Wall Street (1987)

A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider who takes the youth under his wing.

Director:

Oliver Stone

Writers:

Stanley Weiser, Oliver Stone

Stars:

Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas, Tamara Tunie

Won 1 Oscar. Another 9 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Charlie Sheen	...	Bud Fox
Tamara Tunie	...	Carolyn
Franklin Cover	...	Dan
Chuck Pfeiffer	...	Chuckie (as Chuck Pfeifer)
John C. McGinley	...	Marvin
Hal Holbrook	...	Lou Mannheim
James Karen	...	Lynch
Leslie Lyles	...	Natalie
Michael Douglas	...	Gordon Gekko
Faith Geer	...	Natalie's Assistant
Frank Adonis	...	Charlie
John Capodice	...	Dominick
Martin Sheen	...	Carl Fox
Suzen Murakoshi	...	Girl in Bed
Dani Klein	...	Receptionist

Storyline

On the Wall Street of the 1980s, Bud Fox is a stockbroker full of ambition, doing whatever he can to make his way to the top. Admiring the power of the unsparing corporate raider Gordon Gekko, Fox entices Gekko into mentoring him by providing insider trading. As Fox becomes embroiled in greed and underhanded schemes, his decisions eventually threaten the livelihood of his scrupulous father. Faced with this dilemma, Fox questions his loyalties.

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Plot Keywords:

capitalism | 1980s | fired from the job | f word | critique of capitalism | 

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Taglines:

Every dream has a price.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 December 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Wall Street

Filming Locations:

The St. James's tower, 415 East 54th Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,104,611, 13 December 1987, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$43,848,100

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, American Entertainment Partners L.P., Amercent Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anacott Steel, a fictional company, may be an obscure reference to Anaconda Copper, a company that busted in the 1929 stock market crash. Many entertainers had invested in Anaconda, including Groucho Marx.

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Goofs

When Gekko drops Bud from the limo, the street is completely dry. A few blocks away it was pouring rain. It could be a microburst, which produces heavy rain in a small area.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Businesswoman #1: [a crowd of businessmen stampede into an elevator] Excuse me.
Businessman #1: Easy!
Businesswoman #2: Excuse me!
Businessman #2: Thank you.
Businesswomen #3: Sorry!
Businessman #3: Easy!
Businessman #4: Easy!

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Connections

Featured in Money Never Sleeps (2000)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday to You
Written by Patty S. Hill and Mildred J. Hill
Published by Birch Tree Group, Ltd.

User Reviews

Entertaining and still relevant

Wall Street could have fit in very nicely in the theatres today. The bull market of the late 80's can be compared to the insane dot.com market of the late 90's, the same mistakes made on Wall Street repeated themselves again. Hal Holbrook's character is the voice of reason in Wall Street, telling Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) to stick to the basics, and not get carried away with going for the easy buck. Fox is entranced by dynamo Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas), whose specialty is taking over and "wrecking" companies, "because they're wreckable". Gekko takes Fox in as his protege, teaching him the ropes and showing him the realities of greed. Fox becomes corrupted, and despite the sobering influence of his union man dad (Martin Sheen) gets ensnared in Gekko's web. Great performances all around, Douglas was deserving of the Oscar, Charlie Sheen was very good in his role as well. There are terrific supporting roles in this movie; Martin Sheen, Holbrook, Terence Stamp and Oliver Stone's favourite character actor, John C. McGinley. For all of Stone's later failed movies, Wall Street hits the nail on the head, and above all entertains the audience. It's hard to see how the same man directed trash like Natural Born Killers afterwards.