Forgotten Friday: Wall Street

Thanks for checking out our Forgotten Fridays feature. This is a feature to review some older films that maybe you have forgotten about or maybe never got around to seeing that we just want to share. They may not be old, maybe not forgotten, but they are not new. Just fun to share.

Today, with Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps coming out, I thought it was fitting that we review the original Wall Street!

Genre: Drama
Directed by: Oliver Stone
Staring: Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Martin Sheen, Terence Stamp, Daryl Hannah
Released: December 11, 1987

THE GENERAL IDEA

Bud Fox is an ambitious stock trader who will do just about anything to get into the big leagues. He has been actively courting Gordon Gekko, one of the biggest stock speculators on Wall Street. Gekko manipulates the market using inside information and his motto best describes his approach: greed is good. Nothing will stop him from pursuing a good deal and he takes advantage of Bud’s burning to desire to succeed. Soon, Bud finds himself getting information from any source and using to gain an advantage. It all comes to a head however when Gekko targets Blue Star airlines, the company where Bud’s father has worked for 24 years, secretly planning to break it up and plunder the employees’ retirement fund.

THE GOOD

Charlie Sheen illustrates early in his young career just how he deserves to be on the big screen. He is awesome in this and you can really feel his struggle as he deals with the tough ethical challenges he faces.

Michael Douglas is the real star here. You want him to succeed. He isn’t the bad guy, he is just the rich guy. You feel endearing to him when he takes Bud Fox under his wing and shows him how to play with the big boys. Even when things turn, you still feel for Gekko.

And Gekko’s “Greed is Good” speech is the hardest thing to hear because it reveals the most base of emotions in the human condition but he is so right about it in its brutal honesty. And will be remembered as one of the greatest speeches ever given in film.

THE BAD

I didn’t care much for the love interest story, and it wasn’t fleshed out at all. It didn’t need to happen at all in this movie and nothing would have changed. Other than that, I have nothing against this film. At all.

OVERALL

The film is worth a watch, if even just to remind yourself of what went on in Wall Street before running out to see Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps (which gets its title from a line in this film). In the first film, we see Gekko’s 3 year old son Rudy who is referenced in Money Never Sleeps, but not a daughter.

Also as a side note of Trivia, Stone had Charlie Sheen’s father Martin Sheen portray Bud Fox’s father in the film.

Since all of these Forgotten Friday reviews are going to be what I would already give a high rating to, I had a Tv, Rent or Buy scale going on, but it would seem that an overwhelming majority of my picks get a BUY rating.

So with every Forgotten Friday you see from now on, you get to rate your anticipation for yourself!

TV – If you are at least a little curious, catch it if it comes on TV.
Rent – If it is something you have heard of and forgotten, or just remember enjoying this as much as I did once upon a time, go rent it.
Buy – But if you are like me, and you agree with my review you should go buy it. If its featured here, I already have.