Wall Street

Primary Creator
Director Oliver Stone
Contributor(s)
Writer Stanley Weiser
Actor Michael Douglas
Actor Martin Sheen
Actor Charlie Sheen
Properties
Duration125 minutes
Era1971-1990
StyleDrama
Name of WorkWall Street
Production Date1987
Production Location


Current Location


General Notes

Script lacks integration in areas -- there are holes regarding the raider (Gekko) and his relation to the airline he is buying, and some of the financial banter is economically incoherent. Also the Greed speech is mostly a positive statement about markets, yet the movie is anti-capitalist.

Description

The story of a young man who desires money so strongly he gets sucked into the sleazy world of illegal financial trading on Wall Street. A corporate raider who is the young broker's idol draws him into this world of making huge amounts of money by getting illegal information.

Theme

Financiers are amoral money-grubbing backstabbers, i.e., desire for money corrupts

Emotional Sum or Sense-of-life

There are bad people in power who use ordinary people as pawns in their endless pursuit of money. Those who are not ruthless are sheep to be slaughtered by the rich and powerful. Greed is bad.

Context Information

Michael Douglas won Oscar for best actor (playing Gordon Gekko)

Tags

greed

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