jet" - as if owning a jet wasn't the minimum accoutrement you'd expect from the least successful company director or minor pop star. Other infelicities in the script include the moment when Stone wanted to signal that Bud Fox has reached the peak of success and found it empty: following the montage of the condo purchase and decoration, the perfect meal for two, culminating in making love to Daryl Hannah, Stone has Fox standing on his balcony, and apropos of nothing at all, he just says, "Who am I?" It has to be said that Sheen wasn't really up to the task of delivering this atrocious line.

I've rarely seen a film in which the female lead was so comprehensively abandoned by the director. Stone clearly wanted to focus all his attention on Sheen and crucially on Douglas, leaving Hannah floundering and unable to clearly express just how much into Bud Fox her character is at any one time. At the final break-up you almost hear Stone's sigh of relief at being able to get rid of the irrelevant female (probably forced on him by the studio) and concentrate on the man's world of stockbroking.

I seem to be finding a lot of flaws in what is basically a most compelling and watchable film. Despite the complex jargon-riddled technicalities of the subject matter, the movie's plot grabs hold of the viewer from the first scene and never lets go. Of course Douglas dominates most of the movie, until Fox sr. (Sheen sr.) throws the spanner in the works of his son's airline deal. Thank heavens Charlie Sheen took the unbelievably courageous decision to have his own father (instead of Jack Lemmon) play his character's father because the two of them perform an absolute barnstormer of a scene in which every word, inflexion and facial expression is repleat with absolute truth; and it's all the more poignant considering Charlie Sheen's own personal difficulties which faced him in later years, and the well-publicised ups and downs of his relationship with Martin as a result. Had those troubled times preceded this movie, it's hard to imagine the performances could have been any different - that's how good they are.

Fantastic character support comes from Hal Holbrook, the always reliable Saul Rubinek and John C. McGinley (who does not seem to have changed at all in the intervening years!), a young James Spader and the magisterial Terence Stamp who understands the unutterable menace with which it is possible to lace the single word "Mate".

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.