Wall Street
Quick Summary
The film Wall Street, directed by Oliver Stone in 1987, is a cinematic exploration of the high-stakes world of finance on Wall Street. The movie is famously associated with the concept of greed, particularly through the character Gordon Gekko, who espouses the idea that "greed is good." This sentiment was inspired by a real-life figure, Ivan Boesky, an investment banker convicted of insider trading in 1986. Boesky's actions and his infamous speech about the virtues of greed became emblematic of the excesses and perceived corruption that characterized Wall Street during the 1980s. The film uses this backdrop to examine themes of ambition, ethics, and the pursuit of wealth in the financial industry.
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Charlie SheenActing stardom in the 1980s and ’90s…Stone again on the film Wall Street (1987), playing Bud Fox, an ambitious young stockbroker, opposite Michael Douglas’s ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko. In 1988 Sheen starred in the western Young Guns with his brother Emilio and with Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney, and Lou Diamond Phillips. That same year he…
Read More…Stone again on the film Wall Street (1987), playing Bud Fox, an ambitious young stockbroker, opposite Michael Douglas’s ruthless corporate raider Gordon Gekko. In 1988 Sheen starred in the western Young Guns with his brother Emilio and with Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney, and Lou Diamond Phillips. That same year he…
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Michael DouglasNoteworthy acting roles…ruthless, morally empty financier in Wall Street (1987). Douglas’s screen persona was well showcased in this film, in that his antiheroic character of Gordon Gekko—whose personal credo is “greed is good”—is both unctuous and charismatic. Several of Douglas’s performances flaunt this dichotomy: his villainous characters exhibit personal magnetism, and his…
Read More…ruthless, morally empty financier in Wall Street (1987). Douglas’s screen persona was well showcased in this film, in that his antiheroic character of Gordon Gekko—whose personal credo is “greed is good”—is both unctuous and charismatic. Several of Douglas’s performances flaunt this dichotomy: his villainous characters exhibit personal magnetism, and his…
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Hal Holbrook…experienced broker in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987); and the head of a crime-affiliated law office in The Firm (1993). He took on the role of Lincoln adviser Francis Preston Blairin the acclaimed movie Lincoln (2012). At age 82 Holbrook earned his first Academy Award nomination, for his portrayal of…
Read More…experienced broker in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street (1987); and the head of a crime-affiliated law office in The Firm (1993). He took on the role of Lincoln adviser Francis Preston Blairin the acclaimed movie Lincoln (2012). At age 82 Holbrook earned his first Academy Award nomination, for his portrayal of…
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Martin SheenCareer…Charlie in the 1987 drama Wall Street after Charlie suggested to director Oliver Stone that Martin play Carl Fox, the father of Charlie’s character, Bud Fox. He joined an all-star cast (which included Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, and Harry Belafonte) in the biographical drama Bobby (2006), about the assassination of…
Read More…Charlie in the 1987 drama Wall Street after Charlie suggested to director Oliver Stone that Martin play Carl Fox, the father of Charlie’s character, Bud Fox. He joined an all-star cast (which included Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore, and Harry Belafonte) in the biographical drama Bobby (2006), about the assassination of…
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James Spader…Than Zero, and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. In each of these, he played similarly sleazy, villainous characters.
Read More…Than Zero, and Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. In each of these, he played similarly sleazy, villainous characters.
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