After filming Platoon, Oliver Stone immediately made Wall Street. In this case, he put the New York brokers as an example of the lack of scruples when it comes to amassing money without meaning. Again, as in his previous film, the topic knew him personally, since Stone's father was a stockbroker on Wall Street for 50 years. He said: “The main motivation to make Wall Street was my father. He took me to the movies, and he would bemoan the lack of a good business movie… He always said there were no good business movies, because the businessman was always the villain.”

Source <<

Year: 1987 Category: Drama Director: Oliver Stone Cast: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, Martin Sheen, Hal Holbrook, Terence Stamp.

Plot

Bud Fox is a young and ambitious stockbroker who falls under the charm of investor Gordon Gekko. Bud, initially impressed by the ostentation and wealth of the older man, gets too excited by following his instructions, especially after enjoying his results. But he soon realizes that he is just a puppet in Gekko's game, as he desperately tries to disentangle himself from the consequences of his own ambition.

Opinion

The words of father Stone were marked in the mind of him and at the time of filming Wall Street the director thought of the best possible villain: the finance shark Gordon Gekko. The choice of Michael Douglas to make the best performance of his career, which allowed him to win an Oscar, was an excellent decision. Douglas knew how to present the bad guy of the movie dreamed by all: attractive and seductive. That seduction is what Gekko incite in the character played by Charlie Sheen and in all of us.

Bud Fox, an innocent young man who in his eagerness to ascend the difficult world of finance is tempted by Gekko, the devil himself, who watches them all from his altar and believes himself untouchable. Ambition and, above all, greed are the fundamental issues. In one of the most memorable speeches of the film Gekko pronounces the words, "Greed is good". What perfectly defines the character. The film has a conventional moral, with good secondary interpretations that supply some deficiencies of Charlie Sheen. Dynamism, cruelty, exaltation of individualism and social success above all, sacralization of money and worship of capitalism as the supreme unquestionable god of the universe.

The film is very entertaining, especially in its first half, and this has great merit considering that the stock market is the only and main argument. Then it fades a bit by complicating the foundation of Bud's motivation: the disappointment with personal ambition, with reasons that nobody understands fully but that everyone enjoys.

The ethical and moral dilemmas that will arise in Bud Fox's mind due to his way of enriching himself, will contrast with the principles of work and honesty that Bud's father, Carl Fox, has always instilled in him. The fact that Charlie Sheen and Martin Sheen play son and father respectively, when the actors are in the same relationship, shows a chemistry impossible to achieve in any other way between both characters.

Greed and ambition, and its contrast with hard work and effort when it comes to making money. The film is not a criticism of the system itself, but puts into question the lack of ethics and morality at the time of success.

Through the eyes of Bud Fox we see the reality of getting up when it has not yet dawned, to work hard, and still live in constant poverty, to believe that you have a good suit but that it is really cheap for men with large fortunes what makes the situation more credible to reach the peak of success and start living the real luxury.

For those of us who have studied or for those who have worked in the financial sector, Wall Street is simply perfect in its approach, both in the way of showing the different operations, as well as in the way it captures the environment and mixes chaos and ambition that exists in the stock market. And although there are financial markets in all major capital cities, the center of New York is the professional and financial top of all transactions worldwide. The way in which this environment is shown to us from the initial credits is insurmountable, in such a way that it is already part of the collective imagination.

Trailer

Score

7/10

Despite what some critics may say, Wall Street is a film that has aged very well, without being damaged by the technology of the time. Yes, it is possible that the first giant mobile phones, computers with monochrome green monitors or shirts with suspenders cause a certain smile in the current viewer, but the atmosphere and character description have remained unchanged since then, as well as conflicts that the film poses. For that reason, I recommend it.