Wall Street (1987)

Directed by Oliver Stone
Written by Stanley Weiser and Oliver Stone

Rated R

Note: I was pleased to see online that Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas are currently making a sequel to "Wall Street", the 1987 insider trading thriller. Check out more on "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" here.

"Wall Street" is one of Oliver Stone's legendary 80's masterpieces. It follows Charlie Sheen as young Bud Fox, a Wall Street hopeful who is having a hard time breaking into the business. Bud believes he's made his big break when Gordon Gekko, a Wall Street big-shot, agrees to show him the ropes. In order to prove his usefulness to Gekko, Fox gives him an insider tip about his father's airline. Fox's father is played to perfection by Charlie Sheen's real-life father Martin Sheen. This casting choice was inspired, and makes Fox's on-screen connection with his father that much more authentic.

Michael Douglas' Gordon Gekko is the real screen-stealer here. Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role, and it has helped make him the Hollywood player he is today. Gekko's calm businessman confidence and disregard for ethics make him one of Hollywood's favorite villains from the 80's. Douglas plays Gekko as a man with the world at his feet, and he uses it as a doormat.

The main conflict arises when, after being made rich and successful by Gekko, Fox discovers that Gekko is using his insider knowledge to buy out Fox's father's airline in order to break it up and sell it. In an emotionally charged scene in Central Park, Bud elicits a confession from Gekko on tape, sending the tycoon away to jail.

Oliver Stone is a master of the craft of film. He can take virtually any subject and make a movie about it that's engaging and grand. Most of us only know about insider trading because of Martha Stewart's infamous trip to white-collar prison. It's not the kind of thing you would think would make a compelling plot element in a film, but Stone takes lemons and makes lemonades. Rather than focusing on the minutae of Wall Street business, he explores the people involved in the business. It's through Bud Fox's relationships with his dad, his co-workers and his love interest that we find a real man with amiable desires and goals who has stumbled into a world of white-collar cutthroats.

Charlie Sheen is supported by John C. McGinley as Bud's Wall Street coworker Marvin. McGinley has appeared in many Stone films, including "Talk Radio", "Born on the Fourth of July", "Platoon" (with Charlie Sheen), "Nixon" and "Any Given Sunday". More recently, he's been a regular character on the hit TV show "Scrubs". McGinley is a great supporting actor in general, and uses his supporting roles to subtly enrich whatever project he's working on.

I give Wall Street a 9/10. It is incredibly well-made and actually makes insider trading seem interesting! It moves a little slowly at certain parts (the love story with Darryl Hannah was almost completely omitable) but the all-around stellar acting and directing make this one of Stone's best films. If you like this film, keep watch for "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps", which should be in theaters later this year.













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