Money Never Sleeps: Wall Street 2

So Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps began filming in New York this week, and I stumbled across an interesting article in China Daily that posed the question, "Why does Gordon Gekko continue to resonate on Wall Street?":

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/showbiz/2009-09/16/content_8698333.htm

I would submit that he doesn't only resonate on Wall Street, but that he has in fact become a quintessential American character with broad appeal across the spectrum. Love him or hate him, everyone in America knows who Gordon Gekko is. And I'll bet the sequel will be a blockbuster because of it.

It got me thinking about the movies that define Wall Street. I'm not talking about the movies that make a caricature of Wall Street, I'm talking about the ones that really deliver the goods. I thought about my favorites and what I loved about them, and I think it might make an interesting discussion.

Here are the Top 5 movies about Wall Street as far as I'm concerned:

1) Trading Places - Not only is this movie hilarious, it is perhaps the most accurate portrayal of commodities trading ever made. Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd are priceless in their role reversal, and Randall and Mortimer Duke play the rich old white guys to perfection.

2) Wall Street - What do I really need to say about this movie? It defined a generation, drove me into the industry, and it's timeless. A true masterpiece.

3) American Psycho - Another generational hit, this one for the generation of bankers after mine. Aside from the violence and gore, this movie captures the sheer vapidity of Wall Street like no movie has before or since. It's bone.

4) A Good Year - The ultimate movie about exit ops, what's really important in life, and going out while you're on top. Russell Crowe plays a British bond trader at the top of his game who inherits a French vineyard from an uncle he hasn't spoken to in many years. In the process of getting the property ready for a quick sale, he comes to realize that he's sacrificed everything worthwhile in life to become someone he doesn't particularly care for.

5) Boiler Room - A frighteningly accurate portrayal of the penny stock shops of the early 1990's. Ostensibly modeled after Stratton Oakmont, the movie exposes the high-pressure sales tactics and outright scams that dominated the realm of penny stocks for well over a decade.

A couple of honorable mentions:

Other Peoples Money - Devito is hilarious, and Penelope Ann Miller isn't too hard on the eyes, but it's not a top 5 movie.

Bonfire of the Vanities - Decent flick, but pales in comparison to the book.

As for worst Wall Street movie ever made? It is this piece of shit, hands down:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097172/

Go ahead and watch it, I dare you. Two hours of your life you'll never get back.

Did I miss anything?

 

Nicolas Cage, The Family Man.

"Give me guys that are poor, smart, and hungry. And no feelings." - Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street"

"Give me guys that are poor, smart, and hungry. And no feelings." - Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko in "Wall Street"
 

Hopefully this movie will give us some fresh power characters and cool new quotes so new members can use them in their profile. Until then I await anxiously.

 
JulianRobertson:
Is it just me or did you all clap at the end of the Greed is Good speech? I can listen to that like Hemmingway or something.

We watched that clip in one of my management courses at Wharton. The prof was trying to show corporate inefficiency via the excerpt about Teldar's superfluous vice presidents - but the post clip discussion trainwrecked and all we talked about was greed.

Personally, my favorite WS quote was Gekko's "I don't create - I own." Sums up the finance industry perfectly.

 

I just think its a retarded reason to postpone it. I mean, the only films that win anything at these festivals are mushy chick flicks and hipster / indie films, not films with LaDoosh about Wall Street...

------------------------------------------------------------------ "I just want to be a monkey of average intelligence who wears a suit. I'll go to business school!"
 

I don't think that's why it was postponed. I believe the reason Fox/Stone gave was that it would have been going up against lots of big-budget summer blockbusters in the original slot, so they delayed it to avoid as much competition and increase revenue; also, this way it will likely coincide with debate on financial reform (after the recess), which should drive eyeballs.

You can't claim to be a capitalist and objectively fault someone for maximizing revenue.

 
drexelalum11:
I don't think that's why it was postponed. I believe the reason Fox/Stone gave was that it would have been going up against lots of big-budget summer blockbusters in the original slot, so they delayed it to avoid as much competition and increase revenue; also, this way it will likely coincide with debate on financial reform (after the recess), which should drive eyeballs.

You can't claim to be a capitalist and objectively fault someone for maximizing revenue.

I don't totally agree with this statement. You have to look at the marginal revenue that they would have made on this, and see if the option to delay the movie is really valuable. I mean, they could have shown the film, probably made a pretty good return, and then parlayed that money into a new project which could then start generating revenue. I mean, when you add in all the extra costs of delaying, i.e., a completely new marketing run to drum up interest again, in addition to the one they've already done, it just doesn't make sense. There has to be some other reason, hopefully Shia is in rehab or something, I just really hate that guy.

Also, isn't the movie about how greed on wall street is bad? How can you say that wouldn't make money now? People would love to go and boo hoo people making big bucks in banking, maybe even more than watching Tony Stark blow shit up. Probably not, but maybe.

------------------------------------------------------------------ "I just want to be a monkey of average intelligence who wears a suit. I'll go to business school!"
 
youngmonkey:
They would have made tons of money if they released it during the summer when analysts were training in NYC... TONS! There would have been swarms of new analysts going to that.

Um.... there are movie theaters outside of NYC. And SA's dont's generally have swarms of free time to watch movies and picnic in the park when they get tired of hitting up the nightlife scene

 
adehbone:
Tons? How many analysts you think there is?

Vs Robin Hood (aka Obama of olden times)

vs Iron Man 2 (Story about rich dude who saves the world.

I am sure main street wants to see Traders raking it in these days on the big screen thats it.

Hahah Yes.

In Germany/Switzerland they (and by they I mean the business professionals) call Obama Robin Hood, I dono if you knew that coming into this post or not.

Funny stuff, and a bit true. The last thing we need is a block buster about a guy who kills rich people and gives to the poor to fire up Obama's uneducated voter base.......

 

I too was excited when I heard the title "wall street 2" but I went from anticipatory to disgusted after seeing the trailer. Is it just me or are movies becoming so bloody stupid these days. As if its only supposed to be for low-average intellects.

 
<span class=keyword_link><a href=/resources/skills/economics/seigniorage target=_blank>Seigniorage</a></span>:
As if its only supposed to be for low-average intellects.
Thats where the money is at.
 
youngmonkey:
Yes, you guys are all right. I was just making a joke that NYC would have been packed with trainees.

you're still an idiot.

------------------------------------------------------------------ "I just want to be a monkey of average intelligence who wears a suit. I'll go to business school!"
 

"Fox has decided to push the release of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street 2 back to September 24th. The film, subtitled Money Never Sleeps, was originally set for an April 23rd release, but Variety is reporting that 20th Century Fox is hoping to secure a spot for the film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in May."

 

I don't know about any of you but I am psyched to see the return of Gekko. Probably one of America's best villains. I just hope they live up to their originality of the first one. Very glad to see Michael Douglas & Oliver Stone doing the film. There is even supposed to be a cameo of Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen.

Let's hope they don't douche up Gekko. I like him as a badass.

 
Edmundo Braverman:
There is only one reason a movie release gets postponed: because it sucks ass.

This is almost universally true, and the only exception I can think of was the first Pirates of the Caribbean. If a movie misses its release date, it's not because it got any better.

This movie has turd written all over it.

What about Medellein? Maybe Stone went crazy and sent to Cannes without the studio knowing...

and nope I did not know that they actually call Obama that, does not suprise me though....

 

They should be calling him the Great Re-Fucker...he takes things already fucked up and manages to further fuck them up...That being said I read the script and the movie looks like its going to suck. As least senor LaBoof butlooks like a 16 year old volleyball player which makes me want to explain the movie away as a 'Scary Movie' esque parody

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

filmed at Fordham w00t

_________ John Tabacco's raw, unique market commentary based on real information from real short sellers: http://www.TheDailyShortReport.com
 

I was going to watch it April 23rd (or soon after that date) but then it gets postponed, then the cinema I was going to watch it at closes. Now I have to travel further to watch it (even more time and money wasted on transport). To any hopefuls: It's definitely not going to be anywhere near as good as Wall Street. Don't be surprised if Gordon Gekko tries to become Donald Trump's apprentice.

 
Best Response

They totally fucked this plot up. The biggest flaw is they deviated from what made the original Wall Street amazing. It embodied the 1980's mentality, Charlie Sheen was a nobody trying to become somebody no matter what the price, but at the end of the day he was still a blue collar worker's son who had a moral compass.

This storyline should have been: - Gecko gets out of jail a nobody - takes a young chap or two under his wing and seemingly upto the same greedy/sociopathic antics he's always been upto - low and behold, at the end you realize, prison made an honest man out of Gecko, honest albeit still very shrewd and smart, and he wasn't actually fucking people over throughout the entire movie as the audience was lead to believe, he was making things right with his daughter and actually doing the right thing (i.e. rebuilding companies/communities for his own personal wealth, as opposed to destroying them) - all the while, Gordon's once hungry and broke new apprentice(s) are the ones with the sinister agenda once they get a taste of the good life with Gordon, they defect and throw him a beating, the audience is led to believe that Gordon has lost his panache, he's a dinosaur and has been out of the game too long. Just as you see the younger, strong, smarter apprentice going for the knockout punch, Gordon okey-dokes the young pup. "you didn't think the tail could wag the dog could you?" In a true and original Wall Street fashion, but turned on its head. GG is on the up and up, his apprentice is the crook, and GG hangs him out to dry.

The whole story isn't a feel good "look how he's reformed" theme, its that Gordon is a warrior and has adapted to the times, still greedy, still hungry, still shrewd, but also having known what he's lost out on by doing things his old ways.

I should have fuckin wrote this thing.

 

I don't know what to make of this exactly, but here's something that might surprise you.

I just went to see Inception (a pretty entertaining mind-fuck, for what it's worth). During the previews, Wall Street 2 came up and it was already dubbed into French. This is very, very odd, because the French don't generally dub any adult Hollywood movie (obviously they dub kids' films because kids can't read subtitles yet). By the way, if you thought Shia LaDouche couldn't sound any more effeminate, listen to him in French.

My guess is that the producers think this thing is going to bomb in the States and are already dubbing it into other languages in a desperate quest to expand the international appeal (and box office, obviously). I just found it very strange because this almost never happens in France.

 

The script was posted before and we already know that this movie is a fictional, biased, unrealistic piece of crap. I will see it, but I will either sneak into the theater or get it online.....this movie will not see a penny of my money.

"Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, for knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind. And greed, you mark my words, will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA."
 
Gekko21:
The script was posted before and we already know that this movie is a fictional, biased, unrealistic piece of crap. I will see it, but I will either sneak into the theater or get it online.....this movie will not see a penny of my money.

LOL... this is coming from the guy with Gordon Gekko as his profile picture. The movie won't get a penny of your money, buy you'll give it free advertising? =P

 

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------------------------------------------------------------------ "I just want to be a monkey of average intelligence who wears a suit. I'll go to business school!"

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