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Wall Street
Studio executives summary / pitch
Oliver Stone's 1985 New York greed fest.
Short plot summary

Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) uses Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) as part of his illegal, unscrupulous, trading activities popular in 1980's stock bull run.

Please tell me the ending or plot overview if necessary
Bud Fox gets sent to jail for fraud, but not before setting up Gekko.
What our panel of critics thought

"So, was Sun Tso a stock broker then?"

"Arbitrage shmarbitrage!"

"How about a remake, Mr Stone: Gekko after the dot com boom and bust... that I gotta see. I must see Gordon Gekko on dressed down Friday..."

"At least nobody wore any Miami Vice jackets."

"So, let me get this straight, a market trader buys shares in a company... Has he got a stockbroker then? So, to buy his shares he asks his broken sock, um, no, say it again, I'm confused..."

"Now that's what I call a bad day at the office - escorted out, crying, in handcuffs..."

"So it's to prison then, a suitable end to Mr Fox. I don't fancy that pretty boy's chances much..."

Justify this movie's existence in the classic strand, by theVoiceofReason's Veritable Cornucopia

Oh! What a breath of fresh hair this movie was at the time! Styles drowned in gel, swished back styles coupled with big fat red braces to hold ones trousers from crashing, all of a sudden, towards ones ankles! The likes the world had never seen to then, and were not to see again lest people pointed and laughed.

How it so encapsulates all the unwanton greed of the laxly regulated early 1980's stock market which led to what we all thought at the time was THE crash of 1987.

The poignant essence of the masterpiece is essentially how greed corrupts a common working boy who suppresses conscience until it bursts up in an indignant volcano of vitriol.

It rang all the right opening bells in the 80's. Today the movie is a wonderful time-freeze of a period which held out so much hope for the super greedy amongst us (I can still get five donuts in my mouth at the same time - I've just checked) but nothing good came out of it.

In fact, looking back, the only good thing about the 1980's was that they were better than the 1970's, and that we had then discovered the Village People. A triumph!

Quotable quotes
"This is your wake up call pal - go to work."
"I am not a destroyer of companies - I am a liberator of them."
What snack should I eat while watching this movie?
Chili chips and dip sauce in 1980's Miami Vice dishes.
If I were to watch this on video/DVD how best should I sit?

In the city trader position. Sit close to screen in the about to buy, no sell, no set stop loss, drip feed that baby position so popular in dealing rooms throughout the 80's. (For extra authenticity, you may like to change your screen to green on black only).

Could this be made into a children's cartoon show?

Stock trading for the under 7's? - the next financial craze we think - get the software for the Playstation / XBox / GameCube.

Could this film be improved with more explosions?
No. This is a no action movie, all cerebral stuff, apart from a moment of one-sided punching madness in Central Park.
Is there enough licky love in this film?
A moment of slow motion naked heavey-humpy stuff. Quite tastefully done.
How funny is this film?

The movie is wry at best, no belly-laugh moments (unless red braces do it for you).

Would your house pets like this movie?

Cats are likeliest to start reading the Wall Street Journal after this, preferring the business pages of other papers to mop up their pee.

Dogs have never been able to understand the point of arbitrage so will become visibly irritated, choosing to noisily lick their genitalia.

Parrots will learn the Teldar shareholders meeting speech and will repeat this for the next seven months.

Could you make out while watching this movie?

Why not try a themed 1980's evening of erotic mayhem. Sex on its own is for wimps.

What can I take from this movie to make me a better person?
If a guy in a sharp suit asks you to work for him - JUST SAY NO!
Estimate number of deaths in this movie.
0, 1 heart attack.
How much would you pay for a copy of this movie in goods.

A greatest hits of the 1980's CD, signed by Hall and Oates.

Would this movie win awards for performances of the f-word?

It's sort of OK. But don't watch this movie just for the swearing as you will be disappointed.

Does the film attempt technobabble? If so does this succeed?

Yes. It's almost all financial technobabble. This is as bad as technobabble as few people, in our experience, truly understand finance either.

Other comments

One of the best movies on 1980's bull market greed. A persuasive indictment of greed at the heart of the financial markets at the time.

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