The Wolf of Wall Street: A Monkey's Review

"Well Mr. Belfort, in case you were wondering, you tested positive for co***ne, methauqalone, benziodiazepnes, amphetamines, MDMA, opiates, and marijuana. In fact, the only thing you're not showing is hallucinogens. What's wrong, you don't like those?" - page 297

You've (hopefully) seen the movie. Now, read the much better book it's based on.

Some on WSO and elsewhere were panning the hit movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio because it presented a shallow, glitzy portrait of Wall Street life in the 90s. That it lacked "substance" (and they weren't talking about all those quaaludes). That it may have been fun, but it wasn't a very deep movie. To fill in the missing pieces behind the crazy times that the movie didn't get to capture--i.e., "What was Jordan thinking? Why did he do that? What was his alternative?"--read the book.

If you've seen the movie, many of the scenes will be familiar to you on the surface. The fights with his gorgeous but evil wife Nadine, his super-yacht of the same name capsizing in the Mediterranean, the midget tossing on the trading floor, the 4-5 cocktail lunches. But in these pages, instead of watching as an observer, you are looking through Jordan Belfort's alcohol-drenched, quaalude-saliva-drooling, coked-up, paranoid vision. And it's a hell of a trip.

It's a rocket ride from Jordan's first day as a stockbroker (the day of the 1987 crash) to the head of Stratton Oakmont, one of the most notorious and successful boiler rooms of the era. It's easy to see how and why the Strattonites had such a fierce loyalty to both him and the company. It was headquartered on Long Island, where I also grew up. And it was almost unheard of for a Wall Street operation like Stratton to give suburban Long Island a taste of "The Life" that seemed destined only for elite Manhattan. At its height, Belfort's company had every hungry high school and college grad knocking on his door, and he knew that as long as the money and opportunities kept coming, the Strattonites would do anything for him...and do anything
to get hired.

But "The Life" still had its limitations even for Belfort. Although he had enough wealth at one point to buy an entire hospital if he wanted, chronic back pain was a constant struggle for him, no matter how many expensive surgeries or drugs he had. He could hire any private security he wanted, but at times was terrified of his own wife. He could stash money away in a private Swiss bank account, but can't bring back Aunt Patricia from the dead (who you'll recall from the movie, was the key signatory in helping him set that up).

As fun and lively as the tales of Wall Street excess are, there is a human-interest, character study element here too. One of the most amusing things about him that kept coming up was that despite his voracious appetite for money, success, drugs and power--the thing made him angriest is when his wife calls him "little." Which she frequently did, as in, "you little prick," "you little bastard," "you little punk." Seems an odd thing to set him so on edge.

It might seem as if I'm painting this wild memoir in a dark hue, but it's only because the moments of introspection offer such powerful food for thought. Jordan Belfort's continuing career story has something for all of us to take away--whether it's just for a few laughs, or a career re-evaluation.

One of the things I hear the older Wall Streeters talk about is that finance isn't as much "fun" as it used to be. I wasn't there, so I don't know whether we may or may not get those "fun times" back. But even if we don't, we can turn to The Wolf of Wall Street and say, "Ah...those WERE good times."

Read up, monkeys!

Monkey’s Review 1: Barbarians At the Gate
Monkey’s Review 2: The Financier
Monkey’s Review 3: Decision Points
Monkey’s Review 4: Debunkery
Monkey’s Review 5: When Genius Failed
Monkey’s Review 6: Monkey Business
Monkey’s Review 7: Death Of The Banker
Monkey’s Review 8: A Journey
Monkey’s Review 9: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker
Monkey’s Review 10: The Quants
Monkey’s Review 11: All About Hedge Funds
Monkey’s Review 12: The Unlikely Disciple
Monkey’s Review 13: Adventure Capitalist
Monkey’s Review 14: The Hedge Fund Book
Monkey’s Review 15: Investing In Hedge Fund of Funds
Monkey’s Review 16: Hilarity Ensues
Monkey’s Review 17: The Prince
Monkey’s Review 18: Markets Never Forget (But People Do)
Monkey’s Review 19: The Money Culture
Monkey's Review 20: An Empire of Wealth
Monkey's Review 21: The New Tycoons
Monkey's Review 22: A Bold, Fresh Piece of Humanity
Monkey's Review 23: Ahead of the Curve (2 Years At HBS)
Monkey's Review 24: How To Be A Gentleman
Monkey's Review 25: Ten Roads to Riches
Monkey's Review 26: The Best of Braverman
Monkey's Review 27: Street Freak
Monkey's Review 28: Kitchen Confidential
Monkey's Review 29: The Buyside
Monkey's Review 30: The House of Morgan

 

Havw read the first book several years before the movie was announced. As I found the book quite interesting, i.e. worth reading, I looked forward to them filming it. The movie was decent but no substitute for reading the book. Guess I will get part 2 soon if I have some spare time.

 

there was nothing as cringeworthy as hearing DiCaprio talk about "masters of the universe." A "MOTU" is someone who is FO at IBD/PE/HF/S&T, not a salesman. While yea in the 80s and early 90s being a stockbroker meant something, it still wasn't at those other professions. Also, guys like Belfort give Wall Street a bad name. I don't understand why anyone even thinks his scam is "cool," or that kind of thing.

A movie about "The Buy Side," with Turney Duff, OK, that would sit fine tho.

 
JohnBrohan:

there was nothing as cringeworthy as hearing DiCaprio talk about "masters of the universe." A "MOTU" is someone who is FO at IBD/PE/HF/S&T, not a salesman. While yea in the 80s and early 90s being a stockbroker meant something, it still wasn't at those other professions. Also, guys like Belfort give Wall Street a bad name. I don't understand why anyone even thinks his scam is "cool," or that kind of thing.

A movie about "The Buy Side," with Turney Duff, OK, that would sit fine tho.

you are one strange fellow.
 

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