Trading Places (1983)

A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.

Director:

John Landis

Writers:

Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod

Stars:

Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Ralph Bellamy

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Denholm Elliott	...	Coleman
Dan Aykroyd	...	Louis Winthorpe III
Maurice Woods	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Richard D. Fisher Jr.	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Jim Gallagher	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Anthony DiSabatino	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Bonnie Behrend	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Sunnie Merrill	...	Duke & Duke Employee
James Newell	...	Duke & Duke Employee (as Jim Newell)
Mary St. John	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Bonnie Tremena	...	Duke & Duke Employee
David Schwartz	...	Duke & Duke Employee
Ralph Bellamy	...	Randolph Duke
Don Ameche	...	Mortimer Duke
Tom Degidon	...	Duke Domestic

Storyline

Louis Winthorpe is a businessman who works for commodities brokerage firm of Duke and Duke owned by the brothers Mortimer and Randolph Duke. Now they bicker over the most trivial of matters and what they are bickering about is whether it's a person's environment or heredity that determines how well they will do in life. When Winthorpe bumps into Billy Ray Valentine, a street hustler and assumes he is trying to rob him, he has him arrested. Upon seeing how different the two men are, the brothers decide to make a wager as to what would happen if Winthorpe loses his job, his home and is shunned by everyone he knows and if Valentine was given Winthorpe's job. So they proceed to have Winthorpe arrested and to be placed in a compromising position in front of his girlfriend. So all he has to rely on is the hooker who was hired to ruin him.

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Plot Keywords:

role reversal | bare breasts | class differences | suicide attempt | scam | 

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Taglines:

Some very funny business.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (John Landis): (breaking the Fourth Wall): Eddie Murphy looks directly at the camera, as he is being taken away in a police car. When Randolph Duke explains to him what a B.L.T. is., he looks right into the camera as if to say, "These guys must think I'm a complete idiot."

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Goofs

When the members of the club are asked to dig inside the pocket of the man to their right and to put the content in front of them, the row of members in the back of the room do not have any table or any support on where to put said content, as they are only sitting on chairs.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Coleman: [holding a breakfast tray while Louis is still asleep] Your breakfast, sir.

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Crazy Credits

The names of the major actors/actresses are shown superimposed on short clips from the film. The clips showing Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy and Jamie-Lee Curtis respectively are obvious outtakes as they all crack up and burst into smiles and/or laughter.

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Alternate Versions

Another scene that is only available in the television version is one where Valentine (Eddie Murphy) first enters the Duke and Duke building. The cut version shows Coleman dropping off Valentine for his first day of work, then showing a smiling Valentine exiting an elevator and speaking to a receptionist. The uncut scene (television version) has Valentine entering the main hall of the building and going through a series of interactions with the same people that were pretty much identical to the scene near the beginning of the movie when Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) enters the building to go to work. This scene is one of the many ways of portraying contrasts in the movie... in this case "not knowing what to expect rookie" versus "veteran snob". This scene also shows why Valentine has a smile on his face as he exits the elevator and speaks confidently to the receptionist. Valentine sure was nervous before he entered the building talking to Coleman, but gains confidence as he progresses down the main hall toward the elevator.

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Connections

References Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982)

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Soundtracks

OVERTURE, MARRIAGE OF FIGARO
By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Conducted by Elmer Bernstein

User Reviews

A shocking tale of life in business

Dan Aykroyd (The Blues Brothers) stars as Louis Winthorpe, a smart and rich businessman who gets his life turned around when he is kicked out of his house and is forced to live on the street, all because of 2 other businessmen who have placed a wager to see if a street thief would succeed in his place.

In this ambitious and dramatic tale, viewers are invited into the hard and cruel life of the business world and what goes on behind closed doors, and though unrealistic, is a tale of cunning and loyalty in a great comedy drama.

In his best ever role, Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop) stars as street urchin Billy Ray Valentine, a cheeky and egotistical man who can't believe his luck when he is invited to work for the Dukes, the two businessmen who are scamming against him. Murphy excels in his own way, with that big smile and that own sophistication that he does so well, and the reason that this is his best ever role, is because as well as the comedy, there is a strong and determined belief about his character that is admirable and watchable and through his portrayal, we can see differences in the type of culture his character takes to.

Murphy is matched on every level by an excellent performance by Aykroyd whose life falls through our very eyes. The way his life can't seem to get any worse is one of the many reasons this film works so well.

These performances are matched with a gripping plot that sees viewers taken into the dark side of the business life, and through two evil and manipulative money driven owners, the Dukes. And the concept of money drives the film forward and the cruelty behind their bet is unbelievable and horrible to even think about, and is shown in such a dramatic fashion.

There is plenty of illegal activity, not to mention racial abuse and discrimination through the hierarchy that it is unthinkable that business was once like this.

Though I was completely lost during the final couple of scenes, this is a serious ideology encoded into a fairly humorous and dramatic film about the dealings and the life in business.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 June 1983 (USA)

Also Known As:

Black or White

Filming Locations:

The New York Chamber of Commerce Building - The Great Hall, 65 Liberty Street, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$7,348,200, 12 June 1983

Gross USA:

$90,404,800

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$90,404,800

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinema Group Ventures, Paramount Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1